Search Results for: arctic

Gunderson Marine Awarded $43 Million Contract to Support U.S. Antarctic Program

Portland-based vessel fabrication business Gunderson Marine has been awarded a $43.5 million contract by the U.S. Army to develop equipment for research in the Antarctic. Gunderson has been retained to design and build a steel pier barge to support operations at McMurdo Station for the National Science Foundation’s U.S. Antarctic Program. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work on this critically important project with great organizations like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Science Foundation,” Gunderson Marine President Marvin “Dee” Burch said. “This is only the beginning of Gunderson Marine diversifying into other markets since the rail car operation is no longer operating at the facility.” Three Oregon elected officials, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley with U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici, all welcomed the…
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USCG Cutter Polar Star Heads to Antarctica for Operation Deep Freeze

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Polar Star has embarked on its 27th year in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the Guard said Nov. 16. The cutter has left its homeport of Seattle and headed to Antarctica for Deep Freeze, a yearly joint military effort to replenish the U.S. Antarctic stations supporting the National Science Foundation, which is the U.S. Antarctic Program’s lead agency. Every year, the cutter crunches through ice to create a path that enables fuel and supply vessels to access McMurdo Station, the U.S. Antarctic Program’s logistical hub and the biggest Antarctic station. “Operation Deep Freeze is a unique and important mission,” Capt. Keith Ropella, the cutter’s commanding officer, said. “This mission requires year-round effort from the crew to prepare this 47-year-old cutter for the 20,000 nautical mile…
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Coast Guard Cutter Returns After 57-Day Arctic Ocean-Bering Sea Patrol

The Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley returned to its homeport of Kodiak, Alaska on Labor Day following a 57-day patrol in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea. The Alex Haley is a 282-foot Medium Endurance Cutter that performs search and rescue, fisheries law enforcement and vessel safety inspections across Alaska and has been homeported in Kodiak since 1999. Nicknamed the “Bulldog of the Bering,” the vessel supported multiple strategic-level objectives for the Seventeenth Coast Guard District and the U.S. Northern Command during its 57-day mission, including providing presence along the U.S. Maritime Boundary Line and supporting U.S. Navy assets during a transit through the Bering Sea. The cutter also navigated the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean, and crewmembers aboard the Alex Haley fulfilled several of their primary missions as…
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Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on Arctic Ocean Mission

The Coast Guard cutter Healy and a team of researchers have embarked on a months-long mission to gain insight on how warmer water from the Atlantic Ocean is being introduced into the Arctic at the shelf water level, deep basin interior and upper ocean. The mission was announced by the U.S. Coast Guard on Aug. 26. According to the USCG, researchers from the National Science Foundation and International Arctic Research Center will service the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS), in hopes of developing an understanding of water circulation in the region and will sample the water column in areas normally inaccessible due to pack ice. Research findings would be of interest to the Crab Plan Team of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which has ongoing studies on…
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Coast Guard Cutter Healy Gets New C.O., Departs for Arctic

Capt. Michele Schallip on June 29 returned for a second tour as commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy, one of two active icebreakers homeported in Seattle. Commissioned in 1999, the Healy is the newest, largest and most technologically advanced icebreaker in the Coast Guard’s fleet. Adm. Linda Fagan, commandant of the US. Coast Guard presided over the change of command ceremonies in Seattle in which Schallip relieved Capt. Kenneth Boda as commanding officer. Schallip previously served as the ship’s executive officer from 2018 to 2020. Boda service as the Healy’s commanding officer began in June 2021. Twice during Boda’s tenure, the Healy was deployed to the Arctic region, including trips to circumnavigate North America and to transit the geographic North Pole, in support of oceanographic and climate…
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U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star Heads to Antarctica

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Polar Star is on its way to Antarctica to support Operation Deep Freeze 2023, its 26th voyage to the continent. Operation Deep Freeze is a joint mission to replenish the U.S. Antarctic stations of the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Antarctic Program’s lead agency. The crew, which left its homeport in Seattle on Nov. 16, made a four-day stop at Hobart, Australia, before leaving Dec. 21 across the Southern Ocean. In Hobart, crew members hosted guests from the Australian Antarctic Division, Australian Border Force, Tasmanian government officials and others, USCG said.  “The reception was a good way for us to thank our Tasmanian hosts for their part in Polar Star’s mission success,” Capt. Keith Ropella, Polar Star’s commanding officer, said. “We are proud to work…
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Coast Guard Cutter Stratton Returns to Calif. Following Arctic Deployment

The Coast Guard cutter Stratton and crew returned to Alameda, Calif. On Nov. 23 following a 97-day, multi-mission deployment to the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea. In August, the cutter and crew departed Alameda to project U.S. sovereignty throughout U.S. Arctic waters, provide search and rescue capabilities in the region, and meet with Alaskan communities. Stratton repeatedly operated along the length of the U.S.-Russian maritime boundary line (MBL) from the Diomede Islands to well above the Arctic Circle, while they patrolled within the U.S. Arctic zone. Stratton also patrolled the U.S.-Canadian MBL in the Beaufort Sea, demonstrating a presence in the distant regions of the Arctic. On Sept. 26, the Stratton and Coast Guard cutter Kimball became the first national security cutters to jointly patrol the U.S.-Russian MBL above the…
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From the Editor: Arctic Commitment

Over the years, the Arctic has gradually begun to play a more important role when it comes to the shipping of goods between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and now a couple of elected officials are trying to ensure that the role in it by one of America’s biggest geopolitical adversaries is minimized. Two U.S. senators have put forward legislation that they say would eliminate Russia’s monopoly on Arctic shipping by establishing a permanent U.S. maritime presence in the region. The bill, known as the Arctic Commitment Act, was introduced Aug. 3 by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). It is co-sponsored by Sen. Angus King (I-ME) who, with Murkowski, co-chairs the Senate Arctic Caucus. The legislation includes a variety of Arctic-focused provisions pertaining to national security, shipping, research, and trade. It…
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From the Editor: Arctic Commitment

Over the years, the Arctic has gradually begun to play a more important role when it comes to the shipping of goods between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and now a couple of elected officials are trying to ensure that the role in it by one of America’s biggest geopolitical adversaries is minimized. Two U.S. senators have put forward legislation that they say would eliminate Russia’s monopoly on Arctic shipping by establishing a permanent U.S. maritime presence in the region. The bill, known as the Arctic Commitment Act, was introduced Aug. 3 by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). It is co-sponsored by Sen. Angus King (I-ME) who, with Murkowski, co-chairs the Senate Arctic Caucus. The legislation includes a variety of Arctic-focused provisions pertaining to national security, shipping, research, and trade. It…
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USCG Cutter Polar Star Reaches Antarctica, on Verge of World Record

Crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Polar Star were working with Guinness World Records to become the new official record holders of being able to reach the planet’s southernmost navigable waters. While traveling the Bay of Whales ice harbor near Antarctica in February, the Seattle-based cutter surpassed USCG cutter Polar Sea’s 1997 Guinness World Record, reaching “a position of 78 degrees, 44 minutes, 1.32 seconds south latitude at 12:55 p.m. (Feb. 17) New Zealand time, holding a distance of approximately 500 yards from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf,” according to the agency. Polar Star traveled in waters that used to be charted as part of the ice shelf; now parts of the Ross Ice Shelf deviate about 12 nautical miles from the positions shown on official…
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