Richmond, B.C. - As part of the Integrated Satellite Tracking of Polluters (ISTOP) program, operations staff at RADARSAT International were executing routine procedures when they programmed the Canadian satellite RADARSAT-1 to image the East coast of Canada in search of deliberate oil dumping by ships at sea. The Terra Nova oil platform is located within the surveillance area and as a result, the recent oil spill was detected.

The cause is still under investigation, however a suspected malfunction with the oil-water separator aboard the Terra Nova oil platform at 1 a.m. Sunday, November 22nd, resulted in the release of about 1,000 barrels of crude oil. The platform located 350km southeast of Newfoundland's coast produces approximately 150,000 barrels of oil a day.

Under the ISTOP program, led by Environment Canada, RADARSAT-1 imagery is acquired daily over "pollution hot spots" on both the East and West coast of Canada. This program was developed to fight chronic dumping of bilge waste by vessels travelling through Canadian coastal waters. The goal of the program is one of deterrence and prevention - by monitoring the area using aircraft, satellite and surface vessels, captains may think twice about polluting.

"In this case, rather than detecting a deliberate polluter, we imaged the oil release from the Terra Nova platform," said Jeff Hurley, RADARSAT International's ISTOP project manager. Mr. Hurley continued, "The satellite has proven itself again as an effective tool for the detection of oil in the maritime environment. Despite difficult environmental conditions during this event, the image clearly captured the location and extent of the oil."

RADARSAT International supports the ISTOP program with near-real time processing and analyis of RADARSAT-1 imagery for the detection of what may be deliberate oil releases by vessels.