1994 Arctic Ocean Section
Ship Technology Program
Larry Schultz and Rubin Sheinberg
The AOS-94 ship technology program consisted of two parts. One part
was concerned with measuring the icebreaking capability of the two icebreakers,
the USCGC Polar Sea and the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, while transiting
high-Arctic ice conditions. The other part involved measuring the loads imposed
on the hull of the Louis S. St-Laurent due to impact with the ice.
Icebreaking performance data typically define the power required for an
icebreaker to break a given thickness of uniform ice at a given speed. Plans were
made to perform dedicated performance tests in a range of uniform conditions if
such were encountered. No uniform ice conditions suitable for performance test-
ing were encountered, however, in the entire expedition.
In contrast, trafficabil-
ity data provide informa-
tion on the ability of an
icebreaker to transit from
point to point in a given
geographic area in a real-
world mix of ice condi-
tions. Ice trafficability
data were recorded hour-
ly during the entire time
the ships operated in ice,
resulting in about 500
hours of data on ship propulsion, environmental conditions and ice condi-
Polar Sea
breaking ice.
tions. The data on ice conditions included the classification of the ice as first
year, second year or multiyear; the lead width; the average and maximum floe
size; the concentration of the ice cover broken down in increments of thick-
ness; the average and maximum thickness; the pressure ridge encounter rate;
and the average and maximum sail height of the pressure ridges. The environ-
mental data included the snow depth and type, a characterization of the ice
pressure, and the diameter and concentration of melt ponds. Data on open-
water performance and seakeeping were collected during the open-water tran-
sit legs of the expedition.
Larry Schultz is with Advanced Marine Enterprises, Inc., in Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A. (He was formerly with
Science and Technology Corporation in Columbia, Maryland.) Rubin Sheinberg is with the U.S. Coast Guard in
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
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