Combatting maritime cyber security threats

Modern bridge

From MarineLink by Emil Muccin

The U.S. Executive Branch has declared that the cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation, and that America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on effective cyber security.
Before the maritime industry sounds the danger signal, it needs to monitor other industries and branches of the government and take proactive preventative measures.
There is no better place to prepare future and current mariners for these challenges than in maritime simulators.

INTERPOL. (2014). Cybercrime

Cyber Security

Cyber security refers to the technologies and processes designed to protect computers, networks and data from unauthorized access, vulnerabilities and attacks delivered via the Internet by cyber criminals.
With the advent of computers, network devices and telecommunications that make transport of data via radio frequency common place, it has opened a new world of vulnerabilities to hackers to tap, steal, destroy or alter data.
This has led into a new area of potential maritime threats that go well beyond physical piracy such as the Maersk Alabama.
With the recent GPS spoofing of a yacht by students at the University of Texas, the maritime sector has entered into a new arena that must be addressed as Maritime Cyber Security.
The U.S., as a world leader and major target for terrorism in early 2013, through the Executive branch signed an Executive Order (EO) 13636 to Improve Critical Infrastructure (CI) cyber security and Presidential Policy Directive 21 – Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (PPD-21).
It established an All Hazards approach to critical infrastructure security and resilience.
The cyber security EO establishes a requirement for federal agencies to collaborate with their respective industry sectors to identify Critical Infrastructure that can be impacted by cyber activity.
This initial foray by the federal government has led other departments and agencies to take initial steps to address the growing issues with cyber threats.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration (MARAD) being one of those proactive organizations has recently teamed with the Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) to cooperatively develop Information Systems Security Awareness Computer-Based Training (CBT) on cyber threats in the maritime environment.
This is a first for the U.S. maritime community to recognize and take action to assist vessel owners and operators with training U.S. mariners on best practices to reduce the risks and vulnerability associated with information systems and devices.
Newly developed cyber training will provide mariners with a comprehensive overview of the range of threats that information systems and devices are subject to, and the practices recommended to minimize those vulnerabilities.
Best practices that are addressed in the training include a wide range of topics, from maintaining security for networks, to personal use of workplace computers, good password practices, and issues concerning the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter.
This training also addresses issues for mariners working aboard vessels, such as specific log-in policies and rules surrounding working with sensitive information.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the United States Coast Guard (USCG), has also taken to task these growing threats and has determined that American ports, terminals, refineries, vessels and support industries are vital to the safekeeping of the nation’s infrastructure, security and our economy.
In short, there are as many potential avenues for cyber damage in the maritime sector as there are cyber systems.
While only some cyber-attack scenarios in the maritime sector could credibly lead to a Transportation Security Incident, we must identify and prioritize those risks, take this threat seriously, and work together to improve defenses.

Security and Survival at Sea

Will the next hacker chess match take place on the high seas with oil tankers, container ships and other specialized vessels that transport approximately 90 percent of the goods moved around the world?
Many devices are connected online which makes them more vulnerable to attack.
As the maritime and offshore energy industries connect ships and oil rigs to computer networks, they expose considerable weaknesses that hackers can exploit.
For example, it was discovered that pirates off the coast of Somalia and other key piracy areas hand pick their shipping targets by tracking online the navigation track of the vessel through AIS, ECDIS and radar.
In the oil industry, hackers have committed much turmoil including the tilting of an oil rig, causing it to be shut down, as well as the penetration of the networked computing systems on another rig with malware that took trained personnel almost three weeks to clear.
Other events have included smugglers hacking into networked systems to be able to locate containers with drug contraband and cleanly confiscate the drugs without being detected.
They even went so far as attempting to delete the data for the shipment.
While data on the extent of the maritime industry’s exposure to cyber-crime is hard to come by, a study of the related energy sector by insurance companies recently indicates that much of it maybe insurable.
As the energy and oil industry has been targeted for some time, statistics are available that indicate this is already have a billion dollar impact on the world economy.
In the maritime industry, the number of known incidents appears to be low due to either the companies being unaware of the cyber-attacks or because of the desire to keep such news from reaching the press with potential detrimental business impact to the company.
There are few documented reports that hackers have compromised maritime cyber security.

But scientists indicate they have determined areas in three key systems that mariners use to navigate: GPS, Automatic Identification System (AIS), and the system for viewing digital nautical charts Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS).
Increasingly, the maritime domain and energy sector has turned to technology to improve production, cost and reduce delivery schedules.
These technological changes have opened the door to emerging threats and vulnerabilities as equipment have become accessible to outside entities.
As vessels continue to increase in size, the crewing continues to decrease, with the paramount shift in vessel operations, ship owners and yards have increasingly added more automation and remote monitoring systems to vessels.
This has led to a dilemma, as more systems and devices on vessels might enhance productivity and safety on one hand, but on the other it presents more systems for hackers to compromise and control.
It is fairly well-known that a significant proportion of computing and network devices are connected to the internet using serial ports with poor security.
Devices range from simple traffic items such as stop light which have been proven that they can be controlled remotely by hackers, to complex items for the oil and gas industry that monitor and control oil rigs.
It has been reported that some ships switch off their AIS systems when passing through waters where pirates are known to operate, or fake the data to make it seem they’re somewhere else.
Some shipping companies are now taking cyber risks as true credible threats and taking necessary measures to beef up network and telecommunications security.
Recent studies of U.S. ports have determined that very few have conducted cyber assessments and even fewer have developed a response plan.
Very little federal money has been allocated to the maritime industry for cyber security projects or training.
This lack of cyber security preparation by U.S. ports actually carries over to the shipping companies where it has been discovered that most have substantial security issues.
However the good point is that the maritime industry has had limited compromising of its computing and network systems.
This may be tied to the factor that they have not been a high priority and have not been on the radar screen of hackers.
What should concern many in the maritime industry is that the main ship navigation systems including GPS, AIS and ECDIS receive data via radio frequency transmission at sea and as such are extremely vulnerable to hacking.
AIS and ECDIS are now mandatory on larger commercial and passenger vessels per the recent IMO 2010 Manila Amendments.
This new requirement has increased the need for shipping companies to come with security measures and protocols to protect these devices from intrusion by outside sources.
It has also been known for some time that ECDIS systems and the required software update downloads can be compromised by hackers with severe repercussions.
This came to light last year with the grounding of a U.S. naval vessel in the Pacific Ocean where it was reported that the ECDIS charts were incorrect and may have had an impact on the accident.
A related discovery has been the widespread abuse of AIS by the maritime sector.
Many ships deliberately transmit incorrect AIS position data attributable to security reasons in certain parts of the world including off the coast of Somalia, in the Caribbean smugglers do it to avoid tracking and arrest by law enforcement and even fishermen do it for financial gain by fishing in areas that are not permitted.
Of paramount importance is the need for the maritime community to understand the principles of information systems and cyber security and it how it applies to on-board equipment before they can implement changes and conduct training so that personnel are aware and can act accordingly.
Several areas that the maritime industry will need to come to speed on are the following:

GPS SPOOFING

There are many recent stories portending to GPS spoofing, including the June 2013 project at the University of Texas where they employed GPS spoofing as they hacked and manipulated the software to disorient the navigation system on a luxury yacht.
Upon cloaking the device and transmitting the false signal, the yacht changed course abruptly when it received the false signal.
Although this occurred because a system linked to the ECDIS handled the steering and not a helmsman, it still did happen.
This opened up a new dilemma for the world for navigation on how to verify the accuracy and correctness of GPS signals.


eLORAN

GPS has vulnerabilities that pose potential risks.
In 2008 in response to presidential direction the U.S. government announced that they would establish a nationwide resilient terrestrial based system to augment GPS, and it would be named eLoran.
This new system would build upon and modernize the old Loran-C system, while being less expensive to operate and be much more precise.
The U.S. is not alone in recognizing GPS vulnerabilities; numerous other countries including most of Europe, India, Russia and China have installed or will install eLoran systems.
Unfortunately the US government via the Department of Homeland Security had planned on dismantling the remains of the old LORAN-C infrastructure even though it is feasible to use it for the new eLoran.
The good news is that there are currently plans in place to resurrect and enhance the old system and turn it into a state of the art electronic terrestrial based system that will complement and backup GPS.$

Buoy in port of Baltimore

Photo credit: Darren Wright

eATON’s

It was recently reported that prominent aids to navigation on the approach and within San Francisco harbor have now been added into the electronic aid to navigation (eATON) system.
San Francisco has become the Beta port in the U.S. as it is the first one to begin using this unique system.
This is not a costly process to implement as it does not require the U.S. Coast Guard to install electronic transmitters on the aids to navigation.
Due to the fact that the aids to navigation are located in fixed positions in the ocean or on land or fixtures such as the Golden Gate Bridge, they have their own electronic identification assigned to them which is added into the Automatic Identification System (AIS).
With the Golden Gate Bridge the center span is marked by a RACON, and the bridge towers are marked by eATON digital markers.
This system in the San Francisco area is also being used in conjunction with reporting points in the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) including the San Francisco “SF” buoy that serves as the embarkation point for the Bar Pilots.
It has been reported by the USCG that eATONs will not replace the actual physical navigation aids but will supplement the existing technology as well as add a virtual layer of aids to navigation in areas that previously were physically impossible to do or impractical in nature.
This now allows the USCG to place an eATON in the TSS where it was too deep before to do as well as mark a bridge tower that was practically needed most in reduced visibility not in day light.
This technology eventually will allow the USCG to install transmitters on buoys so that the prudent mariner will be able to track where the buoy actually is as opposed to where it should be per a nautical chart.
In a conflicting statement it was also recently reported that certain aids to navigation will be removed off the coast of California.
This decision was tied to the presumption that all vessels are equipped with Electronics Chart Display and Identification System (ECDIS) which has been required by the IMO 2010 Manila Amendments to be installed on most vessels (tied to class and size) over a six year period starting in 2012.
This could lead to disastrous consequences because a significant segment of the maritime industry including towing, fishing and recreational are not required to be ECDIS equipped.
Additionally even for the blue water international commercial fleet reliance on ECDIS and GPS alone can be dangerous especially in light of the recent GPS spoofing phenomenon.
Prudence and situational awareness dictates that the professional mariner needs to rely on visual aids to navigation within sight of land.
Additionally what happens when you have an electronics failure and loose an ECDIS or both of them on a commercial vessel?

Plenty of phish in the sea

ECDIS

It is thought that ECDIS has some underlying software security vulnerabilities that could lead to disastrous results for ships at sea.
The basis of ECDIS is a navigation based charting system that use a computing system to digitally display nautical charts along with the exact location and track of own ship.
This is a dramatic alternative and improvement to paper charts and the current system of hand plotting positions.
ECDIS’s are installed on the bridge of a vessel and larger vessels are required to have two of them, one as a backup.
When they are properly used with an ENC chart they can take the place of paper nautical charts.
This is an increasing trend in the maritime industry.
Where the problems arise is not when the ECDIS’s are in standalone mode but when they are networked together and when data is downloaded via an external source, whether through a USB port via a memory stick or via the net.
Through the recently released IMO 2010 Manila Amendments regulations were implemented that now requires EDCIS to be installed on all commercial vessels of a certain size.
This will slowly eliminate the reliance on paper charts and take the maritime industry on a journey into the electronic world where the next evolution will be the use of portable smart devices by navigators.
Safe guards need to be put in place for ECDIS data updates as well as external security breaches when they are operated in a networked setting.

AIS

When AIS is operated as intended it is a useful navigational aid that can be instrumental in collision avoidance.
As has been published due to the configuration of the system much of the transmitted data can be manipulated or distorted.
This has been confirmed recently by several sources including the Israeli’s.
They have noted that vessels transmitting AIS spurious signals were nowhere near their actual location and on other occasions they also had phantom ships appear that could not be found.
This system along with GPS and the recent spoofing episode needs to be enhanced to include some type of signal authentication process so that erroneous signals will not be displayed.

Smart Ships

Smart ships are on the horizon and it has been predicted between 2020 and 2030 that we will see such a ship going about its normal business at sea without a crew and being totally monitored from shore.
Shipyards are already constructing vessels that are fully sensored so that they can be monitored after it is delivered and while it is at sea for maintenance and servicing purposes.
These vessels can take two forms either autonomous or unmanned.
Autonomous is defined as a vessel primarily guided by automated on-board decision systems but controlled by a remote operator in a shore based control facility.
Unmanned is one step beyond autonomous and is totally controlled from a shore based control station.
Key features would be the standard maritime policy of having redundant systems and emergency backups on board.
Where does this new technology take us in the maritime simulation world?
Possibly as is done with USAF we will have ship drone training and certification.
This could tie into the scenario with a fully integrated navigation suite of GPS, eLORAN, EATON and a digital visual sensor system that can be fully controlled and monitored 24/7/365.

Marine Simulation

Maritime simulation is important as it imitates the operation of a real-world vessel in a safe environment.
The act of simulating cyber threats and scenarios will allow us to focus on these new cases of spoofing and jamming through the mariner’s heavy reliance on Radio Frequency (RF) transmissions that can potentially be comprised.
Simulation can be used to show the eventual real effects of alternative conditions and courses of action on the vessel.
Simulation is of utmost importance specifically where we need to interact in congested waterways, narrow channels, dense traffic and many other restrictions including dangerous cargoes.
What simulation will allow us to do is introduce many of these potential cyber threats in a real life environment and let the mariner interact with the exercise and respond in real time.
In developing the next wave of maritime education it is a logical evolution to go beyond Vessel Security Officer (VSO) and create a new role for a Vessel Cyber Security Officer (VCSO) in a Maritime Cyber Security (MCS) program.
This position could be an extension of the VSO or a new certification.
In either direction it is necessary to have crew members with these skill sets who can act as the responsible officer(s) on each ship.
As the go to personnel, they would be responsible for all levels and details of cyber security and defense.
Through the recently released STCW 2010 Amendments IMO has already proactively moved forward with the introduction of the Electro Technical Officer (ETO) and an Electro Technical Rating (ETR).
How does the industry move forward and get to that logical level of training and preparedness?
First it needs to review existing maritime simulation to determine the equipment and systems we are using.
Next step is determine how they are integrated, as well as built-in security in place.
From this we can start the journey on determining how cyber threats could attack, destroy or disable the equipment … or in the worst case scenario … take command of it.
In the end it is through the awareness training and education that mariners will be able to thwart these infiltrations.
Another source of mariner awareness and training must be the use of the internet and the download of potentially corrupt data through viruses, worms, phishing, spoofing and hacking.
This may happen due to improper or lack of training or some circumstances an oversight due to fatigue but nevertheless it must be avoided.
A similar path applies to the use of vessel email and the threat of receiving spear phishing emails purported from reliable sources with click-able links to websites that are fraudulent and will take control of your computer back door or install a virus.
In summary as we move forward we need to incorporate in the syllabi of all maritime simulation courses the basics of Maritime Cyber Security (MCS) as it is and ever present threat that will not go away.
It is only through diligence and proper training and awareness that seagoing mariners will be prepared and ready to take appropriate actions when warranted.

Links :

• USCG : Release of U.S. Coast Guard Cyber Strategy (YouTube)
• Marine Electronics & Com : Are shipowners ready to prevent cyber attacks?
• ENISA : Cyber Security Aspects in the Maritime Sector
• Businessreport : Hacking on the high seas

Endless gravity

Endless Gravity // 14-BIT RAW from Alex Soloviev

Extreme sailing

Extreme sailing onboard Derry LondonDerry Doire (Clipper Race)

Baltic runner

Baltic Runner from George Leonov

This time lapse footage was made while I worked on containership MV Carat in North Europe going around the Baltic Sea.

During the trip we went from Riga, Latvia to Tallinn, Estonia to Klaipeda, Lithuania, Gdynia, Poland, then to the other side of Europe through the Kiel Canal to Hamburg and Bremerhaven, Germany.

This was a a very fast paced environment, sometimes as little as eight hours sailing between ports and many berth shifts while loading and unloading cargo.

Note the precise shiphandling while maneuvering the ship and without any assistance of the tug boats.

Over 15,000 photos were used to put this video together, all summed up in five minutes.

Voyage to the north through ramparts of ice

Routes taken during the 1893–96 Fram expedition: 

  Fram's route eastward from Vardø along the Siberian coast, turning north at the New Siberian Islands to enter the pack ice, July–September 1893

  Fram's drift in the ice from the New Siberian Islands north and west to Spitsbergen, September 1893 – August 1896

  Nansen and Johansen's march to Farthest North, 86°13.6′N, and subsequent retreat to Cape Flora in Franz Josef Land, March 1895 – June 1896 

  Nansen and Johansen's return to Vardø from Cape Flora, August 1896 

  Fram's voyage from Spitsbergen to Tromsø, August 1896

From BBC by David Shukman

At first sight the great slabs of grey-blue ice covering the Arctic Ocean appear to be rock-solid and immobile but the extraordinary fact is that they are restless and shifting.

Beneath what appears to be an unbending and endless landscape, the winds and currents are constantly at work reshaping it.
During the long dark months of the past winter, Norway's research vessel, the Lance, has been stationed amid the floes and drifting with them at the amazing speed of half a mile an hour.
In the few days I spent on board, when the vessel seemed to be locked in a vice-like grip, we actually travelled about a dozen miles.
The view was essentially unchanging but the satellite navigation system revealed the extent of the drift and the Lance's journey can be seen here.
Although deploying the latest technology, the expedition's use of ice drift is not an original idea but instead draws on the proud legacy of one of the greatest ventures in polar discovery more than a century ago - the voyage of a vessel known as the Fram under its leader, Fridtjof Nansen.
Nansen wanted to test what was then an unthinkable notion - jamming a ship into the ice and letting the flow of the ice do the rest.

 Nansen wanted to jam a ship into the ice and let drift do the rest 
"I demolish my bridges behind me - then there is no choice but forward." 

Go with the floe

He and others had noticed that old timbers from northern Russia were washing up several thousand miles away on the shores of Greenland - and the only possible explanation was that winds and currents had carried them there.
Scientists now call this feature as the Transpolar Drift.
And when an American vessel, the Jeannette, was crushed in the ice off Siberia in 1881, there was huge surprise when identifiable parts of the wreckage also turned up in Greenland.
That led Nansen to dream up the idea of using the natural mobility of the ice to achieve something that was impossible at the time - to penetrate what he called the "ramparts of ice" and reach the North Pole.
The movement of the ice, he judged, was sometimes "so strong and rapid as to equal that of a ship running before the wind".

 Fridtjof Nansen believed that working with the forces of nature would pull the expedition through 
"Alas! Alas! Life is full of disappointments; as one reaches one ridge there is always another and a higher one beyond which blocks the view.'

 

Nansen concluded that a vessel of the right shape - with a tough rounded hull - would be squeezed upwards as the ice closed around it, and be lifted above the surface to avoid destruction.
"I believe that if we pay attention to the actually existent forces of nature, and seek to work with and not against them, we shall thus find the safest and easiest method of reaching the Pole," he wrote.
"The ship will simply be hoisted up and will ride safely and firmly…the current will be our motive power, while our ship, no longer a means of transport, will become a barrack."
Initially, his concept was met with derision.
In 1892, when he outlined his plan to the Royal Geographical Society in London, the big names of polar exploration lined up to dismiss it.

On Nansen's Steps 

In 1893, Nansen took a special round-hulled ship Fram to the New Siberian Islands in the eastern Arctic Ocean, froze her into the pack ice, and waited for the Arctic drift to carry her towards the pole. Impatient with the slow pace and erratic nature of the drift, after 18 months Nansen and Johansen, left the ship with a team of dogs and sledges and made for the pole.

They did not reach 90°N but they achieved a record north latitude of 86°13.6′N before a long and parlous retreat over ice and water, attacked by bear and walrus, to eventually reach the safety of Franz Josef Land, where they overwintered in 1895.

In 1896, Nansen and Johansen were found and rescued by Jackson.

(Of course, the ironies are in that where Nansen froze himself in the ice, we now break it to reach the pole; where he tried to utilize lean Inuit and Sami icefaring styles, we nowadays do so with full nuclear-powered icebreaker and helicopter bandobust.)

Dire warnings

The legendary figure of Admiral Sir Leopold M'Clintock, who had led the first expedition through the fabled North West Passage in the Canadian Arctic, warned Nansen that "the danger of being crushed in the ice was too great."
Sir Allen Young, another giant of Arctic discovery, highlighted the fact that no one knew whether land or islands lay in the unknown reaches of the Far North and that the idea of drifting would be "extremely dangerous".
The American explorer General Greely went even further, warning that the expedition would fail with the risk of "suffering and death among its members".
In 1893, when Nansen and his team set off, the growth of winter ice quickly surrounded the Fram and the moment of truth arrived.
The ice floes jostled around the ship and a loud creaking began.
"Now both pressure and noise gets worse and worse; the ship shakes, and I feel as if I myself were being gently lifted with the stern-rail, where I stand gazing out at the welter of ice-masses that resemble giant snakes writhing and twisting their great bodies out there under the quiet starry sky."

  Other explorers warned that the crew risked suffering and death through their bold endeavour

The theory worked.
The Fram rose, and its well-built frame and multi-layered hull withstood what no one other vessel had managed before.
The result was that for three years the ship inched generally northwards and westwards, sometimes driven back, sometimes stationary, but proving that the Arctic is an active, restless region.
The ship did not make it to the Pole so Nansen and a crewmate ventured towards it on foot and attained the previously-unheard of latitude of 86 degrees North, where massive ridges of ice blocked their path.
The two of them, and the Fram, returned safely, and Nansen became an instant hero.
Norway witnessed the largest gathering of people ever seen at that moment in its history, a significant moment for a country then yearning for its independence from Sweden.

Map of Fridtjof Nansen's 1888 route across Greenland, the first crossing of the island.

(in blue) Dotted line is the ship Jason's journey from Iceland to near Sermilik fjord (now known as Sermiligaaq), continuous blue line is the journey made by Nansen and his companions in two small boats trying to reach the coast.

(in red) Planned journey from Sermilik northwest to Christianhaab (today known as Qasigiannguit). 

(in green) Nansen's actual journey across Greenland from Umivik fjord to Gothaab (today known as Nuuk).

And in the years that followed, Nansen emerged as the essential expert for others to consult before any major expedition.
His fellow Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, and the British explorers Scott and Shackleton, all went to see him.
So how have things changed since Nansen's day?
The Lance is built of steel rather than the wood used for the Fram but it has the same rounded shape which serves the same purpose.
On one occasion last February, the Lance's bow rose nearly a metre into the air as the ship was lifted by an underwater ice-floe.
And during our stay I felt a slight tilt as that process was at work again.

 Map of the Arctic Ocean showing the routes taken during the 1893–96 Nansen's Fram expedition:    (in red) Fram's route eastward from Vardø to the Siberian coast, turning north at the New Siberian Islands to enter the pack ice. July – September 1893

( in blue) Fram's drift in the ice from the New Siberian Islands, north and west to Spitsbergen, September 1893 – August 1896

(in green) Nansen and Johansen's march to Farthest North, 86°20'N, and their subsequent retreat to Cape Flora in Franz Josef Land. February 1895 – June 1896

(in purple) Nansen and Johansen's return to Vardø from Cape Flora, August 1896

(in yellow) Fram's voyage from Spitsbergen to Tromsø, August 1896

The scientists on the Lance are measuring everything from the weather to the ice to the creatures beneath it.
Nansen, with cruder instruments, did the same, establishing some guiding principles for methodical observation.
One of his major revelations was that the Arctic Ocean is extremely deep.
For any researchers working on the Lance, there's a rotation off the ship every six weeks by helicopter.
By contrast, for the men on the Fram, there was no escape for three long years from 1893-6.
The clothing has improved immeasurably. Everyone venturing onto the ice now has to wear a floatation suit and during our worst weather, when the wind chill was minus 47C, it was just about possible to work outside.
Nansen and his men, in a mix of wolf-skin and wool, must have felt the cold terribly and, if they slipped into the icy water, they just got soaked.

 The Fram withstood forces that no other vessel had managed before
"The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer." 

And there's also been a huge cultural shift in how the polar wildlife is regarded.
These days, the scientists go to great lengths to avoid harming any creature that comes their way.
So polar bears, which can be a dangerous threat, are scared away with snowmobiles or flare guns; rifles are a last resort.
Instead, in Nansen's time, the animals of the Arctic were seen as a source of food, as a means of survival. Seals, walruses and even polar bears were not just fair game but essential stock for the larder.
It may be shocking to read this now but Nansen was quite open in his account of the voyage: "We have eaten bear-meat morning, noon, and night, and so far from being tired of it, have made the discovery that the breast of the cubs is quite a delicacy."
At the end of his journey, Nansen wrote that he had "gone far to lift the veil of mystery" over the Arctic.
He also suggested that future expeditions should repeat his technique of using ships because the explorers would be more comfortable and could also bring their laboratories with them.
That is exactly what the Norwegian Polar Institute has done with the Lance, as if following his script.
But one can only guess at what Nansen would make of the helicopters and computers and other new technology, and of how the Arctic itself is being transformed.

Fridtjof Nansen - A man of action and vision

Born in Norway in 1861, Fridtjof Nansen was a scientist, polar explorer, diplomat, statesman and humanist, with a deep compassion for his fellow human beings.
"It is better to go skiing and think of God, than go to church and think of sport."

Links :

• National Geographic : 'This Is Really Extreme Science': Adrift in the Arctic Ice With a Shipload of Norwegians

My 100 minutes lost in the most inhospitable seas on earth

www.179W.co.uk

Sunday 30th March 2014.

Andrew Taylor, an amateur sailor, taking part in the 9th Clipper round the world yacht race, aboard the 70' ocean racing yacht 'Derry LondonDerry Doire'.

Fell overboard during horrific weather conditions and was lost at sea for 1hour and 40minutes in the very middle of the icy cold North Pacific.

The crew of the yacht were totally alone in their search and the eventual dramatic recovery of Andrew, who was deeply hypothermic when recovered.

This book sets the scene as to how Andrew initially came to be competing in the race, his team’s eventful and truly amazing journey yacht racing over 45,000 miles around the world.

The epic story of his desperate fight for survival in the North Pacific.

Andrew's miraculous, surprising, and almost immediate return to ocean yacht racing.

All sales proceeds from this book go to charity, split equally between; 

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and The Newmarket Day Centre

From The Telegraph by Andrew Taylor

The British sailor who fell overboard in the North Pacific during the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race has written a book detailing his terrifying near-death experience

The first thing that struck me was the silence.
Just moments before I’d been on the foredeck of a 73ft racing yacht, face-to-face with my skipper but screaming to be heard over howling 60mph winds and whipping rain.
A winter storm was blowing in, turning the sky black.
We were rushing to change to a smaller headsail in time.
Suddenly, a huge wave smashed into the side of the boat and sent me tumbling headfirst into the freezing North Pacific.
I braced myself for the safety line fixing me to the boat to tauten. It didn’t.

The yacht ploughed on past at 25 knots, its rudder smashing into my legs so hard that I was convinced both had been broken.
Then the boat was gone, swallowed up by the gloom, the waves, the rain and spray.
It was just me: gasping for breath and fighting to stay afloat in the 30 metre swells of the most inhospitable ocean on earth.
I was 2,000 miles from land, on map coordinates I will never forget: 179W.

This August, I will be standing on the banks of the Thames watching a fleet of a dozen yachts embark on the 11th Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, a 40,00 mile odyssey that takes 10 months.
It will be an exhilarating sight. I know, because two years ago I was part of one such flotilla.
The race very nearly cost me my life.

Like many taking part in this year’s event, I signed up for the adventure.
I was 46, divorced, and had been working as a catering director at the Olympic Park and, prior to that, at Wembley Stadium for a decade.
I was exhausted and had decided to take a year off.

Amazing rescue at sea, man almost dead, crazy rescue in the water,
Speed clipper race at sea, man almost dies drowned.

(Andrew Taylor rescue story)

The thrill of escape 

Circumnavigating the world was a massive personal decision, even aside from the cost – a place this year is £48,000.
I would not see my teenange daughter Siobhan or my parents for almost a year.
And I had no sailing experience.
The Clipper race involves a rigorous selection process and intensive training in the months leading up to the race start.
You learn that life aboard a racing yacht is hard work mentally and physically, gruelling at times and often dangerous.
You are reliant on yourself and your fellow crew members.
For many weeks, you will be far from land and from rescue services.
It is not something to be undertaken lightly but it was what I wanted: the pleasure of working as a team; the thrill of escape.
I was assigned to the yacht Derry-Londonderry–Doire - each boat is named after a sponsoring city or region in the world - and skippered by the 32-year-old Sean McCarter.
There were 10 ‘‘round the world crew’’ on board and we’d be joined by ‘‘leggers’’, individuals who had signed up to do one or more of the 16 legs of the race, joining at the start or on one of the eight stopovers across the world.

We had already sailed the Southern Ocean, as well as the notoriously unpredictable waters of the Bass and Taiwan straits and, between us we had suffered a broken arm, ribs, fingers, shoulder blade, and a dislocated shoulder.
Leg 10, however, was the part of the race everybody was dreading.
The route took in 5,600 nautical miles between Qingdao in China and San Francisco - a month-long journey through seas known as the most violent on earth.
The nights were so dark you couldn’t even see the waves crashing over the boat.
The isolation was total, just endless boiling sea in every direction.
At 179W, the international space station is only 250 miles above.

M.O.B. 'Man Overboard'
41°43.213N / 179°11.451W
Possibly one of the remotest points on earth!

Man overboard 

The day it happened was March 30, my mum’s birthday.
I’d been on deck since 5am and it was an hour before I was due to go off watch at midday.
I cannot properly describe the hideous, sickening realization that I wasn’t clipped on to the boat - a standing order in rough weather and especially when working on the pitching, tossing fore-deck.
The impact of the cold was instant, the sea temperature being no more than two degrees.
Even though I was wearing a dry suit (which provides thermal insulation in water) I began to feel the iciness seep in, gnawing at my extremities and the small of my back.
Had I not been wearing the suit I would have been dead in minutes.
Clipped to my life jacket was an AIS beacon, a device which once activated would alert those on the boat I was in the water and help them to locate me.
I had bought it myself before the trip and now it was my only hope.
I reached down into the water and turned it on, praying that the signal to the boat would be picked up and alert them to my position.
I clutched the beacon as tight as possible in my hand and tried as hard as I could to stop being tossed like a rag doll between the waves.

I thought about my daughter Siobhan and missing my mum’s birthday.
My life didn’t flash before my eyes, though.
I was too intent on not swallowing water and struggling to breathe.
When the storm that had been threatening hit in all its fury, it was like being in a washing machine: wave after wave smashed down upon me.
I remember seeing the boat a few times and realizing they had stopped.
At one point I could see someone was up the mast which at least confirmed they were looking for me.
But it was obvious they were some miles away.
One hour in I realized I had stopped shivering.
I knew from my race training this was a prelude to the euphoric feeling associated with the advanced stages of hypothermia.
I did everything to fight it, even taking my spray hood off and turning into the wind to get cold again.
I had a watch on but I never once looked at it because I thought it would only demoralise me.
At some point I decided to reboot my beacon - and thank God I did.
This time it flashed differently and I realised it hadn't been working properly before and the boat may not have picked up my signal.
Perhaps this time.....

 179W One Seven Nine West

The rescue 

Over the course of that dreadful 100 minutes in the ocean I had all kinds of mental experiences, some real, some the product of my battered consciousness.
At times I was shouting at myself to keep fighting and stay alive.
Even now, I can’t bear to read what I’ve written about it or remember it.
When I first head voices - snatches of shouting on the wind - I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination. Then the boat was on top of me – all 36 tonnes of it crashing up and down the waves, both a wonderful and terrifying sight.
That wasn’t the end of the ordeal, though.
In training we had, many times, practiced lowering a rescuer from the boat to clip a helicopter strop on to the man overboard and then haul him out.
But the conditions that day were so bad that the rescue swimmer, a friend of mine called Jason Middleton, couldn’t get the clips on to me.
Twice, I fell back into the water and the boat had to go around again in a figure of eight to re-start the rescue.
Finally, after several attempts, the clip snapped shut, but at that moment the boat rolled back and forth violently and it smashed me repeatedly against the side.
I was convinced I was going to drown.

One more attempt and several crew members were leaning over in a desperate attempt to pull me up by hand and get me onboard.
Eventually it was me who grabbed on to a guard rail and miraculously haul myself in.
I will never know what gave me that final strength – perhaps it was the instinctive knowledge that it was the last attempt before my body succumbed.
Either way, I remember being in a heap face down on the deck.
I turned and looked up at the skipper and he had this massive smile on his face.
He said: “Hey Andrew we’re going to San Francisco, fancy a lift?”
I was still in grave danger.
If I had been on land I would have been in intensive care.
I was put in a sleeping bag surrounded by bottles full of hot water, and Susie Redhouse, a paramedic from London who was the boat medic, stayed with me as I started to warm up – refusing to let me sleep.
I had severe shock and hypothermia, my face was was covered in abrasions from the saltwater and my battered legs in agony.
But the principal fear was of secondary drowning when your lungs flood.
The simple process of warming up was the most intense pain I’ve ever experienced as if my skin was on fire.

It was 12 days before we reached land.
During that time I slept a lot, ate little, and slowly began to limp around.
Speaking to my family over the satellite phone was just amazing.
News of the rescue had preceded our arrival in San Francisco and there were television crews everywhere.
I resolved then that I was going to finish the race.
I spent six days having intense physiotherapy before rejoining the boat.
I was, of course, worried, but quitting would have been the easy thing to do – and that is not why I signed up.
I decided to write a book detailing my rescue not to make money – all proceeds are going to charity - so that others can learn from my experience and it can help improve marine safety.
Since finishing the race last summer, I have worked closely with the Clipper organisation and marine safety manufacturers.
We have updated and altered the clips and straps on the rescue equipment, and we have also changed training for man over board drills so now the rescue swimmer actually is submerged in the water rather than being lowered down on a halyard.
The AIS beacon has also had its software updated and now will reboot automatically if it does not connect with the signal onboard.
I kept my own AIS beacon and have it framed.
On a personal level, I needed to come to terms with what happened and writing has helped me do that. It was a miracle that I survived.
I wouldn’t miss the start of this year’s race for the world.
My experience of being lost at sea makes me all the more determined that others should continue to explore it.

 Andrew Taylor returns to Clipper Race

Links :

• McMurdo : AIS beacon
• GeoGarage blog : Novices set sail on a voyage of discovery in round-world race

5 maps that help explain the Arctic

www.nationalgeographic-maps.com/1990-arctic-ocean-floor-map.html

(Arctic Ocean floor)

From GISgeography

 National Geographic atlases from 1999 through 2014 shows how Arctic ice has melted over time.

North Pole Map
Many nations are using bathymetric data (which maps the seafloor) to claim parts of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole. Russia, Canada, and Denmark have all expressed an interest in claiming the area around the pole as an extension of their continental shelves.

Map by Bill Rankin, National Geographic 

 

 Arctic Maps – Exploring the New & Unknown

What first comes to mind when you think of the Arctic?
Ice? Polar bears? Climate change?

It wasn’t until very recently that we’ve gotten a clearer picture of the Arctic.
But just what are we mapping in the Arctic?
Geographic boundaries, climate change, ecology, geology, trading routes, oil exploration, the natural environment and even the research that is taking place in the north of 60°.
Maps are one of the most effective forms of communication ever developed.
They chart territory, they’re practical and communicate ideas.

1907 North Pole Regions Map

(National Geographic) zoomed

So that’s why this list of Arctic maps is the best place to begin learning about the Arctic.
If you want answers about the Arctic, look no further.
These visually-inspiring Arctic maps will show you the way.

1. ArkGIS – Mapping the Arctic Landscape

In Norwegian, ArkGIS stands for Arktisk Geografisk Informasjons System.
The World Wildlife Fund delivers a webmap to simplify the Arctic. Stakeholders, decision makers and general public get the whole picture with the ArkGIS – Mapping the Arctic Landscape Webmap.
From economic boundaries to human activity.. to the natural environment… ArkGIS puts together piece-by-piece each element with its Arctic maps.

Boundaries:

• Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ): Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark (via Greenland), and the United States (via Alaska) are limited to their economic adjacent to their coasts. The waters beyond is considered international water.

Human Activity:

• Shipping Routes: Shipping routes are observed using the satellite-based Automatic Identification System (AIS).
• Oil and Gas: Exploration and production wells used to retrieve underground petroleum or oil.

Natural Environment:

• Physical Oceanography: Bathymetry shows underwater depth of the ocean floor. The SRTM30 PLUS Grid with roughly 1 km grid resolution.
• Sea Ice and Snow: Variables like sea ice and snow cover is an important variable for scientists to understand the pace of climate change.

Ecology:

• Marine Mammals: Distribution and observations of marine animals are depicted for whales, seals, walruses and narwhals. It includes polar bear status and denning areas.
• Seabirds: This includes waterfowl, seabird and shorebird species richness.
• Fish: From Atlantic cod to Walleye Pollock, these layers show the probability of occurrence and observations for fish species.

2. ArMap: Arctic Research Mapping Application

Arctic research mapping

Have you ever wanted to tap into all the research in the Arctic?
Thousands of research projects are taking place in the Arctic.
This is why the Arctic Research Mapping Application was developed.
It supports Arctic science by displaying research projects, showing available data and exploring possible collaborations.
Projects range from biological, geological, meteorological to oceanography.
Arctic vegetation, glaciers, permafrost, terrestrial biomes and tree lines can be displayed.
The Arctic maps has ship tracks, medical facilities and arctic stations are available for reference.
Users can navigate to areas of interest and explore research projects by location, year, funding program, investigator, discipline, keywords, and other variables.

3. 1971 Arctic Ocean Floor

Early explorers thought the oceans were bottomless.
After the invention of the sonic depth finder, suddenly our view of the oceans changed.
They certainly weren’t bottomless… nor, were they flat.
The featureless ocean became dynamic with trenches, ridges and abyssal plains.
This Arctic Ocean Floor map first appeared in the October 1971 issue of National Geographic.
The detail is extraordinary of such submarine terrain as continental shelves, abyssal plains, ridges, and fracture zones.
Land masses and the ocean floor are illustrated in stunning relief in these Arctic maps.

4. Geologic Map of the Arctic

Canada’s Geo-mapping Frontiers project was initiated to improve geoscience knowledge in Canada’s north. Natural Resources Canada’s Geologic Map of the Arctic displays geologic structures of Canada’s Arctic north of 60°.
This Arctic map was compiled using simple photogeologic principles and visual interpretation from a variety of free data sources.
The data sets included enhanced magnetic data, LANDSAT imagery and topographic (DEM) data.

5. The Arctic Risk Map

The Arctic Risk Map is filled with base data from a variety of sources.
It offers meteorology, ocean, biological, wildlife, search and rescue, geographical and activity as map data.
But where these Arctic maps excel are in their environmental and safety indexes.

Environment Vulnerability Index: A location and season specific index for environmental vulnerability of marine resources with respect to oil spill as external stressor.
The vulnerability assessment was performed for the different ecological uses in about 100 areas of heightened ecological significance within the 17 Arctic Large Marine Ecosystems.

Arctic ocean bathymetry

The Safety and Operability Index (SOI): The SOI is based on risk influencing factors such as sea ice, visibility, temperature, distance from search and rescue, etc.
It gives an aggregated score for each Arctic region for safety and operability factors in these regions.
Values are compared with the benchmark chosen by Norwegian Sea.
The Arctic is in flux for ‘who’ is claiming ‘what’..
The US, Russia, Canada, Norway and Danish are all staking their territory.
But no one can tap the Arctic until all countries come to an agreement.
Mineral extraction, natural gas, as well as potential shortcuts for shipping routes – the Arctic may be one of the last great frontiers for human development.
NASA has some models forecasting ice-free summers in the Arctic Ocean.
Disappearing sea ice jeopardizes mammal populations like polar bears.
Polar bears have less time to hunt because of the early breakup of sea ice.
The result is a shrinking polar bear population.
Seals, walruses and seabirds have shorter periods for nesting and feeding.
Whether its human activity or the natural environment, these 5 Arctic maps help you truly understand the great North.

Redrawing the map

Links :

• Cryopolitics : Mapping and distorting the Arctic
• MasterMaps : Arctic ice monthly
• NOAA : Arctic bathymetry maps for Google Earth 

A map that may have led Columbus to America is finally being deciphered

This map of the world drawn by Henricus Martellus in about 1491 was donated to Yale in 1962.
Its faded condition (shown above) has stymied researchers for decades.
The multispectral image of the map (below) reveals text and details invisible to the naked eye.

 

From Gizmodo by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

The primary way we share ideas today is the internet.

In the 15th century, it was cartography.

And now, researchers at Yale are giving us a glimpse of one of the most influential maps in history—parts of which, up until now, had been too faded and aged to read.

Henricus Martellus isn’t a name you’d recognize unless you’re interested in map history, but he played a role in some of the most important events of the early modern world, thanks to a map he drew in 1491.

It showed the world as Europe understood it, and scholars have long theorized that it gave Columbus the information he needed to find the New World (it also may have famously misinformed him about the location of Japan, today known as the Bahamas).

That a map could survive 500 years—524 years, to be exact—is pretty amazing.

But much of the text on the 6-foot-wide map has been lost to history thanks to wear and tear.

Since the map came to Yale in the 1960s, researchers have tried to decipher hundreds of words and shapes that were too faded to read.

 Text in the southern Asia portion of the map describes the "Panotii" people, who purportedly had ears that were so large they could use them as sleeping bags.

It’s only within the past year that they’ve succeeded—thanks to improvements in multispectral imaging.

In Yale News, Michael Cummings explains how the technology has revealed hundreds of new words that seemed lost forever.

In his story, he explains how a team at Yale is using multispectral imaging to see through the ancient haze: The process captures images of the map at 12 different light frequencies which, when processed using imaging algorithms, reveal words and figures where our eyes see nothing.

Cummings was kind enough to send along higher-res versions of the maps’ new details, a few of which you’ll find below.

Read the full story here.

“Animals Different From Ours”

As Cummings explains, a lot of the text passages on the map describe not only local populations, but also the local wildlife of regions throughout the world—sometimes lifted from The Travels of Marco Polo.

For example, the passage below is warning of a monstrous creature today known as an Orca, which Yale says Martellus described as “a sea monster that is like the sun when it shines, whose form can hardly be described, except that its skin is soft and its body huge.”

 A text box in the Indian Ocean warns of the orca

 Another warns of “large wildernesses in which there are lions, large leopards, and many other animals different from ours:”

 Text found in northern Africa

Ethiopian Sources

Another cool detail revealed by the multispectral analysis?

That the way Martellus depicted Africa was actually based on African sources. According to Cummings, the way Africa is drawn on the map actually came from Ethiopian input—specifically, “three Ethiopian delegates to the Council of Florence in 1441.”

The council was called by the Pope—who invited the Ethiopian delegates, providing insight into how the African continent was shaped.

 The multispectral images show previously lost details in Martellus' depiction Africa that suggest the German cartographer used data from African sources, not European explorations.

A Map’s Lineage 

Again, cartography was a hugely important tool during the Age of Discovery.

Martellus’s map was based on others before it, and his map went on to influence how several other cartographers depicted the new world.

The multispectral images created by Yale give us a look at that heritage—the newly-uncovered words include some shared with a later map, by Martin Waldseemüller in 1507, suggesting Waldseemüller may have used this map to draw his own. 

We’ve written about Waldseemüller’s map before, actually: It was the first known cartographic rendering of America as a continent.

Of course, his 16th century America looks very different from our own. “America” is a long, thin peninsula that seems to stretch from Nova Scotia down to Florida.

Beyond that, neither Waldseemüller or Martellus could know.

It would take far longer to find out what existed in the blank patch of map—and even longer for us to figure out what they thought might exist there.

Links :

• GeoGarage blog : A world redrawn : when America showed up on a map, it was the universe that got transformed / The making of a mysterious Renaissance map / Map Lab uncovering hidden text on a 500-year-old map that guided Columbus / Colombus and the Piri Reis map of 1513

Watch the first full-color HD videos of Earth from space

 Brisbane by Urthecast

It's no longer a challenge to get astonishingly sharp photos of the Earth from space, but video?
That's another matter.

UrtheCast is about to open the floodgates, however.
It just released the first batch of full-color, high-definition video of Earth recorded from the International Space Station.
In many ways, the extremely sharp footage (with detail down to 3.3 feet) of London is like an internet mapping site come to life -- all those pathways are suddenly full of moving boats and cars.

The Iris imaging system that recorded these movies won't be fully operational until the summer, but the preview suggests that its customers will get plenty of insights into traffic and other activity that's harder to track from the ground.

Links :

• Wired : Watch Earth in Live HD video from space this summer

Born like stars

An otherworldly underwater journey reveals the strangely celestial way in which a deep-sea squid gives birth.
Skip to 3:00 to jump right into the action, but watching the entire video from the start truly adds to the mystery and beauty of the whole experience.

Oil drilling in Arctic Ocean: A push into uncharted waters

 What would an oil spill in the Beaufort Sea look like ?

arcticspills.wwf.ca/#home/

From e360Yale by Ed Strukzik

As the U.S. and Russia take the first steps to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean, experts say the harsh climate, icy seas, and lack of infrastructure means a sizeable oil spill would be very difficult to clean up and could cause extensive environmental damage.

Last October, an unmanned barge with 950 gallons of fuel on board was in the Beaufort Sea when it broke free from the tug towing it.
The weather was stormy and the tug captain decided it was too dangerous to try to retrieve the barge in turbulent seas.

Ideally, the Canadian Coast Guard would have been on hand to deal with the situation.
But the icebreaker it routinely dispatches to the Beaufort Sea had gone back to Vancouver for the winter.
It would have taken a week for it to return.

 Arctic ocean in the GeoGarage platform

In the days that followed, powerful currents swept the barge into Alaskan waters.
The U.S. Coast Guard couldn’t do anything because its one operating icebreaker was stationed in Antarctica at the time.
Canadian and U.S. officials thought the barge would most likely be locked in the ice, or crushed by ice and sink.
It continued to drift, however, and when satellite observers checked last month the barge was about 40 miles off Russia’s Chukchi Peninsula.
Russian attempts to find the barge have been hampered, likely to due to bad weather.

As potential oil spills go, the barge incident is an extremely minor one.
But experts say that the errant barge should be a wake-up call for Arctic nations like the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark, and Norway that are poised to ramp up shipping, as well as oil and gas drilling, in the Arctic.

Not only does the route of the ghost barge serve as a real-life demonstration of how spilled oil could move across the Arctic, it also illustrates how difficult it will be to contain and clean up oil in a region where roads, ports, airplanes, and icebreakers are few and far between.
In addition, scientists and engineers still don’t fully understand how chemical dispersants and oil collection agents might work in a cold climate, how ice conditions and ocean currents will influence the fate of spilled oil, and how well microbes in the Arctic are able to degrade the hydrocarbons, as they tend to do in warmer climates, such as during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2012, WWF commissioned RPS Applied Science Associates, Inc. (RPS ASA) to evaluate different types of oil spills most likely to occur in the Beaufort Sea.

RPS ASA is a world leader in modelling the transport, fate, and biological effects of oil and chemical pollutants in marine environments.

Using cutting-edge computer modelling software, RSP ASA estimated the trajectory future possible oil spills associated with increased ship traffic and offshore petroleum exploration and development in the Beaufort Sea.

“Responding to an oil spill is extremely challenging in any marine environment,” says Paul Crowley, the Canadian director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Arctic Program. 

“Under Arctic conditions, it is much worse. A major spill would contaminate ice and shorelines for many thousands of kilometers, kill seabirds and mammals, and severely pollute the natural ecosystem that traditional [indigenous] users and wildlife rely upon.”

Crowley noted that the offshore operating season in the Arctic — and therefore the period when it would be possible to clean up an oil spill — is restricted to four to five months by darkness, heavy ice, and extreme cold.
These severe conditions would make it impossible to attempt an oil spill cleanup for half of the time during the operating season, and 100 percent of the time during the winter, Crowley and others say.

The issue of oil spill response in the Arctic has gained added attention since the Obama administration announced last month that it was giving conditional approval to Shell Oil to drill up to six exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska.
Although the U.S. is requiring Shell to abide by stringent safeguards — drilling only in shallow water and only in ice-free months, requiring the presence of a second oil rig to drill a relief well in case of a blowout — the administration’s decision nonetheless opens the door to drilling in U.S. Arctic waters.

Shell also is exploring Arctic oil-drilling opportunities in Russia, Greenland, and Norway.
The company says it is taking “extraordinary precautions” to drill safely and is collaborating closely with scientific organizations and governments in the region.

Using a supposedly ice-resistant platform, Russia has already begun drilling in the Arctic Ocean at the Prirazlomnoye oil field in the Pechora Sea off western Siberia.
These developments, experts warn, may be just the beginning of oil exploitation in a region that is unprepared to handle oil spills of any size.

There’s oil under them ‘bergs… 

Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Rob Huebert is senior research fellow at the Center for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary and a board member of the Canadian Polar Commission, which is responsible for monitoring and disseminating knowledge of the polar regions.
He is not alone in suggesting that the time to act on oil spill preparedness should come sooner rather than later because oil and gas drilling, as well as shipping in the Arctic, will inevitably accelerate.

In addition to Russia, Huebert says, other Arctic nations — including Greenland, Norway, the United States, and Canada — are interested in developing energy resources in the Arctic, setting “these states on a collision course with the international environmental community.”

Recent oil spills such as Deepwater Horizon have provided engineers and biologists with valuable insights into the containment, cleanup, and disposal of spilled oil.
These spills have also spurred the U.S. Department of Interior to enact some of the most aggressive reforms to offshore oil and gas regulation and oversight in U.S. history.

But as Deepwater Horizon demonstrated, it takes a tremendous amount of resources to clean up a major spill.
At the height of the cleanup, 7,000 vessels, 125 aircraft, and 47,000 people were deployed from a host of easily accessible ports and bases across the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
And yet, several months after the oil well was finally capped, more than 100 millions gallons of oil — out of as many as 210 million spilled — was still unaccounted for.
Much of that missing oil is believed to have settled on the sea floor.

A spill on the scale of the Deepwater Horizon isn't going to happen anytime soon in the Arctic.
But experts say that mobilizing even a fraction of these resources in the region in an expeditious manner would be extremely difficult because there are few roads, runways, or ports in the Arctic; little expert manpower standing by to stage a response; and insufficient international protocols to orchestrate a cleanup if the oil crosses international boundaries.
Tracking the oil by satellite would also be difficult because of weather conditions and ice that may cover oil slicks.

Studies have shown that in most cases, no more than 20 per cent of oil spilled in the ocean can be recovered by mechanical means — those that do not involve the use of chemicals, which can be toxic to marine organisms.
In situ burning and chemical dispersants, therefore, would have to be relied upon heavily in the event of a spill in the Arctic, experts say.

University of Manitoba scientist David Barber heads up a Canadian research group with expertise in the detection, impacts, and mitigation of oil in sea ice.
He says there is very limited knowledge of how Arctic marine ecosystems will be affected by the presence, composition, and dispersion of oil, as well as chemicals used for cleanup, such as dispersants.
“Development of technologies that would be able to help detect oil in ice, and cold-adapted bioremediation technologies, are in their infancy,” he points out.

Barber and his group recently received $28 million in funding from the Canadian government to study ways of detecting oil in Arctic ice.
He says there are a number of variables in the Arctic that complicate containment and clean up efforts, with ice and cold weather topping the list.
Oil can become frozen in ice and drift long distances, and oil trapped under ice also breaks down more slowly because of reduced wave action.
Lower evaporation losses in cold climes also slow the breakdown of oil.
The long-lingering effects of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in southern Alaska demonstrated the difficulties of cleaning up oil spills in cold climes.
What worries scientists and environmentalists even more is a blowout that might take place toward the end of the summer drilling season.

“If a blowout were to occur and could not be contained before the winter freeze-up, it could spew oil uncontrollably for the seven or eight months of winter ice-cover, without the possibility of taking any steps during that time to control it,” Crowley says.
“The oil would bind with the newly formed ice, be carried far and wide by ocean currents, and released into new environments the following spring.”
This, Barber said, should cause people “to pause and reflect on the consequences of allowing oil and gas development in this region without the proper safeguards.”

Environmental groups are particularly concerned that Shell is being given permits for conditional drilling in the Arctic, considering that the company’s history of exploratory drilling has been fraught with problems, including the grounding of a drilling rig off the Alaska coast in late 2012.

Shell has made improvements in source control capping and containment since 2012, but experts with WWF and the Pew Charitable Trusts believe that Shell’s spill response capabilities, and those of U.S. agencies, still do not come close to resembling what an expert committee for the U.S. National Research Council recommended in 2014.
The report highlighted serious shortcomings and featured a long list of recommendations.

“There is still no backstop — no national regulation to ensure operators are prepared for the harsh conditions and remote location of the Arctic region,” says Marilyn Heiman, director of Pew’s US Arctic Project.
“That’s why we are pushing for [the] Interior [Department] to finalize strong regulations that will apply to all future drilling in the Arctic.”
The fact that Russia is ramping up activity in the Arctic was one of the concerns of the National Research Council committee.
If a spill or an accident were to happen on the Russian side of the border, the committee pointed out, oil could easily migrate into Alaskan waters.
The committee called on the U.S. Coast Guard to expand its bilateral agreement with Russia to include Arctic spill scenarios.
Crowley says the same international dispersion of oil could happen if a spill were to occur in Canada’s Beaufort Sea, where Imperial Oil Canada, Exxon Mobil, and BP have jointly filed an application to drill at least one well nearly a mile deep.

Crowley says that the barge that ended up in Russia is an example of what WWF-Canada has highlighted in an oil spill modeling map of the Beaufort Sea.
The barge has followed roughly the same path along the Canadian, Alaskan, and Russian coasts as many of the 22 oil spill scenarios depicted on the WWF map.

“This also highlights the need for increased cooperation, both between industry and governments, and especially between the Arctic states who share these waters,” says Crowley.

Links :

• ADN : Arctic issue: The continental shelf -- geological, legal or geopolitical? / NOAA ships heading north to collect data for modern Arctic navigational charts