The first of two High Frequency (HF) coastal radar Stations was successfully installed on Nov. 24th at the Westshore Coal Terminal in Delta, BC. The station is now monitoring radial surface currents within a 20 km range in the Strait of Georgia. The installation timeline happened to overlap with the onset of a strong winter storm. The engineering team managed to erect the antenna in strong winds, but were able to escape the worst of the storm by 2 hours.

Monitoring surface currents in real-time using this technology will bring multiple benefits to a number of organizations, helping them to make important operational decisions. The second station will be installed 20 km to the north in early 2012. Once operational, the radial data from both sites will be combined to generate vector maps of surface currents in a 20 km X 20 km grid between the stations.