Somali Pirate Seasons

While working with a set of piracy data archived and provided by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency that stretches back to 1978 (which, coincidentally, is how far back I stretch) for a different and probably less-interesting visualization, I stumbled on some interesting questions regarding the seasonal nature of YAAAAAAAAR!!, pardon me, of pirate activity around Somalia.  Turns out, over that 34 years, not all months are equal when it comes to potentially tip-toeing one's way through the Gulf of Aden pirate-free.  When you can categorize where by when, then you've forged a mighty team, my friend.

Here's what a month-of-year breakout looks like...

Better yet, here's a seasonal grouping of those months that shows the patterns more clearly.  Anytime there is non-random structure, things get more interesting, and there are clear seasonal trends that reveal themselves over 34 years of data...

I wondered if dropping these into a 1994-style animated gif would do a better job of showing human eyeballs the shifting distribution of seasonal piracy.  Not really (I prefer scanning the above image), but here it is nonetheless...

Curious about those inland attacks sprinkled about the Great Rift Valley?  Me too.  Looks like it is an artifact of (uncharacteristically) very general location information.  Typically the reports are pretty specific and confident.  Either way, the wrongly-inland points' descriptions are pretty captivating...


4/17/2006
SOUTHERN RED SEA: Integrated tug barge followed 17 Apr at 0951 local time, while underway in position 12-30.5N 042-29.3E, transiting Bab el Mandeb to Gulf of Aden. A green hulled, open ended flat bottom boat with inboard motor doing 10 to 11 kts with...

10/12/2000
RED SEA:FIVE HIGH SPEED BOATS, EACH CONTAINING 6 TO 7 PERSONS ATTEMPTED TO BOARD AN UNIDENTIFIED TANKER 12 OCT BETWEEN 1050 AND 1140 LOCAL TIME IN POSITION 12-36.0N 043-01.3E. DUTY OFFICER NOTICED THE BOATS AND RAISED THE ALARM. CREW ACTIVATED FIRE HOSES...

8/11/2000
RED SEA:Four persons in a small boat attempted to block the passage of a bulk carrier on 11 Aug at 1450 local time in the Straits of Bab El Mandeb in position 12-13N 042-29E. The boat reportedly followed close to the ship with the intent to board until...

8/28/1992
SAUDI ARABIA AL SARAWAT NO.4 WAS SHOT AT BY UNKNOWN PEOPLE WITH CANNONS AND RIFELS. SHOTS HIT THE ENGINE ROOM CAUSING THE VESSEL TO SINK, AND THE CREW WAS SAFELY RESCUED...

For more on piracy by location and time, here's an interactive app from a short while ago that lets you navigate both:
http://vfdemo.idvsolutions.com/Piracy/

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P.S. Here's a new set of graphics showing annual piracy volume and shifting territories of the same area.  Spoiler: 2008 was the year pirates doubled down.