The Coast Guard icebreaker Healy will be in Unalaska for Christmas.  The United States’ only operational icebreaker was scheduled to finish up its Arctic season last week, but a fuel shortage in Nome has pushed that date back. 

The Healy has supported four separate scientific expeditions up in the Arctic over the last seven months.  The latest was the vessel’s first wintertime mission, according to Executive Officer Greg Tlapa.

“Most of our deployments happen in late summer, early fall during max thaw for ice.  We’re a science platform so anytime the ice is at its least or weakest is when science interest spikes in terms of doing research up in the Arctic.”

But the scientists on this last mission were interested in studying the behavior of tiny crustaceans called copepods under the ice, so the Healy headed north at the beginning of November.  

They made it back to the Port of Dutch Harbor last weekend and Tlapa expects they’ll be around through Christmas.

“We’ve got a big feast planned and you know, just trying to embrace the time of year.”

Afterwards the ship is headed back up to the Arctic, this time to clear a path through the ice for the Russian oil tanker Renda, which is delivering fuel to the city of Nome.  A tanker scheduled to deliver fuel earlier this year was held up by the big western Alaska storm and then by sea ice.  Without delivery by sea, the city would have to fly their fuel in at a much higher cost.

Tlapa says the Healy’s crew is excited about the mission, despite having to be on board for the holidays.

 “Bittersweet.  You know, the timing is bad, but the opportunity is neat.”

Once they get underway, Tlapa says the trip to the edge of the sea ice will take approximately two days.  From there, their speed will depend a lot on ice conditions and it could take anywhere from two to five days or longer to get to Nome.

“You know, when you’re talking about ice usually the first answer is ‘it depends’.  Because ice is so variable.  Thin, thick, multi-year, new, first-year, the type of coverage, whether it’s under pressure, ridging.  There’s a lot of things that affect a ship’s capabilities in the ice. 

Tlapa says they’re hoping to complete the mission and wrap up the season by late January.