Multiple strange GPS signals were detected near the Northern part of San Francisco, United States. These signals found nine ships getting near the shore. However, when the marine watchdog looked out, no ships were found on the location that the GPS said it where to be. Are these 'ghost ships' or deliberate manipulation of GPS detectors?
Marine watchdog finds GPS signals from nine 'ghost ships' missing
Daily Mail UK reported on Tuesday, June 9, that nine 'ghost ships' appear sailing in large circles off the coast near San Francisco.
Bjorn Bergman, who works for the environmental watchdog groups SkyTruth and Global Fishing Watch, first noticed the strange GPS signals detected by their radar. He identified nine ships that were supposedly heading to Point Reyes.
Some of the GPS signals even detect that few ships already crossed the dry land. When Bergman checked the shore and nearby parts of the ocean-- as based on the location of the GPS-- none of the said ships were found by his team.
When Bergman investigated more, he found out that the ships were nowhere near the GPS signals. They were a thousand miles from what's indicated on their radar.
Ghost ships or just GPS manipulation?
Bergman said that in 2019, the same issue happened with his GPS signals. However, it was found that several ships off the coast of China were traveling and deliberately disrupted the GPS for them not to identify their presence. But it is not the same issue with the ghost ships.
"Although the circling tracks look similar in both locations, the vessels on the Chinese coast were at most a few miles from the circling tracks, while the vessels broadcasting tracks above Point Reyes are actually thousands of miles away," he wrote in a blog post.
There's no reason they're ghost ships, here's why
Though its better to believe that they're ghost ships, Bergman thinks that there's a better explanation for these phenomena.
"It [Point Reyes] has a long history in maritime navigation," Bergman told Newsweek. "There must be some connection. I've got a lot of theories [but] we don't know. One thing that could be plausible is that it's acting as a zero location because of the importance of this spot in developing maritime navigation systems. So if [a ship's] reception is blocked for whatever reason, they're appearing there."
On the other hand, Todd Humphreys, associate professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin, had a different explanation with what's happening.
Humphreys believes that the 'ghost ships' event is likely the result of 'GPS spoofing.' He said that devices to manipulate the GPS signals are now all over the market and can easily be bought.
"We know it's GPS spoofing because we also see it in the data from exercise apps. Usually, the false location is near the true one, but in other cases, it's half a world away, like Point Reyes for a ship off the coast of Africa," said him. "If I'm right and cheap spoofers are now for sale, you can bet a lot more 'GPS crop circles' will show up in the coming months and years, with negative implications for ships, aircraft, and ordinary turn-by-turn directions."
