Sikuliaq - An Amazing Research Ship

21 October 2012
8:43 PM

Sunrise at	9:05 AM	in direction	115°	East-southeast
Sunset at	6:05 PM	in direction	245°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 9 hours (6 minutes, 43 seconds shorter than yesterday)

I attended the UAF sponsored celebration of Sikuliaq's christening at Davis Concert Hall yesterday.  See Hundreds Help Launch R/V Sikuliaq in Wisconsin.  Our extended family member (family by love rather than marriage or blood), Vera Alexander, worked with Bob Elsner for decades to bring a polar region capable research vessel to life.  The agenda included a slide show of the vessel from various angles, comments from Alaska's two senators, short presentations by the Dean of the School of Fisheries and Oceanography and Vera, a video of a musical piece composed in honor of the vessels christening and finally  a series of videos of the boats launch into the Menomonee River.

The launch videos were taken from several different angles and all were immensely satisfying as the boat slid in at a 60 degree angle, fell to its side, tipped to the opposite side and then gradually righted.  Its sea worthiness was attested to by its launching as we witnessed how it could be buffeted by waves and remain afloat.

Professor Emeritus, Robert Elsner, began thinking about this vessel over 50 years ago during his term at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.  I found that tidbit interesting; he began pursuit of this dream nearly a decade before I had the good luck to be a student assistant for Theodore Bullock, a neuroscientist researching sonar capability in marine mammals and "electric" fish.  My introduction to oceanography as a discipline did not encourage me to pursue it as a career, but did create a life-long interest in that body of research.  My own love of the ocean, and the Pacific Ocean in particular was cemented at that time when I lived in La Jolla while attending UCSD.

So Professor Elsner made a point of sailing every ice breaking ship that he could possibly be invited to board.  Weighing what he thought was effective and what was not, he concluded what became common knowledge, Finnish ice breakers stood out as the best.  In fact Russian ice breakers are supplied by Finland's ship building industry.  These became the basis of the first in a series of three designs and tests of his designs.  Vera explained that they create a test bed to scale that can mimic conditions in the ocean that are projected for the vessel.  Each design successfully passed the test, but each design although worthy remained without funding.

The State of Alaska finally stepped in to promote the cause with the National Science Foundation.  When Obama's administration instituted the Recovery Act as part of its stimulus package, the funding for the Sikuliaq was granted by Congress.  The funding for this ship was the largest single grant in the program.  As you can imagine, there are the detractors.  One theme can be summarized by the question, "Why put that much money into one research vessel when it could have been dispersed throughout the communities for broader educational goals?"

 Yet, as the polar ice diminishes, research in the region becomes important economically and environmentally.  The goals of this type of research will impact all people, not just in the US, but the world.  It will be used by those interested in understanding how we will survive the climatic changes, what resources are available for exploitation, how marine mammals and fish will be affected by change .. and even how life has been maintained under these extremely cold conditions for centuries.

The long range goals and findings can be essential to our ability to move forward as a world community, but that fact is lost on those whose immediate concerns are ensuring their own children's education can be properly funded.

For my part, I was thrilled and actually, emotional, as the significance of the Sikuliaq's place in oceanographic research began to sink in .. and UAF will operate it out of its home port in Seward, Alaska.

As a side note, working for Theordore Bullock's group, while not prompting me to pursue science at that time, is what tipped me off that History was not going to be professional interest.  It has remained an avocation, but the surprise was, I was fascinated by the research I was reading and appreciated the analytical skills required.  Analysis and technology ultimately appealed to me more than reviewing historical tomes as a way to make a living.  I put that leaning toward analytical thinking to work in computer science, the field in which I took my Masters of Science.