Archived Ward Hunt Ice Camp Article

April 2009

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It’s cold … it’s remote, but from an ice-camp near Ward Hunt Island, a group of Canadian and Danish scientists are hard at work, measuring water depth and collecting gravity measurements as part of a Danish-Canadian bathymetric survey of the Arctic Ocean.

Canada has four more years to collect the data needed to define the outer limits of Canada’s extended continental shelf - a concept found in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that includes the continental shelf, the slope, and the seafloor rise .

These limits will define where Canada can exercise its exclusive sovereign rights to seabed resources such as minerals, oil, gas, and sedentary species. So, their work is pressing and important, and only feasible at certain times of the year:

• March and April, when cold temperatures and the return of daylight allow work on the ice
• August and September when the team works from icebreakers

This is during the maximum melt, before freezing temperatures and increasing hours of darkness make work difficult, if not impossible.

  

“Canada’s northern frontier is an important element of our national identity and our future as a society and economy,” said lead Canadian scientist Jon Biggar, of the Canadian Hydrographic Service within DFO. “Based near Ward Hunt Island, the survey is critical to identifying where Canada’s sovereign rights apply, and ultimately, adding certainty to where Canadian regulations apply for conservation or access to resources important for future economic growth.”

The bathymetric survey of the area immediately north of Ellesmere Island and Greenland is a joint operation of DFO’s Canadian Hydrographic Service, the Danish National Survey and Cadastre and the Danish Maritime Safety Administration.

The scientific team is made up of 15 Canadians and 7 Danes. During the day, they are busy taking bathymetric and on-ice gravity measurements, using helicopters as survey platforms. Each measurement requires landing the helicopter, clearing snow to reach the ice, manually placing measuring equipment on the ice, recording a measurement, returning the equipment to the helicopter, taking off, and repeating the process at the next point – which will be along profiles up to 80 km apart, through frigid Arctic conditions.

Bathymetric measurements are obtained using echo sounder transducer platforms, which measure the depth of water by sending out high-frequency sound waves through the ice and water column, and then record the time for an echo to return from the bottom. Connecting the depths at each point measured along a specific profile indicates the shape of the continental shelf. Gravity measurements use portable gravity meters placed on the ice to measure differences in the attraction of gravity at each point relative to a reference station. These readings are used to indicate changes in the density of the material beneath the seabed of the continental shelf.

More than a dozen insulated tents form the camp and are used for a survey office, sleeping, generators, showers, workshops, and meals. Each tent is 16 feet wide and varies in length from the 16 foot helicopter workshop to the 44 foot long kitchen. In addition to survey personnel, 10 air crew for five Bell 206L helicopters and a De Havilland DHC-6 Twin-Otter are based at the camp to support the survey, and provide supplies and transportation.

  

“We’re used to working on ships and a few of us have worked in ice-camps like this up here in the ‘80s and early ‘90s,” said Jon. “But, there’s always something special about working in a remote area, far from civilization, and knowing how fortunate I am to be in a part of Canada that few Canadians will ever see. I’m proud to have spent my career mapping Canadian waters, am passionate about the science of hydrography, and am particularly passionate about our Arctic environment.”

The team concludes its work at the end of April. Then, it’s time to pack up the camp,
empty drums, garbage, and all evidence of the camp from the ice, and ship equipment south or to storage in Eureka or Resolute for use in the 2010 survey.

For more details regarding some of the maritime definitions in this article, please visit:

• Canada’s Ocean Estate - A Description of Canada’s Maritime Zones

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View the Ward Hunt Ice Camp Photo Gallery