Overview of field operations during a 2013 research expedition to the southern Beaufort Sea on the RV Araon

• Main Authors: Jin, Y. K., Riedel, Michael, Hong, J. K., Nam, S. I., Jung, J. Y., Ha, S. Y., Lee, J. Y., Kim, G. Y., Yoo, J., Kim, H. S., Kim, G., Conway, K., Standen, G., Ulmi, M., Schreker, M.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Beaufort Shelf; Canada; Alfred Wegener Institute; Barrow; Beaufort Sea; Ice; Korea Polar Research Institute; permafrost; Alaska
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/29906/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/29906/1/of_7754.pdf; https://doi.org/10.4095/295856

Research experiments conducted and preliminary findings The Expedition ARA04C is a multidisciplinary research program in the Beaufort Sea, carried out in collaboration between the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Department of Fisheries and Ocean (DFO), Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI). The Expedition ARA04C on the IBRV Araon took place from September 6 to September 24, 2013 (Figure 0.1). Multiple research experiments were undertaken to study geological processes related to degrading permafrost, fluid flow and degassing, and associated geohazards, paleo-oceanography of the Beaufort shelf and slope region, as well as physical and chemical oceanography measurement of the Arctic Ocean linked with continuous atmospheric studies. The expedition focused on two main research areas: offshore Barrow, Alaska, from September 7 to September 9, 2013, and the Canadian Beaufort Sea from September 10 to September 24, 2013. Multichannel seismic data, in conjunction with an ocean-bottom-seismometer (OBS) study were collected to support drilling proposals especially IODP pre-proposal #806 (Dallimore et al., 2012), and to verify distribution and internal structures of the offshore permafrost occurrences (Figure 0.2). The multi-channel seismic data were acquired on the outer continental shelf of the Canadian Beaufort Sea, totaling 14 lines with ~435 line-kilometers and ~4,500 shot gathers (Chapter 3). The combined multichannel seismic and OBS data will be processed post-expedition at KOPRI and the GSC, and will allow detailed velocity analyses to investigate the permafrost signature and help mapping zones of high-velocity sediments indicative of the presence of ice (Chapter 4). Individual shot gathers collected during the multichannel seismic program show clear refraction arrivals with velocities around 2000m/s in areas of expected permafrost occurrence, and shot gathers lacked such arrivals in zones where the permafrost was predicted ...