Arctic ice islands
The development of offshore oil and gas resources in the Arctic waters of Alaska requires offshore structures which successfully resist the lateral forces due to moving, drifting ice. Ice islands are floating, a tabular icebergs, up to 60 meters thick, of solid ice throughout their thickness. The ic...
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:6091444 2023-07-30T04:00:56+02:00 Arctic ice islands Sackinger, W.M. Jeffries, M.O. Lu, M.C. Li, F.C. 2008-02-07 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6091444 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6091444 https://doi.org/10.2172/6091444 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6091444 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6091444 https://doi.org/10.2172/6091444 doi:10.2172/6091444 02 PETROLEUM 03 NATURAL GAS 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ALASKA OFFSHORE PLATFORMS ICEBERGS MARINE SURVEYS SAFETY ENGINEERING AGE ESTIMATION ARCTIC OCEAN BEAUFORT SEA CHUKCHI SEA COASTAL REGIONS CORIOLIS FORCE DRAG FLOW MODELS FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTIONS HAZARDS ICE IMPACT STRENGTH MITIGATION MONTE CARLO METHOD MOTION NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS PETROLEUM DEPOSITS PROBABILITY PROGRESS REPORT RESEARCH PROGRAMS RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT SIZE SYNTHESIS THICKNESS VELOCITY WIND DIMENSIONS DOCUMENT TYPES ENGINEERING FEDERAL REGION X GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS MATHEMATICAL MODELS MECHANICAL PROPERTIES MINERAL RESOURCES NORTH AMERICA RESOURCES SEAS SURFACE WATERS SURVEYS USA 2008 ftosti https://doi.org/10.2172/6091444 2023-07-11T10:44:59Z The development of offshore oil and gas resources in the Arctic waters of Alaska requires offshore structures which successfully resist the lateral forces due to moving, drifting ice. Ice islands are floating, a tabular icebergs, up to 60 meters thick, of solid ice throughout their thickness. The ice islands are thus regarded as the strongest ice features in the Arctic; fixed offshore structures which can directly withstand the impact of ice islands are possible but in some locations may be so expensive as to make oilfield development uneconomic. The resolution of the ice island problem requires two research steps: (1) calculation of the probability of interaction between an ice island and an offshore structure in a given region; and (2) if the probability if sufficiently large, then the study of possible interactions between ice island and structure, to discover mitigative measures to deal with the moving ice island. The ice island research conducted during the 1983-1988 interval, which is summarized in this report, was concerned with the first step. Monte Carlo simulations of ice island generation and movement suggest that ice island lifetimes range from 0 to 70 years, and that 85% of the lifetimes are less then 35 years. The simulation shows a mean value of 18 ice islands present at any time in the Arctic Ocean, with a 90% probability of less than 30 ice islands. At this time, approximately 34 ice islands are known, from observations, to exist in the Arctic Ocean, not including the 10-meter thick class of ice islands. Return interval plots from the simulation show that coastal zones of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, already leased for oil development, have ice island recurrences of 10 to 100 years. This implies that the ice island hazard must be considered thoroughly, and appropriate safety measures adopted, when offshore oil production plans are formulated for the Alaskan Arctic offshore. 132 refs., 161 figs., 17 tabs. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Iceberg* Alaska SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
02 PETROLEUM 03 NATURAL GAS 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ALASKA OFFSHORE PLATFORMS ICEBERGS MARINE SURVEYS SAFETY ENGINEERING AGE ESTIMATION ARCTIC OCEAN BEAUFORT SEA CHUKCHI SEA COASTAL REGIONS CORIOLIS FORCE DRAG FLOW MODELS FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTIONS HAZARDS ICE IMPACT STRENGTH MITIGATION MONTE CARLO METHOD MOTION NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS PETROLEUM DEPOSITS PROBABILITY PROGRESS REPORT RESEARCH PROGRAMS RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT SIZE SYNTHESIS THICKNESS VELOCITY WIND DIMENSIONS DOCUMENT TYPES ENGINEERING FEDERAL REGION X GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS MATHEMATICAL MODELS MECHANICAL PROPERTIES MINERAL RESOURCES NORTH AMERICA RESOURCES SEAS SURFACE WATERS SURVEYS USA |
spellingShingle |
02 PETROLEUM 03 NATURAL GAS 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ALASKA OFFSHORE PLATFORMS ICEBERGS MARINE SURVEYS SAFETY ENGINEERING AGE ESTIMATION ARCTIC OCEAN BEAUFORT SEA CHUKCHI SEA COASTAL REGIONS CORIOLIS FORCE DRAG FLOW MODELS FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTIONS HAZARDS ICE IMPACT STRENGTH MITIGATION MONTE CARLO METHOD MOTION NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS PETROLEUM DEPOSITS PROBABILITY PROGRESS REPORT RESEARCH PROGRAMS RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT SIZE SYNTHESIS THICKNESS VELOCITY WIND DIMENSIONS DOCUMENT TYPES ENGINEERING FEDERAL REGION X GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS MATHEMATICAL MODELS MECHANICAL PROPERTIES MINERAL RESOURCES NORTH AMERICA RESOURCES SEAS SURFACE WATERS SURVEYS USA Sackinger, W.M. Jeffries, M.O. Lu, M.C. Li, F.C. Arctic ice islands |
topic_facet |
02 PETROLEUM 03 NATURAL GAS 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ALASKA OFFSHORE PLATFORMS ICEBERGS MARINE SURVEYS SAFETY ENGINEERING AGE ESTIMATION ARCTIC OCEAN BEAUFORT SEA CHUKCHI SEA COASTAL REGIONS CORIOLIS FORCE DRAG FLOW MODELS FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTIONS HAZARDS ICE IMPACT STRENGTH MITIGATION MONTE CARLO METHOD MOTION NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS PETROLEUM DEPOSITS PROBABILITY PROGRESS REPORT RESEARCH PROGRAMS RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT SIZE SYNTHESIS THICKNESS VELOCITY WIND DIMENSIONS DOCUMENT TYPES ENGINEERING FEDERAL REGION X GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS MATHEMATICAL MODELS MECHANICAL PROPERTIES MINERAL RESOURCES NORTH AMERICA RESOURCES SEAS SURFACE WATERS SURVEYS USA |
description |
The development of offshore oil and gas resources in the Arctic waters of Alaska requires offshore structures which successfully resist the lateral forces due to moving, drifting ice. Ice islands are floating, a tabular icebergs, up to 60 meters thick, of solid ice throughout their thickness. The ice islands are thus regarded as the strongest ice features in the Arctic; fixed offshore structures which can directly withstand the impact of ice islands are possible but in some locations may be so expensive as to make oilfield development uneconomic. The resolution of the ice island problem requires two research steps: (1) calculation of the probability of interaction between an ice island and an offshore structure in a given region; and (2) if the probability if sufficiently large, then the study of possible interactions between ice island and structure, to discover mitigative measures to deal with the moving ice island. The ice island research conducted during the 1983-1988 interval, which is summarized in this report, was concerned with the first step. Monte Carlo simulations of ice island generation and movement suggest that ice island lifetimes range from 0 to 70 years, and that 85% of the lifetimes are less then 35 years. The simulation shows a mean value of 18 ice islands present at any time in the Arctic Ocean, with a 90% probability of less than 30 ice islands. At this time, approximately 34 ice islands are known, from observations, to exist in the Arctic Ocean, not including the 10-meter thick class of ice islands. Return interval plots from the simulation show that coastal zones of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, already leased for oil development, have ice island recurrences of 10 to 100 years. This implies that the ice island hazard must be considered thoroughly, and appropriate safety measures adopted, when offshore oil production plans are formulated for the Alaskan Arctic offshore. 132 refs., 161 figs., 17 tabs. |
author |
Sackinger, W.M. Jeffries, M.O. Lu, M.C. Li, F.C. |
author_facet |
Sackinger, W.M. Jeffries, M.O. Lu, M.C. Li, F.C. |
author_sort |
Sackinger, W.M. |
title |
Arctic ice islands |
title_short |
Arctic ice islands |
title_full |
Arctic ice islands |
title_fullStr |
Arctic ice islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Arctic ice islands |
title_sort |
arctic ice islands |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6091444 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6091444 https://doi.org/10.2172/6091444 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Iceberg* Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Iceberg* Alaska |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6091444 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6091444 https://doi.org/10.2172/6091444 doi:10.2172/6091444 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2172/6091444 |
_version_ |
1772811627037458432 |