US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy completes Arctic research mission

The US Coast Guard icebreaking cutter Healy completed its second mission of its Arctic West Summer 2018 deployment on Thursday, October 18.

The vessel’s scientific mission was to study stratified ocean dynamics in the Arctic (SODA) for the Office of Naval Research.

The project aims to better understand how the Arctic environment affects the different water layers of the Arctic Ocean.

The project proponents believe that understanding these environmental factors may help better predict ice coverage in the region.

Approximately 100 Healy crewmembers and 30 scientists and engineers led by personnel from the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at the University of Washington, Seattle, departed Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on September 14 for SODA.

Once in the Arctic Circle, the team deployed an array of scientific equipment, which will monitor the region for the next year and transmit data back to scientists at the APL.