Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
Issue link: https://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/i/149372
As part of the Leadership for the Arctic Conference, Cadet Victoria Lacefeld-Rodriguez informs attendees on polar Cadet T. Kennedy presents information regarding ozone depletion at the CGA LeadCadet Andrew Russo displays his poster on marine seaweed adaptations. ership for the Arctic Conference. oil drilling at the CGA Leadership for the Arctic Conference. Additionally,inplaceofastandardfnalexam,cadets analyzethe sciencebehind a hypotheticalmarine incidentscenario,explainhowitoccurred,planthe response,andmakerecommendationsforpolicyor operational changes. Scenarioexamples: ■ acruiseshipgroundingoffLittleDiomedeIsland; ■ amajoroilspillintheChukchiSea; ■ adramaticincreaseinfshingintheArcticOcean neartheU.S.exclusiveeconomiczoneborderand neardisputedextendedcontinentalshelfareas; ■ acompletelyice-freesummer,resultingintwo weeksofopenwaterforshippingtraffc. Eventhoughscenariosvarygreatlyinscope,afew commonthemesariseduringcadetpresentations, suchas:AssetmanagementintheArcticischallenging. Cadets discovered that the distance between marineincidentsandtheclosestCoastGuardassetis oftentoogreatfortheassettobeuseful.Toovercome this,cadetsinpreviousclasseshavefoundthebest andeasiestoptionwastostationanaircraft-capable cutterinstrategicpositionsinArcticwaters. Anothercommonthemeapparentinscenariofndings:TheCoastGuardneedsacomprehensivestrategytoincreaseinfrastructureandpersonnelinthe regiontosupportexpandingCoastGuardmissions. Leadership for the Arctic Conference InApril2012,theU.S.CoastGuardAcademyhosted aninterdisciplinaryacademicconferenceonleader- 88 Proceedings Summer 2013 shipfortheArctic,whichaddressedkeyissuesfacing globalleaderstaskedwithshapingandimplementing policyfortheemerginghumanactivitiesintheArctic. The conference offered a unique opportunity for cadetstointeractwithleadersintheCoastGuard, theNationalOceanicAtmosphericAdministration, theU.S.DepartmentofState,andwithleadingpolar researchers.Additionally,participatingintheconference helped cadets develop an appreciation for the magnitudeofissuesfacingtheCoastGuardinthe Arctic. TheLeadershipfortheArcticconferencesolidifedthe connectionbetweenthemateriallearnedintheclassroomanddirectapplicabilitytoCoastGuardmissions.Althoughthisopportunitymaynotbeavailable tostudentseveryyearthiscourseisoffered,giventhe interdisciplinarynatureofthepolarregions,aneffort shouldbemadetoincreasepolarscienceresearch opportunitiesforcadetsandtofosterprofessional relationshipswithleadingexperts. About the authors: LT Victoria Futch is a marine science instructor at the Coast Guard Academy. She previously served aboard CGC Sassafrasand Sequoiain Guam, and CGC Maple in Alaska. She holds an M.S. in physical oceanography from the University of Hawaii. Dr. Martha McConnell is the manager of the Polar Programme for International Union Conservation Nature. She previously served as marine science faculty at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and study director for the National Academy of Sciences Polar Research Board. She holds a PhD in paleoclimatology/paleoceanography. www.uscg.mil/proceedings