University
of Alaska at Fairbanks, Part 1:
HF Radar Data Benefitting Alaska Oil Industry & Native Communities
1 September
2010
 UAF
field experts prepare to make antenna patten measurements
from small skiff in the icy Chukchi sea.
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HF
radar for ocean observing has a long history in Alaska starting
back in 1976. At that time NOAA deployed CODAR units (predecessor
to the SeaSonde®) as part of an environmental impact
assessment in Lower Cook Inlet for benefit of the Bureau of Land
Management (which at the time was responsible for managing offshore
oil leasing on the outer continental shelf). Since then, Alaska
maintains its status as one of the most challenging environments
to deploy and operate HF radar, though the benefits of having its
data for serving oil industry and others have always been great
enough to justify the effort!
The HF radar team members at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF)
School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences have used their expertise to meet
the challenges of radar deployments in the toughest of conditions. While
deployments take them all around the state from the Gulf of Alaska in the
South to the Beaufort Sea in the North, a present focus for 2010 is in
Northwest Alaska’s Chukchi Sea.
SeaSonde antennas have
been striped with bright reflective tape for alerting
snow machine operators to their presence.
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With funding from the United States Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management., Regulation & Enforcement Division, Conoco Phillips
Alaska, Inc., and Shell Oil Company, UAF has set up Long-Range SeaSondes
in Barrow, Wainwright, and <in process> Point Lay to provide data
to the offshore energy industry. As a bonus, native Alaskan Communities
may also use the outputs to predict how sea ice conditions may change during
subsistence hunting activities.
The data collected in the Chukchi Sea will be used for oil spill risk analysis
as well as Environmental Impact Statements. Shell Oil was scheduled to
drill in the Chukchi Sea this summer, 2010, until the moratorium on drilling
was handed down by the Obama Administration. In addition to SeaSondes,
UAF is also deploying a six mooring array stretching out from the shoreline
that will measure currents, waves, ice thickness, temperature, and salinity
from August 2010 through August 2011. For the month of August 2010, two
Webb Slocum gliders will undulate within the SeaSonde coverage. |
| Long-Range SeaSonde antennas operating
in Chukchi Sea at Wainwright, Alaska. |
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UAF
team members Hank Statscewich, Tom Weingartner & Rachel
Potter
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SeaSonde-derived
Chukchi Sea current map produced during 2009 deployment
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DANGER!! |
While
most UAF field campaigns are carefully planned in advance, there
are occasions when the radar team is called to action with only
days or hours notice. Such was the case last year in Cook Inlet
area, when Mt. Redoubt roared its ugly head. The volcanic eruption
sent an avalanche of mud, known as a lahar, toward the oil storage
tanks at the Drift River Oil Terminal (DROT) nearly causing an
oil spill. The surprise lahar alerted people to the clear and present
danger posed by Mt. Redoubt and possible devastation of local environment.
As part of the emergency preparations UAF performed a rapid deployment
of three SeaSondes in the area, including placement of a unit on
Osprey Oil platform just west of the DROT.
Mt. Redoubt sending ash cloud into sky, 2009.
Photo courtesy of James Isaak.
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