Past Ice Projects

For more than 30 years, Canatec staff have carried out projects in all offshore petroleum theatres and most ice-covered or iceberg-infested marine areas of the world. Canatec staff have over 200 years combined experience, much of this time spent in the field both for operations support and field programs. Following is a list of some of the main areas of activity:

The Beaufort Sea

Chukchi Sea

East Siberian Sea/Laptev Sea

Baffin Bay/Davis Strait

Canadian Arctic Archipelago

North Polar Basin

Offshore Newfoundland and Labrador

Caspian Sea

Antarctica.

The Beaufort Sea (Canada and U.S.A.)

Canatec continues its long professional association with this key international transportation corridor and resource basin. Our senior staff and associates have been involved in this region since the early 1970s. In addition to annual ice monitoring support for various marine seismic undertakings (both 2D and 3D), Canatec is deeply involved with studies of Extreme Ice Features (Ice Islands and Multi-year Hummock Fields), sea ice occurrence, imaging techniques, forecast and measurement of sea-ice movement, and carrying out probabilistic impact analysis.

Crew Change aboard Seismic Vessel in Beaufort Sea

Seismic operations in Beaufort Sea

Beaufort Sea ice, summer 2005

Test Assembly of an Automated Iridium Weather Station for Deployment in the Beaufort Offshore

Development of open water off Point Barrow, Alaska (NOAA weather satellite scene)

Beaufort Sea 1970-1985

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Beaufort Sea was the focus of billions of dollars of investment in research, innovation of offshore vessels and structures capable of working in severe ice conditions, new operational techniques and new regulations. Canatec’s senior staff and associates were there in this pioneering time.

Accelerating ice melt with coal dust – McKinley Bay, NWT (Canadian Marine Drilling Ltd.)

Broken ice in wake of an icebreaking support vessel – Beaufort Sea

Icebreaking drill barge Kulluk seen from icebreaking supply boat – Beaufort Sea

Ice management near icebreaking drill barge Kulluk – Beaufort Sea

Ice pile-up at Steel Drilling Caisson (SDC) rig – Beaufort Sea

Detail of ice pile-up at Steel Drilling Caisson (SDC) rig – Beaufort Sea.

Kulluk icebreaking drill barge and icebreaking supply vessel – Beaufort Sea.

Molikpaq drilling structure – Beaufort Sea (structure currently operating in Sea of Okhotsk, Russia)

Ice off the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast (NOAA weather satellite scene)

Offshore logistics support – Beaufort Sea

Helicopter departing drilling platform

Detail of Steel Drilling Caisson (SDC) operation – Beaufort Sea

Steel Drilling Caisson (SDC) on location (Canadian Marine Drilling Ltd.)

Chukchi Sea (U.S.A. and Russia)

The Chukchi Sea sits at the junction of the Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route corridors. It is also becoming a resource exploration target in its own right. Canatec has carried out ice environment analyses for marine route planning and definition of offshore operating windows in ice for Chukchi Sea interests.

East Siberian Sea / Laptev Sea (Russia)

These two water bodies form part of the Northern Sea Route – a transportation corridor that Canatec has investigated for feasibility of year-round marine traffic, as well as conducting training in analysis of satellite imagery of the area.

Kara Sea (Russia)

The Kara Sea is an important link in the Northern Sea Route and the marine access corridor to the natural gas resources of the Yamal Peninsula. Canatec has carried out analyses of historical ice trends in Yamal Peninsula access and also coordinated radar satellite image acquisition and interpretation services for a trans-Kara icebreaker transit.

Gulf of Ob, Russia, from space (NOAA weather satellite scene)

Gulf of Ob, Russia, from space (NASA Terra satellite scene)

Barents Sea (Russia and Norway)

The seasonally icebound southeast corner of the Barents Sea is a key transport route to marine pipeline terminals for northern Russian oilfields. Canatec has performed verification work on original Russian-source studies of the area ice and met-ocean environments as they affect marine transportation. The periodically ice threatened outer Barents Sea is being prepared for long term oil and gas production and Canatec is presently organizing a comprehensive ice and iceberg management plan for the production area.

Greenland Sea (Denmark)

Off the northeast Greenland coast, pack ice drifts constantly over extensive offshore lease areas that are presently being explored in two-dimensional marine seismic surveys. Canatec participated in the study of this pack, in desktop theoretical studies, by providing on-board observation personnel, and by managing special satellite data acquisition and delivery.

Swedish Icebreaker Odin during operations off Northeastern Greenland

Icebreaking patterns offshore Greenland

Curious Polar Bear watching our Sea/Ice Trial

Baffin Bay/Davis Strait (Greenland and Canada)

This international basin is rapidly increasing in importance as a region of accessible offshore resources, made more challenging by the presence of drifting icebergs and seasonal pack ice. Canatec personnel have conducted extensive research on calving rates of glaciers feeding into Baffin Bay. We are currently undertaking a study of detection techniques by TerraSAR-X and RadarSat-2 satellite imagery on icebergs in pack ice on the west coast of Greenland, which is part of a much larger study about to start on the iceberg regime of northern Baffin Bay.

Canadian Arctic Archipelago

This region sits astride the strategic Northwest Passage and includes areas of proved oil, gas, and other mineral deposits. The northern sea margin of the archipelago is the source of extreme ice features (ice islands and multi-year hummock fields). Canatec has undertaken marine routing studies through the Northwest Passage and has measured thickness of ice shelves off the northern coast of Ellesmere Island. We have extensive experience deploying ice drift beacons off the Arctic coast of the Archipelago and tracking ice islands and multi-year hummock fields in this zone. Canatec personnel also offer experience derived from the design, construction and maintenance of floating ice platforms for exploration drilling in this area.

Ice in the Northwest Passage, 2005 (NOAA weather satellite scene)

Amundsen Gulf from space (NOAA satellite scene)

Melting Multiyear Hummock Field off Prince Patrick Island with embedded Ice Island Fragments

Preparing to Drop Beacons from DC3 Aircraft offshore Prince Patrick Island

Massive First Year floe with embedded MultiYear and Ice Island Fragments northeast of Tuktoyaktuk

Preparing to Emplace a Drift Beacon on Ice Island offshore Axel Heiberg Island

Ice Island Fragment in Fjord of Ellesmere Island in melting first year field

Ice Island offshore Ellesmere Island (photo courtesy of Dr. Derek Mueller, CIS)

North Polar Basin

During the ACEX 2004 expedition to recover sediment cores from the Lomonosov Ridge (within 200 miles of the North Pole), Canatec on-board personnel carried out ice forecasting. Shore-based personnel ensured an unbroken supply of all-weather radar satellite imagery to ACEX 2004, overcoming challenges of limited communication bandwidths and extremely high latitude.

Flying over the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf.

Lincoln Sea: Flying over the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf.

Deploying an Ice Mass Balance Buoy at 83 N latitude on the polar ice pack in the Lincoln Sea.

Measuring sea ice thickness through drill-hole tests on the land-fast ice in the Lincoln Sea.

Offshore Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada)

This is a region of active oil and gas production where potential hazards of icebergs and pack ice are now effectively managed. Canatec associates gained valuable experience in iceberg management techniques and design criteria for offshore production platforms during the early field development stages. Canatec has participated in sea-ice studies off the west coast of Newfoundland and in the compilation of 3D data sets of Grand Banks icebergs.

Sea of Okhotsk (Russia)

Oil and gas production operations off the east coast of Sakhalin Island began near the end of the 20^th century and Canatec was present from the start of production. Our ice specialists have provided a full range of ice related services for operators, including analysis of historical data sets, on-site ice drift forecasting during critical operations, and remote ice monitoring and forecasting throughout the six-month annual ice season.

Sakhalin Island, Sea of Okhotsk (NOAA weather satellite scene)

Sakhalin Island NOAA Image from April 2005

Molikpaq Offshore Sakhalin Island, Fall 2000

Molikpaq Offshore Sakhalin Island, Spring 2002

SALM Sakhalin Offshore, December 16 2004

SALM Offshore Sakhalin Island, December 16 2004

Caspian Sea (Kazakhstan and Russia)

The largest lake in the world develops a winter ice cover over the Kashagan and Kalamkas offshore oilfields. Canatec staff and associates are stationed on offshore exploration units as Ice Advisors. Canatec has also worked in partnership with the Danish Meteorological Institute to staff and manage an ice charting office to service the Caspian Sea offshore operation.

NE Caspian Sea – Rafted Young Ice

Caspian Sea: Rafted Yong Sea Ice

Caspian Sea: Ice Recce

Caspian Sea: Ice Recce 2

Caspian Sea: Ice Recce 3

Caspian Sea: Ice Recce 4

Caspian Sea: Ice Recce 5

Antarctica

Commercial activity in and around Antarctica is limited to fisheries, tourism, and logistics for scientific research. Canatec has provided regional ice monitoring in support of marine supply of southern bases. Canatec’s resident ice dynamics specialist has conducted extensive research on iceberg drift in Antarctic waters and we are currently pilot testing our tracker beacon with the Chilean Army out of their O’Higgins base.

Antarctica Project