New regional tracking centers for each sector are now being considered. This is an annual process that will see regional tracking centers placed in strategic locations around the world. The process began last week when elf supervisors submitted their review of last year’s locations. Recommendations from these same supervisors for new locations for this year are due in the weeks ahead.
Regional tracking centers are operated by the North Pole for several reasons.
They serve as a back up to North Pole Flight Command. Should some sort of emergency occur at the North Pole that would knock flight command offline any one of the regional tracking centers or ships of the North Pole Navy can assume control of Santa’s Christmas Eve operations.
Regional tracking centers take responsibility for all sleigh flight activity within their assigned sector. They watch the skies in details and help to direct air traffic to ensure a safe and expeditious route for Santa.
Regional tracking centers also collect and transmit data from all North Pole tracking elves in the sector and organize that information and communication for Flight Command. This critical flow of real-time information is critical to Santa’s flight.
Regional tracking centers as well dispatch any kind of assistance that Santa needs while in the sector. They keep his sleigh loaded with the right freight, coordinating their efforts to move presents around through a complex flight support system.
The locations of the regional tracking centers must meeting rigorous location standards. They need uninterruptible power supplies and rock-steady internet access. They need to be safe from the interruptions of weather and natural disasters. Sometimes their locations are hotly debated, such as last year’s location in Bethlehem, New Zealand for Sector 1. Some elves felt the seismic activity in that area of New Zealand put operations at risk.
Regional tracking center locations tend to be top secret. Only a select few know the actual physical location of each tracking center. They tend to occupy windowless buildings that are large enough to house the sleeping quarters, kitchens and recreational requirements for the teams of elves assigned to those locations. Since a tracking center can hold thousands of elves who usually never leave the building over their course of their seasonal service the buildings need to be quite large.
Months go into the process of site selection and setup. Usually regional tracking centers are operational only from Halloween through New Year’s Day, though last year all were active in June to support the rigorous test flight schedule of Santa’s sleigh.
We will keep you posted on the progress of this year’s new regional tracking center locations.
