Tag: icebreakers

Study issued by US GAO The US Government Accountability Office issues Observations on Arctic Requirements, Icebreakers, and Coordination with Stakeholders (Statement of Stephen L. Caldwell, Director Homeland Security and Justice) as follows:The Coast Guard has taken a variety of actions-from routine operations to a major analysis of mission needs in the polar regions-to identify its Arctic requirements. The routine operations have helped the Coast Guard to collect useful information on the capability of its existing assets to operate in cold climates and strategies for overcoming logistical challenges presented by long-distance responses to incidents, among other things.Other operational actions intended to help identify Arctic requirements include the establishment of temporary, seasonal operating locations in the Arctic and seasonal biweekly Arctic overflights, which have helped the Coast Guard to identify performance requirements and test personnel and equipment capabilities in the Arctic.The Coast Guard's primary analytical effort to identify Arctic requirements is the High Latitude Study, a multivolume analysis that is intended to, in part, identify the Coast Guard's current Arctic capability gaps and assess the degree to which these gaps will impact future missions.This study also identifies potential solutions to these gaps and compares six different options-identified as Arctic force mixes-to a ...

Amazing photos of the Arctic Ocean On the Greenland Ice Sheet, lakes form atop the ice each spring and summer as sunlight melts ice and snow. As lakes fill, large cracks or holes can open suddenly in the lakes' basins, allowing water to drain in a dramatic waterfall more than a half mile down to the bedrock beneath the ice sheet. The water lubricates the base of the ice sheet, like grease on a railroad track, allowing the water to flow faster. As global temperatures rise, more lakes and cracks may form, accelerating the flow of ice to the sea. (Photo: courtesy of Chris Linder, WHOI) From the International League of Conservation Photographers:What do you think of when you hear the word "scientist" -- white-bearded men scribbling formulas on blackboards or huddling over bubbling test tubes? These are not the scientists I know. To challenge this popular stereotype, I teamed up with science writers to document four major polar research expeditions -- to a colony of Adélie penguins, aboard icebreakers in the Bering Sea and eastern Arctic Ocean and to the lake-studded surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. My goal was to reveal the inner workings of science fieldwork, showing ...

The Kolskoe rig was being towed by an icebreaker

Need for more icebreakers The Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, chaired by U.S. Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo (R-NJ), held a hearing this morning to examine the U.S. Coast Guard's role and operations in the Arctic. The Subcommittee today reviewed several recent reports and analyses of the Service's polar capabilities.The Coast Guard maintains two Polar Class heavy icebreakers, however neither is currently operational. The POLAR SEA is being decommissioned and the POLAR STAR is undergoing significant repairs to extend its service life. Questions remain about how long the POLAR STAR will last after its repairs are complete, as well as whether the Service and the Administration are prepared to make critical decisions regarding our nation's goals and objectives in the Arctic and provide Congress with a fiscally responsible plan to meet those goals and objectives."As we all know, the ice caps are shrinking in the Arctic, effectively creating new coastline and navigable waters where the Coast Guard will be required to operate," said Chairman LoBiondo. "This opening is already providing significant economic opportunities for the energy and maritime transportation sectors, but has also exposed a new set of risks and challenges to our national security and sovereignty."The Subcommittee has ...

Documentary on the construction and operation of an icebreaker cargo ship

Documentary on the construction and operation of an icebreaker cargo ship

Documentary on the construction and operation of an icebreaker cargo ship

Fire fighting demonstration on the Kapitan Chadaev icebreaker took place FSUE "Rosmorport" has held an expanded meeting concerning the issues of navigation safety, accident risks prevention and reduction. With deputy General director of FSUE "Rosmorport" for navigation safety V.Y. Vanyukov in head, representatives of 14 enterprise's brnaches and a Captain of the seaport of Arkhangelsk took part in the meeting.The meeting concurred with the Kapitan Kuznetsov bulk carrier resque operation and the meeting participants were able to see the work FSUE "Rosmorport" Arkhangelsk branch in emergency. The Dikson icebreaker, being in daily readiness, set up for the rescue operation less then 4 hours after order reception and abided all the tasks assigned during the operation.A general fire fighting demonstration on the Kapitan Chadaev icebreaker took placeinthe meeting program network. Also, participants visited Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy Regional Continuing Professional Education Center.Source: FSUE Rosmorport

The hull was newly coated with Ecospeed, a glass flake vinyl ester resin underwater hull coating When British Antarctic Survey's RRS (Royal Research Ship) Ernest Shackleton​ was drydocked recently in Denmark, the superintendent, engineers and paint specialists there to check the condition of the hull paint were amazed.After two seasons of battering its way through ice up to 2.5 meters thick with a high content of gravel and volcanic lava adding to its abrasiveness, the hull coating was virtually intact and undamaged.This was in strong contrast to the Shackleton's previous drydocking, when almost the entire hull, bearing a conventional ice-going underwater hull coating, was practically stripped to bare, unprotected steel.The difference lay in the fact that when the Shackleton left drydock in 2009, the hull was newly coated with Ecospeed, a glass flake vinyl ester resin underwater hull coating proven to have extraordinary anti-corrosion protective strength and flexibility. Even though Ecospeed is not intended specifically for ice-going ships and icebreakers, it consistently outperforms the specialized ice-going ship bottom paints.The success of the new underwater hull coating on the Shackleton, whose hull can genuinely be said to undergo the harshest of conditions of just about any vessel afloat, is a story ...

Use of ultra low sulphur diesel fuel Wärtsilä reports that it has been contracted by Arctia Offshore of Finland to fit combined NOx reducer (NOR) and oxidation catalyst (OXI) technology to two of Arctia's multi-functional icebreaking vessels.The ships, Fennica and Nordica, are based on a modified icebreaker design, and at the same time as the new equipment is fitted, the machinery will be converted to enable the use of ultra low sulphur diesel fuel. The conversion will allow the ships to fulfil the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) emission requirements for operating in the Arctic Ocean. This, says Wärtsilä, opens up the possibility for Arctia Offshore to participate in arctic oil exploration projects in an environmentally sustainable manner.The work will involve fitting the combined Wärtsilä NOR/OXI solution to each of the eight engines that drive the two vessels. The installation schedule is divided into two parts, with the first set scheduled for completion by the end of December 2011, and the second set by the end of April 2012. The emission control device consists of a combined abatement system designed to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) and to enable the oxidation of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons. This customised solution has ...