Trajectory followed by the Prestige ship in November 2002, most of it inside the present SeaSonde coverage area (Images courtesy of Puertos del Estado and INTECMAR).

In 2002, the Prestige oil spill disaster off the northwestern coast of Spain acted as a wake up call highlighting the importance of preparing for such a crisis. It led to Spanish institutions prioritizing the improvement of activities such as maritime protection, operational oceanography and oil spill preparedness and response. As part of this, ten years after the Prestige, a Galician SeaSonde HF radar network provides real time surface currents, wave data and currents forecast information covering 280 km or 75% of Galicia coast and with a range of up to 200 km offshore. Its operation and exploitation is the responsibility of Puertos del Estado www.puertos.es, INTECMAR www.intecmar.org and www.meteogalicia.es.

The present use of the data is wide; an exemplary case on how the data are being used is a drifting object trajectory forecast analysis done in December 2011 for the Directorate of the Spanish Merchant Marine. A drifting whale was identified the 12th of December by the Spanish Coast Guard at 22 00 h UTC in position 42°22’N 09°23’W. Intermediate positions of the whale were monitored at that time; landing happened the 14th of December at 21 39 h UTC, as notified by the Vigo Rescue Coordination Center of the Spanish Coast Guard.