For the latest, see this new story. and this opinion piece on why this is a fiasco
UPDATE: Turns out this “research” vessel was mostly a taxpayer funded junket for getting video stories to BBC in the UK and ABC in Australia, see update2 below.
It is summer in the southern hemisphere and yet there is still signifiicantly above normal amounts of sea ice present as the passengers and crew of one tour ship discovered. The icebreakers Xue Long and Aurora Australis, and a French research vessel Astrolabe are cruising towards the Akademik Shokalskiy at full throttle for rescue. Photos and maps follow.
PR from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Dec 25th, 2013:
Search and rescue of passenger vessel trapped in ice underway
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is coordinating a search and rescue for a Russian passenger ship beset by ice approximately 1500 nautical miles south of Hobart.
AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre Australia (RCC Australia) was contacted by the Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in the United Kingdom on Christmas morning.
The Falmouth MRCC received a distress message via satellite from a Russian flagged vessel, MV Akademik Shokalskiy, with 74 people about 7.20am (AEDT).
The ship is in the Australian Search and Rescue region, 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont D’Urville.
RCC Australia assumed coordination of the incident and issued a broadcast to icebreaking vessels in the area.
Three ships with icebreaking capability have responded, including the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) vessel Aurora Australis, and are now en route to the area.
The closest vessels are at least two days sailing time away.
Further updates will be provided when more information is available.
###
Source: http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documents/25122013AkademikShokalskiyUpdate1_Media_Release.pdf
===============================================================
This is apparently an image tweeted by somebody on-board the Akademik Shokalskiy, showing the ice around it:
AMSA is now coordinating the response to a ship beset by ice about 1500nm south of Hobart. http://t.co/P4zO9RUMth http://t.co/S5ST1wgwbN
— AMSA News (@AMSA_News) December 25, 2013
UPDATE:
The expedition is being led by Chris Turney, “climate scientist”, who has “set up a carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.” The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”
http://www.christurney.com/ (h/t to Sagebrush Gardener)
It seems they found out what the “environmental changes taking place in the south.” are.
From the WUWT sea ice page, Antarctic Sea Ice is more than 2 standard deviations above normal:
![S_timeseries[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/s_timeseries1.png?resize=640%2C512)
According to this sitrep report for one of the rescue vessels, the Aurora Australis the Akademik Shokalskiy is trapped in sea ice in the Commonwealth Bay region of Antarctica.
This is what the current sea ice coverage looks like at the south pole with the approximate ship location marked:
Image source: National Snow and Ice Data Center via the WUWT sea ice page.
Wikipedia says about the ship:
MV Akademik Shokalskiy (Russian: Академик Шокальский) is an Akademik Shuleykin-class ice-strengthened ship, built in Finland in 1982 and originally used for oceanographic research.[5] In 1998 it was fully refurbished to serve as a research ship for Arctic and Antarctic work.[3] It was named after the Russian oceanographer Yuly Shokalsky.[6] The ship has two [7] passenger decks, with dining rooms, a bar, a library, and a sauna, and accommodates 54 passengers.[3] It is currently operated by Aurora Expeditions, an Australian expedition cruise line.[3][8] In 2011, the Akademik Shokalskiy sailed cruises along the coast of Russia[9] and to East Antarctica.[10] Her sister ships are Akademik Shuleykin, Arnold Veymer, Akademik Gamburtsev, Professor Molchanov, Professor Multanovskiy, Geolog Dmitriy Nalivkin, Professor Polshkov, Professor Khromov.
UPDATE2:
WUWT reader “pat” writes at 2013/12/26 at 1:59 pm
seems this expedition was more a BBC/Guardian/ABC CAGW exercise!
18 Dec: Guardian: The Guardian lays claim to Antarctica – in pictures Journalists Alok Jha and Laurence Topham have landed in Antarctica with the 2013 Australasian Antarctic Expedition Documentary filmmaker Laurence Topham lines up a shot from the bows. Photograph: Alok Jha/Guardian…
http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live/gallery/2013/dec/18/guardian-antarctica-pictures
Guardian: Laurence Topham, documentary filmmaker
In 2007 he worked for Current TV, where he edited over 50 short-form documentaries for terrestrial broadcast…
http://www.theguardian.com/open-weekend/laurence-topham
Guardian: Science: Antarctica live (MASSIVE COVERAGE, NO HINT ABOUT THE SHIP’S CURRENT PREDICAMENT!)
http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live
26 Dec: BBC: Andrew Luck-Baker: Science continues for trapped Australasian Antarctic expedition Science reporter Andrew Luck-Baker is on board the Russian research vessel Shokalskiy, covering the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013 for the BBC World Service programme Discovery…
Tantalisingly, a low band of grey sky to the Northeast suggests clear water lies not so many kilometres away. The grey colour is light reflected from open water. The early Antarctic explorers named this colour phenomenon “water sky” and used it to navigate their route through the treacherous pack ice…
In addition to the Russian crew of 22, the expedition team consists of 18 professional scientists from Australia and New Zealand, and 22 volunteer science assistants. They are members of the public, ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s. They paid to join the scientific adventure…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25519059
25 Nov: ABC Lateline: $1.5 million Australian expedition to Antarctica Professor Chris Turney from the University of NSW is mounting the largest Australian science expeditions to the Antarctic with an 85-person team to try to answer questions about how climate change in the frozen continent might be already shifting weather patterns in Australia.
ABC’s MARGOT O’NEILL: The research stakes are high. Antarctica is one of the great engines driving the world’s oceans, winds and weather, especially in Australia. But there’s ominous signs of climate change.
CHRIS TURNEY: The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds encircle Antarctica, and over the last 20 or 30 years or so, they’ve been pushing further south. Now – so actually in a way it’s almost like Antarctica’s withdrawing itself from the rest of the world…
EMMA ALBERICI: And tomorrow night, in the second part of this special report, could the British Antarctic explorer Robert Scott have lived? We look at how Professor Turney discovered that choosing the right team can be a matter of life and death.
if that is the true position of the ship, how did she get there without an ice-breaker in the first place?
What are the Russians doing in the South?
This must be a spoof everyone knows all the ice melted ask any Climate scientist you know Dana and Nutter and kook and hansen and fruitfly .
/sarc/
The captain believed the models, not the conditions in front of him. The models say the ice has melted.
O there would be no ice du to global warming so we cane go there savly.
But yes they ice is there du to global cooling. Boy they FFF up big time.
Bloke, I believe that the solid white in the image belies the fact that this can be as much as 85% ice free, so they must have followed some open leads and then the wind or currents closed the leads behind them.
I noticed that the ship is equipped with a bar…….guess where I would be right now??!!
The reason there is more ice now is because increased CO2, caused by man’s use of fossil fuels, causes ice to freeze at a higher temperature. Only ‘deniers” like us don’t get it.
The Guardian in the UK covered this yesterday – answers most sensible questions why they are there…
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/25/antarctic-expedition-scientists-trapped-ice
And again today…
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/26/trapped-in-antarctic-ice-scientists-use-unexpected-pause-for-extra-research
Some irony that an ice-hardened Russian ship will probably have to be rescued from the ice by a Russian built, now Chinese owned, ice-breaker!
So the ship is trapped in non existent melted Antarctic ice? http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/guardian-global-warming-journalists-trapped-in-non-existent-melted-antarctic-sea-ice/
All caused by AGW of course.
When the anomaly for south sea ice in December 2007 was slightly higher at this same time of the year, the RSS anomaly for the following month, January of 2008, was -0.113.
Gosh this can’t be true because Gore and many others were just there two years ago showing the world how low the Antarctic sea ice really is. /sarc
See here….
http://www.rtcc.org/2012/02/02/messages-from-antarctica/
… UNFCCC Chief Christiana Figueres … wrote: … “Greetings from a chinstrap penguin colony. Populations decreasing due to decreasing sea ice.”
Whatever. The satellites are wrong. Every shred of factual evidence is wrong and Big Al is right. And Branson’s commercial jets (Virgin Atlantic) fly using unicorn farts.
People used sailing ships in this area for over 200 years. James Ross sailed right up to the “Ross Ice Shelf” in 1841.
Real history tells us that climate history is simply made-up to further the narrative and keep the superstition going.
The Antarctic sea ice anomaly seems to be getting even larger, which is intriguing to say the least. From a scientific POV this is really exciting. Does anyone here have any ideas on what might be causing it?
The warmists will probably try to claim this is just a publicity stunt by oil-fueled deniers.
The expedition is being led by Chris Turney, “climate scientist”, who has “set up a carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.” The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”
http://www.christurney.com/
Until the people who make important decisions rid themselves of the AGW meme, situations like this will continue to happen – and some situations could even result in injury or death.
I vote they leave them to get out on their own.
Don’t endanger good people to rescue those who should have known better.
Wait a minute, how dare these activists call for rescue?
Rescuing them will of necessity involve breaking up the ice pack, they proclaim themselves to be so passionately concerned about.
If they had any ethics they would abandon ship and do a modern recreation of the Shackleton
expedition.
Or stay in place and actually report the “environmental changes” taking place.
Finally I trust the owners of this expedition posted bond, adequate to cover the costs of rescuing themselves.
Of course we canadians can be sure of one thing, this will not be reported by CBC.
When reality and fantasy collide …
( Pssssst … Reality always wins)
Well, at least they’re keeping busy. from one of the Guardian pieces:
Well ay least she has an ice resistant hull. The fashion a few years back of sailing unsuitable cruise ships close to the southern Ice pack from South America must have given the Chilean navy, responsible for rescue in those parts, ten aspirin headaches. However this kind of folly seems to have vanished perhaps due to the loss of one such ship which rather changed insurer’s and owner’s views. .
Kindest Regards
It is the missing heat effect
http://www.newsgab.com/breaking-news/250615-melt-causes-antarctic-sea-ice-rise.html
“Sea ice around Antarctica is increasing despite the warming global climate,” said the study’s lead author Richard Bintanja, from the KNMI.
“This is caused by melting of the ice sheets from below,” he told the Reuters news agency.
“The U.K.’s Guardian newspaper reported that two of its journalists were among those trapped aboard the vessel. Alok Jha and Laurence Topham had been reporting as part of the Spirit of Mawson…”
It could be interesting to see how they report this incident.
By my rough calculations, the engines of the stranded research vessel and its rescuers are producing a total of 40,885 horsepower — the equivalent of ten large diesel locomotives. Quite an impressive carbon footprint.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademik_Shokalskiy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Xue_Long
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_icebreaker_Astrolabe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Australis_%28icebreaker%29
No wonder these AGW/CO2-ridden amateurs got stuck in the ice; they are onboard a sponsored RESEARCH vessel and are consequently and helplessly tied to the IPCC mast: “The ice is in this area wil be gone by 2013”. “We repeat: The ice in this aea will be gone by 2013”.
Instead of believing in stupid models fueled with rotten input cooked up by crooks on the other side of the planet, maybe they should have consulted guys like Amundsen and Nansen who used to check the actual facts before they entered cold regions like this.
John R Walker says:
“The Guardian in the UK covered this….”
And the truly unprecedented thing is that the Guardian does not link it to global warming. Is Dana asleep on the job?
NevenA writes “Does anyone here have any ideas on what might be causing it?”
I suspect the answer is no. The chances are that all the effects we are seeing, are due to natural causes, but since no-one really understands these natural causes, what makes Antarctic sea ice not melt as rapidly as might be expected, is unknown.
Unrelated (but hilarious) — Peter Glieck has made predictions of an ice-free Arctic by 2020 today on HP.
But it is even worse than you think!
There is – and we may continue to have – a decline in Arctic sea ice since 1979. Whether pre-satellite-era Arctic sea ice levels (maximum extents in late MArch each year), average extents through the whole year, or minimum extents in September each year) were “steady”, were “always” higher, or had been going up and down periodically we don’t really know. There is controversial evidence all three ways.
Regardless, in today’s “climate”, the minimum Arctic sea ice extents occurs through mid-September at the equinox, with a minimum area between 3.5 and 4.5 Mkm^2 each year. At 3.5 Mkm^2, the entire arctic sea ice can be represented by a tiny “beanie” cap on the arctic, with a lower average edge at latitude 82.5 degrees. At that latitude, at that day-of-year (DOY), the HIGHEST the sun’s rays can reach for a few minutes around noon each day is 7.5 degrees above the horizon, with a air mass the rest of the day between 34 and 20 times the nominal air mass of 1.0 at the equator at noon.
Net result? At that day-of-year, at the latitude where the ice actually is, there is more heat lost each day from each meter of exposed ocean water from convection, conduction, radiation to the sky, and from evaporation than there can be by absorption of solar energy as heat. The entire Arctic sea ice could melt away, and we could NEVER get any warmer than today’s “climate” … The myth of Arctic feedback (hotter arctic air warms the sea ice, which melts the sea ice, which exposes darker water to the sun, which warms the ocean even more … is just an exaggerated myth. (Now, if you were to find floating masses of millions of square kilometers of arctic sea ice down near the equator all year, THEN you might have a case for arctic sea ice feedback. But not under today’s conditions and today’s arctic measured sea ice areas.)
The less arctic sea ice there is under today’s conditions, the cooler the planet becomes.
But …. In the Antarctic seas, the edge of the sea ice is much, much closer to the equator at all times of the year. The antctic continent is 97% ice-covered all year round, and is usually credited at 14.0 Mkm^2. It is surrounded by an additional 3.5 Mkm^2 of grounded ice shelves, which the NSIRDC tells me most emphatically is NOT included in their Antarctic sea extents measurements, and is in turn then wrapped by an ever-increasing belt of variable antarctic sea ice. (Result? The edge of the antarctic sea ice at its minimum is 14.0 + 3.5 + 2.5 Mkm^2 = 20 Mkm^2 of ice around the south pole.
At its minimum – steadily increasing since 1979 when accurate measurements started, that “minimum” edge of antarctic sea cie is down at latitude 70 south. Now you get a much different reflection: Much MORE energy is reflected from the earth with an increase in sea ice! The greater the minimum Antarctic sea ice extents, the greater the reflected energy, and the cooler the earth gets!
But it is even worse than you think. That was for “minimum” Antarctic sea ice extents. At maximum, Antarctic sea ice extents are now setting three years of new maximum extent records, and this year has 20.0 Mkm^2 of sea ice extents. Add up the permanent continental ice, the grounded ice shelves, and that sea ice maximum, and now you have a continuous reflective surface around Antarctica in September of 14.0 + 3.5 + 20 = 27.5 Mkm^2 of ice.
Its northern border is right at latitude 60 south: closer to the equator than the southern tip of Greenland. At that latitude, the air mass is distinctly lower (right at 1.5 to 2.0), and the sun is higher, and the days are longer. Net result? The Antarctic sea ice is reflecting even more energy, and cooling the earth even more than at minimum extents.
But, the CAGW religion is telling us that 18.0 million square kilometers of increasing antarctic sea ice is due to “increased precipitation” and “Winds blowing the sea ice out from the ice shelves” and “melting water from under the antarctic ice cap diluting the sea water around the continent.” so it freezes faster.
Anybody want to run the numbers about how melt water is needed to reduce salinity under 20 million square km’s of storm-tossed (well-mixed) sea water?
The CAGW religion is telling us that today’s three years of record-setting antarctic sea ice is “trivial” and “minor” or “only a few percent higher” …. But the (smaller and truly inconsequential) Arctic sea ice loss with a net cooling effect is catastrophic!
NevenA says:
December 26, 2013 at 10:01 am
You’re the AGW genius. Go figure some appropriate lie comme normale.
Oh. By the way.
At today’s rate of increase in Antarctic sea ice extents, the waters south of Cape Horn will be blocked to year-round sea traffic within 8-12 years.
It is a good thing that the Arctic northwest passage, or the shorter route north of Siberia to China from Europe, will be open to traffic. Except that route is “closed” by ice in September when the Cape Horn will be closed. Sea traffic in the Arctic is really only open July-August. At, at that time of year, the Antarctic sea ice is a good distance from Cape Horn (Lat/Long position 56’48 S, 88’24W,) and from the Straits of Magellan a little bit further.
Ice bergs are common even now in the “heat” of mid-February.
Those darned big oil deniers have used all that dark money to fund a massive ice making machine (possibly a re-purposed Cheney/Rove hurricane machine) to target the esteemed Mr. Turney and his expedition.
http://www.christurney.com/Welcome.html
Or perhaps he just “fixed” so much carbon from the atmosphere that it immediately froze the sea around his ship!!
Can’t wait to hear his spin on this to keep his “research” funding coming.
and some situations could even result in injury or death.
[snip – way over the top – mod]
I’ve done a few trips on these ”Professor” and ”Akademik” ships. They are excellent ships for this kind of expedition. Very seaworthy and safe but also small enough to be handy in confined and shallow waters. However being small they do tend to be rather lively in heavy seas – not recommended for people who suffer from seasickness.
They are ice-reinforced and can go through reasonably open sea-ice, but they are not built for ice-breaking. If they get stuck in dense ice they can’t get out without help. However the cabins are quite comfortable and both the food and the bar is good. They also have rather good libraries of books on the Arctic (and Antarctic), so if they are stuck for a while the passengers will have an excellent opportunity to learn more about conditions in the Antarctic in more than one sense.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11178214
First Ice breaker expected between 4pm and midnight NZ time this afternoon, 27th Dec.
“The expedition is being led by Chris Turney, “climate scientist”, who has “set up a carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere – – -” The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.” But was there not another bunch of True Believers who decided to row through the North West Passage a few months ago, only to have to bale out when the ice trapped them too? With that warning, I think the passengers have every right to sue Mr Turney for gross negligence, if not outright fraud.
“Sea ice around Antarctica is increasing despite the warming global climate,” said the study’s lead author Richard Bintanja, from the KNMI.
“This is caused by melting of the ice sheets from below,” he told the Reuters news agency.”
So why is this not occurring in the Arctic then?
Melting of the ice from below is suppose to be occurring in the Arctic. No way can the same mechanism be occurring at both poles yet have opposite results. If the sea ice is becoming larger its because the sea ice isn’t melting closer to where it was originally. It is now melting further away because it is cooler where it was originally melting. Dont know any magical physical law that states otherwise unless of course just been invented by the alarmists as usual.
Some additional stuff about the ship, if anyone’s interested, which resulted from heavy and intensive research on my part, that is, clicking on the ship photo. Give the Russians their due, the ship looks nicely maintained, the tweet photo is from the deck above the wheelhouse, starboard. Safety equipment should be the same good standard.
Here is the ship posted today.
Peter Melia says:
“Safety equipment should be the same good standard.”
It is, at least in the ships I’ve been on. However I wouldn’t like to have to use it in East Antarctica, no matter how modern it is.
One can’t help wonder what they think they are doing in the Commonwealth Bay area? Tourist expeditions to East Antarctica (which is what this really is) invariably go for the Ross Sea area which is ice-free in summer. You still have to go through the pack to get to the Ross Sea, but that is a relatively short stretch further north and out in the open ocean .
Tell us, Sagebrush Gardener, did you allow for the diesel generators, shouldn’t they add to the power load, or are these ships all diesel electric?
The Yale Forum produced a youtube propaganda video to protect the CO2 theory and explain that increased Antarctic ice is due to the winds. Its a very one sided video and exemplifies the schizo climate science as the physical explanations for growing Antarctic sea ice is the opposite of the arguments for shrinking Arctic ice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPnj9eR7t0g
1) Note they only talk about the effect of winds increasing the ice in Antarctica but ignore the well documented observations by the consensus, see Rigor (2002), that subfreezing winds from Siberia REMOVED the thick ice in the Arctic, which then allowed more heat to ventilate. Before the Arctic ice was removed by the winds, researchers noted air temperatures were cooling over the Arctic Kahl, J., et al., (1993) Absence of evidence for greenhouse warming over the Arctic Ocean in the past 40 years. Nature 361, 335 – 337.
2) The video suggested the westerlies carry Antarctic ice further towards the equator but failed to mention that most of the ice is formed in polynyas closer to the coast of Antarctica. There the winds blow in the exact opposite direction from east to west, which tends to keep the ice closer to shore due to the Coirolis effect.
3) The Antarctic Oscillation is an indicator of the strength of westerly winds that Sinclair’s video focuses on. However those winds were mostly significantly stronger in the summer and have little bearing on the increase in winter ice. Instead of talking in generalities, if an analysis is done region by region, those stronger westerlies actually caused less ice. The winds are responsible for compressing ice against the peninsula which is the ONY place where sea ice in Antarctic has shrunk.
4) The real schizo nature of the CO2 argument is further revealed when they argue that global warming has INCREASED the difference between the poles and the equator thus increasing the winds. In the northern hemisphere the EXACT OPPOSITE argument is used to explain the increase in cold winters causing such things as Cairo’s first snowstorm in 100 years. IN that case climate scientists will argue there has been a DECREASE in the temperature difference WEAKENING the westerly winds an allowing the jet stream to become more wavy so that cold air blasts can descend from the north pole. They need to get their story straight.
5) Finally the video claimed global sea ice was down but they need an update. Global sea ice has has been normal or above since the video was made. Bottom line there is not less global ice.
I still maintain “Antarctic Sea Ice Is the Better Climate Change Indicator” and climate scientists are creating “epicycle” explanations to explain away a theory that is increasingly falsified.
http://landscapesandcycles.net/antarctic-sea-ice–climate-change-indicator.html
Susann says:
December 26, 2013 at 11:56 am
I would think some skidoos to get to the ice edge would be better then a lifeboat Flippen Dumb A$$eS . Darwin awards all around. ;>)
Or, for extra irony, James Cameron.
(Director of the Titanic.)
RACookPE1978 says:
December 26, 2013 at 11:30 am
Oh. By the way.
At today’s rate of increase in Antarctic sea ice extents, the waters south of Cape Horn will be blocked to year-round sea traffic within 8-12 years.
_______________________
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/expansion/index.html
They may observe ice is rapidly melting in their drink, as it is getting really hot in the bar.
I am sure that Al Gore is on board as stowaway, it is impossible to have the Al Gore effect on ice without his presence somewhere in the neighbourhood…
Nature wins over political sciences models
Is Banana Nutty-celli 2013’s biggest Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Hypocrite, or does that honour still fall to Algore? PS the climate models all fail, because at their cores they all use the same mathematical Al-Gore-ithms.
A “carbon refining company”? Like Exxon or Valero? ;->
The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.” – http://www.christurney.com/
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I do not think that Mother Nature is cooperating with the political statement Turney was planning to make.
SCORE:
Mother Nature – 1
Climate Alarmists – 0
NevenA says:
December 26, 2013 at 10:01 am
The Antarctic sea ice anomaly seems to be getting even larger, which is intriguing to say the least. From a scientific POV this is really exciting. Does anyone here have any ideas on what might be causing it?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Bipolar Seesaw – WUWT link
I think the skeptics faked this just like they faked Apollo 8 and following. /Sarc
North of 43 and south of 44 says: December 26, 2013 at 10:30 am
Sounds like Darwinism …
define irony…..
SasjaL says:
December 26, 2013 at 1:01 pm
North of 43 and south of 44 says: December 26, 2013 at 10:30 am
Sounds like Darwinism …
________________
Oh, brother- don’t get ’em started.
/
Alan Robertson says: December 26, 2013 at 1:10 pm
“brother“?
this whole episode is being downplayed in australian MSM, especially the ICE angle:
27 Dec: Hobart Mercury: David Killick: Stricken ship trapped in the ice, 900km from help
The Akademik Shokalskiy is carrying 22 scientists from the privately funded Spirit of Mawson expedition plus 22 crew and 30 paying passengers…
The Spirit of Mawson expedition is a private venture being led by University of NSW academics Professor Chris Turney and Chris Fogwill and famed Australian mountaineer Greg Mortimer.
The ship is also carrying a three-member conservation team from the Mawson’s Huts Foundation – Ian Godfrey, John Tucker and Barbara Tucker…
“There’s no danger to the ship or any of the people on the ship. The mood inside is positive and given the time of year is quite jovial,” he told the Mercury.
“Having said that people are aware that because of the nature of the environment the captain did have to put out a note to maritime services pointing out the situation that we’re in.” Dr Peacock said the ship became stuck after a change in the notoriously fickle Antarctic weather.
“There was a change in the weather conditions, such that significant pack ice put itself between us and open water and despite the fact that we have a very capable ship, we were unable to progress any further north and just came to a halt,” he said.
“It is an extremely dynamic environment we’re in, amazingly so, sometimes nature just overwhelms the technology we have to keep going.”…
SINGLE COMMENT BY MARY STARK OF HOBART: The passengers on this ship may be having a great adventure but this rescue is no doubt costing the other vessels concerned huge amounts of money and time. Why are vessels without sufficient ice breaking capacity permitted to venture into areas where this nay hsppen?
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/rescue-mission-for-trapped-antarctic-ship/story-fnj4f7kx-1226789717821
27 Dec: NZ Herald: Ben Irwin: Ice-stranded Kiwis happy despite storm
Ornithologist Kerry-Jayne Wilson is one of six New Zealanders stuck on the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been on an expedition led by scientists from the University of New South Wales.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11178214
——————————————————————————–
NevenA says:December 26, 2013 at 10:01 am
“The Antarctic sea ice anomaly seems to be getting even larger, which is intriguing to say the least. From a scientific POV this is really exciting. Does anyone here have any ideas on what might be causing it?”
————–
I’ll take a stab at it: Could it be Colder Temperatures?
Because global warming?
Happy New Year’s advice: dress warmly and carry a big stick (of carbon).
P.S. Every gram of sugar contains 1.5 grams of formerly atmospheric CO2. Bon Apetit.
isn’t this what is called “cold hard reality?”….As for the scientists from UNSW leave them to sit and think, or just sit.
seems this expedition was more a BBC/Guardian/ABC CAGW exercise!
18 Dec: Guardian: The Guardian lays claim to Antarctica – in pictures
Journalists Alok Jha and Laurence Topham have landed in Antarctica with the 2013 Australasian Antarctic Expedition
Documentary filmmaker Laurence Topham lines up a shot from the bows. Photograph: Alok Jha/Guardian…
http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live/gallery/2013/dec/18/guardian-antarctica-pictures
Guardian: Laurence Topham, documentary filmmaker
In 2007 he worked for Current TV, where he edited over 50 short-form documentaries for terrestrial broadcast…
http://www.theguardian.com/open-weekend/laurence-topham
Guardian: Science: Antarctica live (MASSIVE COVERAGE, NO HINT ABOUT THE SHIP’S CURRENT PREDICAMENT!)
http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live
26 Dec: BBC: Andrew Luck-Baker: Science continues for trapped Australasian Antarctic expedition
Science reporter Andrew Luck-Baker is on board the Russian research vessel Shokalskiy, covering the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013 for the BBC World Service programme Discovery…
Tantalisingly, a low band of grey sky to the Northeast suggests clear water lies not so many kilometres away. The grey colour is light reflected from open water. The early Antarctic explorers named this colour phenomenon “water sky” and used it to navigate their route through the treacherous pack ice…
In addition to the Russian crew of 22, the expedition team consists of 18 professional scientists from Australia and New Zealand, and 22 volunteer science assistants. They are members of the public, ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s. They paid to join the scientific adventure…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25519059
25 Nov: ABC Lateline: $1.5 million Australian expedition to Antarctica
Professor Chris Turney from the University of NSW is mounting the largest Australian science expeditions to the Antarctic with an 85-person team to try to answer questions about how climate change in the frozen continent might be already shifting weather patterns in Australia.
ABC’s MARGOT O’NEILL: The research stakes are high. Antarctica is one of the great engines driving the world’s oceans, winds and weather, especially in Australia. But there’s ominous signs of climate change.
CHRIS TURNEY: The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds encircle Antarctica, and over the last 20 or 30 years or so, they’ve been pushing further south. Now – so actually in a way it’s almost like Antarctica’s withdrawing itself from the rest of the world…
EMMA ALBERICI: And tomorrow night, in the second part of this special report, could the British Antarctic explorer Robert Scott have lived? We look at how Professor Turney discovered that choosing the right team can be a matter of life and death.
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3898858.htm
BBC: The Return to Mawson’s Antarctica – Part One
Duration: 29 minutes
First broadcast: Monday 16 December 2013
Join the scientists of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013, as they go about their experiments and seek adventure at the windiest place on earth…
This remote area hasn’t been studied systematically for 100 years, so the expedition will reveal any changes that have taken place as a result of climate change.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01n1dtv
——————————————————————————–
I traveled to Antarctica on one of these ships. Beautiful and I would recommend it to anyone. But… Most of the passengers were tree hugging environmentalists who bragged about how green they were. When I pointed out the carbon footprint of the airline flight to get from Canada or France used up their annual allotment they got quiet.
SasjaL says:
December 26, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Alan Robertson says: December 26, 2013 at 1:10 pm
“brother“?
_____
Pardon, ma’am.
George McFly……I’m your density says:
December 26, 2013 at 1:09 pm
define irony…..
=================
The opposite of ironing.
I guess they never believed what we told them about Antarctic sea ice running above ‘average’ I guess. So many painful lessons to learn. Remember those trapped boats trying to make it through the NW passage this summer? Haaaaaaa, haaaaaaaa. More ice than we previously thought! We must act now for the sake of the LITTLEUNS! 😉
Alan Robertson says: December 26, 2013 at 2:04 pm
It’s ok. You’re not the first and probably not the last one … It’s not easy with unisex names. (Maria, Bo, Kim, Pat and others …)
Where has the peninsula gone? :-p I thought it’s supposed to be dark green by now.
They should let them stay there for eternity as a warning to future propagandists that they will end up like Captain Scott and friends!!! Snowed Under!:]
“The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”
Mission accomplished. Cold is here and more coming!
Oh the irony, it burns, it burns!!! 🙂
I wonder why the Guardian didn’t put the two stories into their climate change section? After all they did inform us that the high extent in recent years was due to melting / freshening ice. Funny that. [Yet if we had less sea ice they would still blame global warming. Sheesh!]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/25/antarctic-expedition-scientists-trapped-ice
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/26/trapped-in-antarctic-ice-scientists-use-unexpected-pause-for-extra-research
“This remote area hasn’t been studied systematically for 100 years, so the expedition will reveal any changes that have taken place as a result of climate change.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01n1dtv
Just for sake this is true and not been studied for 100 years. How will the expedition reveal any changes in climate change when they don’t know what it was like before global warming occurred in 1980s? We all know climate change is just another deluded phase instead of global warming.
Any changes may have occurred 90, 80, 70, 60, 50 or 40 years ago and stayed the same since or behaved like the trend recently? Comparing now with one hundred years ago doesn’t give any information what recent global warming affects had, when don’t know what happened before. Very poor climate non-science in mind again, with the question already answered before it has even been researched.
And in it’s climate change section it reports:
How difficult is it to ski on crumbling ice?
I feel sorry for the boy, he is the product a multi-billion dollar Antarctica ice denialist machine. Oh the irony.
Alan Robertson says:
December 26, 2013 at 2:04 pm
SasjaL says:
December 26, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Alan Robertson says: December 26, 2013 at 1:10 pm
“brother“?
_____
Pardon, ma’am.
*
Alan, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to say “Oh, brother,” to a woman as the term was not used in reference to her. The expression is a well known one.
As for the climate scientists, it’s fascinating how they just ignore the ice and continue to take measurements to see what the “change” is doing. Funny how the “warming” doesn’t count when it isn’t there, but does when it is. Nothing is going to convince these people that change is normal. This folly will have to die out naturally because not one of them is using a brain cell.
Taphonomic says at December 26, 2013 at 11:12 am
…”And the truly unprecedented thing is that the Guardian does not link it to global warming. Is Dana asleep on the job?”
Tetratech won’t pay Dana to work the holidays. That would be double-time.
SasjaL says:
December 26, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Alan Robertson says: December 26, 2013 at 2:04 pm
It’s ok. You’re not the first and probably not the last one … It’s not easy with unisex names. (Maria, Bo, Kim, Pat and others …)
_____________________
Another stunt gone wrong.. I find it hard to wish them well when its going to take a disaster to shake these people back to reality.. Put the politics before the science.. Put the politics before your safety.. Put the politics on your grave stone, if they find your body..
no, u.k. irony is the opposite of wrinkly
I am a mere coxswain and I would not sail a vessel that is not built for the conditions into a dangerous situation like this, I think the captain has some questions to answer when he gets back .
it is the captain responsibility to know the condition and not to put peoples lives at purposely at risk.
Jimbo says:
December 26, 2013 at 2:33 pm
============
In furtherance to your comment.
How much data did the “Teenager sets record for fastest trek from Antarctic coast to south pole”
miss, or even look for during the stunt ?
Quote:
“The first was to undertake scientific research and collect data samples. And the second was to reignite the dialogue on climate change by creating a story that people can engage with and be a part of.”…………..
—
Was it a race, or a research expedition, or a PR stunt ?
I’m thinking that research took a back-seat.
His attempt to “create a story”, had nothing to do with science, it was a weak political statement that 98% of the world’s population couldn’t afford the transportation fees to attempt.
…………….Rant/
The Chinese ship Xue Long, the closest and largest of nearby ships, hopefully will free the Akademik Shokalskiy. The second largest, Aurora Australis, having already spent a large chunk of time stuck in ice this season, may be reluctant to repeat that experience. Doubt the Astrolabe could help much, as it is smaller than the Shokalskiy.
What happens if they all get stuck?
Alan Robertson..
Fascinating connection you make with the building of extra capacity in the Panama Canal.
Thank you.
Andy
“Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products”
They invented trees??
But we were warned that Climate Change would cause more ice, weren’t we?
I’m pretty sure they said something about ice somewhere.
jones says:
December 26, 2013 at 3:28 pm
Alan Robertson..
Fascinating connection you make with the building of extra capacity in the Panama Canal.
Thank you.
Andy
_____________________
Apparently pleased you and aggravated Sasja with poor attempt at humor; all the product of a grasshopper mind, jumping around all over the place.
This is a disclaimer. I know nothing.
I revved my engine an extra five seconds this morning to produce the extra few milligrams of global warming CO2 that will help free this ship. I’m doing my bit – are you?
“[A] carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products,”
Possible translation: Carbonscape grows vegetables?
Unanswered questions: Is a bi-product different from a by-product? Does a bi-product involve members of the LGBT community?
“Turns out this “research” vessel was mostly a taxpayer funded junket for getting video stories to BBC in the UK and ABC in Australia, see update2 below.”
Yep, that’s the desctiption of a CAGW research vessel all right.
🙂
What a laughing stock they are. It is sometimes difficult to comprehend how some people can be so stupid and naïve. “Measuring” this, that and the other – what a load of horse dung. And the Guardian, BBC and ABC all following this with furrowed brows – its hilarious!
No surprise, in several years of Arctic cruise ship operations the former icebreaker
Kapitan Khlebnikov rescued several other cruise ships trying to transit the NW Passage.
I presume the stranded ship will be charged for the icebreaker efforts. Canada is reviewing its schedule of charges: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/national/Coast+Guard+reviewing+navigation+icebreaking+fees+services/9319137/story.html.
I’ll be interested in the investigation – much data on ice should be available today, especially if the sky is clear (satellite sensors).
Keith Sketchley says:
December 26, 2013 at 4:29 pm
This is in Antarctica not the arctic Keith all though if we can get money for the rescue here in Canada let’s go plant a flag . ;>)
Leon0112 says:
December 26, 2013 at 9:32 am
The captain believed the models, not the conditions in front of him. The models say the ice has melted.
—————————
That’s classic ! Great zinger…
It might look like there’s more ice but today’s ice is not as cold as ice used to be and therefor contains more heat. It is a well known fact that the missing the heat (from the apparent slowdown in global warming) is hiding in the ice. This effect will be demonstrated (with hindcasting) in a future model which will provide unequivocal proof in time for AR6.
Jaffa@ 5:30pm You forgot your SARC tag I hope !
Extensive sea ice might hurt penguin population.
The ice is being dumped there from the Arctic to make their Global Warming case, they have been moving by refrigerated ice breakers, unfortunately they have got stuck in it.
Don V. says: @ December 26, 2013 at 3:27 pm
The Chinese ship Xue Long, the closest and largest of nearby ships, hopefully will free the Akademik Shokalskiy. The second largest, Aurora Australis, having already spent a large chunk of time stuck in ice this season, may be reluctant to repeat that experience. Doubt the Astrolabe could help much, as it is smaller than the Shokalskiy.
What happens if they all get stuck?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
We wait for the Antarctic to thaw out during the next interglacial.
elmer says:
December 26, 2013 at 6:02 pm
Extensive sea ice might hurt penguin population.
___________________
Yes and it’s catastrophic and all your fault, so don’t deny it.
elmer says:
December 26, 2013 at 6:02 pm
================
An amazing video.
They have the open water in the background being patrolled by orcas, and pensive penquins that might normally flee into the ocean upon approach.
Talk about a captive background shot, for the film makers antics.
Since the Arctic and Antarctic are warming according to “established science” the only explanation can be that the ship is stuck in “Ice-nine” so the rest of us better beware! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice-nine)
And tomorrow night, in the second part of this special report, could the British Antarctic explorer Robert Scott have lived?
==================
of course, if he had used dog teams instead of ponies. Amundsen used dogs, and on the way back the dogs were food for the men and remaining dogs. This reduced the food that needed to be carried on the way out, and reduced the food consumed on the return trip.
In contrast Scott’s ponies required tons of hay, which exhausted both the men and ponies dragging the hay to the south pole on sleds, leaving them no reserves on the way back. quite literally the energy to weight supplied by hay was too small for the distance and temperatures.
meat, being a more concentrated energy source than hay was the reason for Amundsen’s success, along with the strategy to consume the dogs to reduce the weight of supplies required for the trip.
In many ways a similar strategy was used on the Apollo lunar missions. Rather than build a space ship to make the trip their and back, with the enormous fuel requirements, each part of the ship was sacrificed along the way to minimize the fuel load required for the return trip.
NevenA (December 26, 2013 at 10:01 am) “The Antarctic sea ice anomaly seems to be getting even larger, which is intriguing to say the least. From a scientific POV this is really exciting. Does anyone here have any ideas on what might be causing it?”
The same thing that caused your predictions for Arctic ice to be so very wrong this year: cold weather.
please god help them out as they do not know what they are doing the poor souls
FSVO “research vessel” = “watch the polar bears drown cruise ship”
I suspect they’re really in quite a lot of trouble. If the current ice melt doesn’t free them, their boat is scr*wed – their only hope is an airlift rescue before the winter closes in.
I wish to invite this group and Al Gore to Northern California so we can have some nice winter weather following them.
This is on CNN here:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/26/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Many of the followup comments are very interesting! You would think most were WUWT readers.
Anyone have an estimate for the daily Diesel fuel burn rate for this totally useless expedition? My guess would be in the neighborhood of 5K. What a colossal joke! There is no doubt that these clowns intended to film a passage to the continent and offer it as proof of our immanent demise at the hands of carbon fuel. It would be interesting to compare the carbon footprint of these clowns to that of the average Australian.
“Negative Ghostrider the pattern is full!”
Reports that Al Gore is down there are likely not true. It has been rumored that he went to Russia to negotiate with Comrade Putin regarding the winter games in Sochi.
@Eric Worrall: ” their only hope is an airlift rescue before the winter closes in.”
They’re in no real danger — it’s the start of summer down here in the southern hemisphere.
Regarding what is causing it. I have asked many times why the climate community separates the analysis of sea ice measurements of the hemispheres.
Ever changing ocean currents, positive and negative phases of the oceans, increased or decreased storms (winds causing early or late and greater or smaller amounts of formation), unpredictable timing of ENSO and La Nina events, and more.
The combined quantities in the two hemispheres have remained somewhat constant.
It would seem a different approach would have some advantages.
I object to my taxes being used to ‘rescue’ these twats. They can stay there until hell freezes over.
@darrylb How things are done and why has NOTHING to do with it and what you suggest would have NO advantages.
Methods are selected that sell books that buy bazillion-dollar mansions, boats and airplanes. And control over our lives.
@Streetcred. To me that is an important matter to me too, but is second to the worst (at least in the North) habit of stashing barrels of fuel and lube oil on the ice to support SAR. Which barrels then eventually (still full, or just dirty) sink into the sea when the ice next breaks up.
It’s gotten to the point that almost any article that mentions global warming (or even global changing is getting met with derision). The CNN watchers are doing a good job!
“we’re looking forward to getting home and having a decent cup of coffee soon,” said Chris Turney….”
In the comments: “how awful to be stranded in ice while at sea….. without a good cup of coffee….”
Matt G says:
December 26, 2013 at 11:47 am
“Sea ice around Antarctica is increasing despite the warming global climate,” said the study’s lead author Richard Bintanja, from the KNMI.
“This is caused by melting of the ice sheets from below,” he told the Reuters news agency.”
So why is this not occurring in the Arctic then?
==========================================
Probably because the Arctic doesn’t have a chain of active volcanoes under the ice cap to melt it,
the way the Antarctic peninsular has. Anthony has detailed it here:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/17/volcano-discovered-smoldering-under-a-kilometer-of-ice-in-west-antarctica/
They trust in GRACE, now they can say it. hehe
seriously though, these guys will have the angle of antarctic is losing ice mass –
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Grace/news/grace20121129.html
which is just a load of BS as usual. depends entirely on sea temp/circulation models. it seems it does not matter how stupid it seems (difference between north pole and south), they will just come up with some model to explain it all away. nothing changes except occasionally some of them get stuck in the stuff they predict wont be there, then it is time to laugh and enjoy the spectacle. first the ice breaker earlier this year, then this.. hahaha!
big problem. BBC is a CAGW player. surely such advocacy as this Warsaw report indicates (article was uploaded 20 Dec when i posted it n joanne nova’s website) is not proper for a taxpayer-funded broadcaster!
20 Dec: Guardian: Tan Copsey: Communicating climate change
(Tan Copsey is research manager for the BBC Media Action project Climate Asia.)
Reaching new, broad audiences requires diverse, innovative communication strategies
On a frosty November morning in Warsaw, a workshop entitled Be the Movement brought together a wide variety of global climate change professionals to discuss practical strategies for building a stronger and more far-reaching global movement to combat climate change.
In our morning discussion group, we used BBC Media Action’s Climate Change Communication Toolkit, which includes Climate Communication Cards to stimulate discussion of how to reach diverse audiences, ranging from farmers in Kenya to voters in the United States…
Content is also crucial. As Eliza Anyangwe of the Guardian Development Professionals Network said later, “A lot of effort is spent on trying to tell people that climate change is happening, but not very much on trying to give the people […] a sense of what they can do.” …
The workshop, which was co-hosted by Connect4Climate and the University of Warsaw drew a number of Polish academics and climate change experts, as well as scores of Polish students from both the university and surrounding high schools…
This idea was picked up by Rachel Kyte, vice president for sustainable development at the World Bank Group, in her motivational address. She encouraged the youth present to take action and join the global climate change movement. “If you want to make change, you’re going to have to take the brave fork in the road. That’s your challenge,” she said. (see the video of her talk here)…
This content is produced and controlled by Connect4Climate.
http://www.theguardian.com/connect4climate-partner-zone/communicating-climate-change
5 Dec: World Bank: Connect4Climate Competition Winners Announced
Connect4Climate is a global partnership initiative supported by the World Bank and the Italian Ministry of Environment. Connect4Climate Knowledge Partners include…(LIST TOO LONG TO POST, BUT GEORGE MASON & GEORGETOWN UNIS, PLUS MANY UN BODIES, ARE INCLUDED)
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:23061504~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html
Guardian links to these BBC pages:
BBC Climate Asia: Communication Toolkit
A guide to communicating climate change
‘Communicating Climate Change: What You Can Do’ presents a framework for designing an effective communications strategy, including practical guidance, tips and activities. The guide is based on a bottom-up and collaborative approach, enabling you to work with audiences and partners to develop your strategy together…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/climateasiadataportal/article/developstrategy#paneltab-0
BBC ClimateAsia: Communication Cards
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/mediaaction/pdf/climateasia/commsguide/ClimateAsia_CommCards_Web.pdf
21 Dec: UK Telegraph: Steven Swinford: TV licence should be abolished, major inquiry into future of BBC to hear
BBC has lost touch with ‘value for money’ and the licence fee should be abolished, former head of Channel 5 David Elstein to tell MPs
The TV licence fee should be abolished because the BBC has “lost touch” with the value of money, a top broadcaster will tell an inquiry into the future of the corporation.
David Elstein, a former chief executive of Channel 5, thinks subscriptions should replace the fee so people can choose which services to take.
He will make the comments when he appears before the Commons’ culture, media and sport committee, which begins a “fundamental examination” of the future of the BBC next month.
Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, and Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, will also be questioned by MPs.
The body’s findings will inform a government review of BBC funding after 2016, when its Royal Charter expires.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10532598/TV-licence-should-be-abolished-major-inquiry-into-future-of-BBC-to-hear.html
for the sake of accuracy & clarity, surely it should be possible to ensure MSM, especially taxpayer-funded media, alway write/say CARBON DIOXIDE when referring to CARBON DIOXIDE. no longer is it acceptable the MSM talks of “carbon” when that is not what they mean.
ditto as regards the ridiculous substitution of “climate change” for MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING, OR AGW.
Rob Ricket says:
December 26, 2013 at 9:30 pm
Anyone have an estimate for the daily Diesel fuel burn rate for this totally useless expedition? My guess would be in the neighborhood of 5K. What a colossal joke! There is no doubt that these clowns intended to film a passage to the continent and offer it as proof of our immanent demise at the hands of carbon fuel. It would be interesting to compare the carbon footprint of these clowns to that of the average Australian.
“Negative Ghostrider the pattern is full!”
————————————————————————————————————————————Maybe they bought Telsa carbon credits?
The only highlight for me is I don’t have to pay the BBC licence fee any more.
Yea,
I picked up on this story Christmas morning. Haven’t followed up on it since then. Didn’t hear about the ships location either. Instead, what I did read was that they were following a 100 year old expedition in the area.
When I read that they were about 1500 NM out Hobart, and did a little research on the century old expedition, the most likeliest place they could have been was in the vacinity of Cape Denizen.
It would seem I am correct, looking at your update here.
So why not ask me what I have been doing for the last 24 hours.
Ok since you asked.
I have been reading, “The Home of the Blizzard” – Being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
by Douglas Mawson
It was this expedition that these current lunkheads were following.
You can read about that hundred year old story, here, in it’s entirety:
ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/m/mawson/douglas/home/complete.html
These guys were true explorers. Charting uncharted land in the most inhospitable of places. The ebook is spectacularly discriptive. The account that Mawson gives practically puts you there. One of the things that struck me about the book, was how detailed it was in its measurements i.e. land elevation, ice thickness, caverns, etc.
Amazing.
Anyways, the Mawsons Expedition was able to make the beachhead in Cape Denizen, without the use of modern equipment and state-of-the-art navigation, or with the use of the latest ship technologies. The expeditions was also successful in mooring 500 yards offshore of land. It wasn’t that they couldn’t anchor closer because of snow pack, but because the harbour was too shallow. You got to read the story, really. Great stuff.
Here we are 100 years later, and these momos get snow-packed in 50 to 100 miles offshore.
Beyond all this, I will have questions for @ProfChrisTurney when he returns. He was one of those lunkheads on this current expedition. Turney goes on to say on twitter, “We’re in the ice like the explorers of old! All are well and spirits are high. Happy Christmas from the AA… ” I hope he wasn’t trying to make any references to Mawson. Mawson didn’t get stuck. He made it to shore stupid.
I took a look at Cryosphere Today on ice extent, and it seems that the area in question had the greatest possibility the russian converted research ship had this time of year to make landfall. Maybe in a week or two that area could open up, but I highly doubt it.
So, getting back to my questions for Turney of course, will be if he will do any measurements while he’s down there.
Some of you might have heard that there has been talk of course that the Antarctic is thinner? Because . of . CAGW? That sort of thing.
One of the things I would like to know is if Turney wouldn’t mind measuring snow depth and glacier mass and other stuff like that. I would be most curious about the results.
I am just thinkin out loud.
Happy Holidays everyone !
“nc says:
December 26, 2013 at 11:40 pm
Anyone have an estimate for the daily Diesel fuel burn rate…”
Don’t matter. As they were not in or near large scale ports (~1800kms from the very southern tip of New Zealand) they would burn heavy diesel with high sulphur content (Real pollution).
“pat says:
December 26, 2013 at 11:35 pm”
At last count the BBC (Govn’t) receives about 2 billion pounds from license fees per year. I don’t see that revenue stream being cut off any time soon if at all.
On a similar note however, in about 1996 in New Zealand, a case went to court to challenge why GST (Goods and Services Tax) was applied to a TV license fee (The challenge was that a tax (GST) on a tax (License fee) was illegal. They won! The TV license fee was abolished. Given TV in NZ is commercial anyway, channels are funded from advertsing revenue.
Well, I’m sure the conclusions they planned for the trip are “It’s worse than we thought” as usual.
A case of.. be careful what you wish for?
I just saw the piece on the BBC. Apparently the problem with more ice in the Antarctic is the Adele penguins require hard rock so they are ” really struggling”.
Well I say, “Bravo” to the Adele penguin for this display of true grit.
“Anyone have an estimate for the daily Diesel fuel burn rate for this totally useless expedition?”
That’s irrelevant, these aren’t 70 ordinary people! They are climate hero’s who work tirelessly & selflessly to publicise the FACT that CO2 is causing MASSIVE damage to the environment. These people are in the antarctic to SAVE THE WORLD, so we shouldn’t get hung up on the 5 tonnes of fuel per hour that’s being used by their ship and the icebreakers coming to save them – after all they weren’t expecting ice. For only the equivalent of driving a diesel car 1.2 million miles per day these people are SAVING THE WORLD.
Also, the 10,000+ people who went to Warsaw this year had no choice but to go from all around the world and discourage the use of fossil fuels. Same for the Qatar conference in 2012, South Africa in 2011, Cancun in 2010, Copenhagen in 2009, Bangkok in 2008, Bali in 2007, Nairobi in 2006, Montreal in 2005, Buenos Aires in 2004 – and many other smaller conferences in between. Probably less than the equivalent of 30 million miles in a diesel car per conference. So definitely worthwhile.
We should think about the carbon cost for rescuing these clowns. It might be too high.
“Kaboom says:
December 27, 2013 at 4:45 am”
As well as braking up all that ice! I mean…won’t someone think of the rotten ice?
NevenA, are you willing to give up your religion? You know, the one that depends on AGW as the driving force of Arctic sea ice losses.
The most likely cause of the increase in Antarctic sea ice is a speed up of the THC/MOC. When this current speeds up it leads to more upwelling cold water around Antarctica. The colder water is then easier to freeze. On the other side of the planet this drives more down welling water into the Arctic where it undercuts the sea ice leading to more melting. It is one of the main candidates for the cause of the bipolar seesaw.
Over multiple centuries this is likely to be the cause of things like the RWP, MWP, LIA and, of course, the modern warm period. Very long 400-500 years changes in the current either bring more cold water to the surface or less. All perfectly natural without a single thing Humans could do to change it.
Who says that the Gods don’t have a sense of humor?
There has not been a negative ice cover anomaly in the SH since November 23 2011. Unprecedented for the past 25 years.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/timeseries.south.anom.1979-2008
sophocles says:
December 26, 2013 at 11:15 pm
“Probably because the Arctic doesn’t have a chain of active volcanoes under the ice cap to melt it,”
While chain of volcanoes have been detected this doesn’t explain expansion of ice because of it. The Arctic is suppose to be having much melt too and yet it has not caused sea ice to increase there yet. Both regions will have freshening of the sea water and the physical mechanism is the same.The Arctic has warm oceans flowing towards it, (AMO has significant affect) yet Antarctica is cut off from warm ocean currents via the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC).
Anyway the likely explanation is simple, the sea ice is expanding because it is getting colder.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00382-011-1143-9
“Antarctic SIE trend depends on the season, with the maximum increase occurring in autumn. If the relationship between SIC and GISS SAT trends is examined regionally, Antarctic SIC trends agree well with the local SAT trends in the most Antarctic regions. That is, Antarctic SIC and SAT show an inverse relationship: a cooling (warming) SAT trend is associated with an upward (downward) SIC trend.”
The difference between the two is that the atmosphere is what mainly affects Antarctica, but for the Arctic the ocean current has the main influence. The oceans are still warm because it takes a while to lose energy, but the atmosphere when isolated from warm ocean currents shows it cooling. Any external affects are shown in the atmosphere much quicker than those influenced by oceans.
So while Aurora Australis chugs off to rescue a stranded publicity stunt gone wrong, the ship’s actual mission to resupply Casey Station has been disrupted. And since an 800nm journey at ahead full turns so much of the ship’s fuel into gullible warming gas, they’ll probably have to abort the resup and return to Hobart once the ecotards are out.
So I wonder how much actual science and Antarctic research will be adversely impacted as a result of the incomplete resupply, or how much it will eventually cost the Australian Antarctic Division?
I agree with the number of other respondants who suggested the friends of gaia should fend for themselves, Shackleton style.
It seems they found out what the “environmental changes taking place in the south” are.
:))
BBC has pension funds heavily invested in “green” philosophy…
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/156703/8bn-BBC-eco-bias
Has to be a mistake, are we not ice free at the poles? Gore promised. 😉
Xue Long reported DIW:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:144.5238/centery:-66.80489/zoom:8/mmsi:412863000
No word if it is on station, or short of the mark. According to reports from the expedition vessel, the surrounding sea ice is thicker than the design capabilities of the Long.
Just a little laugh from the Guardian reporter:
“Icicles fell from the metal steps on the outside of the ship and the decks were covered in flurries of snow. As winter scenes go, you could do worse.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it supposed to be summer there?
http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live/2013/dec/26/stuck-in-antarcticas-white-christmas
In the news just minutes ago it was stated that the Xue Long still had 28 km to go but wasn’t making much progress. Don’t you love it?
Erny72 says:
December 27, 2013 at 7:11 am
I agree with the number of other respondants who suggested the friends of gaia should fend for themselves, Shackleton style.
_________________________
All of us are mistake- prone and bear responsibility for our own thoughts and actions, but are all in need of forgiveness. If the passengers and crew of the afflicted vessel were presently in mortal danger, who would withhold assistance?
Perhaps all of us will be let off the hook for our next mistake.
4.30am AEDST on 28th – Chinese ice breaker Xue Long – now in sight of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy
Chinese ship breaks through ice in Antarctic rescue mission
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/27/chinese-ship-breaks-ice-antarctic-rescue-akademik-shokalskiy
Photo from the Guardian who have staffer onboard.
Fairfax Media also have a journo onboard but must be asleep.
The ABC (Australian) are way behind – pathetic.
Conspicuous by its absence is the Swedish icebreaker Oden, which until 2011 assisted this kind of self-congratulating expeditions studying “global you-know-what” in the Antarctic.
The ship was recalled on orders of the Swedish government to take up duties in the Baltic Sea. This was because there was so much more sea ice than “expected” and all available ships were needed to keep the sea lanes open.
Oh, the delicious irony.
Rob Ricket says:
December 27, 2013 at 9:19 am
Xue Long reported DIW:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:144.5238/centery:-66.80489/zoom:8/mmsi:412863000
______________________
How neat! Thanks for that link, which this child of the prairie had no idea about its existence.
Last reported underway at .8 knots… making them wait on their coffee.
The funny thing is the omission from the Guardian text of the following:
“Of the 57 souls on board, 22 are crewmen and 35 are passengers. The ship cruised to the site of a 1911-1914 expedition of British explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, according to Expeditions Online, a travel agency that sells tickets for the cruise”
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/cruise-ship-spends-christmas-stuck-ice-off-antarctica-161901748–abc-news-topstories.html
ClimateForAll above says December 27, 2013 at 12:36 am
Thank you CFA for the link & very interesting lecture :”The Home of the Blizzard” by Douglas Mawson:
“The date of departure south was fixed for 4 P.M. of Saturday, December 2,”
“From Macquarie Island to Adelie Land” … “set foot on the Antarctic continent between Cape Adare and Gaussberg, ” on January the 8th.
Interesting to see that the modern ship with radar and satellite guidance got stuck in ice on half the way a hundred of years later.
Erny72 says: December 27, 2013 at 7:11 am
I know you are referring to 800 nautical miles, but “800nm” is interestingly enough a wavelength within the IR spectrum …
@ ClimateForAll,
Thanks for the info,
So let’s get this right. This expedition was looking at what climate change has occurred since Mawson’s expedition 100 years ago?
Mawson managed to moor 500 yards off Cape Denizon in a 19th Century ship, with no modern navigation aids or ice breaking capability, but the current taxpayer funded alarmists and paid merchants of propaganda are stuck in ice 100 miles offshore?
Well I don’t deny the climate has changed. Just don’t think it’s changed in the direction these alarmists were expecting! I also think it didn’t require 1million plus in taxpayer funding and rescue resources (not to mention the risk to rescuers).
They should have stayed home for Christmas, skeptics could have told them the answer in an email for free. ; > )
And yes I know, weather isn’t climate. : )
This is kinda funny. Apparently two other icebreakers are on the way to help out. I hope that they get stuck as well. What a hoot!
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/27/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/
RACookPE1978 says:
December 26, 2013 at 11:30 am
Oh. By the way.
At today’s rate of increase in Antarctic sea ice extents, the waters south of Cape Horn will be blocked to year-round sea traffic within 8-12 years.
………..
Strangely, a similar query was raised on the potential this year for the ice around Greenland to reach Iceland. I wonder what the effect on the thermohaline currents would be should such ice barriers form?
Ed Zuiderwijk says:
December 27, 2013 at 9:54 am
The ship was recalled on orders of the Swedish government to take up duties in the Baltic Sea. This was because there was so much more sea ice than “expected” and all available ships were needed to keep the sea lanes open.
I had some experience with winter in the Baltic: the tanker where I was engineer on had to deliver a lot of heating fuel before the port of Stockholm was closed. When we were navigating out of the Stockholm channel, we had to stop, together with several other ships, because a strong northern wind was blowing a lot of pack ice towards the south. Here the pilots descended on the ice, waiting for the pilot ship to pick them up:
http://www.ferdinand-engelbeen.be/familie/zee/zee002.jpg
Aftere a few days we were rescued by an icebreaker which turned around the different stranded ships, then leaving Stockholm in convoy after the icebreaker until managable ice was encountered:
http://www.ferdinand-engelbeen.be/familie/zee/zee008.jpg
Marvelous view over a completely frozen Baltic Sea as far as one could see…
That was February 1966, after which Stockholm port was closed for the rest of the winter. That were real winters. Maybe they are coming back now?
Xue Long underway and making 2.4 kts at last report. Course plot shows a button hook turn, which may be indicative of a course required to free the research vessel.
I have this mental image of a band of ice-encrusted Gorons in pursuit of the Antarctic Riviera of warmist lore, frozen fingers falling off in the snow, trudging exhaustedly along beside their haggard and bony dogsled team, eyeing one another in nervous recollection of old Donner Party stories.
When out of the white roars a trio of enormous snow-crawlers, thousands of gallons of Gaia’s most useful hydrocarbons fueling the rumbling diesels. Rumbling to a stop, a dozen warm and well-equipped crew march down the ramp and approach the frostbitten marchers.
“Thank God you’re here to rescue us!”
“What the hell are you talking about? We’re from the Humane Society. We’re here for the dogs. You fools can find your own way out.”
And they unharness the huskies, walk them into the crawlers, latch up the hatches, and disappear into the distance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_Antarctica
Just in case you wonder about zones of influence. Fishing and whaling in the sub antarctic is a matter of international treaty. Japanese whale there.
Yes there is a Russian station. complete with chapel and priest.http://www.thinkstockphotos.com.au/image/stock-photo-russian-chapel/147009979… so Merry Christmas.
Nature consistently rewards with exceptionally freezing conditions this type of expedition, whose intention is to carry out research on GW. Hence providing many of us with a great deal of innocent merriment. Has anyone ever compiled a list of these events? I forget the names of most of them, but one recent example was the Catlin expedition.I recall one from a couple of years ago when the ITN science correspondent, Lawrence McGinty, a committed warmer, was part of an expedition to the Hudson Bay, where he was to report on GW. The expedition was abandoned after blizzards rendered the trip impossible.
Hot off the press; Chinese icebreaker stuck…ice thickness exceeds ice breaking capabilities. Last reported six NM from expedition vessel. Rescue may take another two days.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/27/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/#comment-1178287023
NevenA says:December 26, 2013 at 10:01 am
Looks like Gail Combs got there first – what springs to mind is the bipolar seesaw, connected to a phenomenon know as “heat piracy” – the transport of heat between NH and SH in currents across the equator. Google-scholar bipolar seesaw and you will find a lot of papers on century-millenial scale ocean circulation with quite good simulation of events like the Younger Dryas for instance. Tzedakis published a paper recently on the bipolar seesaw being a marker of both beginning and end of interglacials, however not to sound alarmist, the seesaw according to Tzedakis appears 3000 years after the end of an interglacial. He was referring to an extreme seesaw involving huge oceanic ice rafting events detectable as midocean deposits. I guess it’s possible that the small seesaw and heat piracy done by the Carribean current (south to north) could layer grow to something larger.
(Sorry no links – this is from my mobile.)
Could later grow
It sounds like we the public are paying for these guys and all that equiptment to go to the Antarctic.
Then we get to pay to rescue the them as well.
Australia often fines the captain and company for rescue costs. Lets hope we can recoop that money at least.
From one of the progress reports:
Geologist Greg Mortimer, one of the expedition leaders and a veteran Antarctic scientist, described it as a “treasure, one of the last untouched areas of the world”.
They then go on to say that McQuarie Island was devastated by hunters last century and describe it as “pristine”
Do these idiots actually read what they write?
Let them stay there and find their own way back as did Sir john Franklin in 1845 when searching for the North West passage in the Arctic( alas he never made it back and the remaining crew took to eating one another )
MSM all saying ship trapped since Christmas Day, but various early reports said they’d been trapped since Monday 23 Dec.
27 Dec: NPR Blog: VIDEO: Rescuers Are Drawing Near To Ship Stuck In Antarctic
“There’s a lot of relief amongst the team and there’s lots of happy faces,” expedition leader Chris Turney said Friday in a fresh video posted from the deck of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy — an expedition vessel that’s been trapped by Antarctic Sea ice since Monday…
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/27/257538107/video-rescuers-are-drawing-near-to-ship-stuck-in-antarctic
BBC audio below is available until 1 Jan. already talking about being trapped by sea ice:
much talk about the “conundrum” of the sea ice expanding which might be indication we may see greater sea level rise than predicted.
26 mins: 24 Dec: VIDEO: BBC: The Return to Mawson’s Antarctica – Part Two
Alok Jha (Guardian) and Andrew Luck-Baker (BBC) continue to follow the scientists on the ongoing Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013. Ice, the oceans and climate change are the themes this week as one of the expedition scientists makes a troubling finding…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01n9gcv/Discovery_The_Return_to_Mawsons_Antarctica_Part_Two/
BBC: The Return to Mawson’s Antarctica – Part One
Duration: 29 minutes
First broadcast: Monday 16 December 2013
Join the scientists of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013, as they go about their experiments and seek adventure at the windiest place on earth…
This remote area hasn’t been studied systematically for 100 years, so the expedition will reveal any changes that have taken place as a result of climate change.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01n1dtv
given this story has attracted worldwide attention – however inaccurate the reporting is – it is still hardly mentioned on australian news reports, even tho our scientists organised the trip & we have fairfax & abc journos on board.
ALL MSM ARE PUSHING THE MAWSON ANGLE, YET ALL THE PRE-TRIP MEDIA WAS ABOUT “CLIMATE CHANGE”:
6 Dec: SMH: Fairfax Media trip to Antarctica to see the effects of climate change
But global warming is an important story, and the trip will give Fairfax Media a rare opportunity to visit the continent most acutely affected by global warming. Antarctica is climate change ground zero. The data that scientists gather will play a crucial role in future climate models…
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/blogs/66-degrees-south/fairfax-media-trip-to-antarctica-to-see-the-effects-of-climate-change-20131206-2ywfj.html
just like ABC, Guardian, here is the Fairfax page for the Expeditiion, again with no update since the ship got stuck. Cosier also works for ABC:
SMH: 66 Degrees South
Science Editor Nicky Phillips and video journalist Colin Cosier are spending four weeks in Antarctica
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/blogs/66-degrees-south/fairfax-media-trip-to-antarctica-to-see-the-effects-of-climate-change-20131206-2ywfj.html
Chris Turney @ProfChrisTurney 1m
Unfortunately Snow Dragon can’t get through. It’s standing by & waiting on another vessel to help. Everyone well. #spiritofmawson
Ya, but the Obama Care web site is fixed, now all they have to do is enroll, pay the fee and all will be well as , sure it is there in the 2700 pages of the transfer of wealth there is something for these fellow travelers.
just saying
RACookPE1978 says:
December 26, 2013 at 11:30 am
Oh. By the way.
At today’s rate of increase in Antarctic sea ice extents, the waters south of Cape Horn will be blocked to year-round sea traffic within 8-12 years.
………..
And before the end of the century, Cape Town harbour will be blocked by ice in the winter. These trends do continue unabated, don’t they?
It appears that the Chinese ice breaker – rescue ship had to abandon it’s attempt to free the Cagw research team. With some luck, they will remain trapped until it’s time to leave to return to Hobart and thus avoid setting foot on the pristine continent with the possibility and bringing contaminants. I’m sure the greenies will be happy 🙂
A Russian ship full of old famous Warmongers on an AGW propaganda cruise to show how Antarctica is melting away are trapped in massive ice sheets and need rescuing by a Chinese icebreaker.
Sounds like the pitch for a Hollywood B movie.
A movie plot made even better by the Chinese ice breaker getting trapped in the ice and needing rescued too.
listen from 37:20 into the 55 min program:
27 Dec: BBC Newshour: Kiribati, mentions first climate change refugee turned down by NZ.
says here is island’s President – has to cut off because wrong tape comes up.
moves instead on to Antarctica & BBC’s Andrew Luck-Baker in Antarctica. says they’re trapped. plays report from a couple of days previous.
Luck-Baker: surveying ice edge East Antarctica. if all this ice melts, sea level would ris, e by 53(?) metres – ***but to be frank, i don’t want to talk about climate change & sea level rise and whatnot…i just want to describe what the place looks like… stunning, etc.
next item: back to Kiribati story:
(Quote from Island’s President)
THEN to Robert McLeman (associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, author of book, Climate and Human Migration) :
McLeman: Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City etc to be uninhabitable.
most will relocate within China, but middle class will migrate externally.
BBC: with tens or possibly hundreds of millions on the move…should people living of higher ground be fearful.
McLeman: if we look at big migrant-receiving countries, Canada, US, UK, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand…we could accommodate this within our existing migration programs…
BBC: strong misgivings in UK about migration.
McLeman: that’s a good point. we have rapidly aging populations so, in 30-40 years, we need young labour migrants just to maintain our social economic well-being. should plan ahead and do it in systematic fashion.
BBC: is it your suspicion that, even if we took concerted effort now to stop global warming to try to reverse or control warming, it’s probably too late, & there will have to be significant migrations, blah blah.
McLeman: u r absolutely right, even if we curtailed greenhouse gas emissions tomorrow, we’re locked into a certain amount of change in the global environment…
so we do have to deal with the root causes, which is the greenhouse gas emissions in the first place.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nbn7j
more McLeman:
23 Dec: GeorgiaStraight: Daniel Tseghay: Is Canada prepared for climate refugees?
“In Bangladesh, the estimate is that 30 to 50 million people will be displaced by rising sea level by 2050,’’ Mohammad Zaman, the executive director of the Vancouver-based Society for Bangladesh Climate Justice (SBCJ), says in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight.
“The crisis has already started,’’ the social-sector specialist continues, pointing out that people are being displaced every day. On October 24, Zaman—who works as a consultant for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank—and his organization held an event at the University of British Columbia’s Liu Institute for Global Issues to address the issue facing Bangladesh, situating it within the global phenomenon of climate migration…
“If you’re looking 50 years from now, that’s when the real impacts of sea-level rise start to manifest,’’ Robert McLeman, professor of geography at Wilfrid Laurier University, says during a phone interview with the Straight. “That’s when food supplies start to become under threat because of all these changes we’re making to climate systems.’’
McLeman is the author of the just-published Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges (Cambridge University Press). “We’ll get these large populations in places like Vietnam, coastal China, and Bangladesh, where you’d have tens of millions of people living within a few metres of sea level, and that’s where we’ll see very large-scale displacement.’’…
A 2009 report by the International Organization for Migration estimates that there will be between 200 million and 1 billion migrants due to climate change by 2050…
http://www.straight.com/news/553886/canada-prepared-climate-refugees
Wilfrid Laurier Uni: Robert McLeman
Academic Background
BA (Geography) 1989 – The University of Western Ontario
MSc (Environmental Management) 1995 – University of Hong Kong
PhD (Geography) 2005 – University of Guelph
Biography
Dr. McLeman specializes in research on the human dimensions of environmental change, with particular attention to the relationship between environment and human migration; rural adaptation to climatic variability and change; and, fostering citizen participation in environmental science. A former Canadian foreign service officer, Dr. McLeman previously worked at Canadian diplomatic missions in Belgrade, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Seattle and Vienna. In recent years, he has advised government agencies in Canada, the US, and Europe on issues related to climate change, labour migration, and security. An award-winning teacher, Dr. McLeman uses a range of media, methods and real-world examples to introduce students to the the systematic study of human-environment relations. Click here to read his blog
http://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?grp_id=13195&f_id=35
That’s what happens when you set your course on a model rather than reality.
I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the ice causing the problem is first year ice. In summer, sea ice in the Antarctic goes to far lower extent values than in the Arctic. We hear about first year ice in the Arctic is rotten. I don’t think so.
Things are not going well in AGW Land
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/27/22069917-vessel-sent-to-rescue-explorer-ship-encounters-heavy-antarctic-ice#comments
Hmmm….Can’t helicopters reach them?
Is this a “spin” of a “Gore Effect” event or is there a real reason the people can’t be rescued by chopper? I don’t know. I’m really just asking. (Maybe they’re outside the range of choppers?)
The Chinese vessel stuck …
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/27/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Any other vessel can go home, before …
Why isn’t this story in the Climate Change section of the Guardian? Are they worried about irony? There is a Guardian chap and global warming Dr. on the ship I vaguely recollect. Sorry if I am mistaken, I just don’t have energy for reading this late evening.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/27/antarctic-mission-icebreaker-delay-rescue
timely! MSM picking up story that began in Halifax Chronicle Herald on 12 Dec, which has already been covered by some MSM:
27 Dec: Huffington Post: Message In A Bottle Found In Arctic Glacier Ultimately Reveals Global Warming In Region (PHOTO)
More than half a century ago, on July 10, 1959, American glaciologist and explorer Paul T. Walker was working in a remote region of the Canadian Arctic, the Los Angeles Times reports. In a quirky stroke of genius, Walker left a handwritten note to any scientists who might come behind him, and he stuck the message in a bottle under a pile of rocks.
“To Whom it May Concern: This and a similar cairn 21.3 feet to the west were set on July 10, 1959,” the note states. “The distance from this cairn to the glacier edge about 4 ft. from the rock floor is 168.3 feet.”…
Dr. Warwick F. Vincent, director of the Center for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec City, revealed the find earlier in December and said reading the famous names of Walker and his colleague Albert Crary gave him goosebumps.
Vincent, a biologist, and his colleague Denis Sarrazin found the note over the summer in a very remote area near the edge of a glacier, he told GrindTV Outdoor.
“It’s a story about climate change, but it is also a story about the incredibly brave and strong men who worked in this extreme high Arctic environment in the 1950s—back before GPS and sat phone technology,” Vincent told the outlet. “This is the most remote part of North America, and the coldest coastal zone (average temperature -18C). This also makes the evidence of substantial glacial retreat of great interest.”.
The pair carried out Walker’s wish, measuring the distance to the glacier in question, just as Walker had done decades earlier. Vincent and Sarrazin’s measurement revealed that the glacier had retreated 233 feet since 1954…
Given the fact that there is still such noticeable loss in glacial ice, this special message should be heeded by scientists around the world, Vincent added.
“Paul Walker’s message from the past is a wake-up call to how fast our global climate is already changing, and it signals much larger changes in the future that may affect us all,” he said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/27/message-in-a-bottle-global-warming-glacier-arctic_n_4509358.html?utm_hp_ref=green
12 Dec: HalifaxChronicleHerald, Canada: Selena Ross: 54-year-old message in bottle helps chronicle death of glacier
The 1.2-metre gap between the cairn and the glacier in 1959 has widened to 101.5 metres today because the glacier has shrunk, said Vincent…
He got in touch with Ohio State University, where Walker worked, and promised to send a copy of the Laval work to their archives.
Ian Howat, a glaciologist at Ohio State, said Wednesday he was surprised to hear about the message in a bottle and wanted to ask some older colleagues if they remember any historical connection with Walker.
“I’m sure folks here would be interested in seeing it,” Howat said.
***He won’t get his wish very easily, except in photo form. Vincent and Denis Sarrazin, who found the bottle, left it in the cairn with the letter inside.
But they added their own note, asking the next person who finds it to measure the distance to the glacier and report back to Quebec City.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1173466-54-year-old-message-in-bottle-helps-chronicle-death-of-glacier
“Hmmm….Can’t helicopters reach them?”
I think there are about 70 climate hero’s on that ship, most helicopters have a range of a few hundred miles and only carry a handful of people. Maybe they’ll just have to wait it out until all the ice melts – the day after tomorrow.
According to CNN, the Xue Long is now also stuck on ice 6 nautical miles from the sightseeing cruise ship and is hoping the Astrolabe can help it out. The Xue Long’s captain said they’re waiting for the winds to move the ice away.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/27/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/index.html
“Icebreaker sent to rescue ship trapped near Antarctica can’t penetrate ice”
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/27/icebreakers-racing-to-rescue-ship-trapped-in-ice-near-antarctica/
Perhaps they will go down in history as Climate Martyrs”
Xue Long DIW again. She made about 300 meters in three hours.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:144.5238/centery:-66.80489/zoom:8/mmsi:412863000
wazsah says:
December 27, 2013 at 9:46 am
4.30am AEDST on 28th – Chinese ice breaker Xue Long – now in sight of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy
Chinese ship breaks through ice in Antarctic rescue mission
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/27/chinese-ship-breaks-ice-antarctic-rescue-akademik-shokalskiy
Photo from the Guardian who have staffer onboard.
Fairfax Media also have a journo onboard but must be asleep.
The ABC (Australian) are way behind – pathetic.
_________________________________________________________________________
According to the weather channel and NBC the icebreaker is not able to make it to the stranded vessel as it is now stuck in the ice. Further due to snow storms its helicopter hasn’t been able to take off.
Two more vessels are en-route, a waste of good fuel and a danger to their crews.
Like a fly trap …
Perhaps the Chinese could build a few coal powered power plants down there to warm the frozen busybodies.
Still – at least someone decided to assault Piers Morgan:
After the inevitable, costly, and under-reported rescue, I wonder if the busybodies would be interested in joining Piers in an exhibition match against the Australian pace attack?
a bit more about the letter-in-the-bottle story:
17 Dec: LaPresse.ca: Le Soleil: Un message dans une bouteille trouvé dans le Grand Nord
At the place where he was, he would have been less surprising to fall face to face with Santa Claus . Because the biologist Warwick Vincent was actually very close to the North Pole in July , when he found a bottle. A bottle in the sea? Rather a bottle in ice.
Mr. Vincent worked the scientific base of Ward Hunt Centre for Northern Studies (CEN) from Laval University . It is located northwest of the base of Alert, northern Ellesmere Island in northern Canada , North America , in short , ” north of the North.” The average temperature ? Minus 18 degrees . The nearest village , Grise Fjord (or Aujuittuq ) , 800 km to the south is the coldest inhabited place in the world.
His colleague Denis Sarrazin and he interested in microorganisms at the base of the polar ecosystem. They fall in water temperature , take samples for chemical analyzes . Helicopter on the way home on a balmy day in July – it was zero ! – They took a different path to return to the base. They fell on the valley “a little hidden” north of Ellesmere Island . They put the camera there .
” Denis began exploring near a glacier that was the end of the valley. ” Then he found a pile of rocks a little weird. “It was clear” that the rocks were stacked by humans , says Mr Vincent, who is the scientific director of the NEC. Already , it was a surprise that someone has already set foot in this valley as remote and inhospitable . The surprise would soon be tenfold : “We saw that there was a bottle. ”
A bottle with a message inside . ” It was carefully removed and started to read . It was amazing , “recalls Mr. Vincent. The message is dated July 10, 1959 . It is sort of an invitation to participate in a scientific experiment. “The message says they built this pile of rocks and the distance that separates the glacier is 168 feet [ 51 meters ] ,” says the biologist. He invited ” to whom it may concern ” to repeat the experience and pass the new data to two research centers.
Two well-known names
The message is signed by two scientists : Paul Walker, University of Ohio, and Albert Crary , the research center of Cambridge, near Boston. While reading these two names that our scientist had ” goosebumps .” The first gave his name to a mountain on the island of Ward Hunt. Following the story is a bit sad : Walker had to be evacuated urgently base one month after writing the message due to an epileptic seizure . He died at age 27, a few months later .
At the University of Ohio, ” they are fascinated ” by the discovery of two Quebecers. They are currently designing an exhibition to showcase .
Remains to contact the institution Mr. Crary . They hope to get more information on shipping time.
Another signatory, Albert Crary , is a famous American polar geophysicist , a pioneer in the field . “When I started my career pole in Antarctica, the largest laboratory in the area , the Cadillac was the lab … Crary ! “Insists Mr. Vincent. “It was amazing to see these two names there! ” Albert Crary died in 1987.
Decline of 70 meters
By their message, the scientists wanted to establish a basis of comparison for understanding the dynamics of glaciers. Do they move or melt ? There was no question of global warming at the time. MM . Vincent and Sarrazin obviously redone year , 54 years after their predecessors, to realize that the glacier had retreated 70 meters . The comparison is interesting because scientists have very little data from this period.
When such a message is found, the tradition wants it to be returned to the scene . This is what they did , writing a second message to accompany it. They of course revived the invitation.
The polar exploration is still dangerous , despite the GPS and satellite phones. ” They did not have it in the 50s , they were explorers. Their passion is an inspiration to us , “says Mr. Vincent
http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/science/201312/17/01-4721867-un-message-dans-une-bouteille-trouve-dans-le-grand-nord.php
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL 30, NO. 20, 2031, doi:10.1029/2003GL017931, 2003
Break-up of the largest Arctic ice shelf and associated loss of an
epishelf lake
Derek R. Mueller and Warwick F. Vincent, Martin O. Jeffries
published 18 October 2003.
http://www.cen.ulaval.ca/warwickvincent/pdffiles/175.pdf
” SasjaL says:
December 27, 2013 at 4:06 pm
The Chinese vessel stuck …
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/27/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Any other vessel can go home, before …”
from the linked article:
“The expedition to gauge the effects of climate change on the region began November 27. The second, and current leg of the trip, started December 8 and was scheduled to conclude with a return to New Zealand on January 4.”
Seems they’ve now seen the effects of climate change – it’s getting colder, and it’s SUMMER in the
Southern Hemisphere….
Kind of irritating, too, that these eco-tourists would be so presumtuous to put themselves
on the same footing (as it were) with Scott, Amundsen, Mawson, and others….geesh….
Latest reports on New Zealand National Radio are that the Chinese ice breaker has stopped 6 nautical miles from the trapped ship and is unable to proceed further. They are now waiting for assistance from two other ice breakers. Are we going to see a repeat of the Shackleton expedition when his ship “Endurance” became trapped in Antarctic ice on18 January 1915 and subsequently was crushed and sank on 21 November 1915
I don’t understand… why is that ship still stuck? Something isn’t right here… if it’s true that it’s lead by a bunch of AGW scientists, surely they have charts and graphs aboard that they can use to browbeat the ice and convince it that can’t possibly exist in that location at this time of year due to AGW – and thus free the ship?
lots of debate in the comments about the distances quoted by CBC:
16 Dec: CBC: 1959 message in a bottle a clue to glacier melt
PHOTO CAPTION: In 1959, an American geologist built a rock cairn 1.2 metres away from this glacier. This summer, the cairn was 101.5 metres away
Comment by KevinMcKinney: I emailed Dr. Vincent about the distance from the cairn to glacier question yesterday. This morning he very kindly responded. Apparently, the researchers who were there also find the note ambiguous, and are trying to get Dr. Walker’s field notebook to resolve the question with certainty.
Comment by QuebeCityOliver
@AnonymousGorf
Like the numbers in the text being totally wrong. Let’s hope CBC corrects it after this morning’s interview on Québec AM.
Comment by Happy Canadian
The measurement was written to detail the edge of glacier was 168.3 ft from the edge of the cairn, and that the glacier overhung the rock floor by about 4 feet.
So, to Canadianize these: 51.3 meters from the cairn to the glacier edge, that was about 1.2 meters above the rock floor.
Now it is 101.2 meters, a shrinkage of 50 meters in 54 years. Much less than the 100 meters in this story.
Comment by MortimerSnerd
As I read that note the distance to the glacier in 1959 was 168.3 ft. not 1.2m. The edge of the glacier was ~4ft (1.2m) from the rock floor (whatever that means). It is now 101.5m or 333 ft, roughly double not roughly 80 times.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/1959-message-in-a-bottle-a-clue-to-glacier-melt-1.2465597
***Australian Green Party senator-elect for Victoria, Janet Rice, is on board too. please explain why all the relevant facts are not being reported by Australian MSM:
27 Dec: Guardian: Alok Jha: Antarctic mission on ice as rescue ship is forced back
The Guardian’s man on the icebound vessel reports on the freezing conditions as the expedition waits for assistance
Chris Fogwill, a glaciologist at the University of New South Wales and a co-leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE): “We need a westerly wind to release the pressure on the pack ice in the area, or we need two icebreakers.”…
The expedition leader had reassured us earlier that this kind of venture always allowed for this kind of contingency. It would, he said, be a couple of weeks before we were reduced to dehydrated food…
The Russian-controlled Shokalskiy became trapped in heavy ice on Tuesday, when it was travelling east around Commonwealth Bay to the Mertz glacier. Strong south-easterly winds pushed the ice floes in the area towards the Antarctic coastline, forming a dense mass around the Shokalskiy. At the time, the ship was only two miles from the open water. Since then, two days of blizzards have built the ice pack around the ship further – and the edge of the ice sheet, and the open water beyond, is now between 13 and 18 nautical miles from the ship.
“It’s a bulbous shape and we’re right in the middle of it,” said Fogwill. “The nature of Antarctica is very different to the rest of the world – everything is at a bigger scale. Storms are ever present, the rate at which they shift is very unpredictable because there is so much ocean around. At the edge of the continent you have strong weather systems and the speed at which things can happen is astronomical. It’s so far outside our normal frame of reference.”…
The Xue Long discovered that the ice at the edge of the pack was much thicker than it expected – around three to four metres thick in places – and the going was slow. It reported travelling at just between 0.1 to 3 knots due to the density of the ice it encountered. Technical issues with its engines meant L’Astrolabe did not enter the ice field at all. “We know the ice conditions around us are extremely difficult and the ice is under a lot of pressure,” said Greg Mortimer, a co-leader of the AAE, aboard the Shokalskiy.
If the Xue Long had reached the Shokalskiy, it would have likely cut a ring in the ice around our ship so that our captain could manoeuvre it into the newly opened channel behind the Xue Long. “It’s quite an elaborate operation and one that takes some time,” said Mortimer…
***Speaking before the Xue Long had turned around, Janet Rice, the Green party senator-elect for Victoria, Australia, who has been on board the ship since it left New Zealand, said: “I understand why people might be concerned, but the feeling today on board the ship is like a summer holiday when the weather is bad, when you’re stuck inside reading books and playing Scrabble. We’ve been assured that we’re in no danger and it’s just a matter of waiting.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/27/antarctic-mission-icebreaker-delay-rescue
——————————————————————————–
SE winds forecasted for the next three days for Commonwealth Bay. The link from the Guardian stipulates that a West wind is required to relieve pack ice pressure.
Of course the central issue is, will they play Steely Dan’s “Danger on the Rocks” on New Year’s Eve?
From Wikipedia:
Douglas Mawson Expedition[edit]
In 1910, she was bought by Douglas Mawson for his Australasian Antarctic Expedition. The Aurora made the journey from Hobart, Australia to Macquarie Island, Mawson’s base of operations, in December 1911. After establishing the base, they sailed south again, and arrived in Commonwealth Bay Antarctica, on 7 January 1912. At Cape Denison, her crew unloaded Mawson and his team, and helped set up the camp (Mawson’s Huts), but then departed to return to Hobart so as not to get trapped in the sea-ice over the winter.
In December 1912, the Aurora returned to find that Douglas Mawson, Xavier Mertz, and Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis had set out on a sled expedition, and were overdue on their return. The captain attempted to wait for the expedition to return, but poor anchorage and extremely strong winds combined to cause a number of anchor chains to break. At the end of January the ship had to leave or risk getting stuck for the winter. Aurora left a team of six, including a radio operator, behind with ample supplies, and departed. Mawson, the sole survivor of the three, arrived in time to see the Aurora disappearing over the horizon. A radio call brought the Aurora back, but bad weather forced it to depart again, leaving Mawson and party behind.
Aurora returned to Commonwealth Bay on 12 December 1913, to pick up the seven men, and return to Australia.
I think it was Andrew who said in part:
“Nature consistently rewards with exceptionally freezing conditions this type of expedition, whose intention is to carry out research on GW. Hence providing many of us with a great deal of innocent merriment. Has anyone ever compiled a list of these events?”
I am enjoying the karma thing with the “watch the polar bears drown” cruises (particularly the southern contingent), but it turns out that I was concerned about wanton damage to the world ecosystem before it had become a branch of Scientology.
And I would like to see the list contemplated compiled to include such factors as “how many people were involved in the rescues? Were any of them injured? How much were they paid and who paid it?
How many barrels of fuels and lubricating oils were used, of that how much was abandoned in caches that are now polluting the seas.
I would like to see the world sea powers establish embargoes at about 60° North and South and collect from the Captain of each vessel not on a legitimate course and mission an amount of money to cover the rescue of that ship and its partiers which will be refunded, less a contribution to the embargo fleet, when they return.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11178863
Snow Dragon has abandoned any attempt, Aurora still making way to the ice pack. Possibly Sunday evening NZT the earliest arrival of Aurora.
What can one say except that it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bunch of people.
Yep, there is a film in it – Police Academy and Airplane style.
Title – The Poseidon Adventure on Ice.
Go James.
Let me get this straight;
We have a Scientific Ship, piloted by a Scientist, who is a rabid green freak, who whole heartedly believes Al Gore’s predictions of ice free areas, While accompanied by journalists who want to push his agenda, Trapped in ice (coincidentally right where Al said it would be ice free) …..
Hallmarks of a three stooges comedy… You simply can not make this kind of comedy gold up..
I saw a picture of the climate scientists taking ice core samples to help pass the time. Can someone explain the purpose of taking ice core samples of pack ice? Thanks in advance.
I saw a picture of the climate scientists taking ice core samples to help pass the time. Can someone explain the purpose of taking ice core samples of pack ice? Thanks in advance.
Better cocktails?
We’ve been assured that we’re in no danger and it’s just a matter of waiting.
Not exactly Senator, but there isn’t much you can do about it.
The CNN report said something about the ship starting to list (tilt) in the high wind (in the ice).
Can an Icebreaker break ice in reverse?
Who’s paying the tab? The captains?
Idiots.
Seriously, all the best.
Apparently, the ships that have been sent to rescue this ice-bound ship have had to turn back. Why? Because there is too much ice for the ice-breakers!
That pesky Global Warming!
===================================================================
Is it to late to send a few more “climate heroes” down there?
I think we’d all be better off if they were put on ice.
Well not only is the research ship stuck, but the rescue ship, a Chinese Ice breaker, is also stuck in the same ice. That non-existent ice is pretty tenacious stuff.
On Aussie MSM tonight, apparently the Chinese *AND* Australian ice breakers are not rated to break the thickness of ice the ships are currently in (I heard 4m thick?). If you look at pictures of the Mawson expedition (1912?) you will see the ship is in ice free sea. Today, it seems all ships in the area are icebound!
http://www.australiansatwork.com.au/mawson/mawson_en9-10.php
Three months left of melt season, only need to wait.
There is much more to this story that I just can’t comment on here. Since my last comment, I have discovered much. Also, as we can see in the Updates and the other relevant comments, there is much more at work here.
So I swept out the cobwebs of my blog and published all that I could find to this story. Feel free to read the post at my blog and discuss here if you like.
Things you may not know.
1, This current expedition said they successfully visited Cape Denison back on Dec 21st. Well, that would be true if they consider success to Mawsons Hut by an ATV as a success.
2. The russian research/cruise vessel only got within 65 km of Mawsons Hut.
3. The French and Chinese icebreakers couldn’t rescue the stranded ship. And the Australian icebreaker may not be able to free them either.
4. Just a month previously, the Aurora Australis was stuck itself in the Antarctic ice-pack, and took 3 weeks to break free.
5. Why are the journalists on the ship not publishing anything about the ordeal?
Read about what I wrote at:
What A Century A Difference Makes
wp.me/pOWA1-cD
Discussion of this heavily censored in The Guardian… No jokes allowed about climate change scientists stuck in the ice.
Oh dear, I’ve run out of popcorn, better get a shed load in while the shops are open! ; > )
SH sea ice cover for the past decade has occurred during the last 8 days of Febuary; in the range of 1.59 to 2.47 Million square Km.
That should be Minimum SH sea ice cover for the past decade has occurred during the last 8 days of February; in the range of 1.59 to 2.47 Million square Km.
dipchip says:
December 28, 2013 at 6:26 am
That should be Minimum SH sea ice cover for the past decade has occurred during the last 8 days of February; in the range of 1.59 to 2.47 Million square Km.
____________________________
That gives them plenty of time to get their stories straight about how the industrialized Western World is at fault by causing greater temperature swings which cause lower temps, freezing greater areas of sea ice (and making it extra thick,) while also causing really strong winds to blow the ice around, expanding sea ice coverage and snaring the ship. It’s still all our fault and we must be made to pay. At least, these are the explanations I’ve been reading around the web about this misadventure.
/
The Snow Dragon ice-breaker has failed at its first attempt and is now standing by in worsening weather…
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-12/28/c_133003070.htm
Sounds like it is now in danger of becoming trapped itself… Could turn out to be a long hard summer finding out the truth about environmental conditions in Antarctica!
I know the irony here is not lost on even the casual observer of such things, but I suppose should they end up being saved by a Japanese whaling ship it would be the coup de grace
Next up?
Research team investigating the disappearance of polar bears …eaten by bears
Trust me Captain I’m a Climate Scientist. That is not ice its just a mirage caused by the HEAT
Meanwhile back in Churchhill Manitoba the temperature is currently -31F and has been 10 to 20 degrees below normal F for most all the month of Dec and the 10 day forcast is for this condition to continue. I suspect the Seals are having a hard time keeping their breathing holes open.
Xue Long, (Snow Dragon) is now also trapped in the Antarctic ice pack according to:
Antarctic ice breaker now stuck
http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2013/12/28/antarctic-ice-breaker/
“The Chinese icebreaker Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, was just six nautical miles away from the rescue, but now it’s stuck in an Antarctica ice floe, too.”
I heard it said they had 3 weeks of fresh food on board and then loads of dried stuff when that was used up. I want to know what they are doing with all the waste; being greenies and such I don’t supposed they are chucking it over the side, or will they? And how long before the ship is crushed? I don’t suppose they will be worried though, nature being all benign and vulnerable, they are probably worrying about how badly they are damaging the ice.
D. Patterson says: December 28, 2013 at 7:56 am
The left oriented CNN was one of the first to publish that particular news. They updated the article first time 17 hours ago.
Where are all the wind and solar powered ice breaker rescue ships?
Somebody queue up “Heart of Stone” on the ship’s concert-grade sound system…
The first mate of the Xue Long, Sum Ting Wong and his assistant, Wi Tu Far say they will be unable to reach the ship. The cook, Ho Lee Fuk says “No worly, when helicopter fly we bling them plenty flied lice made from krill.”
The PrangWizard of England says:
December 28, 2013 at 8:08 am
“… how long before the ship is crushed?”
___________________________
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. All Gore isn’t aboard, so an extra- freaky hull- crushing ice maker cold spell probably isn’t in the cards.
However, in certain circles, the old (Zhang, 2007) paper is being bandied about to explain the heavy Antarctic ice. Zhang, you see, stated that warmer waters caused more ice to form around Antarctica. He arrived at that conclusion by coupling an “ice model” to an “ocean model”. Seriously.
Whats important is the fact of what the Captain said just before they got stuck………..”Hold my beer, I’ll show you somethin funny.”
Now wheres that Eskimo woman I was supposed to skin,lol.
Would ‘greenies’ be tempted to cook those cuddly inquisitive penguins?
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue, confirmed that a French vessel had also failed to penetrate the ice.
The agency said another boat, the Aurora Australis, was on its way to the Russian vessel and expected to arrive on Sunday.
“I think we’re probably looking at another 24 hours of twiddling our fingers and waiting for something to happen,” expedition spokesman Alvin Stone told the Associated Press.
A bunch of penguins watching all this unfold declined to comment but looked almost unbearably smug.
PrangWizard
Interesting to know the capacity of the ship’s sewage treatment plant. Eventually they’ll have to pump it out to make room for more.
Pete
Alan Robertson says:
December 28, 2013 at 9:29 am
“Zhang, you see, stated that warmer waters caused more ice to form around Antarctica.”
No warmer waters here over the southern ocean for decades.
http://bobtisdale.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/13-southern.png?w=640&h=420&h=420
There has been suggestion that warmer sea can increase ice over the continental mass with increased precipitation, but not noticed any claim warmer water can increase ice in the same location. Warmer ocean water in the Arctic has caused sea ice to decline there and that is with freshening of the waters there.
Matt G says:
December 28, 2013 at 10:01 am
There has been suggestion that warmer sea can increase ice over the continental mass with increased precipitation, but not noticed any claim warmer water can increase ice in the same location. Warmer ocean water in the Arctic has caused sea ice to decline there and that is with freshening of the waters there.
_________________________
Thanks for Bob Tisdale’s link.
Here’s a link to Zhang, 2007: http://psc.apl.washington.edu/zhang/Pubs/Zhang_Antarctic_20-11-2515.pdf
From Zhang Abstract: “The model shows that an increase in surface air temperature and downward longwave radiation results in an increase in the upper-ocean temperature and a decrease in sea ice growth, leading to a decrease in salt rejection from ice, in the upper-ocean salinity, and in the upper-ocean density. The reduced salt rejection and upper-ocean density and the enhanced thermohaline stratification tend to suppress convective overturning, leading to a decrease in the upward ocean heat transport and the ocean heat flux available to melt sea ice. The ice melting from ocean heat flux decreases faster than the ice growth does in the weakly stratified Southern Ocean, leading to an increase in the net ice production and hence an increase in ice mass. This mechanism is the main reason why the Antarctic sea ice has increased in spite of warming conditions ”
Zhang clearly made the case that warming water leads to more sea ice via the following mechanism:
warmer water –>greater upper ocean temperature –> less sea ice formation –> less salt rejection from ice formation –> less saline density in upper ocean layers –> enhanced thermohaline stratification –> suppressed convective overturning –> decrease in upward heat transfer –> less ice melting because upper ocean is colder –> greater sea ice production –> increased ice mass.
Therefore, per Zhang, warmer water makes for more sea ice. Who knew?
I’ve always said at times the universe seems to have a sense of fun about things. Global Warming / climate change scientists trapped in feet up thick ice. Priceless. It’s just as amusing as when some church in America told its population not to get inoculated. They all immediately got said illness…
You don’t suppose there is a website somewhere we can check their heart rates and other vital signs of life? But more importantly, would the group-think worry over global warming under their present condition be a vital sign of life?
The burn of irony will be the only thing that melts this ice.
@justAnotherposter – I assume you’re referring to the anti-vaccine nonsense? There may have been some church somewhere participating, but mostly it was the same sort of weak-minded new-agey sorts, the most visible proponent being a breast-celebrity named Jenny McCarthy.
There’s a lot of overlap between the anti-vaxers, the anti-GMO crowd, the warmists, the anti-nukers, there may be a few thoughtful folks around the edges but the core is made of people who think themselves educated but tremble in fear of anything involving numbers, chemistry, etc.
Maybe they could use this icebreaker, Russian 50 Let Pobody with 75000 hp
Movie from rendez-vous with Swedish Oden at the North Pole
Just trying to get the latest news update – hard to find:
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/australian-icebreaker-closes-in-on-trapped-russian-ship-20131228-300pa.html
Alan Robertson says:
December 28, 2013 at 10:31 am
Thanks for the link, didn’t realize that was claimed.
“warmer water –>greater upper ocean temperature –> less sea ice formation –> less salt rejection from ice formation –> less saline density in upper ocean layers –> enhanced thermohaline stratification –> suppressed convective overturning –> decrease in upward heat transfer –> less ice melting because upper ocean is colder –> greater sea ice production –> increased ice mass.”
Therefore now need to be compared with scientific observations.
“warmer water –>
This has failed since the mid-1990s in the Southern ocean.
“>less sea ice formation –> less salt rejection from ice formation –>”
This has failed so broke the mechanism.
“The model shows that an increase in surface air temperature and downward longwave radiation results in an increase in the upper-ocean temperature and a decrease in sea ice growth”
While this would be true for the Arctic ocean this is different for Antarctica. There has been no decrease in sea ice growth since LWR was suppose to be a problem. The link between model and observed fails at that stage.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/australian-icebreaker-closes-in-on-trapped-russian-ship-20131228-300pa.html
Latest info I could find.
I posted this story on my FB page, one of the replies:
“I do not know the specifics here, but increased sea ice in the Antarctic and Greenland waters is a well-known side-effect of warming over the landed glaciers. The surface of the glaciers melt, and water (heavier than ice) fall down to lubricate the glacier’s flow over land. The glaciers then calve into the sea with greater speed. The fresh water on top of the sea water (from both the glacier melt and the icebergs) has a higher freezing temperature than the salt water below. The salt water absorbs the fresh water’s heat, freezing it.
At the North Pole, there is no land to support glaciers, and this means the waters rarely have this salt/fresh boundary that causes the freezing. So in the Northern Summer, less sea ice means a warmer climate; in the Southern Summer, more sea ice means a warmer climate (until the glaciers finish melting).”
Thoughts? Isn’t Greenland in the arctic? Is the land ice in Antarctica melting?
Robert says:
December 28, 2013 at 12:46 pm
_
That’s about as fine an example of CAGW reasoning as one is liable to find. Thanks for sharing.
About 3/4s of Greenland lies above the Arctic Circle. While it has been claimed by the warmistas, there is no big glacier melt occurring in Antarctica which causes greater sea ice coverage. Currently, the Antarctic sea ice area is over 1.5Million SqKm above average levels. That would be a lot of fresh water. As sea water freezes, it expels salt. More freezing sea water –>ice means a higher concentration of salts in water around the frozen ice, not the freshening of water as they claim.
“So in the Northern Summer, less sea ice means a warmer climate; in the Southern Summer, more sea ice means a warmer climate (until the glaciers finish melting).” Notice how they tried to claim both positions/phenomenon at the same time? You will find that the warmist crowd does that a lot- no matter what happens, they claim man- made climate change/warming is the cause.
It takes a either true believer or a propagandist (or both,) to write such convoluted poppycock as was left on your facebook page.
@Alan Robertson and @DipChip
I dont think that minimum sea ice cover plays a factor here. We don’t know what the minimum for sea ice cover was for 1911-1914. We know that recent minimums have been near the end of Feb and that this current expedition is nearly 2 months before minimum.
What we do know is, is Mawson was able to navigate much more easily in these same waters, in and about the same time of year that this current expedition is attempting to navigate. And failing I might add.
From their spiritofmawson website, one of the reasons they explain for their failed attempt to navigate their ship any closer is that of a huge glacier impeding their journey to Cape Denison.
They had to stop short of about 40 miles west, and use ATVs to finish the journey. That fact in itself is very telling. Sir Mawson wrote about that glacier, and from his account, sounds much smaller in comparison than what Turney is describing. It sounds like the current terrain is being effected by both larger ice-pack and a increase in size of glacier formation, at nearly the same time of year for both expeditions.
That is what I think, in my opinion, is what is most important here. If this current expedition is truly concerned about the state of the climate, as they put it, they already know what the facts say. And that is there is far more snow and ice now at this time of year, that what the conditions were 100 years ago.
What Ill be most curious about is, will be how they quantify this information.
Already, there seems to be a bit of a shuffling of the truth. Turney gives a full account of their visit to Mawsons Hut. Yet what he discribes in his blog and what he tweets/vines are different. He writes they were successful, but used all-terrain vehicles to establish contact with Mawsons Hut. Then he writes they had clear waters as they travelled east, Clear waters? Really? Maybe the waters were clear from 40 miles out to sea, but not from Mawsons Hut. Then he blames strong winds for the collapse of ice-pack around them. But that is life in the Antarctic. The snow extent is continuously changing due to winds and ocean currents. We expect that. If Turney hopes to convince us that being trapped in a freak storm as an excuse, well, he has failed in convincing me of anything other than double talk.
And of course there is the depth of the ice-pack. We know that its at least a meter thick. Not a meter thick of multi-year ice, but new ice. The area he is discribing melts all if its ice-pack in this location every year. If there is a meter thick of ice-pack there now. it was put there just in the last year. And will melt and be reclaimed once again come July or August.
Stay tuned Gents. More is sure to come from this.
Alan: Not to mention the ratio of sea water to glacial water. At Max sea ice cover, sea water below the ice cover has a ratio far greater than 6 figures to 1. Why does the all that additional sea ice cover form on the periphery of the ice cover?
But it’s rotten ice.
Children just won’t know what iceburgs are.
The heating of the ocean is causing the ice caps to melt.
I think we should send Jim Hansen down there to correct them. It’s a lot warmer down there than they think it is.
/sarc
Greg Cavanagh says:
December 28, 2013 at 1:49 pm
But it’s rotten ice.
Children just won’t know what iceburgs are.
The heating of the ocean is causing the ice caps to melt.
___________________
Yes, but don’t forget- that’s only 1/2 the story. The heating of the ocean causes the Arctic sea ice to melt, The heating of the ocean causes the Antarctic ice to increase.
(Don’t blame me for repeating their meme.)
CFACT just sent out an e-mail with a photo of the ship. It looks as though it’s listing nearly 10 degrees. That’ll harsh their buzz onboard. I wonder if and when the MSM will mention the list.
Gunga Din says:
December 27, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Hmmm….Can’t helicopters reach them?
I guess not, unless they fly from an ice-breaker, I guess it is too far away for standard helicopters which have a range under 500 km
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11179140
Aurora still 12 – 24 hours away, Astrolabe turned back, Snow Dragon on standby in case Akadamik passengers need to be airlifted off to Aurora. Akadamik may be left with skeleton crew.
rogerknights says:
December 28, 2013 at 2:52 pm
CFACT just sent out an e-mail with a photo of the ship. It looks as though it’s listing nearly 10 degrees. That’ll harsh their buzz onboard. I wonder if and when the MSM will mention the list.
__________________________
I hope the outcome needs no memoriam, but just in case…
Congratulations all around
From passengers and crew
Aboard the mighty vessel
They had told the world what’s new
Once fattening up each others wallets
With their tales of warming woe
’til the reaper crept around them
With no alarm for them to know
When trading tales for truth
That seaside villages bells would peal
Rememb’rance notes across the waves
Now fattening only a leopard seal
Alan Robertson says:
December 28, 2013 at 10:31 am
Thanks for Bob Tisdale’s link.
Here’s a link to Zhang, 2007: http://psc.apl.washington.edu/zhang/Pubs/Zhang_Antarctic_20-11-2515.pdf
From Zhang Abstract: “The model shows that an increase in surface air temperature and downward longwave radiation results in an increase in the upper-ocean temperature and a decrease in sea ice growth, leading to a decrease in salt rejection from ice, in the upper-ocean salinity, and in the upper-ocean density. The reduced salt rejection and upper-ocean density and the enhanced thermohaline stratification tend to suppress convective overturning, leading to a decrease in the upward ocean heat transport and the ocean heat flux available to melt sea ice. The ice melting from ocean heat flux decreases faster than the ice growth does in the weakly stratified Southern Ocean, leading to an increase in the net ice production and hence an increase in ice mass. This mechanism is the main reason why the Antarctic sea ice has increased in spite of warming conditions ”
Zhang clearly made the case that warming water leads to more sea ice via the following mechanism:
warmer water –>greater upper ocean temperature –> less sea ice formation –> less salt rejection from ice formation –> less saline density in upper ocean layers –> enhanced thermohaline stratification –> suppressed convective overturning –> decrease in upward heat transfer –> less ice melting because upper ocean is colder –> greater sea ice production –> increased ice mass.
Therefore, per Zhang, warmer water makes for more sea ice. Who knew?
now why does this “more ice” not cause more salt rejection?
more salt rejection -> increase thermohaline circulation?
increase thermohaline circulation -> less ice?
Maybe this can be learned only after more grants have been granted, and then the circle will again close like:
less ice-> less salt rejection from ice formation -> enhanced thermohaline stratification …. more ice
next cycle, more grant money, sounds like a perpetuum mobile grants machine…
Robert says
“The surface of the glaciers melt, and water (heavier than ice) fall down to lubricate the glacier’s flow over land. The glaciers then calve into the sea with greater speed.”
Not in Antarctica. There is some sublimation, but practically no surface melting of glaciers, except locally in the peninsula, and certainly no large-scale penetration of surface meltwater to the glacier bed. This is a process that only occur in temperate glaciers, including the lower parts of the Greenland icecap. Antarctica is too cold. Part of the ice in Antarctica is wet-based too, but this is due to geothermal melting.
And while it is true that there is some freshening near the pack it is very modest, the salinity is about 33-34 per mil, i. e. about the same as along the US Pacific coast.
Ice breakers normally carry explosives, in case the pressure of the ice on the hull becomes too great. But i don’t think the PR value of blowing up penguins would go down too well……
Hopefully cannibalism doesn’t take place cause that would prove the cannibalism deniers wrong.
I’m not sure that the Aurora Australis will be able to help them in the current ice conditions. Its paltry 10MW is somewhat short of the power available on a true icebreaker. What they really need is a change of wind direction.
One of the problems that they may encounter is a fresh water shortage. The sea water suctions which feed the evaporators (or RO plant) can become blocked and inoperable in these sort of icing conditions and, as someone else has mentioned, the poo system will be soon full and will have to be pumped overboard. Fear not though – the manufacturers of marine shite plant usually claim that the “effluent” is clean enough to drink by the time it goes overboard. I’ve never seen anyone test that theory though….
I myself spent several drunken weeks “trapped” in the Weddell Sea on board RRS Bransfield, (which only had about 5000Hp), en-route to Halley. There was no internet or twitter feeds in those days and no BBC “journalists” on board, so no one was really bothered about us and we knew that the weather would open up a lead for us eventually.
“”The frustration is not knowing when we’re getting out of here, when we’re going to go home,” Ms Lawson told News Corp during a satellite phone interview.”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/anxious-wait-for-ice-stranded-ship-rescue/story-fni0xqi3-1226791424201
this story should have been #1 all week on Australian MSM – yet there is virtually nothing on the homepages of our major media outlets. partly it’s because the intention of the trip was ALWAYS ABOUT CAGW, and the present situation does not fit the meme at all:
6 Dec: SMH: Nicky Phillips: Fairfax Media trip to Antarctica to see the effects of climate change
In Antarctica, the weather controls everything, and nothing is a certainty – projects get postponed, trips get cancelled, flights get delayed, boats get stuck in ice, people get injured.
But global warming is an important story, and the trip will give Fairfax Media a rare opportunity to visit the continent most acutely affected by global warming. Antarctica is climate change ground zero. The data that scientists gather will play a crucial role in future climate models.
We will be down south over Christmas, New Year’s and the station’s annual resupply, a huge logistical challenge…
Colin Cosier:
The highlight of our trip will be visiting the ice core drilling project at Aurora Basin North. Located “deep field”, about 550 kilometres inland from Casey, the site is about 2700 metres above sea level but the air pressure will make it feel more like 3000 metres…
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/blogs/66-degrees-south/fairfax-media-trip-to-antarctica-to-see-the-effects-of-climate-change-20131206-2ywfj.html
15 Dec: Guardian Teacher Network: Emily Drabble: Antarctica – news and teaching resources round up
The Guardian’s expedition to the Antarctic is a fantastic opportunity to investigate one of the last unexplored regions on Earth. Here are the teaching resources you need to do it in style
The Antarctic is a unique place to monitor the health of our planet and the data collected from Mawson’s trip is some of the science community’s most precious, especially for those studying the extent of global warming. There are opportunities for you and your class to talk to scientists and journalists involved in the expedition, so do follow @alokjha, @loztopham, @GdnAntarctica and @guardianscience on Twitter…
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/dec/15/antarctica-teaching-resources
did these media companies put up some of the $1.5m funding for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, i wonder?
such a joke MSM worldwide has emphasised the Mawson angle!
this video, less than a minute, has Nicky Phillips (Fairfax) being filmed on Christmas Day by Colin Cosier (Fairfax/ABC). they are on the Aurora Australis ice-breaker, not the Akademik Shokalskiy, which isn’t named in this video, but which the ice-breaker is off to rescue. Nicky says unfortunately they won’t get to wherever they planned to go to study ice cores, which is one of the main reasons she and Cosier have been in the Antarctic for 3 weeks:
Christmas on an icebreaker (00:52)
Nicky Phillips and Colin Cosier’s Christmas day in Antarctica changed from a planned flight to a deep field camp into a rescue voyage in the sea ice. Credits CAMERA/EDIT: Colin Cosier
http://media.watoday.com.au/news/national-news/christmas-in-antarctica-5037954.html
u will not find this bland AAP report (which is precisely how this story has been reported all along in Australia) on Fairfax homepages. :
29 Dec: SMH: AAP: Steve Lillebuen: Anxious wait for ice-stranded ship rescue
Stranded passengers onboard a ship wedged in Antarctic sea ice are hours away from knowing if a second rescue attempt will fail like the first one…
A group of scientists, explorers and tourists has been stuck on the Russian research ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, about 1500 nautical miles south of Hobart, for the past five days.
Two icebreakers have already given up on efforts to push through the thick and dangerous ice floes near Antarctica to try to free the trapped research vessel.
A third icebreaker, Australia’s Aurora Australis, is on its way to the stranded ship and is due to arrive about 11pm (AEDT) on Sunday.
It is the last ship in the area that will be able to help…
Retired teacher Kayleen Lawson, of Brisbane, is onboard the stricken vessel after paying thousands to join the expedition as a tourist.
“The frustration is not knowing when we’re getting out of here, when we’re going to go home,” Ms Lawson told News Corp during a satellite phone interview.
“It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime, and it still is … but it’s turning out a little differently to what I expected…
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/anxious-wait-for-icestranded-ship-rescue-20131229-301ay.html
u will not find this on Fairfax homepages either:
29 Dec: Age: Nicky Phillips: Australian ice-breaker closes in on trapped Russian ship
Aurora captain Murray Doyle said it was always possible the ice would be too thick for the Xue Long.
”We were always option B,” he said. ”We were always going to be sent on until the end.”
Reports from the Chinese ice-breaker and the Akademik Shokalskiy say pack ice in the area is 10/10ths, which means the vessel is surrounded, and some ice floes are between three and four metres thick.
The Aurora could comfortably slice through ice up to 1.35 metres thick, and crash through thicker slabs by reversing and ramming.
But Mr Doyle was unsure how the ice-breaker would handle ice thicker than three metres. ”It’s not what we’re built for,” he said…
The Aurora is due to arrive near the pack ice that surrounds the Shokalskiy about 10pm on Sunday. ”Then it’s up to the rescue co-ordination centre in Canberra and what they want us to do,” Mr Doyle said. ”They might want us to go in or just stand by and wait.”
But it would be a waste of time trying to ram ice that was too thick. ”It’s like driving your car into a brick wall,” he said…
Mr Doyle said he would be wary of driving too far into the pack ice in order to avoid the Aurora also getting trapped.
During the past few days, the Shokalskiy was blasted by south-easterly winds, which applied more pressure to the pack ice around the ship. This would made the rescue operation harder still.
”But by the time we get there the weather could change,” Mr Doyle said. A westerly wind would ease the pressure on the ice and help break it up, he said.
The Xue Long and French ice-breaker L’Astrolabe will remain in the area should the Shokalskiy’s crew and passengers need to be evacuated.
http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/australian-icebreaker-closes-in-on-trapped-russian-ship-20131228-300pa.html
i only found this latest Phillips’ report by clicking on this link on the Age homepage & finding a link underneat the video:
29 Dec: VIDEO 51 secs: Age: Spirits high despite rescue snag in Antarctica
http://media.theage.com.au/national/selections/spirits-high-despite-rescue-snag-in-antarctica-5040480.html
29 Dec: Guardian: Alok Jha: Antarctic expedition: still icebound – what happens next is anyone’s guess
Like explorer Douglas Mawson 100 years ago, Alok Jha and the expedition he joined face a long wait to be rescued
Since then we have been stuck in pack ice. The Chinese icebreaker Xue Long has given up its attempt to rescue us as ice sheets continue to spread and thicken…
We were only two nautical miles from the ocean before Christmas, but that distance has now swelled to around 20 nautical miles as the blizzards and winds have continued. If the joint efforts of the Aurora Australis and Xue Long don’t work, the only other option will be to evacuate the ship by air, though this would be the absolute worst case scenario…
We – a group of scientists and paying members of the public acting as science assistants – plan to repeat many of Mawson’s scientific measurements in order to understand how this pristine landscape has changed over the past 100 years…
We arrived at Commonwealth Bay more than a week ago, dropping anchor at the edge of a glistening sheet of fast ice – so called because it is stuck fast to the edge of the land mass of Antarctica. In front of us was an alien landscape of pure, flat white. The expedition’s scientists began their work. Marine ecologist Tracey Rogers took biopsies and fur from several Weddell seals, material that will help her build a picture of what these animals have been eating for the past few years. Changes in food would be a signal that the Antarctic environment is irrevocably changing. (pat – HUH?)…
What happens to us now is anyone’s guess. If we hadn’t got stuck in ice last week, we would have visited Macquarie Island, an ecological jewel between Antarctica and New Zealand. There, scientists had ambitious plans to study penguin colonies and take geological samples to help reconstruct past climates. However, as we wait to be freed, it is probably a mistake to think about the future: because if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my brief time in this desolate, still and intriguing continent, it is that, in Antarctica, you can’t make plans. Here you can only have intentions. And a lot of hope.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/antarctica-live/2013/dec/29/antarctica-expedition-ice-wait-rescue
for the record, this is the company who allegedly booked tourists on the Akademik Shokalskiy:
25 Dec: ExpeditionsOnline: M/V Akademik Shokalskiy stuck in ice
NOTE TO NEWS REPORTERS: Expeditions Online is NOT the operator for this vessel but is an independent polar booking agent for this vessel and many other expedition ships.
http://expeditionsonline.com/more-information/news/mv-akademik-shokalskiy-stuck-ice/
ExpeditionsOnline: Spirit of Mawson Expedition
As a passenger you will be invited to act as a field assistant to help the scientists complete their ambitious programs. Your involvement will of course be voluntary and it may vary throughout the journey; dictated in part by the prevailing weather, conditions and some permit restrictions. It is an exciting concept that has not been tested in the Southern Ocean before…
The cost for participating starts from US$ 15,150. Further details may be found here.
http://expeditionsonline.com/more-information/news/join-spirit-mawson-expedition/
Pat
Thanks. Good stuff. Did you see/hear this video at 32 seconds?
http://media.theage.com.au/national/selections/spirits-high-despite-rescue-snag-in-antarctica-5040480.html
Nearly fell off my chair. Too funny. The tourists paid $15,000 USD and are learning how to tie knots. ☺☺ They should be working on first aid for hypothermia and frostbite next. I sincerely wish no harm to anyone, but would not be disappointed if there was some financial and physical hardship before this is over. The premises of this CAGW mission is absurd.
Thanks for posting the updates Pat … and others.
CAS
Wait, surely the Australian Icebreaker has exceeded its allowable CO2 emissions for 2013.
So unless the tourists pay up, to buy extraordinary carbon tax credits, the Aurora will have to stand down until the new year.
Buffy Minton at 5:00p.m. makes some excellent observations. As I surf around the news today it appears the MSM and Wikipedia have confused the capabilities and numerous classifications of ships with ice breaking capability, like Aurora Australis (IA Super) and Xue Long (B1), and are routinely referring to them as “icebreaker.” It appears what the Akademik Shokalskiy could really use is the cavalry in the form of a polar capable true icebreaker, like the USCGC Polar Sea.
Would appreciate any mariner with Antarctic experience explaining why they think the Shokalskiy cut it so close on this cruise. Is the trapped ship in danger of staying right where it is for days or weeks?
I noticed they were not teaching the tying of the hangman’s noose.
Nice info Pat!
Good points Buffy. RO units are useless in cold water, so a flash or submerged tube distillation is probably making shipboard potable water. The ship is a quite old and therefore unlikely to contain a modern Gatex type CHT incinerator; ditto for any other waste treatment system.
Since the ship is within 12 miles of land and most nations ban the dumping of CHT; It would be interesting to know if the our intrepid explorers are dumping “dukie” water in the pristine Antarctic waters? Perhaps a seal tissue biopsy from next year’s expedition will confirm that CAGW has forced the poor seals to eat shi*!
Alternatively, it must suck to pay 15k for the privilege of taking a dump in a bag.
[Please clarify your abbreviations when writing for a non-naval/non-shipbuilding audience. Mod]
[For the rest of us:
[RO = Reverse Osmosis (one modern method of making fresh water on board ships, older ships use waste engine heat or steam heating or electricity)
[CHT = Chemical Holding Tank (“chemical” being raw sewage in this case)]
Clive –
i got a belly laugh from the knot-tying lessons.
wish we could get the CAGW side of this whole story in the MSM, but it appears the MSM is monolithic when it comes to CAGW. it is the only thing that would explain how they all represented this trip as following in Mawson’s footsteps, when so much is available online prior to the ship getting stuck showing it was all about CAGW.
naturally, i hope everyone gets out of this situation safely, but this is the most ironic stunt ever performed by CAGW zealots.
“Turns out this “research” vessel was mostly a taxpayer funded junket for getting video stories to BBC in the UK and ABC in Australia, see update2 below”
That’s a big claim. Where’s the evidence to show that this is “mostly a taxpayer funded junket”?
SE winds to continue for three more days; will reach gale force at time. More pack ice will increase the distance required to free the stranded ship. The link only covers a three-day forecast. If any heavy weather is forecasted a helo evacuation will likely be ordered.
commonwealth bay antarctica weather forecast
Er, from above, in update II.
Now, I am trying to get this CAGW priest’s (er, “scientist’s”) arithmetic right: The 25 Nov press release claim he has a “85-person team” but there are 18 “professional scientists” on board (all of whom we assume can count, even if they cannot find their way out of ice fields freezing around their only life support system) + 22 “volunteers (who paid the $15,000.00 per person fee ?) + 22 man crew. Maybe the missing are safe back at home? Maybe they are merely padding the budget with man-hours?
I can’t help but follow this story with intense interest, but wanted to add to posted sentiment that I hope nobody is harmed during this hapless expedition.
As Bill Murray famously said, “I have to laugh”.
@RA Cook 8:32, those are climatology numbers, a bit like Bistro-mathematics.
As with the IPCC and their 2500 experts, a slight piece of numerical dyslexia as it turned out to be 0052 climatologists.
The 85 claimed -18 known is maths as done by these Post Normal Science gits,if audited they will be hidden in the deep as with the missing heat.
Or those missing 67 scientists must be off studying the plight of the 50? million missing climate change refugees.
Maybe they’re counting penguins as “Antarctic specialists”.
[Yes. Here are the specialists. — mod.]
It’s worce than we thought. Not only are they stuck with the Chinese icebreaker failing to release them, a French icebreaker also failed. The Australian icebreaker is onroute and going to try over the next day or two. How much diesel was burnt in this farce?
“Er, from above, in update II”
Once again – show me where the “taxpayer funded junket” is in any of that? Exactly how much taxpayer funding are you alleging?
“Techno says:
December 28, 2013 at 11:04 pm”
You have to do a bit of digging but the from the ABC link in Update II you find “CHRIS TURNEY, CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH CENTRE, UNSW”. The CCRC at UNSW is funded by the Australian research council’s National Competitive Grants Program. The UNSW itself is funded by taxpayers. This trip is costsing AU$1.5mil, according to the ABC article. In anyone’s English, that’s a taxpayer junket.
am hoping Anthony will start a new thread on this topic, with a link to this thread at the top so that people can follow the story to date:
Guardian’s Alok Jha & BBC’s Andrew Luck-Baker in the news again, but never allowing a passenger to have their say!
20 Dec: Guardian Antarctic Live: Alok Jha: Icebound Antarctic passengers face air rescue if ship cannot reach them soon
Passengers aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy, the ship stuck in ice off the coast of Antarctica since Christmas Day, were told on Sunday morning they would have to be evacuated by air if icebreaker ships could not get to them within 48 hours.
The Russian-operated ship has about 50 passengers – including scientists and paying members of the public – and 20 crew on board…
“What we’re depending on is the extra grunt of the Aurora Australis,” said Greg Mortimer, co-leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), which has chartered the ship. “It’s a more traditional icebreaker hull, which is like a bathtub with a big engine inside it – it can push over the ice and lay down on top and work its way like that.”…
Those on board the Shokalskiy will know within 12 hours of the arrival of the Aurora Australis whether the icebreaking mission is likely to be successful. Mortimer said the decision to evacuate would be in the hands of the captains of the icebreakers…
“The pressure at this point in time is one of time – that artificial contrivance of, well, we must get out of this situation as quickly as we can. But we don’t have to, we’re OK.”
That would change, he said, if an iceberg began moving towards the ship. The closest icebergs are several nautical miles away at present. If one came close, the Shokalskiy would have a day or two’s notice to carry out any necessary evacuation…
The mood on board has remained calm, with expedition leaders regularly briefing the rest of the passengers about the various options to get them out of the ice.
Mortimer, a veteran of Antarctica with more than 100 visits to the continent under his belt, said he was not surprised by the difficulty the Shokalskiy has faced this week.
“The combination of elements is really unfortunate – a couple of blizzards and many, many days blowing in the wrong direction has piled heaps of trouble on our shoulders,” he said. “The power of the forces at work, that’s the constant reminder – how overwhelmingly powerful the natural forces are here. That’s the fearsome, gnarly-teeth side of Antarctica and its great beauty as well, its allure.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/antarctica-live/2013/dec/29/trapped-antarctic-passengers-air-evacuation
29 Dec: Radio New Zealand: Helicopter flys over stranded ship
A helicopter from the Chinese ice-breaker, Xue Long (Snow Dragon), has flown over the Russian research ship, Akademik Shokalskiy, which remains stuck in Antarctic sea ice.
The helicopter did not land and it is thought the flight was a test run should it be needed to evacuate the 74 people onboard the research ship…
The BBC’s Andrew Luck-Baker is onboard the Akademik Shokalskiy and says conditions have improved over the past few hours.
“The pack ice seems to be opening up a little bit all the way around us, in fact there are big cracks appearing away towards the horizon, pools of water beginning to open up and we’re just wondering whether this is our lucky break.”…
The BBC reports that although trapped for the moment, the scientists are continuing their experiments. They have been measuring temperature and salinity through cracks in the surrounding ice…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/232119/helicopter-flys-over-stranded-ship
Patrick says:
December 28, 2013 at 11:46 pm
“…In anyone’s English, that’s a taxpayer junket.”
________________________
It’s just a business expense.
The governments of the world are in the business of increasing their wealth and power by tightening control of their populations. What greater yoke than to get the people to willingly submit to taxation of the very air that they breathe in the name of CO2 reduction.
Rob Ricket at 7:32PM
I’ve travelled in a couple of vessels of this class, and while they are old they have been comprehensively modernized so they probably have CHT incinerators or similar, particularly since the environmental requirements for tourist traffic in Antarctica are very strict (much stricter than for government-sponsored activities).
Don says:
“Would appreciate any mariner with Antarctic experience explaining why they think the Shokalskiy cut it so close on this cruise. Is the trapped ship in danger of staying right where it is for days or weeks?”
I’m no mariner, but I have travelled on ships of this class in both the Arctic and the Antarctic and I am quite surprised that they have gotten themselves into this situation. The captains and officers usually have extensive arctic experience, and while ships of this type must necessarily take somewhat larger risks than ordinary cruise ships it is strange that they took on this trip. Normal tourist trips to East Antarctica go to the Ross Sea area which is more or less ice-free in summer (and more photogenic). The Commonwealth bay area has a very bad reputation for extreme katabatic winds (Mawson’s book on the 1911-12 expedition wasn’t called “The home of the Blizzard” for nothing). I presume they must have been paid a lot more than the ordinary charter rates to risk it.
Someone should take a good hard look at Aurora Expeditions.
This mob has been taking ‘adventure tourists’ down to Antarctica for many years, and knows exactly what the ice has been doing. Forget the modelling – they’ve seen the reality for themselves. But that hasn’t stopped them from making good money out of welcoming the next mob of useful idiots on board. In January 2009 it was “Terribly sorry, everyone, but we’ve had a nasty surprise! The Ross Sea has frozen over in an unusual weather event and we can’t get you down to Deep Antarctica to see the things you paid $A20,000 to see” Similar situation the previous year, according to shipboard scuttlebutt. Well, when you read the fine print they don’t actually promise anything, they shrug their shoulders about unexpected weather, and if you’re one of the suckers what can you do?
Just never forget feeling dudded, and not forgetting who did the dudding.
“I presume they must have been paid a lot more than the ordinary charter rates to risk it.”
Chinese ice-braker has given up. Now investigating a landing site for their helicopter to evacuate tourist “science assistants”.
Since it’s now the middle of summer I guess that implies abandoning the ship. It will be interesting to see what conclusions the flotilla of eco-warriors draw from their “research” exercise.
Warren in New Zealand says:
December 28, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Akadamik may be left with skeleton crew.
You didn’t mean to say
Akadamik may be left with skeletons of the crew.
?
🙂
***I’m no mariner, but I have travelled on ships of this class in both the Arctic and the Antarctic and I am quite surprised that they have gotten themselves into this situation. ***
My guess is that they gave too much leeway to Chris Turney. Maybe he thought that the ice was “rotten” as Barber did in the Arctic.
Okay, the Aurora Australis should be on site. Where’s the 24 hour coverage? Where’s the Web cam? Where’s the on-the-spot reporter on a caffeine high?
Ric Werme, We know the answer to your questions. If this was a story which showed that CAGW had some credence, then the MSM would be doing what you suggest. But since the opposite is occurring, then the less said about it the better, so far as The Team is concerned.
I believe the junket was a success in that the central question was answered. The headline will read: Climate change causes weirding. And there is no better proof of how weird it is than to be caught in ice in summer on board a research vessel equipped to break through ice. The sad part about this is that watermelons will believe it is connected to CO2 hook, line and sinker.
Passengers reveal how they are coping on stranded MV Akademik Shokalskiy in Antarctica
Sir Douglas could get there, they can’t. Otherwise all is well except “The beer is running low.“
The extremely inconvenient truth:
More ice at the South Pole now than we had during the day’s of Sir Douglas Mawson who simply sailed the same route where the Academic Shokalskiy is trapped right now. Wattsupwitthat?
When are we going to stop replying to the hubris told by the warmista’s.
You can’t have a sane conversation with idiots.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/#
Where is the Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star? It left Seattle three weeks ago headed for the Antarctic, and should be in the area by now.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/12/04/coast-guard-icebreaker-deploys-to-antarctica.html
Scientists trapped in Antarctic Sea Ice say “it’s disappearing…..”
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/scientists-trapped-in-record-sea-ice-announce-that-it-is-disappearing/
We can stop the rescue operations now, the problem is solved.
As I said before, total idiots.
Rationalization Follows: By Dr Masson
“Sea ice packs could also raft up on top of each other, doubling the thickness of the ice and forming pressure ridges several metres thick, he said. Sea ice could occur anywhere around the cost of Antarctica, but that particular area had changed due to the calving of icebergs – when icebergs break away from the land ice and float away.” Says Dr Masson.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/third-vessel-heads-to-rescue-passengers-on-akademik-shokalskiy-trapped-in-antarctic-ice-20131229-301rp.html
No comments so far. They must require a positive tone.
I hear Vladimir Putin is very concerned.
He has asked a BP tanker to refuel a Japanese whaling ship in order to convey special forces to the area so they are free before the Winter Olympic amnesty season comes to an end.
A statement from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition:
We’re stuck in our own experiment. We came to Antarctica to study how one of the biggest icebergs in the world has altered the system by trapping ice. We followed Sir Douglas Mawson’s footsteps into Commonwealth Bay, and are now ourselves trapped by ice surrounding our ship.
Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up. We have found this has changed the system on many levels. The increase in sea ice has freshened the seawater below, so much so that you can almost drink it. This change will have impacts on the deep ocean circulation.
Underwater, forests of algae are dying as sea-ice blocks the light. Who can say what effects the regional circulation changes may have on the ice sheet of the Antarctic plateau, or whether the low number of seals suggests changes to their population.
http://www.news.com.au/national/stricken-russian-ship-mv-akademik-shokalskiy-with-aussie-scientists-aboard-is-playing-the-waiting-game-in-antarctica/story-fncynjr2-1226791671102
If you tried to sell a story to Hollywood about this level of blind stupidity on a different topic, no one would believe it, or buy it.
Mike says:
December 29, 2013 at 9:35 am
Where is the Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star? It left Seattle three weeks ago headed for the Antarctic, and should be in the area by now.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/12/04/coast-guard-icebreaker-deploys-to-antarctica.html
___________________________
Their radio’d orders were a bit garbled and confusing and were misinterpreted as “head for Vladivostok”, instead of “head for Vostok” and the crew has recently reported that their GPS navigation system has been reprogrammed and they are underway.
Alan Robertson says:
December 29, 2013 at 12:17 am
Patrick says:
December 28, 2013 at 11:46 pm
“…In anyone’s English, that’s a taxpayer junket.”
________________________
It’s just a business expense.
The governments of the world are in the business of increasing their wealth and power by tightening control of their populations. What greater yoke than to get the people to willingly submit to taxation of the very air that they breathe in the name of CO2 reduction.
Except that the new Australian Government is lead by a man of some integrity who is on record as saying the ‘global warming’ scare is crap.
Obviously this is one of many junkets that will slip through the cracks while the new Government tries to get a grip in the purse strings, hampered by a senate that is preventing the passing of many bills including the repeal of the Carbon Tax.
What really burns my biscuit is that having funded this craptitude, we Aussie taxpayers now have to fund all these attempts to rescue these numpty’s – and it is increasingly looking,oike a helicopter rescue and a crushed and sunk ship.
Not that the Aussie MSM will report much, so far I have seen exactly ONE report on C9 – and that emphasizes the ‘retracing the 100 old year journey’ thing. No word of ‘Climate change’ – my missus thinks I am a prophet because I said it would be about ‘CC’ and then went looking for the proof 😀
http://www.theguardian.com/world/antarctica-live/video/2013/dec/29/akademik-shokalskiy-evacuated-helicopter-improve-video
Expedition leader says “ship may be stuck for some time”. Like until it sinks 😉
Marine ecologist Tracey Rogers tells us the “whole area transformed over the last 2, 3 days ” and it’s credibly unusual to have such dense multi-year pack ice in Antarctica”.
Well if it’s “multi-year” it can’t be that unusual can it? They seems so engulfed in their own spin that they could drown and say it was because of the drought caused by global warming.
AAE: “Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up. ”
Maybe the had the map upside down when planning the trip. Antarctic sea ice has been increasing since as long as we’ve been watching yet they say it’s “disappearing due to climate change”. Incredible.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.anomaly.antarctic.png
Well no, actually it’s _increasing_ , “due to climate change” or not, it’s there and you’re stuck in it.
Jeezus , these guys are so dense it must the result of multi-decadal build-up. You just can’t get that stupid in a year or two.
Akademika Sokoldsky , niet meltsky !!
HedgingContrarianism (@JackHBarnes) says:
December 29, 2013 at 10:04 am
“A statement from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition:…
http://www.news.com.au/national/stricken-russian-ship-mv-akademik-shokalskiy-with-aussie-scientists-aboard-is-playing-the-waiting-game-in-antarctica/story-fncynjr2-1226791671102
If you tried to sell a story to Hollywood about this level of blind stupidity on a different topic, no one would believe it, or buy it.”
_____________________
True to form, those people are spinning this for all it’s worth and some of their spin is so obviously wrong, that one wonders if they are grossly incompetent, or just liars. For instance: “ The increase in sea ice has freshened the seawater below, so much so that you can almost drink it. “ 180 degrees opposite of the truth. Surrounding sea water would increase in salinity as the ice freezes and expels salt. These “scientists are either grossly incompetent , or are merely PR flacks, lying just like all PR flacks are paid to do.
vukcevic says:
December 29, 2013 at 4:45 am
Warren in New Zealand says:
December 28, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Akadamik may be left with skeleton crew.
You didn’t mean to say
Akadamik may be left with skeletons of the crew.
🙂 That is worth a laugh Vukcevic Thank you
8.30am news here is that the Aurora is at the edge of the ice sheet, and waiting for clear weather before attempting to proceed into the ice.
Upcoming news will be, “2 ice breakers trapped in ice, Akademik still listing, send Beer”
Aurora Australis – ship webcam
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora
Good link Hedging!
What utter nonsense! Are there no limits to the lies these hijackers of Science will peddle! There is no Science being conducted on this expedition; unless, obfuscation of truth through sophistry passes for the advancement of knowledge.
Media outlets faithfully report these lies which are incessantly parroted by useful idiots devoid of critical thinking skills. So, in this latest revision of the expedition’s mission statement, we are to believe (contrary to prior mission statements) that the principal focus was to study an iceberg! The truth be told, the ship was trapped because the expedition leader insisted on transiting tourists to Mawson’s huts.
Incidentally, (not to detract from the heroic nature of the Mawson expedition) I haven’t been able to find Mawson’s raw data online. One would think that such important data would have been catalogued for mass consumption. Of one outcome we can be certain: the expedition resulted in Australia laying claim to a third of the Antarctic land mass. Science marches on!
With regard to removing comments that show ill will toward these charlatans, sure keep it classy.
But I too bite my tongue and resist the urge to wish an end befitting their actions.
My sympathy does go to the rescuers and the ships crew, the various taxpayers funding this mess and the families of the activists.
But its hard to not bless them on their way.
Derision for people who are either severely deluded or thieving parasites, now getting served up, by mother nature, a fate that directly contradicts their preaching.
This is just too funny.
Mike and Alan: Thanks for mentioning the USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10). Yesterday I erroneously referred to it’s twin, the Polar Sea (WAGB-11) when I meant to type Polar Star. The current difference between the two is stark. Polar Star is at sea; Polar Sea keeps getting reprieves from the scrappers by direct intervention of U. S. Senators from Washington State and Alaska. At a minimum, the Polar Sea needs the same extensive overhaul the Polar Star received.
I’m sorry I can’t help it, there is so much irony in this story it’s cured my anaemia.
What I can’t help is when I see this link;
http://www.news.com.au/national/stricken-russian-ship-mv-akademik-shokalskiy-with-aussie-scientists-aboard-is-playing-the-waiting-game-in-antarctica/story-fncynjr2-1226791671102
With the picture of the penguin by the ship I can’t help thinking up captions for the penguin. Maybe we should have a caption competition. My poor effort is;
“that’s all we need at Christmas, tell the neighbours there’s a load of religious zealots arrived on a ship breaking up the ice trying to sell books on global warming”.
This never would have happened if they had used a solar powered ice breaker.
[snip – bit over the top -mod]
The Antarctic sea ice gains have been occurring over several years and are a result of the complex interaction of the ozone hole and surface winds. Unfortunately, for every sq km gained in the south, 3-5 sq km are lost in the Arctic.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/pics/GlobalSeaIce.gif
It should be noted that land ice, the ice that actually affects sea levels is decreasing at an alarming rate in both the Arctic and the Antarctic. This was the ice referred to in the Al Gore article that was incorrectly discredited in an above comment.
One of the greatest challenges of climate science is its very easy to pick holes in global warming theory by looking at contrary examples of local climate phenomenon without looking at the global trend.
Your statement (the conclusion that “for every sq km gained in the south, 3-5 sq km are lost in the Arctic) is false. Dead wrong.
Even the linked gif in your own paragraph shows your claim to be wrong. Actually, right now, real figures from today’s date for NSIDC’s sea ice plots: you “might” just find that 1.500 million km^2 “positive” above normal IS present around the Antarctic, while the Arctic is about 0.550 million km^2 below normal for this date. Your so-claimed “deficit” is a POSITIVE at this date.
For the past two years, Antarctic sea ice has been consistently two std deviations ABOVE normal levels for sea ice, AND that sea ice extends around the continent to latitude 60 south at maximum extents in September.
On the other hand, Arctic sea ice lately (last 12 years) is only 3.5 – 4.0 million sq km AT ITS MINIMUM in September. We can lose AT MOST only another 3.5 million sq km2. That is it. How much larger can Antarctic sea ice get? There is no limit. At today’s rate of Antarctic sea ice increase, Cape Horn itself could be closed to ship traffic due to sea ice within 8-10 years for months at a time every September and October.
But that little bit of remaining 3.5 Mkm^2 Arctic sea ice is up between latitude 78 north to 83 north. At that latitude, in mid and late September when arctic sea ice is at its minimum extents, there is MORE heat lost from open waters due to more evaporation losses, more conduction losses, more convective losses, and more radiation losses from open sea water than can be gained from that exposed water getting heated by the ever-lower sun angles! At those latitudes, at that time of year, the HIGHEST the sun can get is 8 – 12 degrees above the horizon, air masses are 18 to 34. There simply is no solar heat penetrating the atmosphere at those low solar angles to be gained if the Arctic ice continues to melt.
The more the Arctic sea ice melts from today’s minimum extents in August and September, the more the planet loses heat energy to space and cools down ever more. Your CAGW’s religiously amplified but majestically feared “arctic amplification” due to sea ice meltdown is totally, completely backwards.
But it is worse than you think!
At today’s levels of BOTH minimum AND maximum extent in the Antarctic seas, today’s (and last year’s!) record breaking sea ice extents DO reflect much more solar energy than the exposed waters! At 60 – 70 degrees, ALL YEAR, every day, the record-breaking Antarctic sea ice extents IS reflecting MORE solar energy and IS cooling the planet down even more.
And thus we slide quickly into the next major ice age.
dr. turney,
hope you are still in good spirits. we will be constructing and sailing a solar-powered ice-breaking kayak as soon as we can locate a piece of driftwood of suitable size from which it can be whittled. it will be piloted by algore as he is the last man on earth not paralyzed by the hilarity of it all. praise gaia.
Xue Long underway making 3.4 knots. Likely keeping station in a narrow box,
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:144.4792/centery:-66.72189/zoom:8/mmsi:412863000
Winds reported by Long (if accurate) are well within the safe range for helicopter operations.
Mawson station reporting winds at 19 km/hr.
Mancey, what are you going to believe your own eyes and the actual data, or those lying fools at SkS?
The current aggregate sea ice extent is nearly one million square km above the 30 year average for this date. Go look at the WUWT Sea Ice page and arm yourself with some knowledge.
Does anyone know how to say “fraudulent plan to further economic equalization”. Facts prove there has been no global warming since 1997. No matter what happens the GW-CC crowd will come up with a fresh new theory to try to show they were just confussed in their interpretation of data not wrong.
https://www.cfact.org/2013/12/12/chilling-facts-about-the-global-warming-debate/
global warming is not science. science goes like this:
1) extensive research
2) postulate theory
3) endless testing and observation
4) offer your theory as being plausible
5) go back to 3
anti-scientific, feelgood alarmism goes like this:
1) declare your favorite cause to be a fact
2) manipulate data to show a trend
3) scare people into giving you more money and power
4) when dire prediction fails, claim it proves your point.
5) go back to 3
wordsmeanthings,
Don’t you mean “2) postulate
theoryhypothesis”? Or ‘conjecture’?…oh. I see. You’re explaining how the warmist scientists do it.
Carry on.
Rescue postponed. They must be getting testy by now and out of booze. Karma lives. Oh how sweet it is!
I’m so disappointed that the “God father of hype” Al Gore couldn’t have enjoyed this Antarctic experience. He could have come up with another theory and made even more money!
lol 3rd Ice breaker on the way….wonder if this one will get stuck as well…..they got on the Australis via helicopter a few days ago
After St.Petersburg Macarov Maritime University(Russia), I worked in Antarctis zone, Grutwiken, etc….Be as a tourist, I’d stay at this ship to the end for endless true travel. Good for You, crewmembers of Academic Shokalskiy. Mолодцы, ребята! Не обращайте внимание на
убогих индусов типа NiggRat, которые способны быть по всему миру только лавочниками…
By the way, where is information about next cruises of Academic Shokalskiy?
I’m guessing that the ship’s schedule will be to be crushed by the ice in the next few months, then to make a one-way trip to Davey Jones’ Locker the next time the ice breaks up (next year? in ten years? ??)