The federal agency that oversees offshore petroleum drilling says it has awarded a contract of nearly a half-million dollars for a technical study of how Arctic sea ice fractures, breaks and flows in open waters.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement awarded the $499,981 to Dartmouth for researchers [Erland Schulson] at the Hanover, N.H., school's Thayer School of Engineering.

The bureau says in its announcement that the study will provide insights into how free-flowing, fractured ice can affect offshore structures.

The bureau says research will begin later this year and continue through 2014.