A Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker will spend the next month helping mend the frayed system of weather-warning buoys in the storm-beaten Gulf of Mexico, and along the eastern seaboard of the United States.
The Sir William Alexander will reposition sophisticated markers swept aside by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ophelia, finishing at the end of October, Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan said yesterday.
The 83-metre Arctic-class tender, equipped with a heavy-lift crane, was dispatched to the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sept. 6 as part of Canada's four-ship military relief convoy.
It carried humanitarian supplies for the victims of hurricane Katrina and aided the U.S. Coast Guard in restoring or retrieving wayward navigational aids in waters off Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss.
The ship was expected to stay only one month. But Mr. Regan said it has been asked replace weather buoys in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and along the U.S. east coast all the way up to Maine.
"It indicates just how extensive the damage has been to marine infrastructure," he said in an interview yesterday from Ottawa.
Most of the work is being done for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a branch of the U.S. Commerce Department.
The agency's moored buoys measure and transmit barometric pressure and wind direction, along with air and sea temperatures and wave heights to forecasters on shore.
The work of the icebreaker has been invaluable, given the number of storms that have roared through the region, said Kathleen O'Neil, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's branch chief of observations.
"The hurricanes that we've had back to back here, which followed back-to-back hurricanes last year, have taxed the U.S. Coast Guard," Ms. O'Neil said in an interview from Bay St. Louis, Miss.
"We've had a real tough time getting ship time and service time with them. The Canadians have been instrumental in keeping us going in the Gulf of Mexico."
Since arriving, the icebreaker has replaced two buoys, retrieved two that were cut adrift and repaired the solar panels on another, Ms. O'Neil said. It is scheduled to attend to six more in the near future.
Mr. Regan said the overall cost of the relief mission to the coast guard is expected to be about $3-million -- money that has been already identified in the Fisheries Department budget.
The ship is expected to return to its home port of Halifax by Oct. 27.
Since it is a light icebreaker, the ship was not built for extended operations in a tropical climate. There are few air-conditioned spaces for the crew of 27, forcing them to improvise. An inflatable pool has been set up on one of the open decks for the sailors to take a dip.
Dehydration has been a big concern, with temperatures reaching 51 C in the engine room, causing the captain to shorten duty shifts.
No illness has been reported among the crew, Mr. Regan said.
"I spoke with the captain," he said. "He told me it's warm, 32 degrees C, 95-per-cent humidity. When I asked was there anything he needed, he said, 'You can send some cooler weather.' "
Since its diesel engines are configured to work in frigid Arctic waters, the ship has to operate at a reduced speed to avoid overheating.