Meeting
Minutes
Arctic
Icebreaker Coordinating Committee (AICC) Meeting
Wednesday and Thursday, April 20 and 21, 2011
Board Room 1235
National Science Foundation
Arlington, VA
Appendices (All appendices are in pdf format unless otherwise noted.)
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Executive Summary
The Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee (AICC) convened
for their spring 2011 meeting on April 20 & 21, 2011 at the National
Science Foundation in
Item # |
Item |
POC |
Comments |
1 |
Set Date for next Meeting in Dec. |
Robin, Jon, AICC |
Healy doesn’t return to Seattle until 30 December. |
2 |
Accept Minutes from December 2010 |
Jon |
Done, edits made, minutes approved and posted |
3 |
Public review comment period by Mid June for the National Ocean Policy |
John Farrell |
Due by Mid June |
4 |
Greg Somers is being transferred- Certificate of Appreciation |
Jon |
Jon to send this. |
5 |
AICC to promote R/V Sikuliaq |
AICC |
|
6 |
NSF Science Equipment on Polar Sea |
|
Ask Renee Crain of NSF |
7. |
AICC letter is needed to support the Iridium OpenPort. |
AICC |
Send letter to Jim Wilson |
8 |
AICC- provide input to Renee on what ice images are needed |
AICC |
|
9 |
Add “On Ice Ops” to debrief form |
Robin Muench |
Work in progress |
Welcome and
Introductions
Dr. Lee Cooper, AICC Deputy Chair, chaired the meeting as AICC Chair Robin Muench was on travel for this meeting and unable to attend.
Chair Report
The meeting opened at 0830 with welcome remarks, a review of the agenda, and introductions. Lee presented a Power Point of past action items and current status of each.
These were reviewed, and a list was presented of issues being addressed since the December 2010 meeting. We received some edits to the December 2010 meeting minutes, and these changes will be made and then a vote will be taken on acceptance.
UNOLS Reports
Jon Alberts reviewed current activities of the UNOLS office (see presentation).
http://www.unols.org/meetings/2011/201104aic/201104aicmi.html
AICC membership and terms were reviewed. The AICC web site is being worked on, and AICC is requested to send suggestions to Erin Jackson/UNOLS. The MOA was signed between UNOLS and the Coast Guard to provide training opportunities on a space available basis on UNOLS ships for CG MST’s. The Technician Recruitment and Retention Pilot project accomplishments to date were reviewed. CG MST’s were placed on UNOLS ship (see appended slides).
A brief update was provided on other UNOLS standing
committees, followed by an update on the Research Vessel Operators Committee,
(RVOC) (see Doug Russell’s slide). The RVOC will meet in
Agency Reports
NSF - Renee Crain (NSF/OPP)
STARC Proposal status
The call for STARC proposals was issued in fall of 2010, and two proposals were received. An official award has not yet been made, however, a recommendation was made and both candidates have been notified. NSF is currently negotiating a cooperative agreement.
Medical Review Process
NSF is evaluating the process for medical clearances and physical qualifications. We are considering a risk-based system dependant on how far from medical attention the vessel will be working. We do have a PQ process for people working in Greenland, and have used a PQ system for remote sites in Russia. The OPP Medical Panel will meet in June, and a ship-based system will be on the table. Before any policy is made, we will consult with AICC and the Coast Guard. The RVOC Safety Committee is also looking at this issue for UNOLS ships.
Alaskan Native Program and the community participants
NSF is supportive of this program and is receptive to suggestions from AICC.
CH2MHill - Faustine Bernadac (CH2MHill Polar Field Services, and SRI)
Overview
CH2MHill Polar Services (CPS) is a cooperative venture of
three companies (CH2MHill, Polar Field Services, and SRI) and the lead
contractor supporting approximately 140 NSF-sponsored projects in
It was commented that Faustine needs to work with Renee on helicopter support. Capt. Rall (USCG) offered that disembarkation and embarkation in Barrow does not constitute a port call given the lack of facilities and should more properly be classified a “logistics stopover”.
CPS reviewed the various members of the community who are involved in cruises. Community Participants are short-term volunteers taken from the community. CPS is arranging them, and they are offered an honorarium or per diem to compensate for their absence from home. Renee Crain noted that the optimal situation, though not a requirement, is for the volunteer to participate in an entire cruise. A good example was Bob Pickart's 2010 cruise. If cost becomes an issue, then the NSF becomes involved.
Marine Mammal Observers
Marine Mammal Observers: (MMO), now called the “Protected Resource Observers” (PRO), are in most cases qualified by and report to NOAA, or in some cases another appropriate government agency. They are there to ensure compliance with permits and are required by a government agency, usually NOAA/NMFS. Therefore, when you have a permit, you will need a PRO aboard.
Larry Mayer offered that in the past we have had a community observer for the duration of
the cruise. They were paid, and the arrangements were made by the AEWC to build
trust that the cruise didn’t impact marine mammals. They served as effective
liaisons with the whalers when whaling was underway. Last year and this year we
will have a PRO even though we aren’t required to have a permit this year. This
person does not have to be NOAA qualified, i.e. a NOAA training is not required. It was mentioned that it would be beneficial if the
roles of both the community observer and the PRO could be filled by one person,
preferably from the local communities of the
Renee Crain pointed out that the “on the ground support” in Barrow is now called UMIAQ, not BASC as in the past. CPS is working closely with UMIAQ, a Barrow native organization, and it has been a great partnership since January 2011. Faustine’s slides show details on this partnership. BASC however still exists, and they provide other organizations with logistical support. They have a big project with DOE, as well as other NSF in some cases. CPS remains separate and the main contractor tasked by the NSF.
It was suggested that the local logistical information presently on the Icefloe website needs to be improved. Lee Cooper will work on this with Faustine on this effort.
Kathy Crane inquired as to how a foreign vessel makes arrangements in Barrow for logistics.
Is it reasonable to contact CPS? Renee Crain offered that they should
contact her at NSF to work out details such as payment and scientist exchanges. Lee Cooper mentioned that this is
information is currently on Icefloe and that we did make an announcement in
Renee Crain notes
that customers have generally been satisfied but requests that she be informed
of any problems. It was pointed out that any operations out of Deadhorse (
Renee Crain reported on the status of the Arctic logistics support contract. The current contract held by CPS extends through May 2012. NSF is currently recompeting the contract. Proposals were due April 15th, and they hope to announce a decision by October. This will be a 4- year award with the possibility of up to two 2- year options.
BOEMRE - Ron Lai
Ron described a new Environmental Science Program, ESP, which will focus on Arctic science (see presentation). There are various efforts on how to fund this work including collaboration with other federal agencies and with UAF Coastal Marine Institute and others. The present plan is to deploy more weather buoys in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Tom Weingartner (UAF) will deploy the bulk of the drifters, with Bob Pickart to deploy one from the Healy. Industry will deploy their own buoys in response to an EPA requirement to calibrate models. Ron is program manager for the physical oceanography portion of the project.
BOEMRE also has a 36-ft research vessel for work in the
A question was asked about industry partners and the availability of their data, a topic that is currently under discussion.
Extended Continental
Shelf (ECS) - Larry Mayer
Larry provided a Power Point on current work as part of the shelf mapping effort.
In collaboration with the Canadian Ship Louis St. Laurent, they have 49 days scheduled in 2011. The Healy-1102 cruise departs 18 Aug 2011, and the Louis St Laurent departs 11 Aug, and the two vessels will then rendezvous. They will focus on the Barrow Margin, conducting a multibeam survey on Healy, with the Louis following, to just south of 89 North, after which the Louis will take the lead. We will have a Canadian/AUV program, deployed from the Louis, and also have a short seismic line. The U.S. Navy will participate, along with 2 from Metoc, doing xbt’s and balloon launches. The National Ice Center (NIC) will participate with ice observations and buoys. Participants from Fish & Wildlife and the USGS will contribute an ocean acidification component and TCD’s.
A GEO Camera will be used. We deployed previously it on the Nathaniel B. Palmer and will use it on the Healy. The camera data, which are continuous, allow for tilt and pan with geo reference.
John Farrell stated that people have applauded the new bathymetry data availability and asked if there were updates on access to the seismic and AUV data. Barbara Moore responded that the seismic data will not be released until they have worked out an agreement with their finance ministry. The science community in Canada is pushing hard on this. By 2013, when Canadian present data packet, then it will be released.
Department of State
(DOS) - Barbara Moore
The Arctic cruise is only one of several ECS cruises in
2011. We have seven other regions under exploration including two Langseth cruises to the Bering Sea and
Office of Naval Research (ONR)-Martin Jeffries
The US Navy is aware of and concerned with climate change as it will affect the Navy’s mission (see presentation). In 2009 a taskforce on climate change was established following the Arctic Road Map, which is a 5-year plan on what is happening there and how to plan for the next 10-30 years.
ONR has decided to reinvigorate Arctic research programs and, with help from Admiral Carr, has created an Arctic & Global Prediction program having 3 focus areas:
1) Improve basic understanding of the environment and
physical processes in the
2) Develop integrated ocean-ice-wave atmospheric earth system models for improved prediction.
3) Explore new technologies for measurements (platforms, sensors, communications) required for persistent operation in the Arctic.
New money will be in the FY 2012 budget. FY11 activities included ICEX, an ice camp in support of submarine activities, that also allowed ice thickness observations. Biogeochemical sampling was carried out from one of the participating submarines for developing protocols.
On Feb 14th we released the announcement for new department research in the form of a call for planning letters, due the first of April. Response was outstanding, this is new research funding.
In FY 2014 we are planning a significant at sea effort, and ONR will be looking for a vessel, Healy being a potential contender.
NOAA Arctic Research
Program- Kathy Crane
Kathy gave an overview on the RUSALCA program that is funded
jointly by NSF and NOAA (see presentation). In 2011 we will use a Russian
vessel from Nome to Nome to service 8 moorings across
NOAA/PMEL has an
Thompson for two cruises in 2011.
The Distributed Biological Observatory initiative has been gaining traction. This is a multi- ship, multi-national program focusing on four main regions. NOAA is trying to bring together scientists from many nations to look at ecosystems, biodiversity and overall rates of change.
The Circumpolar Flora and Fauna (CAFF), circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program is another driver of NOAA programs that originated with Arctic Council support.
NOAA wants to develop an international Arctic Observing Network with core, standardized ship-based sampling. This will require many ships from all nations. The standards for underway data collection are being developed. Comment that at design time it is not very expensive to improve things if the experience can be incorporated into the effort. .
A question was asked as to how well integrated NOAA is with BOEMRE, ONR and NSF funded PI’s. NOAA has had some preliminary talks with ONR. We are looking for partners for RUSALCA program, and more discussion is needed on this topic.
US Arctic Research
Commission- John Farrell
The commission is a small policy and advisory group that can work directly with Congress (see presentation). We have a new chair, Fran Ulmer. Two aspects of the Commission were discussed.
The Inter-Agency Research and Policy Committee are now
managed by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), which is based
in the White House. The first meeting of principals at the assistant secretary,
deputy secretary level is next week. The Committee will develop a 5-year plan
for FY 14-18, including cross-cutting themes within the budget, and have
FY12-13 initiatives dovetailing with Homeland Security Presidential Directive
(HSPD) 66 and National Security Directive (NSPD) 25, that provide high-level
direction for
OMB says don’t plan on anything new that is beyond existing budgets, but they approved for inclusion a Homeland Security budget request for 5 million for yet another analysis of icebreaking requirements. Not down to Coast Guard, but handled by undersecretary of management of DHS.
The new National Ocean Policy Act created a National Ocean
Council to flesh out nine objectives for action, with the
National Ice Center
(NIC) - Caryn Panowicz
John Simms sends his regrets that he was unable to attend. Caryn outlined the 2011 support. The decrease in Arctic multiyear pack ice continues. Caryn noted however that the charts of ice coverage and thickness over several years, as well as forecast for 2011, are based on freezing degree days without ground truthing.
NIC will provide 82 radarsat images for the Healy HLY1101 cruise at $2300 per image. UNCLOS cruises will have 450 images on HLY1102. A Navy AG meteorological person will participate in the cruise for training and daily briefs, and an ice analyst will serve as a communication liaison.
An issue exists on sharing ice data with Canadian Ice Service and the NIC. The NIC can share, but Canadians cannot share ice data. They are working on this situation. NIC is part of the North American Ice Service. Edward Lau from MDA is working on an agreement with Canada, and Dale offered to work with him on this.
NIC was asked what other missions it supports. NIC responded that it spends 90-95% of SAR imager resources in support of US Navy Submarine activities.
Concerning data availability after a cruise: data are archived, but it's unclear whether it's available from the archives at no cost.
It was noted that Sikuliaq operations will require ice images, and that NSF/OPP will need to look into this.
Karen Frey noted that European Ice Services provides this information at no cost.
NIC will convene an Ice Conference on June 28th at the Navy Memorial.
NIC has the dates for Carin Ashjian’s winter 2011 Healy Cruise, but has not yet received a budget for this.
Enlisted military, about 15 personnel at present, are pulling out of NIC but will continue as a Navy command. When the transition is completed, NIC will consist of about 12 civilian analysts and a few officers.
The FY 12 budget will be austere. OMB has approved the Healy budget, but only at the $24M level
and we are required to shut down the
On the 1 July 2011 change of command Capt Vaughn will take over as CO of Star, and crew from Sea will join the Star.
The MOA for training ops for MST’s on UNOLS ships has proven successful and is very important.
D-17 PacArea- Greg Somers
(See presentation)
D-17 Arctic Domain Awareness (ADA) flights using the C-130 will continue bi-monthly for flights of opportunity.
With respect to the marine environment, pollution response
exercises are planned off Prudhoe Bay this summer in CONOP and out of Barrow as
a SAR exercise, and a maritime towing exercise will be undertaken in
There have been as yet no requests concerning 2011 foreign research vessel activities. Healy has 217 operating days encompassing 5 cruises during 2011, which makes it a very big year.
Greg Somers is being transferred in August, and will be replaced by Doug Wyatt.
One slide is available on outreach efforts and the Coffin cruise report (ftp.polarscience.net requires the password: “forhealy”)
Update on R/V
SIKULIAQ - Steve Hartz
The keel laying ceremony was held on April 11, 2011 and was attended by, among many others, David Conover, the new NSF/OCE Division Director (See presentation for complete schedule).
Recent changes to Sikuliaq include a new met mast and hull length extension to 261 ft. These and other changes reflect design verification weight issues and their mitigation. She will be classed as a UNOLS Global vessel with an ice class of IACS- PC 5, enabling operations in first year ice with some multiyear ice. Endurance will be 45 days, with availability of fuel being the limiting factor. Steve presented photos of the ship, modules, mock-ups, and the Marinette Marine facilities.
Operations,
Scheduling, and Planning for 2011 and beyond
Healy - Dave Forcucci
The Healy schedule can be accessed at Icefloe with a password (also, see presentation).
Shakedown April 25 to San Francisco, then back to Seattle, then Honolulu.
JMS inspection out of Honolulu on 12 June.
NASA cruise June/July, Dutch to Kodiak
ECS cruise Aug/Sept, Barrow to Dutch
Pickart cruise Oct, Dutch to Dutch
Ashjian cruise Nov to Dec, Seward to Dutch
The 2012 season includes Pickart and ECS cruises, and pending NSF cruises.
Polar Star - Neil Meister
Neil Meister is
retired CG and currently with the Buoy and Construction Office in
Polar Star is
undergoing major system upgrades for a 7-10 year extension, in order to improve
reliability while retaining the same capabilities. Sea and ice trials are scheduled for early
2013. Upgrades include a new 15 ton crane, new bearings in stern tubes,
upgraded engines based on lessons learned from
The Star upgrades will continue in 4 phases as follows:
P1: Assessment in 2009
P2: Dockside- May –Dec 2010, (mostly rip outs)
P3: Drydock-Jan-July 2011
P4: Dockside Aug11-Dec12
Engines had been upgraded to a configuration that we now
know from the
A question was raised as to Miranda davits would work properly given hull tumble home resulting from hull curvature and ice belt configuration. The davit has been moved farther aft in hopes that this would correct any issues, but it has not yet been tested at sea.
Lee Cooper - ICEFLOE
The scientists' primer is now online and our thanks are offered to Renee for providing some of the graphics that are used. AEWC is now reviewing it, and anyone having comments should pass them to Lee.
Woody notes that they have talked to Tom Cook, who has agreed to stay on, for the back end.
Dave Forcucci notes that the CG put in for Canadian and Russian cruises, and that this has been a learning process.
Science Tech Support - Dale Chayes
Dale will work with the STARC awardee to make the transition (see presentation for details on support provided by Dale, who will work with the new STARC awardee during the transition period). Recent projects include:
The pCO2/TSG installation outline was given. This will shorten the latency time in the system for improved data. There was insufficient time to get it installed once it was funded for the 2011 season. We may consider a temporary installation in a lab van for HLY1103. If we want to do that, we need to commit to it now and get a plan in place.
Jeremy Mathis needs this for his cruise. We don’t want to miss another year, and we need to have this plan to CG by end of April 2011.
ADCP: We replaced the old 150 with a UAF unit. OPP will send a new OS150 for Sikuliaq. We switched to UHDAS, and still need spares for the 150. A plan exists to deal with electromagnetic issues, and we also need to replace the ADCP window with a Zelux upgrade.
Multibeam replacement: An historical timeline was
shown to illustrate how this has gone. We still have some noise issues, and we
have 2 days to work on the transit from
Acoustic Communications: We have effective communication with releases, but have to hang a transducer over the side. We have been working on getting one installed in the hull. John Kemp/WHOI has a transducer. We need to confirm availability of a deck unit and workout an installation plan. We hope to do this for the Pickart cruise.
Reference Hydrophone: We discovered the ship has one, though no one knew it was there.
Winch Monitor System: Appendix A will apply to Healy.
Turner Fluorometer: we are looking at this and hopefully will add some new sensors.
Adjourn Day One-
Thursday 21 April 21,
2011
Meeting Convened at 0830
Lee Cooper proposed to accept the minutes by e-mail.
Science Modifications, infrastructure and equipment - Dave Forcucci and Eric St. Pierre
(See presentation) They just received a report from Elliot
Bay Group concerning the Healy bow vans. This was funded by NSF/Matt Hawkins to come up with more
options for van placement on deck. The Coast Guard has not yet reviewed this
report. Eric St. Pierre stated that
this is a 2 phase approach that considers the “front porch” area and
athwartships. Power connections need to be looked at, and shore-ties are a
concern with this suggested van location. The report is posted on Icefloe. The
installation needs to tolerate minus 50 on insulation, heating, water lines,
and drainage of water. On May 13, 2011,
ESU Report - Jim Wilson
(See presentation) ESU has been a separate command and will become part of the “base.” VSAT signed a $19,722 contract on April 1st for nine months at 256 kbps.
Service is for two more months than last year and is about $8K less than last year for 7 months. The Coast Guard is going to VSAT to replace Inmarsat B, which will no longer be supported starting in 2014. We have started plans to put a VSAT for science on Polar Star, which already has antenna cable runs for Reachback.
The CG has prohibited tunneling of the science network through CGDN as backup on Healy and as the only/primary on Polar Star.
On the Openport issue, the CG has concerns about a long term commitment to having the OpenPort connected to science computers. A letter is needed from the AICC to support the Iridium OpenPort. Large file transfers are mission critical for AICC, and they need to send Jim Wilson a letter on this.
Regarding
Science Tech Support-
Steve Robert will sail on at least the three Healy summer cruises, with NSF funding.
Woody Sutherland summarized the planned technical support during their phase in:
HLY1101: NASA- (6) SIO folks
HLY1102:ECS- Dale and Steve
HLY1103:Pickart- At least (1) SIO tech and Steve
HLY1104:Carin- We are working on that still.
Lee Cooper presented Dale Chayes with a certificate of appreciation for all his support to the Healy, Coast Guard, and AICC.
Ice Imagery - Karen Frey
Karen presented a
report provided by Andrew Fleming at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The
report concerns a service which has been in place for the Antarctic for some
time. Now they are doing
Dale offered that the interface to the low bandwidth browser has been limited to computers running Windows. Dale did some debugging recently and passed the results on to Andrew so perhaps they will be able to make some progress on that.
Renee asked that she be kept informed of how Polar View and NIC can be more helpful.
Karen mentioned there has been a delay in SAR images from NIC. Processing is better from MDA and PolarView and we will have a direct link from these two. AICC needs to provide input to Renee on what images are needed. We are going to plot Healy’s location on the images. Terrascan images are also used when images are good
AICC Business and
Other Issues
On Ice Operations - Don Perovich
Don is writing a section on Ice Operations. This could be added to debrief forms in similar fashion to helo and small boat ops.
Jeremy reported on outreach. We have an outreach coordinator at University of Alaska Fairbanks for the Native Outreach Program and can make matches with students to be the observers. They are looking at setting up a course through the university. These are native students. And we want to have students from the village to make the connection back.
Renee notes that NSF would be interested in helping with this, which also would be good for field camps. NSF would be pleased to entertain a proposal.
Faustine notes that involvement of a person from Barrow is important and would like to help. She also notes that during hunting season, it would be hard to find someone.
Lee comments that a written report/feedback is important. We need to have someone capable of, and willing to, return to their community and report back.
Larry Mayer stated appreciation for Capt Ralls’ effort to put the berthing document in writing. See letter on how rooms are assigned and rooms assignments spreadsheet. The STARC tech’s room should be identified so that they don’t have to move every cruise. Larry will look at the rooms and come up with document on what rooms are better then others. For helo-ops personnel this needs to be spelled out as to which rooms these personnel get. Capt Rall will give this some more thought, but I will sign this document.
New Business-
PCO2
This is an extremely important system, and we are concerned that this get on the ship. We need to allocate resources to get this in place. Dave Forcucci will work with Woody Sutherland to get it installed into the current plumbing system. Greg Somers reminded us that for permanent installations, it takes some time to get it approved. Dr. Taro Takahashi owns the system .
ScoreBoards
Capt Rall: we have spent a lot of resources to support this. He suggests a wireless system. Knowing the wire tension is important as we clear the deck when the tensions get high. Bob Campbell: we have used it for winch speed, wire out, so it is helpful.
Scoreboards can be rolled into the wire monitor sys LCI90.
Don Perovich agreed to stay on for another term.
Lee Cooper and Renee Crain thanked everyone for coming
Meeting adjourned at 1030