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A group made up primarily of oil drillers and transporters who work in the Arctic environment is actively addressing the phenomenon of icing and, through a joint industry project, has produced the \u201cArctic Operations Handbook.\u201d<\/p>\nJan. 27, it will be eight years since the 76′ trawler Lady of Grace sank off Nantucket with her crew of four.\u00a0 It is a tragedy that is still easily recalled and deeply felt by those in the port of New Bedford.<\/p>\n
Following a yearlong investigation, the Coast Guard concluded that the primary cause of the casualty \u201cwas most likely attributed to a dramatic decrease in stability due to the added weight from a significant accumulation of ice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, we have learned a little more about predicting, preventing, and mitigating ice buildup.<\/p>\n
A group made up primarily of oil drillers and transporters who work in the Arctic environment is actively addressing the phenomenon of icing and, through a joint industry project, has produced the \u201cArctic Operations Handbook.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chapter titled \u201cImpact of Marine Icing on Arctic Offshore Operations,\u201d written by Robert Platt and published in December 2013, contains interesting data and observations regarding icing.<\/p>\n
For example, the report characterizes icing as \u201cslow,\u201d \u201cfast,\u201d and \u201cvery fast\u201d and provides objective numbers for each category.\u00a0 You can download the chapter for free at <www.arctic-operations-handbook.info>.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth a read.\u00a0 But, basically, the risk of icing begins to increase when the air temperature is below the freezing point of seawater, which varies with salinity but is around 28.4\u00b0F, and when the water temperature is 46.5\u00b0F or less and the wind speed is 19.4 knots or more.<\/p>\n
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Icing risk area<\/b><\/p>\n
Coast Guard regulations specify certain actions related to stability that must be taken to reduce the risk of icing when a fishing vessel is operating north of 42\u00b0N, which is about the latitude of Boston.<\/p>\n
However, a 2008 report by two students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute titled \u201cThe Effects of Icing on Commercial Fishing Vessels\u201d found that icing conditions routinely occur south of 42\u00b0N and made the recommendation that the standards be changed to include areas north of 38\u00b0N, which is just south of Ocean City, MD.<\/p>\n
The students analyzed weather buoy data from 1997 through 2007 and found that Boston, at 42.3\u00b0N, had 287 icing events from Dec. 1 to April 15, while Delaware Bay at 38.464\u00b0N had 91 icing events from December (one event in December) through the end of March.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the take-home message:\u00a0 Be vigilant while fishing during the winter months about checking weather conditions \u2013 even if you fish as far south as Delaware Bay \u2013 to reduce your risk of an icing event.<\/p>\n
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Weather information<\/b><\/p>\n
Fishermen have their favorite, efficient methods for checking air and sea temperatures, wind speed, and icing conditions.<\/p>\n
But a good website is available if you Google \u201cOcean Prediction Center,\u201d a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\u00a0 Click on \u201cProbabilistic Guidance\u201d for wind speed, marine forecasts, and other information.<\/p>\n
The Naval Postgraduate School\u2019s Meteorology Department provides a program to calculate the risk of icing at <www.met.nps.edu\/”psguest\/polarmet\/vessel\/predict.html<\/a>>, as well as a host of other information.<\/p>\n From this website you can move to a helpful discussion called \u201cMitigation and Avoidance of Vessel Sea Spray Icing.\u201d\u00a0 This page lists tools \u2013 a baseball bat, for example \u2013 for removing ice from surfaces.\u00a0 It also includes vessel maneuvers for reducing ice accretion, as well as a caution that turning a vessel with heavy ice buildup is a very high-risk maneuver.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ann Backus, MS, is the director of outreach for the Harvard School of Public Health\u2019s Department of Environmental Health in Boston, MA.\u00a0 She may be reached by phone at (617) 432-3327 or by e-mail at <abackus@hsph.harvard.edu<\/a>>.<\/i> Read the rest of this story and much, much more in the January issue of\u00a0Commercial Fisheries News<\/em>. \u00a0Buy this issue or\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0[add_to_cart=5805]<\/strong><\/p>\n (Read online immediately with access key and download for future reference.)<\/em><\/p>\n Jan. 27, it will be eight years since the 76′ trawler Lady of Grace sank off Nantucket with her crew of four.\u00a0 It is a tragedy that is still easily recalled and deeply felt by those in the port of New Bedford. Following a yearlong investigation, the Coast Guard concluded that the primary cause of … <\/p>\n
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