Arctic Technology

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Arctic Technology research at UNIS

The Arctic Technology Department offers research opportunities in Arctic Engineering as well as in Arctic Environmental Technology and Chemistry.

Arctic Engineering

Arctic Engineering concentrates on engineering problems to be tackled when settling in the Arctic environment: living and building on frozen ground that may be subject to landslides and avalanches (Geotechnics), and Arctic offshore oil and gas exploitation (Ice Mechanics, Applied Oceanography and Marine Technology).

Arctic Environmental Technology and Chemistry

Arctic Environmental Technology and Chemistry concentrates on current and potential pollution problems, environmental impacts, feasible remediation techniques in Arctic areas (Environmental Chemistry), on the effects of organic pollutants on organisms (Ecotoxicology). The technological challenges deriving from increased human activity in the northern marine environments, as well as locally here in Svalbard, continue to be our main focus.

Department of Arctic Technology on Facebook

Geotechnics Ice Mechanics Applied Oceanography Marine Technology Environmental Chemistry Exotoxicology

Current research projects

Arctic offshore and coastal engineering in changing climate, 2018–2020 (AOCEC)

Arctic offshore and coastal engineering in changing climate, 2018–2020 (AOCEC)

AOCEC inherits SITRA, FIMA, SMIDA and SafeLOT and is actually the fourth project for development of International collaboration in high education and science in the Arctic Technology department.

Project activities are focused on the following topics:

Physics and mechanics of ice and loads on structures
Sea ice/iceberg drift, ice management, wave stresses on ice
Shipping in ice-infested waters, navigation in Arctic straits
Arctic harbours, coastal zones and infrastructure

UNIS hosts AOCEC and professor Aleksey Marchenko is project leader.

Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Oslo (Norway), University of Alaska Fairbanks (USA) and Dartmouth College (USA) are in the team.

Maritime Preparedness and International Partnership in the High North (MARPART Project Consortium)

Maritime Preparedness and International Partnership in the High North (MARPART Project Consortium)

The MARPART Consortium consists of 13 universities and research institutes that focus on emergency management and crisis preparedness. The consortium is coordinated by Nord University in Bodø, Norway and assesses the risk of increasing transport activity and challenges for search and rescue (SAR), management and emergency operations. There are several interlinked projects and a UArctic Network on Arctic Safety and Security.

Project leader is professor Odd Jarl Borch (Nord University). UNIS research associate Nataly Marchenko is the UNIS representative in the consortium, involved in MARPART-1 and 2, the MAREC project and the UArctic network.

Completed research projects

Sustainable Arctic Marine and Coastal Technology (SAMCoT)

October 5, 2020/in Arctic Technology, Completed Research Projects, Ice Mechanics /by chiliaaron

Sustainable Arctic Marine and Coastal Technology (SAMCoT)

SAMCoT was a centre for research-based innovation, established by the Research Council of Norway. The research activities in SAMCoT were carried out by the host institution NTNU together with UNIS, SINTEF and 14 other partners.

SAMCoT Objectives:

To provide the research based knowledge necessary in order forthe industry to develop Arctic technology for the energy sector in particular and for society as a whole.
To specifically address the implications of the presence of ice and permafrost, as well as to produce knowledge that will ensure sustainable and safe exploration, exploitation, and transport from and within the vulnerable Arctic region.
To provide the foundation for further development of environmentally adapted coastal infrastructure.

UNIS professor Aleksey Marchenko was leader of the WP 1: “Collection & analysis of field data and properties”.

Safety of Industrial Development and Transportation Routes in the Arctic, 2015–2019 (SITRA)

October 5, 2020/in Arctic Technology, Completed Research Projects, Ice Mechanics /by chiliaaron

Safety of Industrial Development and Transportation Routes in the Arctic, 2015–2019 (SITRA)

SITRA was funded by Norwegian Centre for International cooperation in Education (SIU) via the High North Programme for 2015–2019. This SMIDA sister project expanded the collaboration in the field of Arctic Technology overseas.

UNIS and Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada) were the main partners. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), NTNU (Norway), University of Alaska Fairbanks (USA) and Dartmouth College (USA) were co-partners

UNIS professor Aleksey Marchenko was project leader of SITRA.

Experiments on waves in oil and ice, 2014–2016 (WAVES)

October 6, 2020/in Applied Oceanography, Arctic Technology, Completed Research Projects /by chiliaaron

Experiments on waves in oil and ice, 2014–2016 (WAVES)

WAVES was hosted by the University of Oslo (UiO) and funded by the Research Council of Norway.
The project provided experimental data from the laboratory and the field, to be used to validate existing theories pertaining to wave damping caused by flexible surface covers (due to elastic surface films, oil slicks or grease ice), wave dependent fluxes of momentum and energy, wave-induced currents in the presence of flexible surface covers, for example the wave-induced drift of oil slicks or the streaming beneath sea ice caused by incoming swell.

Project leader was professor Atle Jensen (UiO). UNIS professor Aleksey Marchenko led the UNIS group.

Field studies and modelling of sea state, drift ice, ice actions and methods of icebergs management on the Arctic shelf, 2015–2017 (FIMA)

November 25, 2020/in Arctic Technology, Completed Research Projects, Ice Mechanics /by chiliaaron

Field studies and modelling of sea state, drift ice, ice actions and methods of icebergs management on the Arctic shelf, 2015–2017 (FIMA)

FIMA was hosted by UNIS and funded by the Research Council of Norway through the NORRUSS program (Russia and the High North/Arctic). NTNU, VNIIGAZ GASPROM and the State Oceanographic Institute (Moscow) were project partners.

Objectives:
Investigation and quantifying of physical environment in the regions of offshore development and navigational activity on the Arctic shelf; contribution to estimates of physical environmental actions on offshore structures and a reduced risk level related to operating offshore in the High North; strengthening of long-term research cooperation with leading research institutions in Russia involved in the industrial development in the High North.

UNIS professor Aleksey Marchenko was FIMA project leader.