Reliability and uncertainty in determining search area during Search-and Rescue action

Abstract

Sea accident occurring far away from the base of rescue ships generates – for SAR action coordinator - problem of determining search areas on the basis of information which sometimes may be incomplete and uncertain, e.g. an unknown number of launched life rafts and persons in water (PIW), as well as that of sending, to the area, a non-rescue ship nearest to place of occurrence of the accident. Variety of operational states of life rafts (number of persons on raft, drift anchor etc) produces different wind leeways as a result of which search areas for the objects would be in a different distance from the last known position (LKP), e.g.:
- search areas for life rafts without drift anchor, with an unknown number of castaways on board,
-search areas for life rafts with drift anchor, with an unknown number of castaways on board, and
- search area for the PIW.
To sweep determined search areas the coordinator makes use of a ship nearest to place of danger. In this paper has been made an attempt to determine measures which would make SAR action coordinator capable of deciding which area should be searched first by using a ship nearest to place of the action.