Kuparuk River, AK Field Tests - Imagery

NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration lead a multi-agency research team including the Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC), students from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and scientists from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) designed experiments to evaluate the capabilities of various technologies such as multispectral and thermal sensors, to characterize oil in ice environments. This information is used to help responders understand the particular strengths of different technologies to characterize oil in broken ice environments.

This project involved 2 separate experiments which were conducted on near the shore of the Beaufort Sea in Alaska at the DOE testing facility at Oliktok Point and at the Kuparuk River between May 31st and June 6th and aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Cutter Sir Wilfrid Laurier between July 25th - 28th, 2022. The findings of these studies will be used to support spill response and assessment activities in open water ice environments throughout the navigable waters of the US.