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We had been mapping the trace of the Black Storks from Europe to Africa
since 1995 by means of satellites. The most famous "backpacked" stork female
Kristyna became the symbol of all African Odyssey project. We succeeded to
watch her for almost four years... New Odyssey began this year. We marked
three Black Storks - Petr, Roman and Katerina - with satellite and
terrestrial transmitters in July 2002 in Siberia by the Ob river near the
south of the Novosibirsk area.
What we offer:Last coordinates of the storks - up-to-date location of individual storks with the possibility to put them in the map.Petr - the archive of coordinates; the possibility to draw individual stops or all the trace into the map; occasion to count the distances and flight speed. Roman - the archive of coordinates; even here the possibility to draw individual stops or all the trace into the map; occasion to count the distances and flight speed Katerina - the archive of coordinates, maps etc. Where are the satellites? - understand: the satellites watching our storks; this helps us predict the time we can read new coordinates Day or night? - Fourmilad shows us the Earth from the outer space; we can well see where it's getting dark or dawning The weather? - satellite pictures of Europe and Africa, links to pages with up-to-date forecast information
Watching the White Storks and a Crane is part of the New Odyssey project.
You can find many other useful information on the project's pages
How it works:The storks have small "backpacks" on their backs with satellite transmitters. Because the batteries would go off soon, the transmitters are functional for 6 hours only after which they're paused. According to the timing, the pause is 12 hours to several days long.To find out where the stork is right now, one of the satellites we use (NOAA-H 11, NOAA-J 14, NOAA-K 15) must fly over it during the 6 hours when the transmitter is active. It is certain that during this time at least two satellites will cover it. One of the satellites will probably receive the signals. If at least two signals strong enough are received, chances are we'll succeed to count the coordinates. The counted coordinates we gain either "manually" or automatically from the distribution center ARGOS by Internet. Those coordinates are saved in database. If the data are acceptable (sufficient accuracy and credibility), we authorize them and put them on these pages.
Written by Miroslav Bobek (Czech Radio 2), technical solution by Ivo Hulinsky and Martin Straka, graphics by Tom Vild (Internet servis), assistance Frantisek Pojer (Czech Radio 2) and Lenka Hampapova.
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