One such evaluation, the “High Latitude Study,” was commissioned by the Coast Guard in 2010. The study concluded that to provide sufficient capability in support of U.S. national interests in the polar regions, the Coast Guard needed a fleet of six icebreakers – three heavy and three medium.
The Coast Guard continually works to refine its ability to execute and sustain Arctic operations – and to work with its partners in the region to adapt to the demands of the environment. In April, the service held a tabletop mass rescue exercise – a simulated cruise ship evacuation/mass rescue – with partners from the state of Alaska, Canada, and industry.
The price tag for a new heavy icebreaker is currently $1 billion, making a six-icebreaker fleet a distant prospect for an agency struggling to recapitalize with a proposed acquisition budget of $1.2 billion. But the issue has been taken up by Congress and debated intently, and the service’s 2016 appropriation included $6 million for “pre-acquisition” activities for a new heavy icebreaker.
It’s a start, said Trego. “Our view, and what the commandant has been saying, is that we need a minimum of two heavy icebreakers. Right now that’s to recapitalize the existing one, and to have some self-rescue capability. That doesn’t give us year-round assured access, which is what the president has said we need, and which we say we need.”
- Training and Logistics
The Coast Guard continually works to refine its ability to execute and sustain Arctic operations – and to work with its partners in the region to adapt to the demands of the environment. In April, the service held a tabletop mass rescue exercise – a simulated cruise ship evacuation/mass rescue – with partners from the state of Alaska, Canada, and industry.
A full-scale multi-agency field training exercise, Arctic Chinook, took place around Nome and Kotzebue from Aug. 22-25: A SAR exercise, simulating a cruise ship in distress off the Arctic coast, that involved numerous international, federal, state, and local partners. The exercise tested logistics, infrastructure, and medical capabilities, as well as the overall unified command structure of such an operation.
The Coast Guard and its partners plan for the long term, and it would be a mistake, Wilcox said, to assume Arctic Chinook is aimed directly at the Crystal Serenity cruise – an event that simply signals a larger trend. “We’re going to be seeing more and more of this traffic – depending, to some extent, on how successful this August trip is. We know other cruise vessel companies are starting to build ships in compliance with the Polar Code, so they can make these transits in the future.” The Polar Code is a set of safety standards adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency that regulates international shipping.
- Communications
For a variety of reasons, including the vast and rugged Alaska terrain and the northern limit of existing satellite systems, communications are a unique challenge in the Arctic. Further complicating matters is the jumble of technical standards and codes among the Coast Guard and its partners in the region. In the Arctic, where operations are constantly shifting, Trego said, the service relies on localized VHF and UHF radio communications, and has had to devise its own solutions seasonally. Last year, for example, it established a series of signal repeaters, between Barrow and the Coast Guard’s 17th District Headquarters in Juneau.
An iceberg spotted from the NOAA Ship Fairweather during a mission to map areas of the Arctic.
Arctic Chinook involved the evaluation of several technologies for localized communications information from a simulated evacuation was disseminated in two forms: digital data, sent wirelessly from a high-altitude balloon over the site, and voice radio, transmitted to a communications repeater in nearby Port Clarence. Information was then relayed to Nome, where a team from the Coast Guard’s Research and Development Center beamed it up to a satellite, enabling downloads by the state of Alaska and District 17 Headquarters.
- Navigation
One of the biggest obstacles to ensuring safety and access in the Arctic maritime is a simple lack of awareness. Less than 5 percent of the region – mostly the highly trafficked passages in and around the Bering Strait – has been charted to 21st century standards. It remains a hazardous maritime domain. According to a 2009 report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal agency charged with surveying and charting U.S. and territorial seas, polar cruises compiled a poor safety record from 2000 to 2008: five ships sunk, 16 groundings, 42 environmental or pollution violations, and 28 ships disabled by fire, collision, or propulsion loss.