During the 1980s the probability of impact by an extreme ice feature, or EIF, that would generate extreme loads on a production platform in the Southern Beaufort Sea, was identified as a key design criterion. In recent years the effects of climate change on the arctic climate and ice cover has received increasing attention. The changing climate already appears to be contributing to the deterioration of the ice shelves of the western Arctic Islands with the increased calving of ice islands (II). There may also be a tendency for multi-year hummock fields (MYHF), formed at the edge of the landfast ice zone in the high Arctic, to break off with greater frequency and drift with the pack ice.
The goals of this project are to quantify the statistics of key ice parameters including II, MYHF and MYI floes using recent data, and to evaluate any changes to design criteria since the most recent studies.
Completed