The U.S. Coast Guard was searching Friday for an unmanned barge drifting in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska's Arctic Slope with roughly 950 gallons of diesel fuel on board.
The 134-foot barge had been drifting in Arctic seas since Tuesday, when it broke from tow cables attaching it to a Canadian tugboat during a severe storm.
A C-130 aircraft was traveling from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak to the North Slope Friday morning to attempt to locate the barge. Once the Coast Guard finds the vessel, the next step will depend on whether the barge is drifting toward shore, or father out to sea, according to Cmdr. Shawn Decker, chief of response for the Coast Guard's Anchorage sector.
Should the barge be drifting toward shore, the Coast Guard, state of Alaska, and oil spill responders will head to the area to intercept the barge, Decker said.
If the barge is floating farther to sea, the Coast Guard will not be able to retrieve it and instead will "monitor (the barge) throughout the winter and deal with it come break-up," Decker said.
"The challenge right now is based on the time of year, the extreme weather ... there are not any vessels available that can go out," Decker said. The Coast Guard's aircraft would try to place a tracking monitor on the vessel on Friday.
"There is the potential that it may become stuck in the ice" over the winter, Decker said. If so, the Coast Guard may be able to retrieve the diesel fuel from the vessel.
Decker estimated that the vessel was 30 to 50 miles east of Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, and roughly 5 to 8 miles offshore on Friday morning.
The Canadian Coast Guard was providing additional air coverage and support, Decker said, and would be conducting an overflight on Saturday.
On Tuesday, the barge and towboat were heading to Tuktoyaktuk in Canada's Northwest Territories but separated before reaching the community, Decker told Alaska Dispatch News on Thursday.
By Wednesday, the barge had crossed from Canadian to U.S. waters. On Thursday, the barge was drifting in 12-foot seas. There was no evidence of damage to the diesel fuel stored in internal tanks.
Canadian marine operator and barging company Northern Transportation Corp. Ltd. owns the barge and was working on a response plan with the U.S. and Canadian coast guards, Decker said Thursday.