Arctic Demonstration and Exploratory Voyage (ARCDEV). Wp3, wp10

Throughout the year ice in the Kara Sea create problems for oil and gas production in the shelf regions, especially for routing operations of tankers and cargo ships during the ice season. The objective of ARCDEV project was to investigate the constraints of year-round ship transportation of gas condensate from the Ob river in the western Siberia, by using the Finnish "ice class" tanker M/T Uikku.

The exploratory voyage lasted from April 26 to May 15 1998. In order to perform scientific investigations during the expedition the i/b Kapitan Dranitsyn hosted about 80 scientists performing auxiliary investigations. The nuclear icebreakers Rossia and Vaygach from Murmansk Shipping Company (MSC) supported the convoy through parts of the journey, i.e. through heavy pack ice in the Kara Sea, and by preparing a channel through the fast ice in the Ob estuary. The scientific programme included extensive sea ice
investigation and observations, in addition to ship performance studies.
A specific goal was to create basic information on the ice conditions for the convoy and scientific studies, and to demonstrate practical use of satellite microwave radar data to map the ice conditions in support of navigation, and to provide near real time access to satellite SAR data of the alternate sailing route in the Barents, Pechora and Kara seas (including the Ob estuary), as support for ship operation planning, ice navigation and detailed mapping of the ice conditions along the route.

Of particular interest is that this was the first winter ice navigation operation in the Ob estuary. Demonstration of the possibility for year-round navigation in this estuary is extremely important for the entire oil and gas industry. The expedition included both practical use of satellite radar technology as support for ship navigation as well as collection of extensive sea ice information for validation of the satellite data.