Commercial Arctic shipping through the Northeast Passage:routes, resources, governance, technology, and infrastructure

The Russian and Norwegian Arctic are gaining notoriety as an alternative maritime route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and as sources of natural resources. The renewed interest in the Northeast Passage or the Northern Sea Route is fueled by a recession of Arctic sea ice coupled with the discovery of new natural resources at a time when emerging and global markets are in growing demand for them. Driven by the expectation of potential future economic importance of the region, political interest and governance has been rapidly developing, mostly within the Arctic Council. However, this paper argues that optimism regarding the potential of Arctic routes as an alternative to the Suez Canal is overstated. The route involves many challenges: jurisdictional disputes create political uncertainties; shallow waters limit ship size; lack of modern deepwater ports and search and rescue (SAR) capabilities requires ships to have higher standards of autonomy and safety; harsh weather conditions and free-floating ice make navigation more difficult and schedules more variable; and more expensive ship construction and operation costs lessen the economic viability of the route. Technological advances and infrastructure investments may ameliorate navigational challenges, enabling increased shipping of natural resources from the Arctic to global markets.Albert Buixadé Farré, Scott R. Stephenson, Linling Chen, Michael Czub, Ying Dai, Denis Demchev, Yaroslav Efimov, Piotr Graczyk, Henrik Grythe, Kathrin Keil, Niku Kivekäs, Naresh Kumar, Nengye Liu, Igor Matelenok, Mari Myksvoll, Derek O'Leary, Julia Olsen, Sachin Pavithran.A.P., Edward Petersen, Andreas Raspotnik, Ivan Ryzhov, Jan Solski, Lingling Suo, Caroline Troein, Vilena Valeeva, Jaap van Rijckevorsel and Jonathan Wightin

Vessel Icing on the Shtokman FPSO

The purpose of this report is to investigate the phenomenon of vessel icing in general and examine the problem for the Shtokman FPSO, which is now being designed to operate in severe conditions in the Barents Sea. Ice properties, icing conditions and intensity, geography of possible vessel icing are studied in details. Another aim is to develop theoretical models of the FPSO icing considering its dimensions and design features. The goal is to analyze all known anti – icing strategies, deicing and ice detection technologies for application and workability in the certain case of the Shtokman field. Finally possible affects of ice presence and icing on the FPSO productivity and stability are studied. The results of the work might be taken into account in further vessel’s design improvements and for efficient anti – icing strategies. One of several major features of the FPSO from icing point of view is sophisticated deck geometry with a number of deck structures of different height and width. Another issue is a presence of different equipment and engines that may act as sources of heat. This problem hasn’t been studied yet due to its specificity. The work combines both theoretical research basing on the new proposed mathematical model and numerical calculations of icing on the FPSO according to different international rules and standards. Results of this comparison are very promising and show potential for other work in this direction

Комплексное исследование старых торосов в Северном Ледовитом океане

In May 2015, a comprehensive study of an old ice ridge was carried out to the north of Bennett Island in the East-Siberian Sea with application of water thermal drilling, tachometric and sonar surveys, video survey by the underwater device and methods for determination of the ice strength and physical properties. It is shown that only a combination of different methods allows us to obtain a correct assessment of the main morphometric characteristics of a large ice feature and determine its volume and mass. An analysis of ice ridge internal structure parameters obtained by the method of water thermal drilling with the drilling rate record to a logger made it possible to reveal a composite character of the ice feature (the ice ridge consisted of a larger old fragment and a smaller first-year fragment) and approximately assess its age (3-4 years). A comparison of the main morphometric characteristics of an old ice ridge and the average values of first-year ice ridges, investigated in the same region at the same period of time showed the old ice ridge to have significantly greater geometric parameters. The old ice ridge volume and mass were greater compared to the average first-year ice ridge by 5.6 and 5.8 times, respectively. Such significant advantage of the old ice ridge is likely to be determined by the composite character of the ice feature rather than by its age. The average for the entire composite ice ridge thickness of the consolidated layer (4.6 m) is almost two-fold greater than the average thickness of the consolidated layer in the first-year ice ridges (2.33 m), and the average value of the consolidated layer in the ice ridge old part (5.22 m) is 2.2 times greater than in first-year ice ridges. An old ice ridge is characterized by an almost complete flatness (without any possibility to identify some separate blocks) and minimal sail porosity (1 %). The salinity and density of ice comprising the old ice ridge sail were much lower than in first-year ice ridges. The sail/keel ratio is greater on average in first-year ice ridges – 3.46 against 3.07 in the old ice ridge. The average ice density in the old ice ridge, determined analytically in accordance with the buoyancy conditions, was 896 kg/m3, and the average ice density in first-year ice ridges based on measurement data was 917 kg/m3. В статье описываются результаты исследования морфометрии и физико-механических свойств старого тороса на северо-западе Восточно-Сибирского моря комплексом методов. В результате анализа внутренней структуры сделан вывод, что исследуемый торос является составным ледяным образованием, состоящим из более крупного старого и меньшего однолетнего фрагментов. Сравнение морфометрических характеристик составного тороса со средними значениями аналогичных параметров однолетних торосов, исследованных в тот же период в том же районе, показало, что средняя толщина консолидированного слоя в старой части тороса  больше, чем в среднем у однолетних, в 2,2 раза, а объем и масса составного тороса больше, соответственно, в 5,6 и 5,8 раза. На основе имеющихся данных проведена приблизительная оценка возраста старого тороса