OPTIMAL NAVAL PATH PLANNING IN ICE-COVERED WATERS

Author(s):  
V Aksakalli ◽  
D Oz ◽  
A F Alkaya ◽  
V Aydogdu

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic and it is critical for global trade as it provides a route between Asia and Europe that is significantly shorter than the alternatives. NSR is soon expected to open for intercontinental shipping due to global warming and thus presents tremendous opportunities for reductions in shipping time, cost, and environmental impacts. On the other hand, facilitating this route requires innovative approaches due to the navigation risks associated with its ice-covered waters. This study presents a graph-theoretical approach for optimal naval navigation in ice-covered sea routes with flexible turn angles based on the idea of large-adjacency grid graphs. Our model allows for asymmetric left and right turn radii as well as turn speeds that vary as a function of the turn angle and it offers natural-looking navigation paths.

2017 ◽  
Vol Vol 159 (A1) ◽  
Author(s):  
V Aksakalli ◽  
D Oz ◽  
A F Alkaya ◽  
V Aydogdu

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic and it is critical for global trade as it provides a route between Asia and Europe that is significantly shorter than the alternatives. NSR is soon expected to open for intercontinental shipping due to global warming and thus presents tremendous opportunities for reductions in shipping time, cost, and environmental impacts. On the other hand, facilitating this route requires innovative approaches due to the navigation risks associated with its ice-covered waters. This study presents a graph-theoretical approach for optimal naval navigation in ice-covered sea routes with flexible turn angles based on the idea of large-adjacency grid graphs. Our model allows for asymmetric left and right turn radii as well as turn speeds that vary as a function of the turn angle and it offers natural-looking navigation paths.


2018 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 02061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditya Rio Prabowo ◽  
Jung Hoon Byeon ◽  
Hyun Jin Cho ◽  
Jung Min Sohn ◽  
Dong Myung Bae ◽  
...  

The remarkable influence of the global warming to Arctic environment opens a possibility to conduct a voyage from Asia to Europe through the Northern Sea Route (NSR). This option is considered as a decent solution to reduce fuel consumption and increase time efficiency in delivering cargo to the designated destination. However, this alternative comes with a challenge to keep safety of ship structures against an impact with obstacles which are possibly encountered at the Arctic. Solid ice can be considered as a serious threat to the double bottom of ship structures in impact phenomena, especially ship grounding. In this work, a series of grounding calculations are conducted to produce estimation of structural crashworthiness during interaction between double bottom and conical type ice. Material characteristics based on tensile testing of polar class material are applied to calculation and compared with non-polar steel.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Shaheer Ahmad ◽  
Mohammad Ali Zafar

Russia’s Arctic ambitions are gaining attention as global warming provides Russia with an opportunity to access the untapped energy reservoirs lying in the seabed of the Arctic. Russia’s new Arctic strategy aims to utilize the Arctic as a ‘strategic resource base’ to fulfill its socio-economic needs. Moreover, the interrelated projects of Yamal LNG and the opening of the Northern Sea Route as a global shipping route show the Russian interplay of geo-economics and geopolitics. Similarly, the Russian strategies of the Northern Fleet’s revival, Sino-Russian cooperation, regional diplomacy, informational campaigns, and international law show Russia’s efforts to highlight its ambitions in the region. This paper argues that the melting ice in the Arctic coupled with evolving regional dynamics will enhance the Kremlin’s position in the region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Campen ◽  
Hermann W. Bange

Comparable to carbon dioxide, dimethyl sulfide (DMS), and carbon monoxide (CO) are tiny gases that have a great impact on our climate. Though occurring only in very small amounts in the atmosphere they are climate influencers, especially in the Arctic. The Arctic is a unique place on Earth where all life is adapted to the extreme cold. Therefore, global warming is a great threat to the Arctic. DMS and CO are produced in the Arctic Ocean and can go into the atmosphere. There, CO may enhance the warming of the Arctic. On the other hand, DMS possibly cools the atmosphere because it helps forming clouds. The processes CO and DMS are involved in, are complex and will probably alter under a changing climate. It is important to understand these processes to get an idea of the future Arctic Ocean and climate to find ways to save the Arctic.


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2809 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR N. ANDRONOV ◽  
KSENIA N. KOSOBOKOVA

A new calanoid copepod species, Brodskius arcticus sp. nov. (family Tharybidae Sars, 1902), and three new species of a new genus Pertsovius gen. nov. (family Discoidae Gordejeva, 1975) are described from deep waters of the Arctic Canada Basin. The female of Brodskius arcticus differs from five of the other six known species of this genus in the absence of rostral filaments, the lack of which it shares with B. abyssalis Markhaseva & Schulz, 2007. This new species differs from B. abyssalis in having two very short outer proximal spines at the distal segment of the fifth swimming legs (P5). The length of these spines is less than half the width of the segment, whereas in B. abyssalis they are longer than the width of the segment. The new genus Pertsovius is created here for a group of seven species within the family Discoidae which have one-segmented endopods of Р 2-Р4. In contrast, the other genera of this family have three-segmented endopods of Р 2-Р4. The three new species of Pertsovius differ from each other in the appearance of the genital field, and in the number of outer border spines on the distal exopodal segment of P2. In Pertsovius tridentatus sp. nov. this segment bears three external spines on both left and right P2. The left Р 2 of P. heterodentatus sp. nov. has three spines, while the right Р 2 bears two spines only. The distal segments of both left and right Р 2 of P. serratus sp. nov. have two external spines, but the proximal part of the external margin on the left Р 2 bears three relatively large denticles. The distal exopodal segments of Р 2 of the other four species here transferred to the genus Pertsovius are smooth with no external spines or denticles, but each bears two outer border spines.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Aneesa Aslam ◽  
Ayesha Shaikh

Halford J. Mackinder cautioned the world that if a great industrial power manages to rule over the Heartland, it will govern the world. The 21st century is marked by the resurgence of his classical geopolitical thought. Global warming has rendered the Arctic navigable, altering the dynamics of the Heartland and world organisms at large, but now the caution comes from the Arctic. Mackinder's assertion that China, as a great industrial power, has developed its Arctic strategy for a Polar Silk Road to pursue its determined interests in the Arctic-Heartland. To further strengthen its position in the region, it has forged a cooperative alliance with Russia, one of the biggest Arctic states. Chinese interest in the region and the Strategic Russo-Chinese Alliance to develop the Polar Silk Road along the Northern Sea Route is a matter of grave concern for the world at large: for whoever rules over the Heartland, governs the world.


2019 ◽  
pp. 21-44
Author(s):  
Ju.V. Zvorykina ◽  
K.S. Teteryatnikov

The article is devoted to the analysis of the role of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in the socio-economic development of the Arctic zone of Russia. The authors believe that climate change, gradually leading to the melting of polar ice, opens up new opportunities for the development of Arctic resources and navigation in the seas of the Arctic Ocean. Of particular interest to the NSR are non-Arctic countries, critically dependent on the supply of foreign mineral and carbon resources, as well as on the export of their goods to Europe. Among them, China stands out, considering the NSR as the Arctic Blue Economic Corridor as part of the global Silk Road system. The NSR is intended to become an essential tool for further development of the Arctic zone of Russia. Development of port infrastructure and creation of a modern ocean and maritime fleet will accelerate the pace of socio-economic development of this strategically important region. To do this, it is necessary to adopt a federal law on special system of preferences for investors, including foreign ones, implementing their projects in the Arctic. Among such preferences there are preferential profit tax rates, reduction in Mineral Extraction Tax (MET) rates, a declarative procedure for VAT refunds, a simplified procedure for granting land plots and unchanged conditions for the implementation of investment projects. In addition, it is important to make the NSR safe and profitable both in terms of quality of service and of price for the shippers. In particular, the payment for icebreakers’ escort of vessels should be competitive and reasonable. The largest Russian private and state-owned companies should be involved into Arctic projects. It is important to synchronize the Arctic oil and gas projects with nuclear and LNG icebreakers’ construction, as well as with the launch of two logistics hubs in Murmansk and Kamchatka. In this case, year-round NSR navigation will be organized, which will ensure the high competitiveness of Russian products supplied to the Asian Pacific markets.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung-Ju Park ◽  
Kwang-Yul Kim

AbstractEffect of global warming on the sub-seasonal variability of the Northern Hemispheric winter (NDJFM) Pacific storm-track (PST) activity has been investigated. Previous studies showed that the winter-averaged PST has shifted northward and intensified, which was explained in terms of energy exchange with the mean field. Effect of global warming exhibits spatio-temporal heterogeneity with predominance over the Arctic region and in the winter season. Therefore, seasonal averaging may hide important features on sub-seasonal scales. In this study, distinct sub-seasonal response in storm track activities to winter Northern Hemispheric warming is analyzed applying cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function analysis to ERA5 data. The key findings are as follows. Change in the PST is not uniform throughout the winter; the PST shifts northward in early winter (NDJ) and intensifies in late winter (FM). In early winter, the combined effect of weakened baroclinic process to the south of the climatological PST and weakened barotropic damping to the north is responsible for the northward shift. In late winter, both processes contribute to the amplification of the PST. Further, change in baroclinic energy conversion is quantitatively dominated by eddy heat flux, whereas axial tilting of eddies is primarily responsible for change in barotropic energy conversion. A close relationship between anomalous eddy heat flux and anomalous boundary heating, which is largely determined by surface turbulent heat flux, is also demonstrated.


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