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ABSTRACT Sea-ice research has made great progress over the past thirty to forty years due in large part to improved measurements arising from earth observing satellites and year-long continuous measurements of the underside of sea ice from below using subsurface instrumented moorings. The geometry of sea-ice is highly variable and complex with horizontal scale sizes of discrete sea-ice floes ranging from one meter or less to 50 km or more. The vertical scale size, or ice thickness, which is much harder to measure, ranges from 5 cm or less to over 50 m. Sea-ice motion is highly dynamic within the Arctic as indicated by large spatial variations over distance scales ranging from tens of meters to several thousand kilometers (basin scale) as well as on seasonal and interannual time scales. Large internal ice stress conditions can develop which result in the cessation of sea-ice motion which can also impede ship movements through the sea-ice. Given the highly deformed and fractured nature of the floating sea-ice cover, very different responses to nearly identical wind forcing of sea-ice floes can occur over distances as small as a few kilometers. The improved understandings of the sea-ice regime as realized from past, present, and future Arctic research, is essential to realizing the goal of safe and sustainable Arctic activities. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to provide a review and update of sea-ice research including recent findings. The paper also summarizes the outstanding sea-ice research issues which are important to Arctic development activities. The motivation for sea-ice research has always involved geographic and scientific exploration of the vast and largely unknown Arctic, combined with national security and sovereignty dating back to the middle of the last century. In the latter part of the 20 century, sea-ice research broadened to address the needs of offshore oil and gas exploration and production (Hamilton, 2011). As the sea-ice extent in the Arctic has been reduced over the past two decades, the shipping season for passages through the Arctic has been expanded along its continental margins through the Northern Sea Route off Russia and the Northwest Passage off Canada and the United States. Commercial shipping by ice-class vessels is already becoming more common, especially via the Northern Sea Route off Russia, and the prospect of shipping directly across the central Arctic Ocean is also being contemplated within the next few decades (Smith and Stephenson, 2013). To support Arctic shipping, sea-ice research is required for the development of safe and efficient shipping using these sea routes. In addition, sea-ice research is being conducted to study and better support the use of the Arctic by indigenous peoples who have traditionally used sea-ice as a means of transportation for subsistence hunting and travel based on the extensive traditional knowledge of sea-ice.
- Europe (1.00)
- North America > United States > California (0.28)
- North America > Canada > Newfoundland and Labrador (0.28)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Government > Regional Government > North America Government > United States Government (0.93)
- North America > Canada > Quebec > Arctic Platform (0.98)
- North America > Canada > Nunavut > Arctic Platform (0.98)
- North America > Canada > Nunavut > Baffin Bay Basin (0.89)
- Data Science & Engineering Analytics > Information Management and Systems (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Seismic processing and interpretation (0.48)
Abstract Baffin Bay, northern Canada, represents the northernmost segment of rifting between Greenland and North America, and can be considered a northern extension of the Labrador Sea extinct rift system between Labrador and Greenland. Many questions remain about the nature of the crust beneath parts of Baffin Bay, although extinct spreading axes and a fracture zone have been previously identified based principally on gravity data. Existing deep seismic coverage over Baffin Bay is spatially limited and mostly concentrated in the north, although two regional 2-D transects span the region from the centre to the southern end of the bay. One of the regional 2-D refraction transects revealed a thick sedimentary package overlying oceanic crust along most of the profile, despite a lack of clear magnetic anomalies within Baffin Bay. To extrapolate the 2-D seismic refraction results offline and resolve the regional crustal structure across Baffin Bay, a constrained 3-D gravity inversion was undertaken. Bathymetry and depth to basement were used to constrain the 3-D inversion and the resolved crustal geometry from existing refraction lines was used to gauge the quality and reliability of the inverted model. The final inverted 3-D crustal structure model for Baffin Bay will provide useful constraints for basin studies and will shed light on its tectonic evolution.
- North America > Canada > Newfoundland and Labrador > Newfoundland (0.47)
- North America > Canada > Newfoundland and Labrador > Labrador (0.46)
- Geology > Structural Geology > Tectonics > Plate Tectonics (1.00)
- Geology > Structural Geology > Tectonics > Extensional Tectonics (0.94)
- Geophysics > Seismic Surveying (1.00)
- Geophysics > Gravity Surveying > Gravity Modeling > Gravity Inversion (1.00)
- North America > Canada > Nunavut > Baffin Bay Basin (0.99)
- North America > Canada > Nunavut > Arctic Platform > Foxe Basin (0.99)
- North America > Canada > Newfoundland and Labrador > Newfoundland > North Atlantic Ocean > Atlantic Margin Basin > Grand Banks Basin > Orphan Basin (0.98)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Seismic processing and interpretation (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Exploration, development, structural geology (0.74)
Abstract In recent years, new deepwater seismic-based exploration work has resulted in the revision of existing basin boundaries and identification of new, potentially oil-bearing basins in the deepwater Labrador region. The petroleum potential in this deepwater area has also been encouraged by the identification of slick and seepage locations using 2D seismic data and satellite imagery. The importance is that surface slicks possibly are related to subsurface hydrocarbon migration. Thus, all recent data collated together show strong evidence for an active petroleum system in deep water. Many of the wells in shallow water have been drilled with low mud weights, suggestive of low pore pressures. However, where thick shale packages are present, significant overpressure is observed by significant kicks. Clearly, there is a close association between thick (and deep) shale packages and high pore pressure. Thus, one of the key risks in developing the deepwater potential is to understand the pressure regime. The success of this approach has been highlighted recently by successful discoveries such as the presalt Lulu field onshore Brazil and associated discoveries in Gabon and Angola and postsalt discoveries that include Jubilee field offshore Ghana and the associated discovery of Zaedyus field in French Guiana. The deepwater Vøring Basin of the Mid-Norway North Sea and the Labrador slope and deep water share a similar passive margin setting to each other, similar facies associations, and structural development.
- Europe > Norway > Norwegian Sea (1.00)
- North America > Canada > Newfoundland and Labrador > Labrador (0.99)
- Asia > Middle East > Saudi Arabia > Saudi Arabia - Kuwait Neutral Zone ("Partitioned Zone") > Arabian Gulf (0.24)
- Asia > Middle East > Kuwait > Saudi Arabia - Kuwait Neutral Zone ("Partitioned Zone") > Arabian Gulf (0.24)
- Phanerozoic > Cenozoic > Paleogene (1.00)
- Phanerozoic > Mesozoic > Cretaceous (0.70)
- Geology > Structural Geology > Tectonics (1.00)
- Geology > Rock Type > Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Rock > Mudrock > Shale (1.00)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Stratigraphy (1.00)
- North America > United States > Texas > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Wilcox Play > Wilcox Play Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Wilcox Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Mississippi > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Wilcox Formation (0.99)
- (48 more...)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Seismic processing and interpretation (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Geologic modeling (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Exploration, development, structural geology (1.00)
A Decision-Support System for Ice/Iceberg Surveillance, Advisory and Management Activities in Offshore Petroleum Operations
Tiffin, S. (Canatec Associates) | Pilkington, R. (Canatec Associates) | Hill, C. (Canatec Associates) | Debicki, M. (Canatec Associates) | McGonigal, D. (Glacialis Ice Consulting) | Jolles, W. (Canatec Associates)
Abstract Seismic, coring, drilling, and supply operations in ice- and iceberg-infested zones require large quantities of environmental and operations related information which should be available quickly and conveniently to the operations and ice advisory personnel. Specialized software is available to support ice advisory work, generate ice charts, and ice and iceberg drift forecasts. Specialized instruments are available for ice hazard tracking and the safe deployment of these instruments by aircraft and UAVs. This paper describes a toolkit that is being developed to bring together currently available systems into one convenient package. This will assist a ship or rig's OIM and officers and ice advisory team members by providing clear displays of the current situations with respect to the location and movements of ice in the proximity of the operations site. The system will improve the response time of forecasts, efficiency of work and quality of decision-making by OIM and their support personnel. This toolkit will be a decision-support system, which will forecast ice, keep track of hazardous ice features, provide alarms for any and all environmental conditions that might threaten the operation, and assist in planning of new operations. The paper describes the need for such a system, best practices in Ice Observation and Advising, the key system design criteria; main system components, inputs and outputs; the stages of development, the modes of application that will achieve acceptance in the field; and finally, the benefits. Experiences of ice advisory projects undertaken in the Beaufort Sea, Baffin Bay, Sea of Okhosk, and the Caspian Sea are described. Rather than simply describe Ice Advisory work in the field, the paper casts current practice into the framework of standardized and best practices, and indicates how software, communications and instrumentation technological advances can be applied to support better decision making by expert teams that are distributed in space and involve people from different job functions and skill sets.
- North America > Canada (0.46)
- North America > United States > Texas (0.28)
- Transportation (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Seismic processing and interpretation (1.00)
- Management > Risk Management and Decision-Making > Decision-making processes (1.00)
- Management > Professionalism, Training, and Education > Personnel competence (1.00)
- Data Science & Engineering Analytics > Information Management and Systems (1.00)