an icebreakerThe U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy successful October 2018, astir 715 miles northbound of Utqiagvik, Alaska. (From U.S. Coast Guard)

The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy is group to return to nan Arctic adjacent month. The news comes aft nan 27-year-old icebreaker knowledgeable an electrical fire adjacent Banks Island disconnected nan seashore of Nunavut, Canada.

Following nan fire, nan Healy returned to its homeport of Seattle for repairs, which took astir 3 weeks.

The occurrence led to nan cancellation of 2 technological missions and a patrol of nan Northwest Passage. Now, nan Coast Guard is moving pinch nan U.S. National Science Foundation and different partners to place caller investigation opportunities for nan remaining months of nan almanac year.

The absence of nan Healy and its 50-year-old sister vessel Polar Star, which was undergoing drydock attraction for overmuch of nan summer, near nan U.S. without aboveground alloy beingness successful nan Arctic.

This comes arsenic China and Russia person ramped up activity successful nan Arctic region. Following a cruise done nan Bering Strait, China’s Xue Long 2 icebreaker made a sojourn to Murmansk connected nan northwestern extremity of Russia astatine nan extremity of August. The vessel is China’s first domestically produced icebreaker and was 1 of 3 polar investigation vessels nan self-described “near-Arctic” state operated successful nan Arctic this summer.

Russia besides precocious launched its first “combat” icebreaker as some nations bolster their Arctic capabilities. The U.S. Department of Defense described nan “growing alignment” betwixt China and Russia concerning successful a study published by nan Pentagon earlier this year.

Once caller technological missions person been selected, nan Healy will embark connected a week-long travel backmost to nan Arctic Circle, wherever it will run for nan remainder of nan year.