TechKnowSaturday 5:30pm ET/2:30pm PT
July 20, 2015: Drone rescues for dummies
After months of planning and a quick weather check at sea and on land, the US Coast Guard’s Arctic search and rescue exercise finally got underway aboard the Healy.
The target of the recovery Thermal Oscar — a dummy with the heat signature of a human — was thrown off the back of the ship along with a large bright orange life raft. We waved goodbye, the Healy moved on. Behind us Oscar floated and waited.
The arctic is melting, ship traffic is moving in, and the Coast Guard knows they have to be ready for an even greater Arctic responsibility. The most emphasized hurdle in these waters is their remoteness — America’s forgotten icy coast is long, frigid and with little infrastructure.
There is so little Coast Guard infrastructure, in fact, that for this exercise to be realistic, the Coast Guard included the input of industry — an unusual practice for them — by partnering with energy firm ConocoPhillips and using their air support assets in the region.
With Oscar in the water, helicopters on land were standing by but weren’t the first in the air to find him — a drone was. As this was a mission coordinated by the Coast Guard’s Research and Development team they took the opportunity for a high-tech rescue attempt. And attempt it was.
Finding Oscar with a drone launched from land proved to be too difficult for the operator. The raft seemed so big and bright to us, how could they not see it? But the sea is vast, and the ice a constant distraction. Not until we looked at the live feed from the drone could we begin to understand just what a search operation in these waters is up against.
With ice flows constantly on the move, there is no point of reference for the drone operators to orient themselves to. On land there is a bush here, a building there. But there is little comparable in the vast expanse of water. In icy seas, any ice ridge you orient yourself to will be moving as is any ship, and as was Oscar. It ain’t easy.
All involved emphasized what was important for the drone section of the exercise — the ability to transfer control of the drone from someone on land to someone on the ship. Impressive, yes, but Oscar was still out there, radiating heat, and waiting.
As was planned, at one point in the exercise the Coast Guard switched to their go-to rescue machine, the helicopter. Two copters came in, one with the US Coast Guard insignia; another was a private company working with ConocoPhillips called Ero. Both located Oscar and hovered, then taking turns sent divers into the icy water for simulated rescues.
The Coast Guard’s strengths were clear — precise, organized, impressive operations, and all around ingenuity. But in a region that is difficult to get to, and harsh on emerging technology, it was clear that they have their work cut out for them. And maybe next time, Oscar won’t have to wait so long.
July 15, 2015: Tracking bears, cracking ice
Take one part earthquake, another part airplane turbulence, and add in the sound of thunder — that's what being aboard an icebreaker in the Arctic feels like. It’s almost a week into our journey into the Arctic aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy, and we’re just starting to get accustomed to the sound of giant ice blocks being crushed beneath us.
This vessel breaks ice not by slicing through it, but by actually rising above the pieces and allowing its 1-5/8 inch-thick steel hull and sheer mass do the work. But as we’ve learned (and felt), breaking ice is not simply a forward motion. When the ice sheet ahead is too large, it stops the ship. The response? We back up, pick up speed moving forward and ram the ice to break through.
It is one of the greatest shows on Earth out here, the ultimate winter wonderland in the middle of an Arctic summer with floating fields of white. Last night’s ice breaking was the most intense yet and drew a crowd of onlookers peering over the bow to the crushing below. Watching the tons of ice below us creak and crack and crush is mesmerizing, like watching a campfire.
You can see the view of ice out the front of the ship here:
We’ve also entered full polar bear watch. By tracking Alaska Science Center's satellite-tagged polar bears, we’re able to see the activity of several polar bears and get an idea of where they are at this time of year.
Polar bear watch is a lot like standing at the front of the boat getting excited about bear-shaped chunks of ice. So far, all we are seeing is deceptive looking ice, but maybe soon, one of those bear-shaped floaters will actually be one of the large white beasts. Some aboard recall seeing polar bear footprints so big you could sit down in them. It is a sight we are longing to see.
We do science on this ship and our helmet says so. pic.twitter.com/yYtuLCCK0c
— Phil Torres (@phil_torres) July 10, 2015July 14, 2015: Safety first, science always
We do science on this US Coast Guard ship — even our helmets say so. Safety is emphasized constantly aboard the Healy; and when we had the opportunity to watch the deployment of experiments off the fantail (back of the ship), safety we wore.
The mustang suit is a cool name for what in reality is a bright orange puffy onesie designed to save your life. It is required wearing at any time a piece of equipment is lowered off the ship, in case you accidentally get lowered off the ship too. It is topped off with green science helmets for us and the science team, and white ones for the boatswain and top deckhands who tell us where we can and cannot be during the operations.
So far we’ve seen a lot of huge moving gadgets with even huger potential applications. Yesterday, it was a drone. Launched by hand then captured on an automated system by a net with a giant ‘X’ on it. This could be used in the future to sniff out oil spills, map dangerous ice ahead, and survey marine mammals.
It is far from being the only sophisticated equipment on display. Yesterday, a 4:30am wake-up call allowed us to watch NOAA scientists deploy a giant buoy and a wave glider. Once a crane lowered the devices into the water, they began constantly detecting and measuring particular ocean conditions. The wave glider is like a glorified, high-tech wave-powered surfboard; remote controlled from Seattle as it makes its slow way across the Arctic, constantly sending out data with its 70lbs of instruments aboard.
The NOAA deployments are about getting a baseline. Much of basic ocean chemistry and ecology is still unknown in these parts, and as the ice melts this region needs to be monitored and watched. Melting ice from global warming is changing the ecosystem, as may an increase shipping and extraction activities in the area.
Incidentally, the buoy was deployed just 10 miles from where Shell is doing its test drilling this summer. In this changing Arctic, it is more important than ever to get a measure on what it is like now, so we can keep accountable any activities that may change it, in the future.
Polar bear watch. pic.twitter.com/1b3wbD2lzT
— Phil Torres (@phil_torres) July 11, 2015July 13, 2015: From Nome to the sea
We’re aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy, the service’s newest and most technologically advanced icebreaker, as it makes its way north to document environmental change in the Arctic Circle.
As we began our two-week mission, it was something that changed very little that first drew our attention: the constant light in the sky.
It will remain throughout our trip. We’re far enough north that the sun never sets in the summer, and the sky glows all night, with a 4:30 p.m. feel to it that can best be described as almost-dinnertime light.
We started out from Nome, Alaska. It’s a small town of 3,500, with thousands of years of Native history and decades of outside influence slowly tearing at its way of life.
Residents are used to the constant light this time of year. While the times of the rising and setting suns may be the same year after year, other factors are bringing disruption.
Last night around midnight we passed through the Bering Strait. On the left, Russia. On the right, the US. pic.twitter.com/PPm3cZGYuP
— Phil Torres (@phil_torres) July 9, 2015The Nome port — once a traditional sacred land — is now full of gold dredges and crab fishermen. We’re told that many of the miners who end up here were inspired by “Bering Sea Gold” — a TV show documenting the fortunes of those hoping to profit from the area’s offshore gold.
One man we met said he packed up his life in Nevada and headed to Nome three years ago, lured by the televised tales of striking it rich.
In Alaska, “change” is a word used often. The rate of warming in here is twice the national average. Significant climate change has changed Native people’s ability to hunt, their ability to get around and even their ability to live in the towns they have inhabited for thousands of years.
The ship we’re aboard is heading north on a mission to document that change and prepare for a world in which the melting Arctic ice could open up the northern waters to industry and transport. It means more ships, more oil exploration and more interference with the traditional life there.
But what’s seems to be on everyone’s mind here is the increased risk of a significant shipping accident, especially one that involves oil. With very little infrastructure to handle such a disaster — the nearest deep-water port is 800 miles south of Nome — is the region prepared for an oil spill?
In the next two weeks, we’ll see experiments and exercises ranging from search and rescue drills to using drones to detect oil spills, with the Coast Guard and other scientists aboard all aiming to prep our world for an active, busy Arctic future.
Morning's mission was launching and testing an ice-detecting @SPAWARHQ wave glider. pic.twitter.com/FBaiYJ0Txa
— Phil Torres (@phil_torres) July 11, 2015
Error
Sorry, your comment was not saved due to a technical problem. Please try again later or using a different browser.