UAF widely involved in Arctic research

Mark Myers, vice chancellor for research, reviews areas where university doing work, importance of Alaska as only Arctic US state

Steve Quinn

For Petroleum News

If Mark Myers sounds bullish on Alaska’s role in Arctic research and development, well he is.

The vice chancellor for research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks says the university’s unheralded research and partnerships with other universities, government agencies and oil companies are hitting their stride as the U.S. gets ready to assume the chair post with the Arctic Council.

Myers, a geologist, has received appointments from former President George W. Bush to direct the U.S. Geological Survey and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as coordinator for the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.

He is now in his fourth year serving as vice chancellor for research at UAF and spoke with Petroleum News about how the UAF can play a pivotal role in advancing Arctic development.

Petroleum News: Let’s start with UAF, whether it’s research or relationships you have with other agencies. How can those not connected with the oil industry and how can those close to the industry appreciate what you’re working on?

Myers: One of the things I don’t think the university has done as good a job as it could is really describe to the public the amount of Arctic related focused research that happens in Fairbanks. I’ve been the vice chancellor of research here for more than three and a half years and I’m still learning of the relationships and research activities. We really do a tremendous amount of research across the circumarctic. If you look at scientific publications on the Arctic, UAF is the world leader in producing Arctic science in terms of peer review published literature and then we are the most cited research organization in the world with respect to Arctic science.

With both the number of publications and how much those publications are cited and used, UAF is the leader in the world on the Arctic, including that of federal agencies and that of universities around the world. Much of that research is in partnership, and they are all over the world. Just in the seven other Arctic countries alone we have over 200 active research projects going on. A lot of it is fundamental research but a surprising amount of the research is applied research.

One of the real opportunities and challenges in the Arctic is the fact of interconnectability of the ecosystem to people living in the Arctic to natural resource development is so acute and so necessary to understand all aspects of that if you are going to be successful. So I look at things like changing sea ice and how it creates access to the resources. We are seeing a significant uptick in interest in mining in the Arctic, for example; there’s greater interest in transportation through the northern sea route; the oil and gas development opportunities dynamics change with hope for longer seasons.

So when you look at the combination of how you put it together and how you understand these issues holistically, the university is doing a whole lot of fundamental, of applied research, an integration of biological, geological, oceanographic, atmospheric sciences, social sciences and then the upside applications of that. One of the areas we’ve really been focusing on is understanding, preventing, then rapid response and then restoration from potential of an oil spill. Of course no one wants one to happen. The better prepared we are, the better we understand how the Arctic system will respond, the better we can restore it, the more credible our industry is going to be with the offshore and the more successful we are going to be.

It’s becoming more obvious to folks, there is no single entity that really has responsibility for potential risk to an oil spill or to the prevention in a response because shipping has a huge role. As we’ve seen an increase of shipping activity with transportation say along the northern sea route, but also the development of mines, tourism, or the village supply of fuel arriving, we see oil spills from shipping being a major issue out there, so it’s not industry-based, exploration work that creates the risk or the challenge. It’s the shipping and human activity that’s increasing in the Arctic.

So we all have a stake in this no matter what industry we are from. Understanding how we work collaboratively is really important. Preventing a spill is the number one goal. Pre-determining the kind of decisions you need to make in terms of rapid response in terms whether it’s using dispersants or we are not going to do anything. Understanding the variability of ocean currents, understanding the timing and phasing of the various components of the ecosystem. While that may seem a long way from oil and gas, the better we understand the system, the better we are prepared, the easier it is going to be and the more credibility the industry is going to have with offshore in Alaska.

Petroleum News: Is there anything being done now that’s advancing current operations?

Myers: One thing that’s working really, really well is using advanced technology in remote sensing and monitoring for all sorts of differing things, all the way from assessing minerals potential, to looking at land-based animals, looking at sea ice, risks to navigation by using unmanned aerial systems or drones. The university led a coalition that has one of the test sites for the FAA. They are a real powerful new tool to give us high-resolution data, and repeat coverage without risking people in the Arctic environment.

The university has been working on this kind of game-changing technologies for 10 years. The university has the largest fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles in the country. We are working with BP and have used those for pipeline issues for methane sensing. We’ve looked at the flare stacks in Prudhoe. It’s a whole lot of work in making infrastructure more resilient and understanding what’s happening with the infrastructure using relatively inexpensive remote systems.

Petroleum News: You mentioned oil spills. That is the biggest sticking point in the debate over offshore drilling. How can these communities gain confidence in the industry and in the science?

Myers: We believe not only the biggest challenge to offshore development is concern about oil spills but also the biggest opportunity for some growth in technology based startup companies beyond workforce development. All of that stuff should be done in the Arctic and should be done in Alaska.

If you look historically with major oil spills, whether it be Macondo, whether it be Amoco Cadiz, whether it be the Exxon Valdez, one of the biggest complaints that always comes that communities weren’t engaged the way the like to be. So clearly one of the major goals, one of the major opportunities, is how do we engage communities in the planning and in the monitoring system with trained people in the communities?

Also how do we provide information to the communities and how do we get the community information back to the response structure and integrate them into the system. One of the things the university is working on is developing a center where we can combine the research from the agencies, the university and the industry together in an environment where they are all working together that’s not necessarily regulatory.

So it’s a matter of how do we manage these pieces then fully engage the communities because often the research is done outside of Alaska or outside of the Arctic then transferred to the Arctic. We have approximately 50 researches working on aspects with respect to oil spills: remote sensing; oceanographic monitoring; infrastructure; safety practices; response; community-based monitoring networks etc.

We are also working on a proposal for a joint university-industry center with the National Science Foundation. By doing that, we are bringing the Science Foundation with the credibility with peer-review research with the industry working on industry-supported projects with industry funding and NSF funding. We think that is a great way to move forward to build that partnership.

Another piece of that is our use of unmanned, autonomous underwater vehicles. One of the challenges we know with oil spills is that you can’t just look on the surface; you have to look at how the oil is disseminated in the water column and under ice. You have to understand how the current structure of the ocean works and how the surface weather affects the ocean column, how ice in the system affects the movement of oil within that system.

It’s an extremely complex system. Once you start forming ice over the open water, any oil in the system, or a certain amount of it, will be absorbed in the ice as well as being underneath the ice and it will melt out the next spring. So tracking and monitoring the movement of the oil and ice is a really important and complex issue. The more you know on the prevention side, the more you understand the natural forces and the affects of this changing sea ice.

Petroleum News: So will these technologies be ready for when the industry is ready to return to the water?

Myers: It’s phased. Shell built quite a response capacity into their exploration activities. So that phase requires a very different approach than say if you got to the development phase where you are looking at subsea completions, year round pipelines and producing infrastructure. That first phase of exploration, a lot of work has been done. Shell did develop a capping device. So that kind of potential, a capping device, onshore equipment that mobilizes with exploration drilling, limited season, the ability to drill a back-up well, a second rig available - all those are different issues than that next phase where you are actually saying OK how does that subsea system in the Arctic really work in Alaskan waters? How deeply do I put down my pipeline? What happens if I have a spill during the winter ice season? So there are a series of next level questions that we are focusing and responding on.

The second issue is the northern sea route has about 80 to 90 vessels going through. That has increased very rapidly. If and when that increases, because Russia is making big investment in that northern sea route, response along that broader part of the route becomes a major set of issues. You can see a lot of petroleum moving through Bering Straits and the west coast of Alaska that we would need to have the ability to respond to, even if that ship that spills isn’t in U.S. waters. So response on the Alaska side becomes rally important.

Petroleum News: Now you’re also in the National Petroleum Council with (Sitka Sen.) Bert Stedman, what would you like to see accomplished between the two of you on behalf of Alaska?

Myers: I was told when I got the letter from the secretary of energy that they wanted to look at Arctic technology, Arctic response specifically. So they wanted a few people from Alaska on the council. He and I are the only two Alaskans. Our role is really to represent with respect to the Arctic some of the major energy issues. To that end, the secretary has also approved an ongoing study on the Arctic. That study has a steering committee that oversees it, and I’m on that committee. So we also have university researchers working with some folks from the government. We want to make sure this is a world-class study and gives the secretary of energy the advice he wants. It has to have multiple components all the way from community sustainability to best practices to looking at the Arctic resources itself as well as emerging technologies.

It’s great that the secretary of energy has determined that this is a major issue for him. It’s not Alaska. It’s all offshore Arctic, regardless of whose waters those are. That’s the big reason, I think, Bert Stedman and I are on the committee.

Petroleum News: I’ve had a lot of people tell me when they go to Washington they are surprised at how little others know about Alaska being an Arctic state making us an Arctic nation. Do you still find that to be true or is it starting to wane?

Myers: Absolutely. It’s a constant challenge for Alaska. The United States is Arctic because of Alaska. We are a long ways away from Washington, D.C., and the Lower 48. The issues the country has are very broad. With our relatively small population it is often not the top of the list of priorities. I think the changing Arctic, opportunities in the Arctic, the pending U.S. chairmanship with the Arctic Council, raised some interest in Washington that the Arctic is really important.

As it progresses, though, I’ve been surprised by the overall lack of understanding of the importance of the Arctic. The Arctic and Antarctic are the major places that are critical to world climate, critical to species, critical to resources in the future with our very growing population and the demand for resources. So that awareness is increasing. But when I was with the U.S. Geological Survey, which has done work in Alaska for more than 100 years, most people in the United States would say why should I care about the Arctic or isn’t that part of Canada?

The second part of this, the U.S. chairmanship with the Arctic Council, the U.S. is determined to make the Arctic a big deal. Admiral (Robert) Papp the new special advisor to the secretary was up here and he spent three or four hours with the university. We had a great conversation with him and Ambassador (Mike) Bolton and senior Arctic official Julie Gourley from the State Department, and he said one of his primary goals was educating people about the Arctic. It’s not just simple education, but it’s actually having senior officials spending time and holding many of the meetings in Alaska. I think we will have more visibility.

Petroleum News: So you believe a lot of this perception will change when the U.S. takes over as Arctic Council chair?

Myers: Absolutely. They are prepared to spend a significant amount of effort in bringing the Council into Alaska. And that’s huge. One thing the university has with its broad scientific sets of relationships - again hundreds of projects across seven Arctic nations - we have folks on all of the working groups. Every two years they hold an international Arctic science week where all the science agencies come to a place. That’s coming to Fairbanks in March of 2016. With that the Arctic Council will hold a senior Arctic officials meeting. We will bring the world’s science community to Fairbanks and the State Department will bring the Arctic officials that same week.

Petroleum News: You’ve mentioned Admiral Papp, but you also have Fran Ulmer taking an additional role with Arctic discussions, and she’s from Alaska. How does that help?

Myers: As chair of the Arctic Research Commission, she has been a tireless advocate for the Arctic and for Alaska in that role. We’ve had a long history of Alaskans involved with that commission. So we have two recognized, two senior presidential officials who are really focused on delivering the Arctic message. We’ve had strong historical support from the State Department as well. There is a national effort among the agencies to coordinate and deliver more Arctic science. So that effort combined with Fran’s effort combined with policy documents supporting more investment in the Arctic coming out of the White House, plus we have strong Congressional support from our delegation as well.

Petroleum News: The U.S. takes over chair as the Arctic Council from Canada. What do you believe we can learn from Canada in the transition?

Myers: We at the university have worked with the State Department and with the Canadian leadership to look at sustainable development opportunities and community-based monitoring networks around issues of adaptive capacity in these communities. So there is already a frame of reference. The university is going to work to take a web-based system built under the Canadian leadership. It’s going to be run by the university. So there is already discussion between the U.S. leadership and the Canadian leadership to sustain important initiatives on the Canadian side. There are a lot of other scientific efforts looking at environmental studies and how do we manage the environmental changes in the Arctic.

Petroleum News: If an Alaskan is not appointed to lead the country’s efforts to lead the country as Arctic chair, what should this person’s credentials be?

Myers: It’s important to recognize we already have a senior Arctic official in Julie Gourley with the State Department. She’s been in that job for a long time. She will be on the job working with other senior officials. She spends a lot of time up here and is highly regarded up here. The next person above that Arctic official, you would really want to have strong knowledge of the Arctic and strong relationships in Alaska. Ideally you’d like to see someone who has the trust of the president, the trust of the secretary of state and also the trust of our delegation in Congress. It could be the current ambassador for polar and oceans (Mike Bolton). He could be this person within their structure or they could appoint someone else.

Petroleum News: Do you have any final thoughts on Arctic and research?

Myers: There is a lot of other research going on in the university in partnership with the industry. I know I picked oil response but there are also things such as work on fundamental infrastructure, Arctic shipping, understanding how sea ice affects development, the changes of it and looking at better predictable ecological models well outside the spill research. It all goes to our fundamental understanding of the Arctic.