The Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC) is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security, (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate Office of University Programs, (OUP) Center of Excellence in Maritime Research hosted by the University of Alaska. The following is a recap of the Center’s most recent Customers and Partners Roundtable conducted via webinar to ADAC’s community of interest in the United States and Canada.
Opening remarks by ADAC Executive Director Kee:
- Since Customers and Partners Roundtable, ADAC has completed U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, Office of University Programs, (DHS S&T OUP) biannual review
(concluding with Federal Coordinating Committee review and assessment. - Preparations are underway for next year’s workplan. ADAC’s “Year 4” program starts on 1
July 2017 and runs until 30 June 2018. - DHS S&T OUP notified ADAC of three new research projects from the IoNS workshop. ADAC
has worked with these new team members to develop corresponding workplans. - Arctic 2030 Workshop 11-12 May 2017 at the UAF Arctic Interchange. ADAC announces 95
people have registered to participate. As implied by the title, the Arctic 2030 has a long lead focus for the future of Arctic research. - The Center is looking forward to conducting summer research internship at UAA for ADAC
fellows and guest MSI from early June to mid-August. - ADAC is looking forward to conducting the next IoNS workshop in the fall. This summer
ADAC will be working with USCG District 17 to identify topics and focus. Similar to the Arctic IoNS in June 2016, USCG as the operational customer will drive scenario and the
research focus.- USCG D-17 has decided the Arctic IoNS scenario should orient to an oil-spill venue,
likely in the Chukchi Sea. - ADAC plans funded research opportunities following from the workshop.
- USCG D-17 has decided the Arctic IoNS scenario should orient to an oil-spill venue,
- ADAC participated in the CANUS Maritime Security Stakeholders conference hosted by
National Maritime Intelligence Integration Office (NMIO) from 16-18 May 2017. - As part of ADAC’s Year 4 plan, the Center is working with DHS S&T OUP to schedule an open
call for project Pre-Proposals that build on Project Concepts prepared for the DHS S&T OUP
ADAC: Research for the Arctic Operator...For Today and For the Future 2
Biennial Review. This open call plans to leverage DHS Center of Maritime Research Funding
Opportunities Announcement research questions, consultations from DHS S&T Borders and
Maritime and research questions generated tom the Arctic 2030 conference. - ADAC will be participating in the Oceans 17 Conference in September 2017, planning a joint
“Town Hall” for peer-review journal article review, presentations. - Additional items for this coming fall, ADAC’s annual meeting.
Welcoming comments by Principal Investigator, Dr. Doug Causey.
- Three new projects are coming online. This is one of the unique capabilities of ADAC—
constantly pushing boundaries, adding projects and new ideas.
Additional remarks by ADAC Executive Director Kee:
- Follow up from DHS S&T OUP Biennial Review: Projects going forward with some
exceptions:
- DHS plans a new approach to Arctic Information Fusion. Currently USCG is drafting
Arctic Information Fusion Questions and these questions create a response
opportunity via a Request for Proposal (RFP - Sensors project will not continue in Year 4, however Customs and Border Patrol is
looking at the project—potentially making it more oriented to land and near shore
domain. - Integrated Ice Hazards will not continue in Year 4, however ADAC is looking for
options to continue the research by other means.
- DHS plans a new approach to Arctic Information Fusion. Currently USCG is drafting
- Student fellowships continuing, looking at a significant ramp up with potential summer
2018 Anchorage program with research in Barrow.
Status of current projects presentations:
1. Long-range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (LRAUV), Dr. James Bellingham, Amy
Kukulya:
- Doing prep work, choosing right sensors, demo with off the shelf vehicle in
preparation for Year 4 when the team will build out the LRAUV. - Original proposal at Monterey Bay Research Institute (MBARI) revolved around long
duration vehicle as early deployment platform for USCG first responders for on-site monitoring and leave-behind for monitoring oil spills under ice at high latitudes. - ADAC and WHOI are in work in formally establishing MBARI as a full research
partner.
ADAC: Research for the Arctic Operator...For Today and For the Future 3 - Working with MBARI on electronics, ballast systems. Discussing time scale,
modification for ice halos, changes in navigation system. - Looking forward toward development of ice kit: navigation and communications for
the Arctic and acoustic payload with frequency to 900hz with range of 400km at
10khz. - Possible whisker capability for retrieval via cable from ship or helicopter.
- Integration of acoustic receivers for anything from whale sounds to wind.
- Well-integrated platform rather than just oil.
- Developing research paper and Mission 4D simulator with input from Alaska.
- Past two months: conversations with MBARI, NOAA, Betsy, NMPA. Negotiating time to test and build experience mapping and finding oil slicks.
2. Great Lakes Ice Conditions (ICECON), Dr. Tom Ravens, Dr. Andrew Mahoney:
- Have done assessment work on ICECON algorithms provided by national ice center.
Data on 37 ice encounter events based on USCG captains’ reports. Agreement in 28
of 37 instances so data is overall pretty/already good. - Now working on forecast but ice type is not currently forecasted. Revising to depend
on only the four other streams currently forecasted. As new data streams such as snow on ice is forecasted, we will incorporate it. - Analysis of AIS data for Great Lakes. USCG has provided for last few years, also have
historical data on ICECON and conditions. Preliminary analysis of vessel data. - Using hundreds of thousands of data points of ship position and speed from the
Great Lakes. We can demonstrate a fairly simple relationship between ice
concentration and velocity for certain ships. Plan to look at how other conditions
effect this data. - Year 4 will be making algorithm somewhat operational as an ice forecasting system.
Developing python code to pull in data streams such as ice thickness and
concentration. - Produce contour plots of ice condition index.
- Looking at icebreaker activity and thermal modeling to calculate recovery of ICECON
following passage of icebreaker. - Working to identify who is best to operate the system—USCG icebreaking mission
suggest it is best operator. - Applicability and expansion to Arctic region.
3. Community Based Observation Networks for Situation Awareness (CBONS-SA), Dr. Lillian
Alessa:
- Using human sensors to provide data on real world conditions. Significant events,
vessel movement, etc... They are our eyes and ears where we do not have visibility through tech sensors. More importantly provide context. - Evolving rapidly, ADAC and supporters have contributed to this endeavor well
beyond where it had been. - Started in Kotzebue and Barrow. Significant evolutions since.
- Ensuring CBONS provides authoritative data through old science of cognitive and
behavioral data as well as tech support tools. Unparalleled fusion to collect info on the ground and get it to command centers. - Fusion is ubiquitous challenge in DHS and scholars under congressional mandate to
solve it. - CBONS was proof of concept, field tested in August provided profound proof of
concept. Year 4 will have more operational focus. - Issue of sustainability. Humans are difficult technology to work with. Looking to
expand and solidify sustainability, reach out to other parts of community. Pay by
observation model used so far may not be sustainable according to Dr. Alessa and
others. - FIST tool has greatly improved relevancy of data.
- Looking toward sustainability and potential commercial application.
- Cost is very low compared to other capabilities—4 cents to the dollar. Stipends paid
to observers comparable to those typically paid to undergrads.
4. Arctic Information Fusion Capability (AIFC), John DeLaurentis:
- Decision made during biennial review not to continue AIFC in current form.
- Looking for way forward for AIFC based on customer needs—it was specifically
designed to address the fusion needs of USCG. - Project manager is “sprinting to tape” for Year 3. Ingesting data feeds for Arctic
ERMA and capturing needs from customers. - Have been able to integrate data feeds from CBONS, made them aesthetically useful
and readable for command centers. - Heavy vetting of ADAC AIFC Fusion architecture accomplished by project team.
Focus remains on completing all of Year 3 tasks, schedule, milestones and
deliverables. Adding to these tasks are the new ADAC Fusion Engine Excursion with
PI, AIFC ASRC team, USCG Project Champion, NMIO and their Pragmatics team. - For USCG District 17, big push forward with automated alerts for Aleutian Islands
and regional zones. Generates alerts when ship of certain characteristics enters the area. - Iterating with customer—weekly calls working with project advocates at District 17
to get use cases and understand needs of watch-standers. AIFC prototype is going to be a tremendous opportunity for use case. - Hoping to see USCG draft research questions within days.
- AIFC appears to be set to accomplish nearly everything planned by ADAC said it
would do in Year 3 and conditions set for success in Year 4. Hope RFP will recognize
the effort. - Separate project in in concept phase for small dark vessel tracking data (a project
concept). This is potentially a key issue for USCG.
5. Arctic Oil Spill Modeling Dr. Tom Ravens and Dr. Scott Socolofsky:
- Recent methane plume in Cook Inlet, thanks for work done by Scott and Tom in
methane modeling, borrowing from work done in Arctic oil spill modeling - Presented a summary of the project goals.
- Calculator is done and has been made possible to integrate into GNOME. Team
adapting to new NOAA approach in PyNOME. Data sources used by calculator are
essentially the same as GNOME. - Data validation is ongoing with a test data set from 2009. Primary ice mover in this
test case was ice. - Also simulated five other scenarios: 1) surface release, 2) under ice release, 3) oil
only subsurface from pipeline at 50 feet, 4) blow-out release at 23,000 gallons per day in 150 feet of water, 5) Cook inlet blowout.
ADAC: Research for the Arctic Operator...For Today and For the Future 6 - Plan for Year 4 is to incorporate tool into open source PINE GNOME model and train
users with the tool. Also integrate more arctic pieces into the model, particularly icerelated information such as ice roughness. - Will provide pre-formatted data to PGNOME website to be used by others and
continue with laboratory tests. - Alaskan spills often happen in shallow waters and lab tests have previously been
done in deeper water. Plan to do more testing in shallow water.
6. Integrated Sea Ice Hazards Modeling, Dr. Andy Mahoney:
- Provided a summary of the project
- The team has made progress developing a testbed
- Submitted a peer reviewed paper to the journal “Arctic” which is expected to be
published soon. - Developed an assessment of how the data collected from the Barrow test bed could
be applied in other radar types to advance maritime domain awareness in other parts of the arctic. - Planning a tabletop exercise to use the data collected from the test bed.
- How to communicate sea-ice hazards to users and key audience, remains a challenge.
- No year 4 plan as funding will not continue in Year 4.
- ADAC is looking into other possibilities to continue the project (outside of DHS S&T
OUP), the research addresses a need that is unmet at the moment. - Could be potential commercial application with companies that produce radar
systems. Currently none have ability to track drifting ice.
7. Low-cost Sensors, Dr. Martin Cenek:
- Summary of project concept.
- Example of situation in which sensors could have been used to monitor ice
conditions in advance of operations or to monitor the environment.
ADAC: Research for the Arctic Operator...For Today and For the Future 7 - Another example where more expensive sensors could be used to monitor the
environment around oil development. - During Year 3, the team has put together a tabletop exercise.
- Hardware that can communicate from 300 yards to test the ability of the sensors to communicate in any topographical environment.
- Connected the entire system to a database.
- Different use possibilities for the network include border patrol, ice break up, and damming.
- Next step would be to conduct field tests in the arctic environment.
- Sensors can operate outside a cellular or Wi-Fi network. Antennas on sensors can
communicate as well as detect others around them. Architecture is flexible and device can be connected to a hot spot or Wi-Fi network. - Project will not continue in Year 4 but ADAC wishes to leverage as much work as
possible from the research team. There is also interest in continuing with alternative funding from US Customs and Border Patrol via a Basic Ordering Agreement.
8. High-resolution Ice-Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (HIOMAS), Dr. Jinlun
Zhang:
- Presented an overview and summary of project goals.
- Three resolution models have been developed: 6km, 4km, 2km.
- Current University of Washington Computer does not have power conduct the 2km
model so focus has been on the 4km. This resolution can be used in a number of applications. - Data from Dr. Mahoney’s project in Barrow can be used in collaboration with this model.
- Next steps are to continue working with 4km resolution and make data available to
ADAC, NOAA, and Arctic ERMA. - The team continues to improve the model to best develop a forecasting model for
USCG. Team would very much like feedback from USCG. - HIOMAS is useable in a localized area, Bering Strait, for example, at 2km resolution
for increased region precision modeling.
9. Arctic Ice Navigation, Captain Ralph Pundt:
- Courses are being developed that are now required by the new Polar Code.
- Next 21 Arctic-qualified students will graduate this coming Saturday.
- Team planning the Polar Code Basic course IMO certification by IMO by early next
year (already USCG certified). - Working on advanced course and exercises for students to complete in the future.
- In discussions with USCG for their use of the ice navigation classes. If no decision
from USCG by June 30, ADAC and MMA will pursue external commercial application
opportunities. - Team learned NOAA might be interested in the classes as they proceed farther
north.
10. Education Update, Malla Kukkonen:
- Malla has transferred into role of Education and Administration Management.
- When ADAC started, it had five CDG students. It has since received additional funds
to bring onboard additional ADAC Fellows - Fellows have been included in the Arctic 2030 Workshop, after which they will
transition to internships either with ADAC or external partners and industry. - Still accepting applications to ADAC’s summer program offered in particular to MSI
students.
11. Arctic IoNS Propsal Update, ED Kee
- Three new projects have been selected to be funded starting in Year 4.
- These are: 1) Using vessel tracking data to prioritize bathymetric surveying of the Arctic led by Dr. Carol Janzen form Alaska Ocean Observatory System, 2) Sea ice and weather forecasting tool development for the Arctic led by Dr. Kettle, Dr. Mahoney and Dr. Eicken from UAF, 3) Satellite derived bathymetry by Furgo Pelagos Inc.
- Awaiting additional information on possible other projects accepted for funding.
- Entities have been informed and are developing work plans for beginning their
research on July 1 when Year 4 begins.
ADAC: Research for the Arctic Operator...For Today and For the Future 9 - Next IoNS workshop is in early stages with ideas for themes/research questions
being developed. - More project concepts to be submitted during next RFP.
- There should be more research funding opportunities coming up after the next IoNS
workshop in the fall.
ADAC IDEA Jam: “What are the top 5 most worrisome challenges Arctic operators are facing
right now in the high latitude maritime region?”
- More about the NOAA core work related to ADAC research opportunities.
- Increased harassment by one of our Arctic neighbors—options for response?
- What are USCG concerns if another cruise ship visits Arctic this year?
Final Reflections, solicitation of ideas, and plant to continue roundtable meetings following
approval of Year 4 Plan.
for your review three short videos for your consideration of the Arctic 2030 workshop, our ADAC Fellows and one video highlighting one of our standout ADAC Fellows, James Matthews. We are respectfully very appreciative of the dedicated interviews of Commander Eric Popiel and Dr Martin Jeffries in our Arctic 2030 video. Below are the links to these videos.
ADAC Arctic 2030 Workshop:
https://youtu.be/BZ9YJu-lZ_U
ADAC Fellows Symposium:
https://youtu.be/-Br9jd_1J68
ADAC Fellow: James Matthews
https://youtu.be/t2fL18RYUcg