Marine Satellite Data Communication Service

The Met Office operates a network of c.75 weather stations in the marine environment across buoys, ships and other remote platforms or islands - these are deployed in nearshore waters and the Atlantic Ocean, with a few ship stations travelling further afield.

The network relies upon satellite communications to ensure continued timely submission of essential marine observation data, with all stations hosting an Autonomous Marine Observing System (AMOS2X) equipped with an Iridium short burst data (SBD) modem.

Our contract with our current satellite communications supplier is due to expire, the objective of this procurement therefore, is to identify a satellite communication network and airtime service provider in order to continue to be able to transfer observational data from remote marine stations to our data ingestion system via Iridium service provider generated emails.