40th Anniversary for Dundee’s ‘Window on the World’

The Dundee Satellite Receiving Station, which receives and archives thousands of detailed images of planet earth, celebrated its 40^th birthday in January 2015.

University of Dundee Electrical and Electronic Engineering lecturers Peter Baylis and John Brush oversaw the installation of the Station’s first dish type tracking antenna on the roof of the University’s Ewing Building in 1975 and today the original dish is still used for one of the current antenna systems. It is a part of a five-strong network of tracking antennas mounted on building rooftops across the University campus.

Iconic images captured have included some showing major storms and others showing the entire UK covered in snow during 2010. The station also captured images of the volcanic ash cloud which engulfed Iceland and disrupted European air travel, again in 2010.

Manager Neil Lonie explained that the Station’s main function is to support UK environmental scientists with data, although there are many other users across Europe and further afield; “We work closely with the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. They use our data to generate information such as sea surface temperatures and chlorophyll levels for marine scientists. An important aspect is directing research ships, with images delivered soon after we receive them to locate marine features of particular interest. Our data are also used in other areas such as monitoring volcanic activity, sea ice, vegetation cover, wild fires and obviously in meteorology.”

The UK Natural Environment Research Council funds the Station operations and its seven-strong team. The satellites are owned and operated by the European organisation EUMETSAT and US organisations NASA and NOAA.

Today, the Station is part of the University of Dundee’s Space Technology Centre led by Professor Stephen Parkes, who also the leads the University’s spin out STAR-Dundee Ltd, a manufacturer of electronics for the space industry. In addition to UK scientists, data is also made available to overseas researchers, students, teachers and general public all over the world.

Data from Dundee Satellite Receiving Station can be accessed at http://ilmt.co/PL/W0em