In this paper, the recent ice regime variations in the Kara Sea have been described and quantified based on the high-resolution remote sensing database from 2003 to 2017. In general, the Kara Sea is fully covered with thicker sea ice in winter, but sea ice cover is continuously declining during the summer. The year 2003 was the year with the most severe ice conditions, while 2012 and 2016 were the least severe. The extensive sea ice begins to break up before May and becomes completely frozen at the end of December again. The duration of ice melting is approximately twice than that of the freezing. Since 2007, the minimum ice coverage has always been below 5%, resulting in wide open-waters in summer. Furthermore, the relevant local driving factors of external atmospheric forcing on ice conditions have been quantitatively calculated and analyzed. Winter accumulated surface air temperature has been playing a primary role on the ice concentration and thickness condition in winter and determining ice coverage index in the following melt-freeze stage. Correlation coefficients between winter accumulated temperature and ice thickness anomaly index, the ice coverage anomaly index, duration of melt-freeze stage can approach -0.72, -0.83 and 0.80, respectively. In summer, meridional winds contribute closely to summer ice coverage anomaly index, with correlation coefficient exceeding 0.80 since 2007 and 0.90 since 2010.

Finding effective ways to efficiently drive roadways at depths over 1 km has become a hotspot research issue in the field of mining engineering. In this study, based on the local geological conditions in the Xinwen Mining Area (XMA) of China, in-situ stress measurements were conducted in 15 representative deep roadways, which revealed the overall tectonic stress field pattern, with the domination of the horizontal principal stresses. The latter values reached as high as 42.19 MPa, posing a significant challenge to the drivage work. Given this, a comprehensive set of innovative techniques for efficiently driving roadways at depths over 1 km was developed, including (i) controlled blasting with bidirectional energy focusing for directional fracturing, (ii) controlled blasting with multidirectional energy distribution for efficient rock fragmentation, (iii) wedge-cylinder duplex cuts centered on double empty holes, and (iv) high-strength supports for deep roadways. The proposed set of techniques was successfully implemented in the –1010 west rock roadway (WRR) drivage at the Huafeng Coal Mine (HCM). The improved drivage efficiency was characterized by the average and maximum monthly advances of 125 and 151 m, respectively. The roadway cross-sectional shape accuracy was also significantly improved, with the overbreak and underbreak zones being less than 50 mm. The deformation in the surrounding rock of roadway (SRR) was adequately controlled, thus avoiding repeated maintenance and repair. The relevant research results can provide technical guidance for efficient drivage of roadways at depths over 1 km in other mining areas in China and worldwide.