Crewmembers aboard Coast Guard Cutter Healy tend the lines to lower a Sea Glider into the Arctic Ocean on Sept. 20, 2016.
The Healy crew’s main mission is to support scientific research in the Arctic.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Lauren Steenson.
Crewmembers from Coast Guard Cutter Healy prepare to deploy the cutter boat-large in the Arctic Ocean on Sept. 27, 2016.
The boat crew retrieved a piece of scientific equipment, which was deployed several days earlier.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Lauren Steenson.
A young polar bear climbs atop some ice Sept. 13, 2016 in the Chukchi Sea.
Underway for its second mission, Cutter Healy embarked a team of researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC-San Diego, and the Office of Naval Research who are deploying an array of acoustic bottom moorings to collect data on how climate change and decreased ice coverage is affecting the Arctic Ocean.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher M. Yaw/Pacific Area External Affairs
Seaman Zachary Reuther stands for a photo in the snow Sept. 5, 2016 on the aft deck in the Chukchi Sea.
Healy has a multi-capable platform to fit deployments and recoveries of many different types and sizes of scientific equipment.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher M. Yaw/Pacific Area External Affairs
Cutter Healy keeps station Aug. 25, 2016 during cutter boat drills in the Chukchi Sea.
Scientists aboard the Healy deploy measuring instruments to collect data on the ever-changing Arctic.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher M. Yaw/Pacific Area External Affairs
SEATTLE – Coast Guard Cutter Healy crewmembers returns to its homeport in Seattle at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, after a 127-day summer deployment in the Arctic Ocean.
The Healy’s crew conducted three groundbreaking scientific studies in the Arctic, discovering new jellyfish species, collecting data on climate change and observing the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea.
The crew’s first mission this summer resulted in groundbreaking discoveries in the Chukchi Sea ecosystem, including the discovery of multiple new species of jellyfish. Healy’s crew and scientists aboard the Coast Guard vessel used the Global Explorer ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to successfully collect hundreds of living specimens for laboratory study. Other sampling gear enabled the scientists to assess the biological diversity of the entire ecosystem, from creatures living beneath the sea floor to microbial communities in sea ice. These findings will help improve the knowledge and understanding of this poorly understood and rapidly changing region.
The second mission focused on deploying an array of deepwater acoustic devices in support of researchers from Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Office of Naval Research. The moorings will collect data on how climate change and decreased ice coverage is affecting the Arctic Ocean.
During the crew’s final mission, the crew worked with researchers from the University of New Hampshire in support of NOAA, the State Department, and the White House Office of Science and Technology to conduct a hydrographic survey of the extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea. Using a multi-beam sonar installed on the cutter, the crew mapped more than 10,000 square miles of the sea floor to collect data necessary to extend U.S. territory and sovereign rights over the sea floor to an area estimated to be double the size of California. The Coast Guard crewmembers also conducted two 3,200-meter dredge operations through two-meter thick ice, recovering multiple geologic samples to fulfill an international agreement with Canada.
Currently under the command of Capt. Jason Hamilton, Coast Guard Cutter Healy is the nation’s premiere high-latitude research vessel. The cutter is a 420-foot long icebreaker with extensive scientific capabilities and a permanent crew of 87 Coast Guard men and women.
As a Coast Guard Cutter, the Healy’s primary mission is scientific support but is also capable of other operations such as search and rescue, ship escort, environmental protection, and the enforcement of laws and treaties in the Polar Regions.
Media interested in conducting interviews of the Healy’s crew upon arrival must contact the 13th District Public Affairs office at 206-251-3237, no later than 10 p.m., Friday, Oct. 14, 2016.
For more information about Coast Guard Cutter Healy, please visit:http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/cgchealyhttp://www.icefloe.net