Here is a shot from LTJG Tasha Thomas (HEALY’s Public Affairs Officer) in one of her regular updates to family and friends about life aboard the icebreaker HEALY. This shot was taken during the Bering Sea Ecosystem Expedition – an expedition from April 4–May 11, 2009, where a team of scientists from the Polar Discovery team will be aboard the Healy in the Bering Sea and will focus on learning about sea ice, and how climate change will affect it.

According to the Polar Discovery website:

Going on the ice is pretty special. Even on the icebreaker Healy, only people with a work-related reason are allowed to leave the ship when we stop at an ice station. That means the only people who usually go on the ice are the polar bear watch, the rescue swimmer, the writer and the photographer (us), and up to a dozen or so scientists.

But every now and then, on a particularly nice day, with particularly thick ice, something special happens: Ice liberty. [Continue Reading →]

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Here is an update from the Pentagon Channel on the status of the USCG Polar Ice Breaking fleet:

More USCG official videos can be found at the USCGImagery channel on Youtube HERE.

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The most technologically advanced drillship in the world is not on lovaton in the gulf of mexico or in a Korean shipyard. Actually it’s not even built yet. Meet the Aurora Borealis, a dynamically positioned, drillship/icebreaker, arctic research vessel designed for the European Union. The official website tells us;

The Research Icebreaker AURORA BOREALIS will be the most advanced Polar Research Vessel in the world with a multi-functional role of drilling in deep ocean basins and supporting climate/environmental research for the next 40 years.

The new technological features will include azimuth propulsion systems, satellite navigation, ice-management support, deep-sea drilling under a closed sea-ice cover and the deployment and operation of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) from one of the two moon-pools.

The unique feature of the vessel is the drilling rig, which will enable sampling of the ocean floor down to 5000 m water depth and with 1000 m penetration into the seafloor at the most inhospitable places on earth. The drilling capability will be deployed in both polar regions and AURORA BOREALIS will be the only vessel worldwide to undertake this type of scientific investigation.

Technical Details:

• Powerful icebreaker with ca. 55 MW (diesel-electric)
• Highest classification for icebreakers
• Twin hull
• Two moon pools 7 x 7 m each
• Dynamic Positioning System
• Deep-sea drilling under a closed sea-ice cover
• Drilling rig: max. 5,000 m water depth and 1,000 m core
• Riserless drilling technology
• Modularized mobile laboratory systems – mission specific laboratories
Length over all ca. 180 m | Beam ca. 40 m | Personnel (crew + scientists) 120 | Expedition duration 60 days.

For more information on the Aurora Borealis visit the official website HERE or download the presentation HERE. For the oceanography geeks a more detailed study can be found HERE.

UPDATE: The BBC has just run an excellent article on this vessel which can be found HERE.

Note: This article was originally posted in Jan 08

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