Topic: SARSAT Communication Outage 

Date/Time Issued: February 22, 2024 1645Z

Product(s) or Data Impacted: SARSAT alert data

Date/Time of Initial Impact: February 22, 2024 1058 UTC

Date/Time of Expected End: February 22, 2024 1336 UTC

Length of Outage: 2 Hours and 38 Minutes

Details/Specifics of Change: The USMCC lost network connectivity with Florida (LEO and MEO LUTs) and Guam (LEO LUT) ground stations.  Because HI-MEO data was routed through Florida MEOLUT it was not being received either.  Hawaii MEOLUT data was re-configured to send data directly to the USMCC, however even though the communications was confirmed to be working data was not flowing from the HI-MEOLUT.  The USMCC contacted the HI-MEOLUT vendor who was able to restore the HI-MEOLUT data flow at 1313 UTC.

At the same time the USMCC continued to troubleshoot the network issue that continued to impact Florida and Guam.  It was determined that a local switch at NSOF was the root cause of the network outage. The switch was reset and data began to be received from Florida and Guam ground stations at 1336 UTC.

Hawaii MEOLUT data was re-configured to send data through the FL-MEOLUT and all data appears to be flowing normally at the USMCC.

Impact:  Significant - Atlantic and Caribbean and the Western Pacifica Search and Rescue region's MEOSAR and LEOSAR distress detection/reporting was delayed. GEOSAR remained nominal.