The U.S. Coast Guard aims to conduct scientific research while also training crew and asserting a presence in an increasingly competitive region.

A U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker embarked Wednesday on a long Arctic mission that includes a rare transit of the Northwest Passage, conducting scientific research and a joint exercise with Canada in Arctic waters. The cutter Healy, one of two operational U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers, departed Wednesday from Seward, Alaska, for the three-week journey to Nuuk, Greenland.

The U.S. and Canadian coast guards will conduct a joint search-and-rescue exercise near Resolute, Nunavut, on September 6 and 7 — the first planned international engagement of Healy’s deployment. Last year, a catastrophic fire cut short Healy’s Arctic patrol. A new engine was shipped from Baltimore and successfully installed. Read more at ArcticToday.