PROMAS
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 have collected and analysed data in order to improve the accuracy of information about ice conditions on the Barents Sea. The video below presents shortly why expertise and knowledge about ice needs to be developed.
The project has carried out its tasks by exploring and studying the sea ice of the area. Radar technology – synthetic-aperture-radar, SAR, to be more precise – has made it possible to get very exact information about the quality of ice. Ice has also been 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.
During the ICEOPs project many scientific papers have been produced and published. These scientific papers represent the research thematic front in its area. Furthermore, the ICEOPs have provided experience transfer in between the partners.
The further use of the meta-dataset from the navigation in ice expeditions (IB Frej and Aranda) will be used in coming projects for research analysis and competence development in areas as ice management and operations. The project has a ripple effect on ice monitoring direction development in the Arctic zone on university level.
Ice conditions and Ice maps and risk (Polaris rio) information provides a valuable knowledge basis for potential development activities in the arctic (navigations, operations industry developments). Ice mechanical models (rubble ice, level ice, ridges, ice structural interaction) provide good models for potential industry development activities.
Project: Ice Operations (ICEOPs)
Lead partner: Northern Research Institute Narvik, Narvik, Norway
Other partners:
- Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Arkhangelsk
- Association of oil and gas suppliers “Sozvezdye”, Arkhangelsk
- Luleå University of Technology, Luleå
- Storvik & Co Oy, Oulu
- Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki