Meanwhile, in the Arctic...

Decorated wooden boats will provide information about ocean currents

U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker Healy crew members, researchers, and members of the Norwegian Coast Guard and Royal Navy decorated wooden boats for the International Arctic Buoy Program’s “Float Your Boat” educational outreach project on September 13, 2023. 

Starting its voyage on the Arctic ice

Each boat has a unique serial number to be entered into an online form (along with its coordinates) at ‘floatboat.org” by anyone who finds it. 

The information is used to collect data about ocean currents. Members onboard Healy deployed over 300 of these boats in the Arctic Ocean on this year’s voyage alone; and thousands have participated in this program starting in 2015. 

To learn more about this program or report a found boat, visit floatboat.org.

The Healy is homeported in Puget Sound and is often seen from Shoreline.

Photos by U.S. Army Sergeant Carter Acton and U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Norman Enriquez.