Blog: Ice Navigator in the Arctic (3)

Op-Ed by Captain Duke Snider, currently on board the Japanese research vessel RV Mirai in the Arctic serving as ice navigator.

In this modern world of instant communications, cloud computing and Google answers to any question within a second, we find ourselves almost lost when part of the network fails us. We take for granted the ability to connect, to converse, to problem solve, to be aware of what is happening around the globe until we lose even the smallest piece of connectivity. In so many ways we are spoiled. And so it is on board RV Mirai in the Chukchi Sea. Having taken up station at 74º45’N 162º00’W, about 225 nautical miles NW of Point Barrow Alaska, we are at the end of the communications thread. No longer are we so completely connected to the world. We are at arm’s reach and will remain so until the 26th of September when we depart our “Weather Station Mirai” and begin the final phase of cruise MR14-05.

I am not sure of the percentage of the globe that is covered by very reliable communications networks, whether it is land based hard wired, cellular or satellite communications, but it is far from 100 percent. Experienced as I am in polar operations, I am aware of the gaps at the poles. Systems such as INMARSAT that provide the backbone of marine communications are based on geo-stationary satellites that are positioned to provide coverage to the most frequently travelled oceans. The two gap areas are the two poles.

A cursory glance at published coverage maps will provide anyone with an understanding of the gaps at the poles presented by the conventional geo-stationary satellites. Certainly, there are other methods of communication than the broadband connectivity of the INMARSAT system. Some are prohibitively expensive, only within the realms of billion-dollar hydrocarbon exploration, for example. Of course, Medium and High Frequency (MF-HF) radio, when not adversely affected by solar activity, is the ultimate fallback. Other satellite systems such as Iridium with its constellation of low earth orbiting satellites provides the footprint over the poles, but its low data transfer rate precludes the luxury of broad band and instant communication.

To be honest, Mirai is not totally disconnected. We still have MF/HF radio facsimile, GMDSS type C satellite connection, and VSat that allows for connection on demand and thus limited email connectivity. No satellite TV that can be dialed in were we just a few hundred miles further over…there. Data comes and goes at much slower rates. As the Ice Navigator onboard I still receive ice charts forwarded by the Martech Polar office, but they are routed through a lone bridge terminal after manual connections and data transfers are made. It feels as if we are relying on steam driven technology. Just a few days ago my trusty MacBook would announce an incoming chart or message. But for the next two weeks the conveniences of sitting at my desk composing and instantly sending messages off the ship, receiving replies in near real time and even direct internet access to FTP sites for quick data transfer are out of reach.

We sit in a position just a little too far north and right between the Pacific and Atlantic VSats, out of reach of both.

When I first voyaged to the Arctic all we had was MF/HF radio. Satellite communication barely existed in the 1980’s. We departed home port in Victoria, British Columbia, the first of July and returned mid-October. We were lucky to get a static filled and fading radio telephone call home once a week, or if a HAM radio connection could be made a ship-to-shore call that way. We even still relied on keyed Morse! Mail, REAL snail mail was our communication. And snail mail it was. Often mailbags sent from down south would follow us around the Arctic, being forwarded to successive DEW line stations as we patrolled the archipelago, so often arriving after we left the area, eventually catching us somewhere.

Global communication has come a long way since then. However, even along the Arctic coasts of Eurasia and North America within the Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route there are vast gaps in INMARSAT coverage, and even the shore based VHF and MF radio is not complete. Though a good portion of the southern polar regions do enjoy the almost constant broad band connectivity taken for granted in lower latitudes, the poles remain remote, and the end of the thread of communication. When we are up here, we cannot forget that. At the end of the communication thread is also the end of the logistics thread, the end of the repair and rescue threads. It surprises some, but not those who are prepared. When you voyage here, you voyage truly in the most remote seas on the planet.

Time to put this on a thumb drive, wander up to the bridge and have the Second Officer attach it to the outgoing packet. Does anyone know who won last Saturday’s game?