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IceCam

This is Nick's official IceCam project home page. The IceCam is an integrated environmental data/visual monitoring system designed and built by me at SPRI to provide visual ground truth information for interpreting satellite images. The units are designed for easy deployment on available ships-of-opportunity and consist of a single box which is positioned overlooking the bow of the vessel.

It is intended that images from the IceCam will eventually be used in a shipboard real-time information system. This will have the ability to give a quantitative estimate of ice conditions through on-board analysis software. Richard Hall, a post-graduate student at SPRI, is now developing the IceCam concept under license at the Norwegian Polar Insitute.

Technical

The prototype IceCam was based around off-the-shelf PC components. Two systems were constructed in the first half of 1999 using a mixture of components salvaged from older projects and new components sourced for their suitability to the IceCam. During 2000 I looked into ways of improving our existing design. This involved locating parts that would make the IceCam smaller, lighter and more deployable. Although the components are specialised they are designed with industrial applications in mind and are readily available.

System design - Details about our current system and its capabilities.

Components - Components used, possible future components and links to manufacturers web sites.

References

Hughes, N.E. and P. Wadhams (2000). Results from the IceCam and its role in Arctic navigation. EurOCEAN 2000, September 2000, Hamburg, Germany.

Hughes, N.E. (2001). IceCam: An environmental monitoring solution for the polar seas with implications for navigation and safety. Sea Technology, 42(11), pp. 36-40.

Hughes, N.E., R.J. Hall and P. Wadhams (2001). IceCam: A system for environmental monitoring and navigation in ice covered waters. Port and Ocean engineering under Arctic Conditions (POAC'01), August 2001, Ottawa, Canada.

Hughes, N.E. (2001). IceCam: Automating shipboard observations of sea ice. International Ice Chart Working Group (IICWG), 3rd Annual Meeting, November 2001, Tromsų, Norway. [ IICWG IceCam Page]

Hall, R.J., N.E. Hughes and P. Wadhams (2002). A systematic method of obtaining ice concentration measurements from ship-based observations. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 34(2), pp. 97-102. [ PDF - 172 Kb]

Deployments

Protoype Units:

IceCam

March 2001 - RV Jan Mayen, Greenland Sea. Unit is active.

April 2001 - RV Lance, Greenland Sea

The RV Jan Mayen cruise is a supplement to the CONVECTION project. The RV Lance cruise is CONVECTION project CONV-2.

Deployments (Old):

Deployment Update and Image Archive

Two systems were constructed in time for the 25-June-1999 departure of Polar Star. The two deployments were carried out during the summer of 1999 for testing and finalising the control software.

USCGC Polar Star WAGB-10 (Nick Hughes) 25/07/99 - 09/08/99 NW Pacific, Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea

The Polar Star left the Cascade General Shipyards at Portland (Oregon) on the morning of 24 June. 18 hours into the voyage, whilst steaming up the Washington coast towards Seattle to pick up fuel, the main shaft bearing shifted stopping the centre propellor. The hull design of the Polar Star makes this essential for proper steering. Polar Star limped into the Coast Guard base at Pier 36 in Seattle and repairs were attempted but without success. I returned with the unit to the UK on 10 July in order to join the RRS James Clark Ross cruise.

RRS James Clark Ross (Nick Hughes) 23/07/99 - 31/08/99 Norwegian and Greenland Seas (ARCICE CATS-MIAOW)

The first prototype unit was the most complete of the two systems available and was prepared for deployment during the first week. It was during this stage that minor internal damage was discovered and repaired delaying deployment. The cause of the damage is believed to have been transit to and from the abortive deployment on board Polar Star. This unit was deployed on entering the sea ice towards the end of Leg 1 of the cruise on the "monkey island" (flying bridge) rail overlooking the bow using a metal mounting frame clamped to the superstructure. After some initial teething troubles concerning the power supply the unit worked without downtime throughout the rest of the cruise.

RRS James Clark Ross entering the Marginal Ice Zone in Fram Strait on 11 August 1999. From left to right the times of the picture are 23:45, 23:50 and 23:55 GMT.

The IceCam pictures from the CATS-MIAOW cruise have been merged into an MPEG movie. Due to compression the picture quality isn't brilliant and the captioning is rather blurred. The file is 10Mb and can be found at ftp://pwd5-sig.spri.cam.ac.uk/pub/outgoing/Nick/IceCam/JCR44.mpg

RV Jan Mayen February/March 2000 Norwegian and Greenland Seas (ARCICE SCORESBY)

Prototype I was installed on the Jan Mayen on 16-February following a rebuild. Improvements included a redesign and simplification of the electrical wiring for the system components and upgraded logging software. Logging was maintained at standard rates throughout the cruise with additional images captured at one minute intervals between 1400 and 1500 and bursts of video (10 frames at 3 frame per second) at five minute intervals between 1300 and 1400. The GPS unit failed to receive satellite signals for an unknown reason. This problem is being looked into post-cruise since it also occurred with the Prototype II unit deployed at the same time on Polarstern.

The full, preliminary with no adjustments for bad data, MPEG movie of this cruise can now be found at ftp://pwd5-sig.spri.cam.ac.uk/pub/outgoing/Nick/IceCam/JM03.mpg

This consists of 6,614 (768x576) frames and download size is xMb. This is fairly close to DVD quality so a fast (ISDN or LAN) Internet connection and a multimedia Pentium II/III PC are advisable. Alternatively there are several smaller files which also demonstrate IceCam's graphical captioning of images.

ftp://pwd5-sig.spri.cam.ac.uk/pub/outgoing/Nick/IceCam/JM03_daily.mpg

Images from 27-February-2000

ftp://pwd5-sig.spri.cam.ac.uk/pub/outgoing/Nick/IceCam/JM03_hour.mpg

Images taken at one minute intervals between 14:00 and 15:00 on 27-February-2000

ftp://pwd5-sig.spri.cam.ac.uk/pub/outgoing/Nick/IceCam/JM03_burst.mpg

10 frame burst from 12:58 on 27-February-2000 showing near-video capability.

RV Polarstern March/April 2000 Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Prototype II was deployed on the Polarstern for a science cruise in the Weddell Sea.

RV Lance September 2000 Norwegian and Greenland Seas (EU CONVECTION)

Proposed deployment as part of the European Union investigation into deep water production in the Greenland Sea. This will possibly feature the first use of the IceCam with an infrared thermal imaging camera.

IceCam II

April 2001 - RV Polarstern, Weddell Sea. Unit is in transit to South America.

July 2001 - RV Polarstern, Nordic Seas

The second RV Polarstern cruise is CONVECTION project CONV-3.

Mk.II Units:

Unit A

Parts purchased and awaiting construction, in service from autumn 2001.