Roughly 60% of the Earth's outer surface is comprised of oceanic crust formed by volcanic processes at mid-ocean ridges (MORs). Although only a small fraction of this vast volcanic terrain has been visually surveyed and/or sampled, the available evidence suggests that explosive eruptions are rare on MORs, particularly at depths below the critical point for

In the autumn of 2015, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) performed a research cruise, named the "Oden Arctic Technology Research Cruise 2015" (OATRC2015) involving the two Swedish icebreakers Oden and Frej in the international waters north of Svalbard. The ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company supported and participated in OATRC2015. The overall objective of OATRC2015 was to perform a safe cruise collecting valuable and important scientific data and to conduct full-scale field trials for testing of key technologies. The scientific scope of OATRC2015 included three major fields of studies, namely: 1) collection of full-scale data necessary to build, calibrate and validate numerical models for floaters in ice, 2) collection of full-scale data necessary to build, calibrate and validate numerical models for Ice Management operations, and 3) collection of data for health, safety and environmental research. This paper presents OATRC2015, including the objectives of the expedition, and provides an overview of the performed research and the major findings. Several companion ATC 2016 papers are complementary to this paper.

Whilst there is, potentially, large volumes of hydrocarbons yet to find on the Arctic shelf, the exploration and production of Arctic oil and gas reserves can only be performed if operations are planned, approved and operated to the highest possible environmental standards. Enabling offshore drilling and production will often require that the operation is protected from ice above the limits set for the operation. This is often referred to as "Ice Management". The effectiveness of the "Ice Management" sets the limits of the offshore operation. The effectiveness of the "Ice Management" is also directly correlated to the environmental foot-print of the operation. The ice conditions at the operation site, is provided by nature. It cannot be influenced. What can be influenced is how the operation is performed. By timely breaking of only the required ice and by doing this in the most energy efficient way the objective of protection against dangerous ice and low environmental impact is achieved. To do this requires software and hardware, software being people and the systems that supports their decisions and hardware being the icebreakers. By operating "real-time" with "now-casting" of weather and ice conditions and using modern technology, it is possible to determine with reasonable accuracy which ice that need to be broken. With good communication and a good management structure the icebreaking resources can be directed to deal with the threatening ice. By using vessels with efficient propulsion and icebreaking technology, ice can be efficiently broken and with as low environmental impact as possible. Recent operations in the high Arctic, Greenland and the Beaufort Sea, has given valuable input on how this "Green Ice Management" can be achieved. By the use of modern simulation technology it possible to train, and illustrate, the efficiency ahead of the operation. Environmental Impacts When looking upon different impacts it is important to analyse from where they come. Exhaust gas emissions Exhaust gas emissions coming from a combustion process is a combination of different factors, the efficiency of the engine, the contents in the used fuel and the way the integrated systems are used by the operator.