Warning: Important information regarding lack of Inmarsat C coverage in Greenland Sea
As announced in January 2018, the Inmarsat-3 (I-3) constellation of satellites are reaching the end of their lifespan, which has made it necessary for Inmarsat to roll out the end of life process for several of their legacy services, and to migrate those that will continue onto Inmarsat-4 (I-4). One such service to be migrated is Inmarsat C.
On 30 October 2018 at 11:00 UTC, Inmarsat will migrate traffic from its Inmarsat C service from Atlantic Ocean Region East (AOR-E)* I-3 F2 satellite to I-3 F5 satellite.
Due to the planned migration of the Atlantic Ocean Region East (AOR-E) from 15.5W (I-3 F2 satellite) to 54W (I-3 F5 satellite), scheduled to take place on 30 October 2018 at 11:00 UTC, there will be a change in Inmarsat C coverage over the Greenland Sea between Greenland and Norway. This situation is unavoidable due to the approaching end-of-life of the Inmarsat I-3 satellites.
The area affected by the AORE migration is between Svalbard and Greenland in the Greenland Sea. It is difficult to define the exact region, as the precise service availability for Inmarsat C in this area depends on the terminal type, the location of the terminal, the operation of the vessel (roll and pitch), the time of day and the local environmental conditions.
More information on the website of Marlink: marlink.com/inmarsatc-i4-migration/
*Note that AOR-E is part of the overall I-3 to I-4 migration programme but it is not moving to the I-4 constellation.
