Sea ice is an important factor determining conditions of navigation in ice infested waters. The main parameters of ice cover influencing navigation are as follows: concentration (including partial), ice thickness (ice age), ice compacting, ridges, and leads. Proposed design of an improved scientific-operational system supporting navigation with information on Ice State includes numerical calculations of ice parameters and specialized recommendations for navigation. The collected onboard observations of ice cover and ship (icebreaker) velocity during polar navigation and scientific expeditions are used to study ice state inhomogeneity and create an empirical model of ship motion in ice cover.
Increasingly we see the industrialization of arctic and sub-arctic areas with mining, oil exploration, and fishing. Also, the possibility of using the Northern Sea Route to shorten international transportation routes is under active investigation. As a consequence of these developments, the improvement of scientific-operational systems to support ice navigation in arctic and sub-arctic seas has significant economic and social importance. The modern system of navigation support includes the following constituent elements:
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observations on ice cover and other influencing factors;
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numerical methods of ice simulation and forecasting;
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specialized recommendations for navigation.
The structure of the paper is represented by three main sections which corresponds to aforementioned constituent elements of navigation support. In the first section we consider the state of inhomogeneous ice cover based upon observation results. Consideration of the observation data is characterized by two important features. First of all, we limit our consideration to those parameters of ice state that exert the most significant influence upon ship motion in ice-infested waters. Secondly, we place emphasize upon studying those ice conditions along the ships route that differ from conditions in the observable area around the ship.
