Icebreakers POLAR SEA and POLAR STAR in the news

Captains,

America's only two class 1 polar icebreakers were in the news this week. POLAR SEA embarked scientists in Kodiak and POLAR STAR is finally going to be reactivated. Anyone with an interest in climate change and its implications for increased Arctic navigation should keep an eye on these two Coast Guard cutters.

RDML W

KODIAK, Alaska — The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea, one of the world’s most powerful non-nuclear icebreakers, homeported in Seattle, will arrive and moor at the city pier in Kodiak Thursday. The stop is to embark scientists as part of a two-month deployment in support of the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST).

The BEST cruise is part of a six year study of the Bering Sea ecosystem supported by the National Science Foundation and the North Pacific Research Board.

The central focus of the scientific cruise is to examine the impacts of changing ice conditions on food web structure in the Bering Sea. A team of 25 scientists will study processes and collect data relating to food webs in the northern Bering Sea.

SEATTLE — Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant, will announce the reactivation of the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star on Wednesday March 10. The Polar Star is a Coast Guard Heavy Icebreaker. Commissioned in 1976, the ship was built by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington along with her sister ship, Polar Sea.

The Polar Star has been in “Caretaker” status since June 30, 2006. Caretaker status requires that the crew be reduced to 34 and that the ship be kept ready for reactivation and return to the ice.