Arctic Ice Islands

When oil companies discover for oil offshore, they need a drilling place to work from. In most areas of the world, drilling platforms are constructed of steel. In the Arctic the oil companies can use sea water to build an ice island to use as a drilling platform. It takes very cold temperatures to freeze sea water and even colder temperatures to build an ice island. In fact, if the temperature is above minus 20 degrees F, it is too warm to build one.

Mars Ice Island, Beaufort Sea Alaska although the sea ice naturally freezes to several feet each winter, the ice may not be thick enough to support a drilling rig. One way to thicken the ice is to pump water on top of the ice and let it freeze. This process can be repeated many times until the ice is thick enough to support the drilling equipment.

In areas were the ice moves, the ice island must touch (ground) on the bottom of the sea floor. One of the fastest ways to thicken the ice is to spray sea water up into the cold Arctic air where it super-cools and falls back down onto the exterior of the ice. As the weight of the ice island increases it sinks deeper and deeper into the ocean until it grounds on the sea floor.

Spraying Seawater to Create an Ice Island in the Beaufort Sea, ice island building can begin in late December. It can take up to two months to build an ice island. After the island is constructed, the oil companies need enough time to drill the well and remove all of the drilling equipment before the ice begins to melt.