Seafarers come across various forms of ice

Man wants to utilize the natural resources of Barents Sea. From the point of view of oil drilling and shipping, ice and the varying ice conditions are a challenge, and cause safety risks. In the Kolarctic CBC funded project Ice Operations, the partners SINTEF Narvik A.S. (Norway), Northern Arctic Federal University (Russia), Luleå university of Technology (Sweden), Storvik & Co Oy (Finland) ”Sozvezdye” (Russia) and Finnish Meteorological Institute collect data. The aim is to improve the accuracy of information about ice conditions on the Barents Sea.

ICEOP – Expedition crew members before entering the vessel, in June 2021

The project carries out its tasks by exploring and studying the sea ice of the area. Radar technology – synthetic-aperture-radar, SAR, to be more precise – makes it possible to get very exact information about the quality of ice. Ice can also be examined in cold-climate laboratories. Through the qualities of ice, the research can get further into defining what kind of risks the ice causes to e.g. oil drilling infrastructures and to shipping.

Shear tests on brash ice was carried out in the Bay of Bothnia in March 2020. Brash ice was collected at the harbour and transported to laboratory.

A video released by the project presents some concrete actions carried out to achieve the objectives of the project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7c7mj4GLBY  

The website of the project:  https://iceops.eu/