Arctic marine climate of the early nineteenth century

The climate of the early nineteenth century is likely to have been significantly cooler than that of today, as it was a period of low solar activity (the Dalton minimum) and followed a series of large volcanic eruptions. Proxy reconstructions of the temperature of the period do not agree well on the size of the temperature change, so other observational records from the period are particularly valuable. Weather observations have been extracted from the reports of the noted whaling captain William Scoresby Jr., and from the records of a series of Royal Navy expeditions to the Arctic, preserved in the UK National Archives. They demonstrate that marine climate in 1810 - 1825 was marked by consistently cold summers, with abundant sea-ice. But although the period was significantly colder than the modern average, there was considerable variability: in the Greenland Sea the summers following the Tambora eruption (1816 and 1817) were noticeably warmer, and had less sea-ice coverage, than the years immediately preceding them; and the sea-ice coverage in Lancaster Sound in 1819 and 1820 was low even by modern standards. © 2010 Author(s)

Conceiving and Executing Operation Gauntlet: The Canadian-Led Raid on Spitzbergen, 1941

In August and September 1941, Canadian Brigadier Arthur Potts led a successful but little known combined operation by a small task force of Canadian, British, and Norwegian troops in the Spitzbergen (Svalbard) archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. After extensive planning and political conversations between Allied civil and military authorities, the operation was re-scaled so that a small, mixed task force would destroy mining and communications infrastructure on this remote cluster of islands, repatriate Russian miners and their families to Russia, and evacuate Norwegian residents to Britain. While a modest non-combat mission, Operation Gauntlet represented Canada’s first expeditionary operation in the Arctic, yielding general lessons about the value of specialized training and representation from appropriate functional trades, unity of command, operational secrecy, and deception, ultimately providing a boost to Canadian morale. Interactions also demonstrated the complexities of coalition warfare as well as the challenges associated with civil-military interaction in the theatre of operations

A Process for Producing Ice Coverage Marine Information Objects (MIOs) in IHO S-57 Format

While global warming may be opening up more Arctic waters in the summer, ice still infests key shipping lanes in the northern hemisphere during the winter months. To safely navigate these areas, mariners rely on daily ice coverage charts produced by national governmental agencies. Ice charts are primarily issued in paper format or as a fax. However, there is increased interest to ice coverage information on vessel navigation systems such as an Electronic Chart and Display Information Systems (ECDIS). However, to do so, the ice information must be provided as a separate layer of information to the Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC)

A Catalog of Hydroclimatological Data for Alaska's Coastal Zone

In order to perceive a better understanding of the interrelationships of the coastal zone water we proposed a research project which was to sort out many of the complex variables. The project was not begun due to the lack of sufficient funds. We did, however, begin a limited literature search and listing of hydroclimatological data sources of Alaska's coastal zone. We felt this would be a modest but useful start towards the larger study. It should also have some practical usefulness to others. This data catalog is a result of this initial study. Because of the wide variety of types of agency which collect data and the literally hundreds of sources through which they are reported, it is often quite bewildering for even experienced investigators to sort out what can be found and where. Although we are sure that the catalog is far from complete, we feel that it is a useful beginning towards an attempt to better understand the hydroclimatological processes in Alaska's coastal zone. We wish to invite contributions and criticisms which could lead to an improved and more comprehensive version at some future date.We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Sea Grant Program of the University of Alaska and the support and encouragement of its Director, David Hickok. The project also received support from the Office of Water Resources Research and the State of Alaska through the Institute of Water Resources at the University of Alaska

Establishing a Multibeam Sonar Evaluation Test Bed near Sidney, British Columbia

The Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS), Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) and the Ocean Mapping Group of the University of New Brunswick (OMG) collaborated on establishing a multibeam sonar test bed in the vicinity of the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, British Columbia Canada. This paper describes the purpose of the sonar evaluation test bed, the trials and tribulations of two foreign governments collaborating on projects of mutual interest, the evaluation areas and their characteristics for sonar testing, and sample results of sonar evaluations using this test bed. Some target detection comparisons of several systems over a range of artificial sonar targets will also be given

Cold climate water/wastewater transportation and treatment - a bibliography: completion report

This bibliography contains 1,400 citations, including published and unpublished papers, on cold-climate water and wastewater transportation and treatment systems. Sources listed include state and federal agency files which contain information on systems in Alaskan communities and the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company camps. References to systems in other northern countries are also included. The objectives of this study were to identify causes of the failure of Alaskan water and wastewater treatment and transportation facilities and to seek methods for design improvements. Originally, the investigators contemplated an evaluation of systems performance in remote areas in relation to the original conception, planning, design, and construction. Because of the tremendous amount of literature examined, the evaluation was undertaken in a subsequent study, "Alaska Wastewater Treatment Technology" (A-058-ALAS) by Dr. Ronald A. Johnson.OWRT AGREEMENT NO. 14-31-0001-5002 PROJECT NO. A-047-ALAS The work upon which this completion report is based was supported by funds provided by the U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Water Research and Technology, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964, Public Law 88-379, as amended

nsroot: Minimalist Process Isolation Tool Implemented With Linux Namespaces

Data analyses in the life sciences are moving from tools run on a personal computer to services run on large computing platforms. This creates a need to package tools and dependencies for easy installation, configuration and deployment on distributed platforms. In addition, for secure execution there is a need for process isolation on a shared platform. Existing virtual machine and container technologies are often more complex than traditional Unix utilities, like chroot, and often require root privileges in order to set up or use. This is especially challenging on HPC systems where users typically do not have root access. We therefore present nsroot, a lightweight Linux namespaces based process isolation tool. It allows restricting the runtime environment of data analysis tools that may not have been designed with security as a top priority, in order to reduce the risk and consequences of security breaches, without requiring any special privileges. The codebase of nsroot is small, and it provides a command line interface similar to chroot. It can be used on all Linux kernels that implement user namespaces. In addition, we propose combining nsroot with the AppImage format for secure execution of packaged applications. nsroot is open sourced and available at: https://github.com/uit-no/nsroo

A Tough Little Boat: The Pogo-HMCS Labrador’s Hydrographic Survey Launch

In the summer of 1995 the Canadian War Museum accepted delivery of the Pogo, the 36-foot aluminum sounding boat which had accompanied the voyages of HMCS Labrador, Canada’s first and last Arctic Patrol vessel. One of the considerations that led to its acquisition lies in the CWM’s mission statement, to document “Canada’s commitment to peacekeeping and maintenance of international security.” We have a tendency to speak of international security as a concept symptomatic of the Nuclear Age because, prior to the Second World War, countries could afford to take an isolationist stance and dismiss the tension between belligerents as “none of their business.” However, the long-range nuclear bomber and the subsequent introduction of the intercontinental ballistic missile made tensions everybody’s business. The early 1950s were the beginning of an era where Canada began to define its postwar image and the addition of this artifact to the National Collection is a physical reminder of Canada\u27s role in the achievement of Arctic sovereignty and the development of international security

An Annotated List and New Species Descriptions of Collembola Found in the Project Elf Study Area of Michigan

An annotated list of 80 collembolan species taken from the ELF Project area in Dickinson County. Michigan, is presented. Two new species are described, a new record for the United States is established, and new records for Michigan\u27s Upper Peninsula are reported. Specimens were obtained using pitfall traps and extraction of liner and soil cores taken from deciduous forest.