Стипендия для россиян на Шпицбергене! 3 года в объятии белых медведей!

PhD scholarship at the University Center on Svalbard, UNIS
Oil exploration and transport in Arctic areas


Human activity in Arctic and sub-Arctic marine areas increase, especially the exploitation of oil and gas in areas such as the Barents Sea, the Canadian Arctic and the Sea of Okhotsk are of importance. The severe environmental conditions in these areas are a challenge both for designing marine structures and for handling possible pollution from such installations.

At the Arctic Technology department we want to strengthen our ongoing research activity within ice mechanics and forces to marine structures and fate and behaviour of oil spills in an Arctic environment. To strengthen the cooperation between Russia and Norway, a three-year PhD scholarship for a student with Russian nationality is offered. A description of the two research areas for this PhD student is given below. The scholarship shall strengthen existing research activities at the department. The official version of this announcement is available on our web pages (www.unis.no).

Fate and behaviour of oil spills
Oil spills are the most possible source of acute pollution in the Arctic today. This is due to increasing oil exploration/production and possible oil spills from tankers, freighters, and tourist vessels trafficking these areas. We welcome applications within fate and behaviour of oil spills in an Arctic environment with focus on oil chemistry. UNIS has unique facilities to perform both laboratory and in-situ field experiments with experimental oil spills. We also use and contribute to the development of modern modeling tools to describe the fate and behaviour of oil spills in an Arctic environment. Questions regarding this scholarship (oil spill) can be addressed to: Associate professor Per Johan Brandvik (per.johan.brandvik@unis,no)

Ice mechanics and forces to marine structures
Ice represents a major challenge to marine structures, and often gives the design load on structures in Arctic areas. The estimation of forces on structures is not well defined and there is considerable scatter in the predictions made by the experts. The shortcomings of the present models are basically due to lack of full-scale measurements and lack of precise characterization of the ice. We welcome applications with focus on in-situ examinations and analysis of thermo-mechanical properties of first-year sea ice, and which relate these experiments to estimation of ice forces. Questions regarding this scholarship (ice mechanics) can be addressed to: Associate professor Knut V. Høyland (knut.hoyland@unis.no).


Contact Address UNIS:
The University Center on Svalbard, UNIS
Pb. 156, N-9171 Longyearbyen
Norway
Phone/fax: +47 7902 3300/7902 3301
Web: www.UNIS.no