INNOVATION November-December 2015

Because the opportunity to deploy the device came in October, Mingo had to address problems arising from cold, snow, and darkness. “If NASA had to do it, they’d get 200 engineers to make it in three days, and it wouldn’t matter if it cost them a billion or two dollars,” he says. Mingo equipped his device with an iridium modem, enabling it to push daily measurements to the researchers via satellite communications until the ice island melts away. He designed solar panels to work no matter which way the ice island faced. Just before this edition of Innovation went to press, Crawford was on the Canadian Coast Guard research vessel Amundsen near Baffin Island. She helicoptered over to a 14-km 2 ice island with a small team of helpers and spent six hours setting up Mingo’s ice-radar device and a small climate station. As expected, the device has sent data every day since deployment. “We’re delighted that everything went so smoothly, thanks to good engineering, planning and team work,” says Mueller. Year-round Freshwater Shipping Routes Freshwater bodies present their own challenges to shipping. Williston Lake, created by the 1968 W.A.C. Bennett dam, parallels the Rocky Mountains for 250 km in northern BC. The valley bottom was flooded without being logged, turning the submerged trees into a navigation hazard. Still, mining company Canadian Kailuan Delhua (CKD) saw potential in shipping coal from the nearby proposed Gething Project. Year-round production (and thus shipping) meant CKD needed to know the lake’s bathymetric, or depth, profile before considering the feasibility of winter navigation with an icebreaking ship. Adding to the risk of year-round shipping, in winter, thickening ice decreases lake depth, and water is drawn down in preparation for the spring melt. Under the technical direction of Paul Bauman, P.Eng., Chris Slater, P.Geo., led a geophysical survey team from Advisian (a part of the WorleyParsons Group) in March 2011 to collect bathymetry data using an array of ground-penetrating radar systems. “Williston Lake is ridiculously windy,” says Slater. “It’s a man-made lake with very steep sides.” The topography funnels the wind across the lake. Bracing themselves against winds strong enough to blow helicopters across the ice, as well as –40°C temperatures, they surveyed west from the W.A.C. Bennett Dam along the Peace Reach, then south along the Parsnip Reach to the town of Mackenzie, using Argo tracked, amphibious vehicles to tow the radar systems on with "inhouse-designed and -built sleds. Over two weeks, the team mapped routes where water was at least 8 m deep under the ice to be confident of ships clearing bottom year-round.

Ice Roads Ground-penetrating radar serves a different purpose on drier ground. “Canada is this country where well over one-third of the country is covered in wetland—in the northern portion, it’s about two-thirds,” says Bauman. Northern Canada’s extensive wetlands limit access to many northern towns—which is why it can cost $20 for a jug of milk. “Many communities are only accessible by planes, boats, or winter roads,” says Bauman. “When the muskeg freezes, they can get supplies in.” After freeze-up, supplies are trucked in over ice roads at a fraction of the cost. The drastically cheaper transport compels people to push use of the roads to the limit, from the very first to the very last possible day. Not surprisingly, changing climate is shrinking the ice-road season. Every four hours, for six weeks, the radar system stationed on the Yukon’s Kaskawulsh Glacier awoke, pinged the ice, recorded and formatted the data, then shut down. Photos: Laurent Mingo, P.Eng.

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