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Arctic Technology Evaluation: Addressing Oil Spill Challenges Aboard an Icebreaker in the Arctic

The unique logistics of responding to an oil spill in the extreme and remote Arctic environment drive to the heart of why OR&R GIS specialists Jill Bodnar and Zachary Winters-Staszak are currently on board the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, at the edge of the sea ice north of Alaska.


They are participating in an Arctic Technology Evaluation, an exercise conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center in support of the Coast Guard’s broader effort known as Arctic Shield 2014.

Building on what was learned during the previous year’s exercise, the advanced technologies being demonstrated in this evaluation could potentially supplement those tools and techniques responders normally would rely on during oil spills in more temperate and accessible locations. This Arctic Technology Evaluation provides multiple agencies and institutions, in addition to NOAA, the invaluable opportunity to untangle some of the region’s knotty logistical challenges on a state-of-the-art Coast Guard icebreaker in the actual Arctic environment.

During this month’s exercise, NOAA is focusing on how oil disperses at the edge of the sea ice and collects under the older, thicker ice packs. OR&R is working with NOAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program to develop techniques for quickly identifying and delineating a simulated oil spill in the Arctic waters near the ice edge. The Coast Guard will be using both an unreactive, green fluorescein dye and hundreds of oranges as “simulated oil” for the various tools and technologies to detect.

The UAS group is testing the feasibility of using unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft such as the Puma to collect this information and report back to responders on the ship. Bodnar and Winters-Staszak are pulling these data streams from the Puma into Arctic ERMA®, OR&R’s mapping tool for environmental response data. They’ll be creating a data-rich picture of where the oil spill dye and oranges are moving in the water and how they are behaving, particularly among the various types of sea ice. Get the latest updates at: Arctic Technology Evaluation and learn more about the progress of this Arctic expedition at:


For more information, contact Amy.Merten@noaa.gov.

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Group in boat launching PUMA.
Recovering the Puma after testing its ability to detect simulated oil among ice in the Arctic. (NOAA)
Top: Coast Guard icebreaker. Bottom: Sea otters in water.
Top: A view of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy taken in Seward, Alaska, at the beginning of the expedition. Bottom: Sea otters play in the waters near Seward. (NOAA)
Last updated Tuesday, November 8, 2022 1:41pm PST