Anchorage Daily News

KODIAK -- The U.S. Coast Guard is sailing cold.

As the Arctic warms and the ice recedes, its mission in the upper latitudes is becoming more dynamic, requiring a look at new missions it might face in coming years.

The Coast Guard has a lot of questions about what its Arctic mission could end up being. A series of summer exercises under the code name Salliq is designed to answer many of them.

"That word means the furthest northern, open ice-free water as indicated by a dark sky overhead," said Lt. Cmdr. Michelle Webber from District 17 headquarters, of Salliq. Webber is helping plan and run the exercises.

Webber will be in charge of an exercise to deploy about 36 Coast Guardsmen to Barrow. They will bring a couple of 25-foot boats and a couple of HH-65 Dolphin helicopters.

"We're going up there to build a requirements list for what we might need in the future," Webber said. "We're going to identify any obstacles we have up there, and it's going to test the ability of our communication equipment to operate in the area."

She said the Coast Guard will take a variety of communication gear to see what works and what doesn't.

"We're not sure if some of the satellite systems will work up there because of the orbit of the satellites," Webber said. "We'll be (in Barrow) just shy of three weeks."

Although the Coast Guard is going up to help establish new missions, it isn't forgetting one of its oldest.

"As part of the deployment, we'll be going to other outlying communities to give recreational boating safety classes to the young people," Webber said.

The Coast Guard also is deploying a C-130 to Nome for the summer.

"From Nome, we can reach the maritime boundary line with Russia a lot easier than deploying out of the air station in Kodiak," Webber said. "That basically gives us a lot longer time on the maritime boundary line."

From Aug. 14 to 19, the Coast Guard also will deploy its maritime safety and security team to Prudhoe Bay.

"They're just doing a security exercise," Webber said.

The security force will practice what to do when faced with certain situations. One example: when boats come to protest oil drilling.

"The maritime safety and security team are especially trained in law enforcement," Webber said. "They are all boarding officers and boarding team members and they have boat tactics they use to keep other boats away."

Webber said the team has arrest authority and can use deadly force if needed and authorized.

As before, Webber said the various exercises are designed to answer certain questions.

"Are we bringing the right boats?" Webber asked. "Is this the completely wrong way to go about missions in the area? Do we need to buy new equipment or come up with new equipment for the area?"

The cutter Healy will return to the Arctic to conduct bottom mapping, just as it did last summer.

"They're primarily a science mission this year, but we'll have some limited interaction with them," Webber said. "They'll also be available to do search and rescue and some law enforcement."

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