"In 1990, the ESRF awarded a contract to Canadian Seabed Research Ltd. of Halifax to undertake a large repetitive mapping program in the Beaufort Sea. This program included: designing the survey network, carrying out the survey field work, identifying new scours on the geophysical records, and updating the data base of new scour events."--Introduction.

Covering more than seven percent of the earth’s surface, sea ice is crucial to the functioning of the biosphere—and is a key component in our attempts to understand and combat climate change. With On Sea Ice, geophysicist W. F. Weeks delivers a natural history of sea ice, a fully comprehensive and up-to-date account of our knowledge of its creation, change, and function. The volume begins with the earliest recorded observations of sea ice, from 350 BC, but the majority of its information is drawn from the period after 1950, when detailed study of sea ice became widespread. Weeks delves into both micro-level characteristics—internal structure, component properties, and phase relations—and the macro-level nature of sea ice, such as salinity, growth, and decay. He also explains the mechanics of ice pack drift and the recently observed changes in ice extent and thickness. An unparalleled account of a natural phenomenon that will be of increasing importance as the earth’s temperature rises, On Sea Ice will unquestionably be the standard for years to come.

There is an increasing need to construct engineering structures in the Arctic seas. The requirement is principally generated by the oil and gas industry, because of the substantial reserves that are known to exist offshore in the Beaufort Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Barents Sea, the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Sakhalin, the Canadian Arctic, and almost certainly elsewhere. Structures have to withstand the severe environmental forces generated by sea ice, a subject that is developing rapidly but is still far from completely understood. Underwater pipelines have to be safe against ice gouging and strudel scour, but also have to be constructed safely and economically. The social and human environment has to be understood and respected.This important book intentionally takes a broad view, and vividly accounts for the many and often subtle interactions between the different factors. It is illustrated by case studies of actual projects.