ARCTIC CORING EXPEDITION AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2004 • Part of the Integggrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) • Sponsored by Americans, Japanese, and ECORD a consortium of European and Scandinavian countries, plus Canada Purpose • Scientific expedition to take a core from the Lomonosov Ridge near the North Pole. • Core to be analyzed for: – Climatic History of the Arctic Ocean over past 50 million years – Duration of permanent ice over Pole – Origggin of Lomonosov Ridge – Sedimentation rate on Lomonosov Ridge – Etc. First core ever from this region. Schedule of Trip • Met Tromso, Norway on August 6th, 2004 • I went onto Icebreaker Oden • Took off with Vidar Vikinggg at midnight • Met Sovetskiy Soyuz at ice edge 81º N • Arrived at coring site on August 11th • Cored for 3 ½ weeks, until September 7th • North Pole on September 8th • Back in Tromso on September 12th Lomonosov Ridge Lomonosov Ridge TROMSO, NORWAY TROMSO, NORWAY Oden Vidar Viking Sovetskiy Soyuz (Soviet Union) Maximum Ice Class 75, 000 hp 23,000 tonnes Nuclear Convoy to Well Site Oden and Vidar Viking in Convoy Occasional Spectators Ice Everywhere! • 8 – 9/10 ice during transit • Transit used leads as much as possible • Actual route about 20% more than direct route • Transit to coring site took 5 days; 2 days less than planned IceIce Thickness Thickness • Measured against calibrated rod • Ice just over 1m thick near pack edge • 2.5 to 3.5 m at coring site • Ridges to 10m thick • Up to 7 to 8/10 old ice at coring site •Very severe ice conditions at site 3m3 m Drill Site • Took 5 dayygs to get to drill site at 88º N and 140º E (two days less than expected). • Site chosen on Lomonosov Ridge based on seismic done in 2001. Seismic showed seabed sediments very well stratified and in distinct layers. • Water depth 1, 200m; sediments ~420m thick. Ice Management for Drill Ship • Vidar Viking, the drill ship, needed to stay over a specific location in the moving ice. • Ice brea ker Sove ts kiy Soyuz bro ke up Big ice floes (>500 m) into Medium floes (100 to 500 m), 1 to 3 km up drift. • Oden broke the Medium floes to Ice Cake (3 to 20m), 0.2 to 1km updrift. Vidar Viking Operation • Vidar Viking operated with manual control mainly using propeller and rudder to hold position, causing minimal load on boat. • V V could deviate only 50m off location while dr illing. • V V occasionallyyg rammed larger ice floes. Vessels Protecting Vidar Viking Sovetskiy Soyuz Oden Vidar Viking Direction Aerial Photo of ice Drillship Vidar drift Viking (stationary) Oden Large unbroken ice floes Sovetskiy Soyuz Icebreaker Ice Management Tracks Oden Ice tracking Vidar Viking buoy Sovetskiy Soyuz Vidar Viking on Well Site Ice Management at Close Quarters Vidar Viking in Ice • Ice moved continuously • Ice from 2.5 to 3.5m thick plus ridges • Vessel held on one location for 8 days • Ice was 7-8/10 old ice • Drillship operated in floes 300 to 500m diam before they were managed DP Control on Vidar Viking Very sophisticated control system. Manually controlled due to nature of ice loads. CtiCaptain an d ma tes wor kdked aroun dlkd clock. Ice Tracking • GPS Buoys were used to track the ice floes. • Three buoys placed on ice near Vidar Viking. • Buoys transmitted their location every 5 minutes with accuracy of 2.5m. Max range about 5km. • Buoys gave ice drift speed and direction. • Vidar Viking had to rotate so bow pointed into ooconcomin gceg ice. • Ice breakers always operated up drift of drillship INSTALLING ICE TRACKER BUOY ON ICE FLOE Ice Information • Satellite images – only Canadian Radarsat satellite was useful due to high latitude and cloud cover. • Helicopter ice reconnaissance daily. • StkiSiSovetskiy Soyuz ice reconna issance an d assessment of ice. • Ice forecasts every 12 hours based on forecast winds. 2 n. miles Radarsat Image August 17 08:27UTC Icebreaker tracks Ice Survey with Helicopter Drills site Ice Floes GPS Track of Helicopter Helicoppyter Ice Survey Direction ice with Ice Forecast motion Ice Forecast on Radarsat Yellow line indicates where ice is coming from. Numbers are time-month-day Black ovals are large, pottilldtentially dangerous i ce floes Direction Ice Motion Well Site Sovetskiy Soyuz in Ice CAPTAIN MAX SHIRLEY & ARNO KEINONEN (l2)(exactly 2 m) REPLACEMENT BLADES FOR SOVETSKIY SOYUZ EXAMPLE OF ICE MILLING BY OPEN BLADES ON SOVETSKIY SOYUZ Sovetskiy Soyuz Nuclear Control Room Nuclear Reactor on Sovetskiy Soyuz Gym on Sovetskiy Soyuz Swimming Pool on Sovetskiy Soyuz Dining Room on Sovetskiy Soyuz Sovetskiy Soyuz Hercules Fly Past after Drop LOW FLY BY Quick-Draw Roger about to get a Phone Ca ll • Ericksson provided everyone with cell phone. • I could phone directly to anyone on any of the three ships, and have private phone conversation. • Very quiet on ship – No PA system. Ice Forecasting Ice Forecasting Empirical formula Vice = 0. 017 x Vwind (and 40° to right) + Vtidal + Vnon-tidal There was no tide and no measurable non-tidal current, so Vice = 0.017 x Vwind (and 40° to right) Comparison of Forecast and Measured Winds 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 Measured wind Direction 0 Forecast Wind Direction Measured wind speed 9/2/04 12:00 forecast wind speed 9/2/04 14:00 9/2/04 16:00 9/2/04 18:00 9/2/04 20:00 9/2/04 22:00 9/3/04 0:00 9/3/04 2:00 9/3/04 4:00 8.0 9/3/04 6:00 9/3/04 8:00 7.0 9/3/04 10:00 9/3/04 12:00 6.0 9/3/04 14:00 9/3/04 16:00 5.0 9/3/04 18:00 9/3/04 20:00 4.0 9/3/04 22:00 9/4/04 0:00 3.0 9/4/04 2:00 9/4/04 4:00 2.0 9/4/04 6:00 9/4/04 8:00 1.0 9/4/04 10:00 9/4/04 12:00 0.0 Drift speed (kt) 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.30 0.32 0.34 0.36 Comparison ofForecastandMeasured Ice Drift 8/17/04 19:00 8/18/04 1:00 8/18/04 7:00 8/18/04 13:00 8/18/04 19:00 ( 8/19/04 1:00 Speeds areblueandDirections arepink) 8/19/04 7:00 Drift Ice Direction Measured Forecast Ice Drift Direction Drift Ice Speed Measured Forecast Ice Drift (kt) Speed 8/19/04 13:00 8/19/04 19:00 Forecast and Measured Ice Drift Speed and Direction 8/20/04 1:00 8/20/04 7:00 8/20/04 13:00 8/20/04 19:00 and 8/21/04 1:00 Measured 8/21/04 7:00 8/21/04 13:00 Date and time 8/21/04 19:00 8/22/04 1:00 Ice 8/22/04 7:00 Drift 8/22/04 13:00 8/22/04 19:00 Speed 8/23/04 1:00 8/23/04 7:00 8/23/04 13:00 and 8/23/04 19:00 Direction 8/24/04 1:00 8/24/04 7:00 8/24/04 13:00 8/24/04 19:00 8/25/04 1:00 8/25/04 7:00 8/25/04 13:00 8/25/04 19:00 8/26/04 1:00 8/26/04 7:00 8/26/04 13:00 8/26/04 19:00 180 240 0 120 360 60 300 Drift Direction Two Helicopters on Oden Helicopters for ice surveys Personnel transportation between ships Placinggy and recovery of ice drift buoy s Deck of Vidar Viking Moonpool added Drillrig added Contained all drill supplies Several laboratories for core analysis DRILL BIT Corer FditditbhdliForced into sediment by hydraulic pressure 4.5 m cores taken each time About 1 hour to recover core on wireline About 10 days for 420 m core Chief scientist Ted and Project Manager Kate Moran with sample Preliminary Analysis of a Core Soils Laboratory on Vidar Viking DAILY EXERCISE CLASS RAN UP TO BRIDGE TRIP TO NORTH POLE AND BACK Preparing Champagne for arrival at Pole Canadians at North Pole Some Tourists at North Pole TOURISTS MAKING HASTY RETREAT to SAUNA A HOT TODDY AT THE POLE Group at North Pole What is it like at the North Pole? FERMENTED HERRING PARTY THE BAR ONE OF MANY PARTIES IN THE BAR CAPTAIN’S DINNER ON SOVETSKIY SOYUZ Yamal, Sister Ship to S – S Taking tourists to the North Pole $17,000 to $27,000 per person Makes several trippps per year Roared past us at 12kt Marine Successes • 100% successful operationally • Vidar Viking drilled on location 8 days continuously. • No mechanical losses due to ice, as operators kept aware of situation and time to close down. • Sovetskiy Soyuz performed better than expected, in breaking up the ice sheet. • Oden veryygpg effective in breaking up managed floes. • V V performed better than expected in maintaining location. • Ice forecasting was good - forecasted changes in direction of ice for ice management, and arrival of unmanageable ice floes. SOME GEOTECHNICAL FINDINGS 430 M CORE – ABOUT 60 MILLION YEARS OF INFORMATION. • BEDROCK IS SANDSTONE AND 80 MILLION YEARS OLD : SHALLOW WATER CONTINENTAL ORIGIN – LOMONOSOV RIDGE BELIEVED TO HAVE BROKEN OFF SIBERIAN COASTAL SHELF 55 MILLION YEARS AGO. • 55 MILLION YEARS AGO: ARCTIC (& WORLD) WAS SUBTROPICAL FOR ABOUT 200,000 YEARS DUE TO GREEN HOUSE GASES SOME GEOTECHNICAL FINDINGS • 40 MILLION YEARS AGO: FRESH WATER FERNS (LOW SALINITY, SHALLOW WATER DOMINATED REGION) • ARCTIC OCEAN WAS CLOSED FRESH WATER SEA WHICH OPENED TO ATLANTIC ABOUT 17.5 MILLION YEARS AGO.