Arctic Risk: a discussion of the possible outcomes of two disaster scenarios

We believe that the risks associated with Arctic development often involve the overlap of disciplines and sectors. Based on this belief, we organized an Arctic Risk Scenario meeting on the 12th September 2014. Invited participants worked through two Arctic disaster scenarios. The scenarios chosen were: (1) a cruise ship sinking off north east Spitzbergen, and (2) an oil well blowout in the Kara sea. Participants came from the oil and gas industry, shipping, law, politics, humanitarian agencies and academia: one aim of the meeting was to bring together diverse perspectives on the Arctic. Two invited speakers presented relevant background. Dr Nataly Marchenko (The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), and author of the book “Russian Arctic Seas”) discussed a series of recent Arctic shipping near8disasters. Dr Rocky Taylor (C8Core, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada) discussed the complexities of oil exploration and production in Arctic seas, again based on a number of reference events. The rest of the meeting was held under the Chatham House Rule. Diverse views were expressed, and in this document we highlight topics of broad consensus and areas of disagreement. This document highlights observations and outcomes from the meeting which may affect the UK’s ongoing interests in Arctic development. It was submitted to, and published by, the UK House of Lords Arctic Committee, under their 2014 call for evidence

Being bad to do good: using reverse psychology to embed Life Cycle Thinking and knowledge of Sustainable Development Goals in design and engineering curricula

Designers and engineers have developed many products, systems and services that have been socially, economically and environmentally beneficial; however, they have also been initiators of and contributors to the linear economy, which has created many negative impacts and is proving unsustainable (1). Either way, the power and influence of the design and engineering professions is indisputable and therefore the role of educators as arbiters of good practice is critically important. Consequently, it is surprising that some courses still fail to include sustainability as a core subject and/or that sustainability is seen as a ‘tick box’ criterion that is ignored or forgotten once covered in an assignment. In the latter case this could be due to: students feeling over-whelmed by the breadth of criteria they need to address in their assignments; the way in which assignment briefs are presented and marks allocated; ‘eco- fatigue’ (e.g. in response negatives such as green washing) and/or eco-anxiety. This and similar phenomena such as climate-depression are increasing among people who work in sustainability-related professions and young people who feel as though they have no control over their future or are powerless to initiate positive change (2). It is important for educators to develop pedagogic strategies to simultaneously mitigate these issues and ensure that sustainability remains core to design and engineering courses; it is equally important to help students to deal with their negative feelings. Education for Sustainable Development involves developing positive solutions to problems. However, this paper proposes that reverse psychology (3) can be used to create enjoyable and educationally memorable experiences that highlight the need for good practice. In simple terms, reverse psychology encourages someone to do something by suggesting that he/she does the opposite (4). This paper describes a case study where first year engineering and design students were asked to develop the most unsustainable concept and to negate as many SDGs possible in response to subjects such as food / water supply and resource consumption. Once the students realised that ‘bad was good’ in this context the level of creativity and innovation rose and the end-of-project presentations were high spirited and humorous. This controversial approach has proved successful so far and the response to subsequent assignments asking for sustainable design proposals have been of a higher standard than those from other year groups and each has included evidence of Life Cycle Thinking and intrinsic links to Sustainable Development Goals with limited prompting. 1. Andrews, D., The circular economy, design thinking and education for sustainability. Local Economy; Article first published online: March 19, 2015; Issue published: May 1, 2015 Volume: 30 issue: 3, page(s): 305-315. 2. Clayton, S., Manning, C. M., Krygsman, K., & Speiser, M. (2017). Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica. 3. Pennebaker, J. W. and Sanders, D. Y. (1976) American graffiti: Effects of authority and reactance arousal. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2, 264-267 4. MaDonald, G., Nail, P.R and Harper, J.R. Do people use reverse psychology? An exploration of strategic self-anti-conformity. January 2011; Social Influence 6(1): 1-14 DOI: 10.1080/15534510.2010.51728

Determining the grain geometry from ultrasonic measurements of large-grained temperate ice cores

Ice shelf collapse significantly contributes to the global rise of sea levels. This intricate process of fracturing, though not yet fully understood, is intertwined with the mechanical attributes of ice. Among the critical physical attributes related to its mechanical characteristics is the crystal orientation fabric (COF), which encapsulates the dimensions, orientations, and inclinations of the constituent crystal grains within the ice structure. The acquisition of such granular information necessitates the extraction of ice cores from the ice sheets or shelves, followed by their transportation to a controlled laboratory environment. After this, these cores are sectioned into submillimetre slices and examined using polarised light microscopy (PLM). However, this procedure destroys the ice core specimens and only permits the acquisition of two-dimensional images, imparting only a partial depiction of the three-dimensional COF.The principal objective of this work is to explore the possibility of involving ultrasound technology to discern the crystal grains' COF and their geometries. This novel approach does not harm the sample material during the examination

Design and Engineering Pedagogies as Agents for Disruption, Innovation and Transformation and the Transfer and Application of Reverse Psychology Across the Disciplines

Design and engineering have individually and collectively disrupted and transformed societies, economies and the environment through innovative and regenerative practice and activities. Design and engineering education have also been transformative especially the former to which experiential, active, problem and project-based learning has always been central. This paper considers an innovative and particular teaching method – reverse psychology – that employs disruptive thinking and is being used to teach design and engineering students about sustainability. The project, results and impact are discussed in detail and were presented at EPDE21 [1]. The method proved highly successful and feedback suggested that it could be applicable to participants other than university students. This paper describes the subsequent research and its relevance to design and engineering education. The theory was tested in a workshop at an academic staff conference. Feedback was again very positive and a further workshop for academics from different disciplines was organised to develop subject–specific material and assess whether the method was transferable across disciplines. The experience proved highly beneficial to all parties who learnt from each other; the bespoke materials developed during the session were subsequently tested with students who again responded very positively, which soundly endorsed transferability. These various results show that design education remains innovative and is leading and supporting development of pioneering educational practices. Furthermore the design and engineering academics involved in the research learned from colleagues in other disciplines which supports and illustrates the benefit of transdisciplinary collaboration

2D DEM of Ice Rubble: the effect of rate-dependent friction.

The friction coefficient of ice on ice is usually modeled as a constant. However, theory and experimental data show that ice-ice friction depends on the speed of sliding. In this paper we incorporate a rate-dependent friction coefficient into 2D discrete element method simulations of ice ensemble behaviour. Friction is high (0.7) at low sliding speeds (10-2 ms-1) and decreases log-linearly between these values. We show qualitatively and quantitatively how this affects the overall dynamics of a shear box experiment

Properties of thermo-elastic waves in saline ice

The thermal expansion of saline ice is accompanied by the migration of liquid brine through porous space in the ice. Two previous models of this thermal expansion, proposed by Malmgren (1927) and Cox (1983), assume, respectively, zero and infinite permeability of saline ice by liquid brine. In the present paper theoretical investigations, based on Darcy’s law, are used to describe thermo-elastic waves in saline ice, generated as the ice surface warms or cools. Characteristics of these thermo-elastic waves are analyzed for different values of the permeability of sea ice by brine, including zero and infinite values. The model matches known behaviour with these extreme permeabilities, and extends this understanding to sea ice with finite, non-zero permeability

An investigation of relative thermal expansion of ice and steel

We report the results of a number of experiments conducted by changing the temperature of a steel pipe containing ice. We measure the strain in the ice and the temperature at a frequency of 1Hz using sensors based on fiber Bragg gratings. When the temperature of the apparatus changes, the steel and ice expand or contract at different rates, and so there is the potential for the ice and steel to move relative to each other. The steel pipe constrains the expansion of the ice in two dimensions. Further, cohesion and friction between the ice and steel may limit the movement of the ice in the third dimension. The measured strain therefore allows us to make inferences about the interaction between the ice and the pipe. We find a coefficient of thermal expansion in free ice comparable to literature values (around 51x10-6K-1) but that the effective expansion coefficient varies depending on how the ice is constrained. We also report on the results of similar experiments with saline ice

Memory in sea ice friction

Friction between sea ice floes is a control on rafting, ridging, and in-plane sliding, and is therefore relevant to a range of engineering problems. Understanding sea ice friction is complicated, because the contact surfaces abrade and melt as sliding occurs. Currently most representations of sea ice friction (for example in discrete element modelling) use Amontons’ law for friction, with a wide uncertainty over μ. In this paper we discuss recent work on incorporating memory into an empirical model of sea ice friction. We present a simple model with rate and state dependence derived from laboratory results, and show how this model predicts varying friction on a sliding surface under varying slip rate. We then use this model within a discrete element model to investigate the importance of friction modelling to the modelling of sea ice behaviour as aggregated across many floes

The effect of ice rubble on ice-ice sliding

Ice deformation processes in the Arctic can generate ice rubble. Many situations arise where ice fragments of varying size separate sea ice floes. While the shear forces between sea ice floes in direct contact with each other are controlled by ice-ice friction, what is not known is how the slip of the floes is affected by the presence of rubble between the sliding surfaces. We present the result of field experiments undertaken on sea ice in the Barents Sea. A doubledirect-shear experiment was done on floating sea ice in the field, with the addition of rubble ice between the sliding surfaces. This was achieved by pulling a floating ice block through a cut channel of open water 3m long, where broken ice filled the gap between the block and the channel sides. The displacement of the block and the force needed to move the block were measured. The time that the block was held motionless to allow the rubble to consolidate was recorded - this ranged from seconds to several hours. We found that the 'hold time' controls the maximum force needed to move the block. The relation between hold time and force is highly non-linear from which we deduce thermal consolidation is the controlling mechanism

Ice properties in ISO 19906's second edition

The second edition of ISO 19906 Arctic Offshore structures was issued in 2019. In this paper, we describe the changes that were made to sections dealing with ice properties and discuss the relationship between them and ice actions. The changes can be divided into five groups: 1) Physical properties (temperature, density and porosity), 2) modulus of elasticity, 3) ice friction, 4) mechanical properties in level ice (uniaxial and multi-axial compressive strength, flexural strength and borehole jack strength), and 5) the keel properties of first-year ridge (Mohr-Coulomb, macro-porosity). The standard is written in such a way so that simple approaches in design guidelines complement more elaborate models. Both currently face at least three challenges, namely, the lack of full-scale data, a complicated physical environment, and a lack of understanding of the deformation mechanisms taking place in the ice