Seen & Heard: White giraffe, approaching iceberg

“Seen & Heard” is a monthly feature of GPS World magazine, traveling the world to capture interesting and unusual news stories involving the GNSS/PNT industry.

Photo: Lukassek/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

The light at the end of the tunnel

The city of Prague started testing a system of GNSS repeaters to prevent the loss of satellite signal in the city’s tunnels. The system, which should make life easier for drivers who rely on car navigation technology, is being tested in Prague’s Blanka tunnel. If it proves successful, the municipality wants to install the devices in other strategic locations around the city, especially at intersections as well as tunnel entries and exits.

Photo: A. Ellis/USGS

On the hot spot

While permanent monitoring receivers are scattered about Hawaii’s active volcano sites, additional GPS receivers are being deployed during the ongoing eruption of Kilauea. In this photo taken Dec. 21, 2020, a Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicist deploys receivers on the caldera floor in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park to measure changes in ground motion. The gas plume from the summit eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater is visible in the background.

Photo: Ishaqbini Community Conservancy

Last but not least

The last white giraffe known in existence now sports a GPS tracker, reports BBC News. The male giraffe has a rare genetic trait called leucism that causes the unusual color. The giraffe was tranquilized in November and the tracker placed on one of its horns. Tracking will help protect it from poachers as it grazes in Kenya’s savannah near the Somalia border. The white giraffe is alone after a female and her calf were killed by poachers in March 2020, according to Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy.

Photo: British Antarctic Survey/ESA

The biggest loser

In July 2017, an iceberg more than twice the size of Luxembourg broke off Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf and began traveling the Southern Ocean. Looming in its path is South Georgia Island, home to numerous species of wildlife threatened by the massive iceberg, designated A-68A. Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel satellites observed pieces breaking off of A-68A in December, each large enough to receive its own designation.