Page 33: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 2016)

Is it a Ship or Iceberg?

BY ANDREW SAFER eveloping the capability to dis- Polar Epsilon and icebergs. “This case clearly demon- that SAR images “are not pretty Google criminate between ships and The Polar Epsilon and Polar Epsilon-2 strates the synergy that exists between images. They’re funky-looking echoes icebergs in northern latitudes applied R&D projects are focused on the Canadian government and the oil instead of nice shapes.” He adds that mi-

Dis a common interest shared improving detection capabilities through and gas industry,” notes Desmond Pow- crowave radiation is a long wavelength, by Canada’s Department of National the use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) er, vice-president of remote sensing at which doesn’t re? ect back in the same

Defense (DND) and the oil and gas in- via RADARSAT-2 and the RADARSAT C-CORE. He explains that a year and a way that the eyes interpret, so it’s not dustry. For DND, the focus is on ship Constellation Mission (RCM)—three half ago, C-CORE completed a project intuitive. Vessels show up in a diamond detection for maritime security, whereas satellites the Canadian Space Agency in which they developed the capability pattern. Bright rings in the image indi- oil and gas companies are interested in is scheduled to launch in 2018. A part- to provide ice charts for the oil and gas cate a large supply vessel. “Our people detecting icebergs to ensure primarily nership between DND and C-CORE of industry, which invested $1.2 million have the experience to be able to look at the safety and also the productivity of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador in research. Now, C-CORE is develop- images and say ‘That’s an iceberg’,” he offshore exploration and production op- is developing the expertise to use SAR ing further expertise in this area to meet says, “and they’re right 90 to 95 percent erations. imagery to differentiate between ships DND’s requirements. Power points out of the time.”

Small iceberg off the port bow of Canadian Coast Guard ship Louis St-Laurent.

(Photo: Canadian Coast Guard) www.marinelink.com 33

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