U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy departed Seattle in mid-June for a months-long Arctic deployment during which it is supporting scientists conducting three distinct science missions.
The first mission was for the Arctic Observing Network, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The cutter serviced subsurface moorings in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska and conducted a broad-scale survey of the boundary current system from the Bering Strait to the western Canadian Arctic.
The program, ongoing for more than two decades, aims to improve understanding of the Pacific Arctic ecosystem in a changing climate. Ancillary programs include measurements of harmful algae blooms and a variety of biogeochemical parameters.
The Healy’s second mission was to embark 20 early career polar scientists and their mentors on a Polar Chief Scientist Training Cruise sponsored by the NSF and University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System to conduct multidisciplinary research.
During a transit of the Northwest Passage, the scientists conducted mapping to fill critical bathymetric gaps and scientific sampling across various disciplines, in addition to developing skills in shipboard leadership, coordination and execution.
The final mission of the deployment supports the Global Ocean Ship-Based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP), with the goal of making the first ever single ship, single season, high-resolution measurements of the physical features of bodies of water and their adjacent land areas across the Arctic basin.
The effort builds on data from as far back as the 1990s to collect repeat oceanographic data from a series of ocean basin transects around the world. The high-resolution surface-to-bottom observations the team collects during the mission are expected to be compared to earlier partial datasets to better understand the Arctic environment.
“We are excited to support three significant missions in the northern high latitudes,” the Healy’s Commanding Officer, Capt. Michele Schallip, said. “Two of these missions are part of long-standing data collection projects, aimed at enhancing our understanding of a changing Arctic. The third mission is dedicated to inspiring future principal investigators who will continue this important work.”
“At a time when scientific interest in the Arctic Ocean Basin is intensifying, Healy substantially enhances the American Arctic research capability,” Schallip added.
The Healy is America’s largest, most technologically advanced polar icebreaker and the Coast Guard’s only icebreaker designed and equipped with scientific instrumentation by the NSF to support Arctic research.
It’s specialized for scientific missions, providing access to the most remote reaches of the Arctic Ocean. Healy is designed to break 4.5 feet of ice continuously at three knots and can operate in temperatures as low as minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit.