Arctic / Polar matters (merged thread)

[AdamG]

From a German site -

The 2017 sea ice minimum extent was reached on 2017-09-05. Sea ice extent is now increasing again.

https://seaice.uni-bremen.de/arctic-sea-ice-minima/

As a reference point, the USN plan from 2014.
USN Arctic Roadmap 2014-2030
http://greenfleet.dodlive.mil/files/...admap-2014.pdf

Scientific America weighing in on the above

The document said the Bering Strait was expected to see open conditions about 160 days a year by 2020, with the deep ocean routes of the Transpolar transit route forecast to be open for up to 45 days annually by 2025.
The document includes dozens of specific tasks and deadlines for Navy offices, including calling for better research on rising sea levels and the ability to predict sea ice thickness, assessment of satellite communications and surveillance needs, and evaluation of existing ports, airfields and hangars.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...tic-from-2025/

Hyperlink & summary.

Rear Adm. Stuart Munsch, Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Operations, Plans and Strategy (N3/N5B), delivered the following remarks during the 7th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations at the Naval Heritage Center in Washington, D.C., July 18 [2017]

[AdamG]

US military officials and policymakers are devoting increased attention to the potential for conflict with a near-peer competitor, and they've pursued a number of operational and equipment changes to prepare for it.
Among the latest moves is the roll out of more cold-weather gear among the US Army and Marine Corps, underscoring the military's growing concern about its ability to operate in extreme environments outside the Middle East.
For the last several years, the Army has been looking to update its gear for extreme environments, mainly jungles and the harsh cold. Included in that search was a new cold-weather boot and a cold-weather clothing system that could be adjusted for various temperatures.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/th...cid=spartandhp

[AdamG]

The sun won’t rise at the North Pole until March 20, and it’s normally close to the coldest time of year, but an extraordinary and possibly historic thaw swelled over the tip of the planet this weekend. Analyses show that the temperature warmed to the melting point as an enormous storm pumped an intense pulse of heat through the Greenland Sea.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/to...cid=spartandhp

From the previously mentioned blogsite -

This probably has a lot to do with the splitting of the Polar Vortex due to a sudden stratospheric warming event a while back. I'm grateful for a bit of winter, finally, in my neck of the European woods, but not too happy about the consequences for the Arctic. The cause of all this heat and ice being pushed away from the northern coast of Greenland is an atmospheric set-up that during summer we'd be referring to as a Reverse Dipole (low pressure over the Canadian side of the Arctic, high pressure over the Siberian side).

http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2018/02/index.html

[davidbfpo]

I merged Adam G's latest post, renamed the thread and copied in a number of posts readily i'd as referring to Arctic / Polar matters.

There are a number of posts on another thread which may have more information 'Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity':http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=18956

[AdamG]

He said Russia had been re-opening Soviet bases not used in years, and an increased submarine activity in the area meant that Britain had to protect its own interests. Ministers are worried that as the Arctic ice melts, Russia's President Putin will try to grab land and intensify its activity there. Climate change has also sparked a rush to tap into oil reserves there.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/738161...lliamson-says/

[AdamG]

The Russian military will test its new third-generation T-14 Armata main battle tank (MBT) in adverse climatic conditions including the Arctic, Deputy Russian Ground Forces Commander for Armaments Lieutenant General Viktor Lizvinsky told journalists in late August.

https://thediplomat.com/2018/09/russ...ank-in-arctic/

[AdamG]

RUSSIA’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom plans take control of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in the Arctic Ocean using a fleet of modern icebreakers to guarantee year-round shipping across the key trade artery. Moscow believes opening up the route permanently would half sailing times between Europe and Asia and but the waterway could become a political flashpoint with other global shipping companies vying for position in the icy northern region as shipping on the NSR continues to boom. More than 10 million tons of goods were shipped on the route in 2017 and figures for this year indicate a year-on-year increase of as much as 80 percent.

Mr Kulinko [Rosatom's head of the NSR development department] said Russia would be operating 11 nuclear-powered icebreakers by 2035.

He told a conference in St Petersburg: "We expect that the Arctic icebreaker fleet will include five multirole nuclear-power icebreakers with a rated capacity of 60 megawatt each, three Leader-class icebreakers, four gas-motor fuel icebreakers with a rated capacity of up to 40 megawatt, plus the 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker, which will reached the end of its service life by 2039.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...ed-icebreakers

Two new plot twists.

ST. PETERSBURG, December 12. /TASS/. A solemn ceremony was held at the Almaz Shipyard in St. Petersburg to lay down the Project 21180M icebreaker Yevpatiy Kolovrat for the Russian Navy, TASS reports from the scene.

After the icebreaker is delivered to the Navy, it will operate in the Russian Far East, Yepifanov said. "Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky will be its home port."

Project 21180
Project 21180 vessels are Russian-made next-generation diesel-electric icebreakers of the support fleet. The Yevpatiy Kolovrat developed by the Nizhny Novgorod-based Vympel Design Bureau will be 82 meters long, 19 meters wide and will have a draft of 4.6 meters. The icebreaker will be able to develop a maximum speed of 14 knots and displace 4,080 tonnes of water. The vessel will have a crew of 28.

The icebreaker is designed to lead Russian naval ships and vessels, and also tow and deliver cargoes to remote bases, render assistance to ships in distress in ice conditions. It will be capable of breaking an ice field of 1 meter thick at a speed of two knots. The icebreaker will have an operating range of 7,600 miles.

The Yevpatiy Kolovrat is being built under the modernized ‘lightened’ Project 21180M. It is distinguished by the reduced size of the hull and the small draft. This series of icebreakers will get the most advanced Zaliv-LK-21180 automated control system.

http://tass.com/economy/1035715

The large amphibious assault ship Pyotr Morgunov was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard on the Baltic coast on June 11, 2015 and floated out on May 25 this year. By the Navy’s decision, this series will consist of only two warships: the lead ship Ivan Gren, which has been under construction for over 20 years due to the Project’s numerous adjustments and the first serial-produced (the second-built) large amphibious assault ship Pyotr Morgunov.

Project 11711 warships displace about 6,000 tonnes and are the largest surface combatants built to date. The previous Project 1171 ‘Tapir’ large amphibious assault ship displaces 4,300 tonnes and the most numerous ships of this class in the Russian Navy (Project 775) have a displacement of 4,400 tonnes.

http://tass.com/defense/1032678