Lessons Learned From Fifty Years of Operating in the Arctic (Russian)

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis Wendler ◽  
Amit Sharma
Keyword(s):  
2019 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 9.1-9.85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret A. LeMone ◽  
Wayne M. Angevine ◽  
Christopher S. Bretherton ◽  
Fei Chen ◽  
Jimy Dudhia ◽  
...  

AbstractOver the last 100 years, boundary layer meteorology grew from the subject of mostly near-surface observations to a field encompassing diverse atmospheric boundary layers (ABLs) around the world. From the start, researchers drew from an ever-expanding set of disciplines—thermodynamics, soil and plant studies, fluid dynamics and turbulence, cloud microphysics, and aerosol studies. Research expanded upward to include the entire ABL in response to the need to know how particles and trace gases dispersed, and later how to represent the ABL in numerical models of weather and climate (starting in the 1970s–80s); taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by the development of large-eddy simulations (1970s), direct numerical simulations (1990s), and a host of instruments to sample the boundary layer in situ and remotely from the surface, the air, and space. Near-surface flux-profile relationships were developed rapidly between the 1940s and 1970s, when rapid progress shifted to the fair-weather convective boundary layer (CBL), though tropical CBL studies date back to the 1940s. In the 1980s, ABL research began to include the interaction of the ABL with the surface and clouds, the first ABL parameterization schemes emerged; and land surface and ocean surface model development blossomed. Research in subsequent decades has focused on more complex ABLs, often identified by shortcomings or uncertainties in weather and climate models, including the stable boundary layer, the Arctic boundary layer, cloudy boundary layers, and ABLs over heterogeneous surfaces (including cities). The paper closes with a brief summary, some lessons learned, and a look to the future.


Author(s):  
Jeroen Timmermans ◽  
Ian Luff ◽  
Nicholas Long

While subsea production template and manifold designs have come to be dominated by standardized solutions tailored for specific hardware, the design of Pipeline End Manifolds (PLEM) remains largely project-specific. Nevertheless, some trends in PLEM design for large-diameter pipelines in moderate water depths have emerged in the past years in the North Sea and elsewhere; namely, large stand-alone structures on suction pile foundations with diverless spoolpiece tie-ins. This arrangement has proven successful on numerous projects; however, the move to remote arctic fields of significant production capacity and long design life introduces new design drivers that warrant a “fresh approach” to PLEM design. The developments currently being considered for the arctic will have to deal with: - Remote location making mobilization of installation assets a significant cost driver such that separate installation of pipeline and PLEM is relatively unattractive - Harsh conditions and short weather windows for installation favoring designs that reduce the number of separate installation steps and vessels - Poorer access for maintenance and repair during the operating life favoring designs that are modular and that allow recovery of critical components using the smallest possible intervention vessels. When combined with envisioned field production lives of 40 to 50 years, this means a very different set of design drivers will apply to the PLEM design. This paper presents an alternative PLEM design developed to overcome these challenges by: - Integrating of the PLEM with the pipeline to work around current industry limitations for large diameter diverless tie-in connector systems and to minimize ROV rotated sealing surfaces subsea in normal operation, - Introducing plug technology to remove the critical dependence on long-term trouble-free performance of large bore valves, - Introducing driven pile foundations to reduce structure size, prevent long-term settlements and eliminate the need for separate pipeline support frames by maintaining the pipe centerline close to the mudline, - Modularizing the system such that key components (all remaining valves) can be retrieved without complete shutdown of flow and such that installation / intervention can be performed using a wide range of vessels, and - Incorporating lessons learned from the successful design of a North Sea vertical diverless pig launcher unit. This paper presents an overview of the alternative PLEM design and discusses the status of the technologies required.


Author(s):  
Matthew A. Charette ◽  
Phoebe J. Lam ◽  
Maeve C. Lohan ◽  
Eun Young Kwon ◽  
Vanessa Hatje ◽  
...  

Continental shelves and shelf seas play a central role in the global carbon cycle. However, their importance with respect to trace element and isotope (TEI) inputs to ocean basins is less well understood. Here, we present major findings on shelf TEI biogeochemistry from the GEOTRACES programme as well as a proof of concept for a new method to estimate shelf TEI fluxes. The case studies focus on advances in our understanding of TEI cycling in the Arctic, transformations within a major river estuary (Amazon), shelf sediment micronutrient fluxes and basin-scale estimates of submarine groundwater discharge. The proposed shelf flux tracer is 228-radium ( T 1/2  = 5.75 yr), which is continuously supplied to the shelf from coastal aquifers, sediment porewater exchange and rivers. Model-derived shelf 228 Ra fluxes are combined with TEI/ 228 Ra ratios to quantify ocean TEI fluxes from the western North Atlantic margin. The results from this new approach agree well with previous estimates for shelf Co, Fe, Mn and Zn inputs and exceed published estimates of atmospheric deposition by factors of approximately 3–23. Lastly, recommendations are made for additional GEOTRACES process studies and coastal margin-focused section cruises that will help refine the model and provide better insight on the mechanisms driving shelf-derived TEI fluxes to the ocean. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Biological and climatic impacts of ocean trace element chemistry’.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-437
Author(s):  
S. Y. Chernitsyna

The article compares the problems of two strategically important regions for Russia — the Caspian region and the Arctic region. Despite the fact that there are some significant geographical and climate differences, the geopolitical situation in the regions is similar. There are almost identical risks in the development of these regions. Special attention is paid to the issue of ecology in the conditions of active oil and gas production. The question concerning the instruments of regulation of interstate relations is sharply raised. International cooperation is essential in addressing key issues in the regions, such as improving socio-economic conditions, energy distribution and border management. In particular, it is necessary to define a regulatory framework that would meet the new realities in the Arctic. As for the international legal status of the Caspian sea, it was settled by the adoption of the Convention following the summit in 2018. The main difference is that the Caspian region was exposed to the anthropogenic factor much earlier. The lessons learned from the work in the Caspian region can be used in the Arctic region, which can reduce some of the risks associated with the interaction of coastal countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 292 ◽  
pp. 03088
Author(s):  
Sijiang Liu ◽  
Mingyuan Wan

In late 2019, the first SARS-CoV-2 case was reported in Wuhan, China. It has been known as a deadly virus that could cause many severe health complications, particularly respiratory illnesses. With its extraordinary ability to transmit between humans, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, including Antarctica and the Arctic region. On 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 as a public health emergency worldwide (global pandemic) to raise global awareness of the dangerous virus. With immediate and efficient public health interventions, progress has been seen in many countries such as China and New Zealand. Therefore, in this review, we summarized the important public health risk mitigation measures applied in China.


ARCTIC ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan P. Kettle

Supporting the development of trusted and usable science remains a key challenge in contested spaces. This paper evaluates a collaborative research agreement between the North Slope Borough of Alaska and Shell Exploration and Production Company—an agreement that was designed to improve collection of information and management of issues associated with the potential impacts of oil and gas development in the Arctic. The evaluation is based on six categories of knowledge co-production indicators: external factors, inputs, processes, outputs, outcomes, and impacts. Two sources of data were used to assess the indicators: interviews with steering committee members and external science managers (n = 16) and a review of steering committee minutes. Interpretation of the output and outcome indicators suggests that the Baseline Studies Program supported a broad range of research, though there were differences in how groups perceived the relevance and legitimacy of project outcomes. Several input, process, and external variables enabled the co-production of trusted science in an emergent boundary organization and contested space; these variables included governance arrangements, leveraged capacities, and the inclusion of traditional knowledge. Challenges to knowledge co-production on the North Slope include logistics, differences in cultures and decision contexts, and balancing trade-offs among perceived credibility, legitimacy, and relevance. Reinforced lessons learned included providing time to foster trust, developing adaptive governance approaches, and building capacity among scientists to translate community concerns into research questions.


Author(s):  
Gaius R. Shaver

I was committed to long-term, site-based, research long before the Arctic (ARC) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site was established in 1987. Working with the LTER program since then has allowed me to reach my goals more easily than would have been possible otherwise. Because of my deep involvement in research in the LTER program, most of the examples I use in teaching now come from LTER sites. For the same reason, most of my communications with the public are about research in the LTER program. I learned the value of collaboration as a graduate student, from my earliest mentors and collaborators. Being a part of the LTER program has helped me to develop a wide array of enjoyable, comfortable, and productive collaborations. A message to students: be generous in all aspects of your research and professional life, because there is much more to be gained from generosity than there is to be lost. I helped set up the ARC site of the LTER program in 1987 and have made it the focus of my scientific career for the past 27 years. My experience with integrated, site-based, multidisciplinary ecosystem research actually began in 1972, however, when as a graduate student I worked with the US Tundra Biome Study at Barrow, Alaska (Brown et al. 1980; Hobbie 1980). The Tundra Biome Study and its umbrella organization, the International Biological Program (IBP), ended officially in 1974, but the ideas developed and lessons learned from these programs were central to the later development of the LTER program (Coleman 2010). These lessons were central to the formation of my own professional worldview; key among them was the idea that long-term approaches, including long-term, whole-ecosystem experiments, were essential to understanding distribution, regulation, and change in populations, communities, and ecosystems everywhere. My dissertation research, on root growth at the Barrow site, benefited greatly from the interactions I had with the diverse group who worked there. I finished my PhD in 1976, during a period when the need for a federally supported program of long-term, multidisciplinary, site-based ecological research was becoming increasingly clear.


2019 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 12-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amos Necci ◽  
Stefano Tarantola ◽  
Bogdan Vamanu ◽  
Elisabeth Krausmann ◽  
Luca Ponte

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mairi M.R. Best ◽  
Paolo Favali ◽  
Laura Beranzoli ◽  
Jérôme Blandin ◽  
Namik M. Çağatay ◽  
...  

AbstractThe European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory (EMSO) European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) provides power, communications, sensors, and data infrastructure for continuous, high-resolution, (near-)real-time, interactive ocean observations across a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary range of research areas including biology, geology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and computer science, from polar to subtropical environments, through the water column down to the abyss. Eleven deep-sea and four shallow nodes span from the Arctic through the Atlantic and Mediterranean, to the Black Sea. Coordination among the consortium nodes is being strengthened through the EMSOdev project (H2020), which will produce the EMSO Generic Instrument Module (EGIM). Early installations are now being upgraded, for example, at the Ligurian, Ionian, Azores, and Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) nodes. Significant findings have been flowing in over the years; for example, high-frequency surface and subsurface water-column measurements of the PAP node show an increase in seawater pCO2 (from 339 μatm in 2003 to 353 μatm in 2011) with little variability in the mean air-sea CO2 flux. In the Central Eastern Atlantic, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands open-ocean canary node (aka ESTOC station) has a long-standing time series on water column physical, biogeochemical, and acidification processes that have contributed to the assessment efforts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). EMSO not only brings together countries and disciplines but also allows the pooling of resources and coordination to assemble harmonized data into a comprehensive regional ocean picture, which will then be made available to researchers and stakeholders worldwide on an open and interoperable access basis.


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