April 20, 2020
In the great white-and-blue expanse of the Arctic with miles
and miles of ice and water, harsh wind and waves, human contact is sparse. The
population density of the Alaskan Arctic circle is less than one person per
square mile. The breathtakingly beautiful Arctic Ocean presents obstacles for
ships that dare to cross it, even for the guardians of the water realm – the
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
Changing ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean bring not only
difficulties, ut also present unique opportunities. Ever since becoming an
Arctic Nation in 1867, the Arctic remains strategically vital to the United
States. As sea ice melts more and more each year, new space opens up for
international strategic competition for economic and geopolitical advantages.
The Coast Guard grapples with ice conditions not only in the
Arctic, but anywhere in the northern regions where bodies of water freeze in
the winter. For officers patrolling northern Alaska, the Great Lakes and the
northeastern stretches of the U.S., understanding the environment in the
northern regions is key to overcoming the numerous challenges while on guard
and responding to emergencies. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) tackles these challenges via the
Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC), a DHS Center of Excellence based at the
University of Alaska Anchorage.
"Alaska's vastness, remoteness, and lack of
infrastructure created enormous challenges for Coast Guard operators' efforts
to communicate effectively and gain domain awareness – challenges that need to
be addressed to strengthen the security and secure the future of the region,”
said DHS Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for
Science and Technology William Bryan, who paid a visit to ADAC in December
2019.
“The missions of the Coast Guard are continually evolving to
meet the needs of a changing Arctic,” Mr. Bryan continued. “The visit allowed
me to gain a deeper understanding of the ADAC research and education program,
as well as the Coast Guard’s operational challenges and ADAC's engagement with
key stakeholders.”
The ADAC mission
S&T established the ADAC Center of Excellence in 2014
specifically to support Coast Guard missions and the maritime community in the
Arctic through research and development of specialized technology capabilities,
knowledge products, and educational opportunities.
ADAC's mission is to improve maritime situational awareness
and crisis response capabilities for search and rescue, humanitarian
assistance, disaster response, and homeland security missions. The Center aims
to develop and deliver technology solutions, innovative products and
educational programs using a science-based approach. The results of these efforts also benefit
ADAC’s partners and collaborators and support the public good.
“ADAC partners with other federal agencies and industry to
transition products to the Coast Guard and Alaskan communities. For example,
ADAC developed an arctic oil spill response model and transitioned it to the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for inclusion into its
General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment (GNOME), which USCG utilizes for
various missions,” said Theophilos Gemelas, DHS S&T Program Manager
overseeing the ADAC program. “NOAA is responsible for providing the Coast Guard
with spill forecasts in the event of a marine oil spill.”
Mr. Bryan met with the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter
Mustang in Whittier, Alaska. He learned about the operational challenges posed
by communication limitations in the Arctic. During his recent visit, Mr. Bryan
took part in roundtable discussions with ADAC leadership, university
leadership, students, federal, state and local officials working in Alaska, the
indigenous community, and local industry leaders. Topics included ADAC efforts
in innovative research and education, addressing challenges in collecting,
integrating and interpreting data, as well as the need for infrastructure in
the vast Arctic to help with emergency response. Participants noted the importance
of data collection from sensors deployed in space, land, and maritime domains
for a systematic understanding of the environment.
“ADAC has successfully fostered a network of Arctic
operators, communities, researchers and public officials to explore solutions,
particularly for the Coast Guard and other maritime stakeholders,” Mr. Bryan
said.
Current ADAC projects
As part of the DHS S&T Centers of Excellence, S&T
funds ADAC through its Office of University Programs to research solutions to
challenges the Coast Guard faces in ice impacted areas. Here are some of the
projects ADAC is working on.
Ice Conditions for the Great Lakes and the Arctic
Ice getting in the way of ships is a major issue for the
Coast Guard servicing the Great Lakes. ADAC is developing an ice condition
index (ICECON) tool to help with safe navigation and voyage. ICECON combines
information on the classes of vessels in a given area at a given time with
immediate lake ice conditions and five-day prognosis. For such prognoses,
ICECON uses satellite information and NOAA circulation and ice models.
“ICECON is completing its integration into the U.S. National
Ice Center, a multi-agency center operated by the U.S. Navy, the Coast Guard
and NOAA, with data from the Canadian Operational Sea Ice Model,” said Gemelas.
“This work will better help the Coast Guard minimize risks to mariners to keep
them safe.”
ADAC is also developing a similar tool for the Arctic—Arctic
Ice Condition Index (ARCTICE)—to support mariners in the U.S. Exclusive Economic
Zone portion of the North American Arctic ocean (the Bering, Chukchi, and
Beaufort Sea) where vessel traffic has increased. ARCTICE relates local ice
conditions to the capabilities of a specific vessel class, which is delivered
in graphical charts. This index will provide forecasts of ice conditions from
72 hours up to one month in advance.
Long Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
With the increase of commercial marine activity in high
latitudes, the risk of oil spills grows. Characterizing the extent of oil
spills in ice-free waters is difficult, but it is even harder under ice. ADAC
is developing a prototype high endurance submersible robotic system for mapping
oil spills under ice called Long Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (LRAUV).
The current prototype is portable and easily launched and
recovered. It can communicate data on oil spills and other environmental
hazards to distant Coast Guard outposts via satellites and strategically placed
buoy antennas. LRAUV has been tested in the past years in the ice-free waters
of Monterey Bay, CA; it was just tested under ice in Lake Bog, Maine in
February 2020.
“The research team at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in
Massachusetts is testing the system this year in the Arctic, off the north
slope of Alaska,” Gemelas said. “Tests include launching and recovering the
LRUAV under ice, and testing communication systems.”
This web-based geospatial tool addresses a demand, caused by
the increased activity in the Arctic, for comprehensive domain awareness for
Arctic operators. The goal is to provide the Coast Guard with an adaptable
webGIS interface for displaying, informing, and disseminating data to users
from various communities.
“Although many of our Arctic partners do not have robust
communications or command and control systems, the Coast Guard has a critical
need to gather as much Arctic information as possible, fuse and present it on a
geographic display, and--most importantly--share it quickly with responders
throughout the Arctic,” said Hank Blaney, USCG Maritime Domain Awareness policy
analyst, serving as Project Champion for this project.
Arctic Geofencing addresses the need to develop a monitoring
system that determines whether vessels comply with environmental protection and
conservation regulations or whether they impede subsistence marine hunting
activities. It also monitors speed and sends speeding tickets.
“This capability will alert Coast Guard watch standers when
vessels enter areas they shouldn’t be in and share that picture with other
responders,” Blaney said, who serves as Project Champion for Arctic Geofencing
as well. “We’re also hoping we can utilize this capability, not just in the
Arctic, but in all areas where the Coast Guard operates.”
Future outlook
ADAC continues to address the ever-evolving challenges the
Arctic presents – unpredictable weather, increased vessel traffic and the
tyranny of distance. Projects focusing on increasing domain awareness,
improving the Coast Guard’s ability to search and rescue, providing
humanitarian assistance and responding to disasters are on the Center’s agenda.
The next key focus area for ADAC will be new research projects that address Coast
Guard needs related to crisis response, which are based on request for
proposals and currently under a merit review process.
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