Richmond, BC - MDA's Geospatial Services announced today that it will extend its RADARSAT-1 oil spill monitoring and detection services to the Canadian Arctic region in response to Transport Canada's expansion of the National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP) coverage to this area. The goal of NASP is to detect and prosecute polluters in the maritime environment through the use of aircraft, surface vessel and satellite monitoring programs.

The satellite monitoring component of NASP is embodied in the Integrated Satellite Tracking of Polluters (ISTOP) program led by Environment Canada. ISTOP is supported by Canada's RADARSAT-1 satellite, which acquires synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data over NASP coverage areas on a daily basis.

Once the RADARSAT-1 data is received by MDA, image analysis experts analyze the data for potential oil pollution events. Time from data reception through image analysis to final delivery of reports to partners can be in as little as 1.5 hours. "By notifying the authorities - often the patrol aircraft directly - with up-to-date information, NASP is able to act on potential pollution incidents as they occur," said Jeff Hurley, Senior Project Manager of MDA's Geospatial Services International.

Dr. John Hornsby, General Manager of MDA's Geospatial Services International said "Over the last three years, we have expanded the satellite monitoring component of ISTOP to correspond with NASP coverage of the East and West coasts of Canada, as well as Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. We are strongly committed to supporting NASP and its members as shown by this recent broadening of our maritime monitoring services to include the Canadian Arctic."