By Bob Freeman, Office of Naval Research
ARLINGTON, Va. (NNS) -- On July 14, Chief of Naval Research
Rear Adm. Mat Winter was the Navy keynote speaker at the Sixth Symposium on the
Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Maritime and Naval Operations.
Winter discussed ONR's investments in Arctic science,
stressing the importance of international partnership and science and
technology diplomacy.
"The Office of Naval Research [ONR] has extensive
research on computer modeling and prediction of sea waves, ice movement,
seasonal ice cycles and air-ocean interaction," Winter said.
He highlighted a few current initiatives: an integrated
program of observations and computer simulations to study the marginal ice zone
(MIZ), the transition area between sea ice and the open ocean; an initiative to
provide better physics for computer modeling of waves in the MIZ; experiments
to understand the effects of changing Arctic conditions on low-frequency sound
in the water and sonar operations; and research into vertical heat distribution
and movement in the Arctic Ocean.
Winter also addressed ONR's research in issues like ship
stability risk from ice accretion; improved hull design for ice operations;
ice-phobic coatings to prevent ice from adhering to exposed material; and
propellers and propulsors that are less vulnerable to ice damage.
Reflecting higher level strategic guidance, including the
Navy's Arctic Roadmap, Winter emphasized the importance of partnerships in
Arctic preparations. He noted that his researchers are uniquely postured to
build partnerships, a practice he called "S&T diplomacy."
"Our ONR Global outreach mission allows our scientists
to collaborate with other scientists around the world to discover the
breakthrough technologies and build the scientific relationships vital to
addressing the unique challenges in the harsh Arctic environment," Winter
said.
Later in the day, ONR's Dr. Scott Harper, lead for the
Navy's Arctic and Global Prediction initiatives, went into more detail about
environmental research in his presentation. Harper noted that there are three
main focus areas.
First is to develop an improved understanding of the
changing Arctic environment, which will enable more accurate representation in
environmental computer models and improved forecasting capabilities.
Harper explained that the loss of summer sea ice cover was
allowing more interaction between the atmosphere, waves and ocean surface,
creating much more dynamic conditions.
"Understanding how these things work together is the
first step towards making reliable predictive models for better
forecasting," he said.
The second focus is the development of technologies for
sustained observations and measurements that will provide long-term monitoring,
further scientific understanding and improve models. This focus includes the
use of unmanned and autonomous vehicles and the collection of remote sensing
data.
"We need to build the operational data set,"
Harper noted, "not only for the science that we need to do, but also to
provide real-time awareness to operational forces."
Improved understanding and enhanced data collection support
the third focus: the development of computer models that include the influence
of ocean, atmosphere, ice and waves.
"The goal is to build system models that operate in
high resolution, capture important Arctic processes and assimilate all this
data," Harper said, "and then run these models out to the future to
predict not only what will happen in the next few days, but to also provide
seasonal guidance as well as looking out multi-year to decades to figure out
how fast the ice will continue to diminish."
The Symposium was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Arctic
Research Commission and the National Naval Ice Center, with funding support
from ONR.
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