This project represented follow up on work to develop technologies to detect oil located in or under ice. The following tasks will be accomplished:
1. Analysis of additional water and ice samples collected in November 2004 at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, NH.
Lead Investigator: Victor Jones, Exploration Technologies Inc. Houston (ETI)
Following the completion of testing on November 19, 2004, it was realized that additional samples would greatly enhance the project in terms of being able to interpret the ethane sensor results. The aim was to understand the distribution and chemical composition of the different hydrocarbon components in the water, ice, and air in order to fully interpret the ethane flux measurements and help design future experiments.
2. Hardware evaluation and configuration for multi-polarization data acquisition
Lead Investigator: J. Bradford, Boise State
The primary objective of this task was to evaluate presently available hardware solutions for acquisition of multi-polarization GPR data. This enabled efficient acquisition of data in the form necessary to properly measure and account for sea ice anisotropy and signal depolarization.
3. Field testing over a variety of sea ice conditions at Prudhoe
Lead Investigators: J. Bradford (Boise State)
This work involved taking several radar systems and antenna configurations to Prudhoe Bay in April 2005. A three person team documented the ability of the systems to reliably measure thick sea ice up to 2 m level thickness, as well as explore the potential to operate in rough ice areas commonly encountered as part of the landfast ice. Drill holes were used to calibrate and confirm the radar response and the ice conditions were documented at each site (temperature and salinity). The Prudhoe Bay trials provided an opportunity to further monitor the performance of the electronics at cold temperatures.
4. Software development
Lead Investigator: J. Bradford, Boise State
The software development effort has three prime objectives:
Automate and test picking of ice/water contact reflection and computation of GPR attributes - Based on the clarity of the reflection from the ice water contact it was believed that many of the data processing algorithms used in the test basin experiment could be automated, providing the potential for real time or close-to real time data analysis.
Develop and automate software for analyzing multi-polarization GPR data. This software was designed to use multi-polarization GPR data to determine and account for sea ice anisotropy and signal depolarization caused by surface irregularity.
Develop and test combined GPR attributes to minimize the potential for false positives.
All analysis software was tested both with the data previously acquired in the CRREL test basin, and with new data collected on natural sea ice during the April 2005 field tests. This data was used as input into a suite of model predictions showing the expected radar performance in a variety of oil in ice scenarios (thickness, oil pool depth etc.).
5. Planning for a full field test of a developed GPR system with oil in Norway, during the winter of 2005 - 2006.
Lead Investigator: D. Dickins, DF Dickins Associates Ltd.
The ultimate goal was to test a developed radar system incorporating improvements described above with crude oil spilled under actual sea ice over a large enough area to allow airborne (helicopter borne) measurements. Given the constraints on permitting such work in North America, the only realistic location for such work was Svalbard in Norway. This component involved preliminary planning for such a full-scale field test in April 2006. Items that were covered in this work item would include focus on the following planning activities:
Initial test plan (number of spills, volume and type of oil, contaminated area).
Liaison with Norwegian authorities and institutes to determine the requirements for permit approvals.
Logistics and costs involved in transporting and supporting the project.
Initial application to begin the permit process.
Liaison with potential sponsors to form the basis for a technical steering committee.
Tasks 1 through 5 were completed. The preliminary test plan was delivered to MMS in August 2005. The Minerals Management Service is working to obtain a permit from the Governor of Svalbard, Norway to conduct an intentional oil spill to conduct a full-scale field experiment to evaluate the ability of Ground Penetrating Radar to locate and map crude oil in and under sea ice. Tests were conducted successfully in Svalbard in 2006. This project is followed up by Project #569 which will have the final reports for this experiment.