An Icy Blast Of Scepticism Greets Climate Expedition
Rescuers in Antarctica have safely transferred all 52 passengers stranded on the ice-bound research vessel Akademik Shokalskiy. The Shokalskiy has been trapped since Christmas Eve. Its 22 crew are expected to remain on board to wait until the vessel becomes free. The ice-bound research vessel has been trapped since Christmas Eve. One of the aims is to track how quickly the Antarctic’s sea ice is disappearing. —BBC News, 2 January 2014
Reporting on the environmental movement has always required a certain sense of humor. In an earlier age, explorers who so badly underestimated the expanse of polar ice would surely have perished. But the 74 passengers and crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy are thriving. In this season of new beginnings we have here a chance to appreciate the amazing technologies created by free people. For they allow us to laugh at the folly of our fellow humans, rather than having to mourn their passing. —Editorial, The Wall Street Journal, 2 January 2014
The aim of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, led by Chris Turney of the University of NSW, was to prove the East Antarctic ice sheet is melting. Its website spoke alarmingly of “an increasing body of evidence” showing “melting and collapse from ocean warming”. As they are transferred to sanctuary aboard the icebreaker Aurora Australis, Professor Turney and his fellow evacuees must accept the embarrassing failure of their mission shows how uncertain the science of climate change really is. They cannot reasonably do otherwise. —Editorial, The Australian, 2 January 2013
Climate scientist Chris Turney’s team of embedded global media and paying science-minded tourists has spent the festive season trapped in sea ice instead of exploring what melting ice caps mean for mankind. Turney is lamenting that he has become trapped in his own experiment. But the bottom line is, once again, nature has drifted from the script. Unfortunately for Turney the take-out of the mission for a legion of sceptical bloggers worldwide has been “global warming scientists forced to admit defeat because of too much ice”. –Graham Lloyd, The Australian, 2 January 2014
Who pays for the rescue of the Akademik Shokalskiy? According to the Age: The operators of a ship stricken in the southern ocean are facing a multimillion-dollar expense bill, as a third vessel began a rescue attempt five days after the tourist ship became trapped in sea ice. Under the Treaty of the Safety of Life at Sea, vessels are required to respond to a distress message, with the costs incurred a matter for the ship owners after the event, the AMSA said. These can include fuel costs, crew costs and loss of revenue. –Paul Homewood, Not A Lot Of People Know That, 30 December 2013
Winter sea ice cover in the Antarctic has grown to its largest extent since satellite records began in the late 1970s, defying most climate models and muddying the waters of the global warming debate. The data runs contrary to the projections of many climate-change models. Scientists appear unable to definitively explain the phenomenon, but believe increasingly strong winds in Antarctica and an increase in rain and snow on the Southern Ocean are the most likely factors. Some fear the findings may fuel climate-change scepticism, given that sea ice is said to be the “canary in the coalmine” of global warming. –Matthew Denholm, The Australian, 24 October 2013
Thanks to The GWPF and Dr. Benny Peiser for the compilation
Next they’ll probably be headed to the Arctic to show the world how all the Polar Bears are dying.
I am very glad that the passengers have been rescued. I hope the crew will remain safe.
Let’s just wait and see what sort of spin they put on it once they get back on dry land in front of the world’s media. I don’t suppose there is much doubt about what the BBC and the Guardian will say (if they say anything – will it be allowed to go away quietly or will it be spun into proof of global warming?), but I do think we need to be ready to write copious quantities of letters to the newspapers and make sure the public is not fooled by this fiasco.
So our intrepid explorers win an (all expense paid?) trip to the Casey station on the continent. I wonder what they’ll be doing while there. I’m sure they won’t get a great reception from the researchers there who were hours away from getting their gear for their summer’s work before the Australis left in haste to rescue Turney’s folly.
Perhaps they can be put to work helping to unload the ship. Beyond that, if I were the ship’s master I’d be inclined to confine them to the ship. There seems to be little reason to let them off.
“safely transferred all 52 passengers stranded … Its 22 crew are expected to remain on board”
___
Phew, at least it is not sinking. There could have been some cruel metaphors there too.
It’s been said that Winston Churchill once stated that the best argument against democracy is to spend about five minutes talking to the average voter.
After this fiasco, perhaps the best argument against CAGW is to spend five minutes talking to the average, government funded (just a guess, but almost all of them are), partisan (just a guess, but almost all of them are), agenda driven (just a…), climate scientist.
P.S. A lot of commenters in the previous thread expressed rightful concern for the safety of these marooned scientists and recommended toning down any sarcasm about their plight until they were safely rescued. I think those were thoughtful viewpoints.
But, now that they’re rescued – let it rip!
For nearly a decade, the global warming cultists have perpetuated fear of their own version of the apocalypse by pointing out the ice loss in the western Antarctic peninsula.
Me mum bought into this. She sent around an email abt it one day. I answered back that the Antarctic, overall, was gaining ice, and its overall ice volume trumps the Arctic.
So, overall, years ago, it was easy to show one person that the issue is spin and propaganda.
This event will shift the attention away from the WAP and to the entire Antarctic ice and sea ice volume and trend. The general public, trusting but not indoctrinated, will one by one continue to give up on the communist version of the apocalypse.
If Turney claims the sea ice extent was as expected because of gw, he’s admitting criminal culpability
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/abc_whitewash_dont_mention_warmists_are_on_board_the_ice_bound_ship/
The ABC’s 7.30 last night filed an astonishing report on the ship load of warmist scientists and journalists trapped by ice as they tried to prove global warming was melting Antarctica.
What was astonishing was that not once in that report did the ABC mention “global warming” or “climate change” or even “climate scientists”. It did everything humanly possible to cover up the most embarrassing PR disaster in years for the global warming movement.
How different it was last November, when the ABC in a two-part report eagerly presented Professor Chris Turney’s Antarctic expedition as a serious scientific quest to prove how global warming was damaging Antarctica. Back then it couldn’t mention climate change enough…
I hope the tourists, journalists and scientists will offset all the carbon emissions caused by their cruise, and by the rescue efforts, by producing an equivalent amount of money on dynamo-equipped bicycles, OWS-style? At 1 kWh output a day they only need to bike for 7 years to offset one barrel of oil. (ca. 2000 kWh energy content)
Tom J says:
January 2, 2014 at 6:48 am
“It’s been said that Winston Churchill once stated that the best argument against democracy is to spend about five minutes talking to the average voter.”
More self-aware than I thought. Churchill got elected.
* How did a thinly veiled activist jolly like this get taxpayer funding?
* What formal operational planning was done ?
* Where’s the research and how does it stack up in the related research community?
* Why did they dally longer and get caught?
* Why did they not have any aerial assets in a known dynamic ice area (cheap / disposable CCTV drone)?
* Where’s the accounts?
* Where’s the charter document?
* What have the stranded vessel’s owners got to say?
Will P&O / AAD + China + France be billing for the response ?
elmer says:
January 2, 2014 at 6:38 am
“Next they’ll probably be headed to the Arctic to show the world how all the Polar Bears are dying.”
Nah, they’ll participate in the annual getting-stuck-while-trying-to-cross-the-NW-passage olympiad.
Why were they rescued at all? Were they in imminent danger? The crew seems to be fine to stay on the ship until it is freed of ice. Why couldn’t somebody have air-dropped a load of supplies and said see you in the spring?
The crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy remain on the ship pending further plans at saving the ship. Good luck to them on getting improving weather, sea and sea ice conditions from the naturally occurring Antarctic forces.
It will be interesting when the crew starts getting interviewed by Russian reporters about why / how they let their ship Akademik Shokalskiy become icebound.
John
We all know that had they sailed into Commonwealth Bay in the exact same conditions as Mawson did ~100 years ago they would have spent the last week pumping out wall to wall alarm.
elmer says:
January 2, 2014 at 6:38 am
Next they’ll probably be headed to the Arctic to show the world how all the Polar Bears are dying.
The MSM views Polar Bears as cute, cuddly, Coke drinking, Christmas celebrating, cell phone using, pleasant creatures while the Polar Bears view us as a tasty snack.
Just an observation.
I’m looking forward to their paper on how this event was fully consistent with global warming and why all the icesheets present a clear and present danger to out children and grandchildren. And why they really need to go back to do further research.
I hope their grant providers will say: NO. Enough is enough.
From 10:40, a radio interview with Chris Turney from before he set off on the voyage of blunder.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03jfc49
Douglas Mawson was a hero. Chris Turney is not.
Chris Turney says he will follow the same route, reproducing a lot of the same measurements (temperature, salinity, looking at fauna) but using modern equipment.
Sadly, he was not using old-school competence.
It’s worth hearing about Douglas Mawson to remind ourselves what real explorers did.
I admit I thought it was funny in the first few days, the irony of it all. I truly began to worry for these people as the days passed and the situation became complicated. I also worried for the rescuers. The actual helicopter ride must have been the worst, or it would’ve been for me. Knowing you were choppering over all that ice and extreme bitter cold, your moral low, living with secret fear for days on end, then putting your lives in the hands of foreigners, your life in the fates of the helicopter itself, flying through those conditions with the very real possibility of crashing or having to land on the “ground” in Antarctica, all the while knowing about the coming bill and the fact that you put people in jeopardy, knowing there would be a wall of shame waiting for your return. (Ice) burned hands teach best. I will not seek to chastise these people. Their punishment has fit their crime.
The Assoc Press report includes this pull-quote from Turley, “I’m a bit sad it’s ended this way,” he said. “But we got lots and lots of great science done.”
No doubt this great science will appear in Nature Geoscience next week, all peer-reviewed and ready for prime time.
Totally delusional
Oh, and about the fate of the 22 Russian crew, Herr Doktor Turley is conspicuously silent
Congratulations to Snow Dragon and Aurora Australis crews for a rescue operation. They rescued among others a Green Party Senator Janet Rice, whose video is definitely worth remembering:
Every time I see the name of the ship my brain translates it to Shloky Academy. Seems to fit. God watch over the mariners left behind by the self important and self anointed.
pbh
Michael,
Think about this for a minute….
January in Antarctica is SUMMER
Couldn’t these “climate scientits” (I’m using the term very loosely here) come up with a less-expensive tool to measure evidence of ice sheet melting than their own icebreaker?
Besides, it might end up being a news story so embarrassing most AGW-leaning news organizations would refuse to cover it!
Oh, wait!….
That’s exactly what’s happened!
I submit it’s Nature’s way of laughing at their hubris, ignorance, and stupidity.
And they wonder why respone to a recent poll had “Climate Change” getting just 1%.
They blame Skeptics but they really are a Ship of Fools.
The spin; Turney a modern day Hans Solo? Climate ‘expert’ Chris Turney exposes/blames frozen conditions on big oil villain’s super-secret carbonite machine.
Meanwhile, back in the real world — December 31,2013, six days after the ship of fools were locked in ice, global sea ice area was the largest ever recorded. http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/december-31-global-sea-ice-area-was-the-largest-ever-recorded/
The BBC News this morning featured this rescue and their resident Climate expert explained how they got stuck in the Ice, it was because the weather and the ice flow was Weird, Very, Very Weird.
ie extreme weather due to Climate change, they will never admit the facts.
‘Why were they rescued at all? Were they in imminent danger? The crew seems to be fine to stay on the ship until it is freed of ice. Why couldn’t somebody have air-dropped a load of supplies and said see you in the spring?’
Great point!
Never mind, the BBC here in the UK has already started the whitewash. This afternoon’s 1pm news programme ‘The World At One’ led-off with this story and then handed the mic to a CAGW zealot to remind us all – entirely uninterrupted – that this was a ‘highly professional scientific expedition’ doing ‘important work for the future of the planet’. She also managed to slip in a few sneering comments disparaging the critics of this ill-fated Antarctic adventure on the twittersphere.
The BBC has never been one to allow any of the actual facts get in the way of the their agreed narrative when it comes to climate change. Must be that famous BBC ‘impartiality’ at work again.
For some real entertainment, the Guardian has decided that attack is the best form of defense. Take a look at the comments!
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/02/antarctic-ship-stranding-delights-climate-change-sceptics
DirkH
January 2, 2014 at 7:07 am
James Madison is considered the architect of the U.S. Constitution (although Alexander Hamilton may have guided him a bit). He wrote that a pure democracy can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction; a common interest or passion would be felt by the majority and in a democracy there was nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party. He wrote that, as a result, democracies were as short in their lives as they were violent in their deaths.
Following Jefferson, Madison went on to become President of the United States.
I wonder if this fiasco in the Antarctic is an example of democracy at work in science: the democracy Madison warned against. We always [hear] about “the majority of scientists agree.” If science has adopted democracy, in place of replicable experiment, as its guiding light, then perhaps this outcome at the South Pole was inevitable
jaymam says:
January 2, 2014 at 6:53 am
…not once in that report did the ABC mention “global warming” or “climate change” or even “climate scientists”. It did everything humanly possible to cover up the most embarrassing PR disaster in years for the global warming movement.”
—————-
Ditto the BBC TV news at lunchtime today. There was a film from their on-board propagandist which said nothing at all about the purpose of the trip and only in the studio intro and outro was the ship referred to merely as a “Russian research” vessel. This conveniently suggested to the unwary that the research was Russian and omitted any mention of climate at all.
The best arguments against democracy are found in its origins as argued by Karl Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies and the subsequent and more focussed The Poverty of Historicism. Remember that Popper’s next previous masterwork was The Logic of Scientific Discovery here on point.
Popper’s jeremiad begins with notice of Plato’s mistranslation, that led to Hegel’s failed syllogistic dialectic, that gave us Marx’s woeful errors. Historicism is the fallacy that history is premise to a logic-like syllogism and necessary conclusions.
Dr Turney, the first well documented occurrence of a “Tourist Scientist”.
@RockyRoad
I really hope that wasn’t a type “scientits” is the best name for them
Gary says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:22 am
—–
I think you are being far too charitable. They are already trying to spin it into a success story. The pressure should not come off for them or anyone supporting them. Too many free passes have been given in the last 20 years.
Oh goody, they have been extracted off of the boat. I see that CNN continues the propaganda…. It is not until you get to the end of the article when you find out why they are there (if you can sift it out from the muted tone)…. “Turney’s expedition to gauge the effects of climate change on the region began on November 27.”
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/
We came
We saw
We got stuck in 🙂
Alok Jha tweeted about an hour ago that the crew had been rescued. I think he actually means the Guardian crew because the link in the tweet goes to a Guardian blog page showing a video of the second (of 5) helicopter arrivals at the Aurora saying that party included him and Topham. A bit strange though to say the crew has been rescued when he’s been referring to the 22-strong Shokalskiy crew as the crew.
Anyway, if you scroll to the next story, he asks the resident Scientist from the Shokalskiy to pronounce on whether she thinks the rescue had any impact on other science in Antarctica due to the Aurora’s diversion. Despite the widely reported disgust of the scientists at [Casey], she said the effect would be minimal. I’m so glad to know that. Thanks for sharing your superior expertise with us. I’ll take the Casey statement with a pinch of salt in that case.
Just a small note: Does everyone know that Turney and his family have heavily and mightily invested in a ‘Green’ company Carbonscape. Everything he says can be viewed as conflict of interest. BUT the second irony is Carbonscape makes charcoal and sells it as Green Charcoal with magic C02 sequestration properties, and since they use microwaves to make it, less C02 was used to make it so it is a better charcoal to burn on your barbie than others!
Whoops! Casey, not Calgary. Got it right second time.
Let the spin begin!
“Our global warming climate expedition was a great success. We discovered where the heat is missing.”
@MangoChutney
I would go with “scientwists” in terms of their public utterances. But “scientits” fits nicely too.
I’m glad to see that their iceolation ended with no injuries.
Now, who foots the bill for all the rescue attempts?
@Stacy
And on the concensus
“I came, I saw, I concurred”
RichardLH says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:50 am
Dr Turney, the first well documented occurrence of a “Tourist Scientist”.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Considering how close Turney came to getting a whole bunch of people killed, he qualifies as a “tourist fool”.
MangoChutney says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:50 am
Must have been a Freudian slip, although they do suck on the teat of governmental largess.
And it’s a big largess, if you catch my drift.
This comment from the ‘Academic Saul Alinsky’ on why he gave up being a professional archaeologist during the Depression may point to the future career prospects of Prof. Turney.
‘Archaeologists were in about as much demand as horses and buggies. All the guys who funded the field trips were being scraped off Wall Street sidewalks.’
The fact that the crew stayed on is a good indicator. On the trips in to pick up the bone heads the helicopter took supplies for the crew of the Russian vessel so they can stay with their stuck vessel for some time. And the fact that the crew stayed on indicates that the vessel is still considered sea worthy and safe. This despite the reports of some damage caused by the ice and an expressed fear of icebergs in the vicinity before. Now I have a few questions.
Apparently the Chinese Ice breaker is also stuck now so is the USCG Ice breaker Polar Star going to try and free the two vessels when it gets to the vicinity in 8 days or so?
And who the heck is going to pay for the rescue? And will there not be other legal/financial repercussions since both Ice breakers involved were interrupted in the primary missions by the distress call there by impacting other research projects down there?
And exactly what were the circumstances that led to a ship with radar, GPS, and near real time satellite imagery getting caught in a sea ice flow?
I find it interesting to consider that it could be years before the ship is freed.
After,all, it is mid-summer, only a couple of months from the nadir of sea ice for the Antarctic, and current prospects for freeing this ship are poor. When the fall weather sets in, in about March, the sea ice around the ship will begin to thicken, extend in surface area, and become ever more impervious to the ice-breaker ships. This ship could become a semi-permanent monument to Man’s folly (or is that “Mann’s folly”?).
The Gobbler said: “I’m a bit sad it’s ended this way,” he said. “But we got lots and lots of great science done.”
Right.
This was nothing more than a junket; an outing at taxpayer expense, and thus with only the pretense of doing actual science. The “scientific” conclusions were already foregone ones; all they wanted were a few details about conditions there that they could slap on top, to give the appearance of science. Thus:
Fewer penguins? CAGW
More penguins? CAGW
Less ice? CAGW
More ice? CAGW
Lower salinity? CAGW
Higher salinity? CAGW
Etc. Etc.? CAGW
On top of everything was the obvious danger they put themselves and potential resuers in. This was foolhardiness in the extreme.
RockyRoad says:
“Couldn’t these “climate scientist””
and
“Must have been a Freudian slip, although they do suck on the teat of governmental largess.”
Could it have something to do with them being colossal boobs?
The media have also been unusually silent on the “Won’t somebody pleeease think of the children!!!” front. Of course to have mentioned them would have drawn attention to the Climate “Scientist” leader/father, the possible recklessness of taking them and exactly how serious was this as a scientific expedition.
RockyRoad says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:31 am
Couldn’t these “climate scientits” (I’m using the term very loosely here)
—————-
I have to concur with Mango Chutney … I think RockyRoad should get an award for the most suitable term for a Climate Scientist. Climate Scientit
@Man Bearpig
I came, I saw, I concurred
The more things change—-
I don’t know what, exactly, caused Shackleton to take his crew to Antarctica in the Endurance, but before the trip was done he probably wished he hadn’t. He lost his ship– the Endurance was crushed by the ice and sank– but he did manage to save his crew.
To this day, scientists and adventurers still can’t seem to figure that Antarctica is just about the most hostile-to-human-life place on Earth. Right now we have the ongoing soap-opera of this ship caught in the ice, and even though the ship is hardened against ice it is still very possible that the ship can be crushed if the ice presses hard enough for long enough. It’s not a game down there, it is just about the most unforgiving place on the planet– and if you venture there you must take it seriously.
——The more they stay the same.
Mike and Mario above:
There was growing concern around the world for the mental health of the ship’s Master.
Evacuating the idiots has eased the worry.
GeologyJim says: January 2, 2014 at 7:24 am
The Assoc Press report includes this pull-quote from Turley, “I’m a bit sad it’s ended this way,” he said. “But we got lots and lots of great science done.”
Turney should have added: “…and no one died! “We got lots and lots of great science done” and “no one died” are two statements the mother ship $$ CAGW cannot make with a straight face.
Thankfully, even fools can get lucky!
Good work Dr. Peiser. Happy New Year!
Taphonomic says: January 2, 2014 at 8:33 am
Could it have something to do with them being colossal boobs?
Thank you. You and Rockyroad have made my day.
RockyRoad at 8:13 am
Maybe I missed it but “scientwits” immediately came to mind.
Now that’s just mean. Spring starts on September 21st.
Spring doesn’t bring any guarantees of release for the ship anyway. Look up the Shackleton expedition and the loss of the ship Endurance. That ship was lost in the spring when the ice shifted as it broke up, crushing the ship in the process.
Damage recovery mode already proceeding as normal. “Pay no attention to your freezing behind and the fact that a ship exploring the Antarctic was trapped in ice for several days even though it is summer. And pay no attention to the satellite measurements that show no global warming for 17 years. No, trust us, the climate is warming faster than feared!”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/10546128/Worlds-climate-warming-faster-than-feared-scientists-say.html
How convenient that this story came out now. You can smell the desperation in the air.
We should endow a prize for the least likely explanation for this whole event – I would willingly stump up GBP50 to start the ball rolling. Special gold star for some line of ‘reasoning’ which has not been anticipated here or elsewhere in the blogs.
Call it the CAGW Dissonance Reduction Medal.
Stuart B
The ship could still be sunk by the ice, but if it is holed there are now many fewer people who would need emergency evacuation.
Plus the remaining onboard supplies (and space in the sewage holding tank) will be used up more slowly.
Elmer says:
“January 2, 2014 at 6:38 am
Next they’ll probably be headed to the Arctic to show the world how all the Polar Bears are dying.”
Good point, the next fiasco will be the party beseiged by a pack of the thriving population of Polar Bears.
Please let them step outside and take photos bragging about how much fun and excitement they’re having…
They’ll throw the procrastinating penguin counter under the bus. It’s their only option. (He must be dreading this naming and blaming.)
SAB
How about heat from the mid troposphere is being siphoned off in an oceanic wormhole underwater to the Antarctic where it’s melting some ice from underneath causing more to break off into the sea, thus they explain the lack of hotspot and the above average sea ice.
I wouldn’t put it past them.
Scarface says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:19 am
I’m looking forward to their paper on how this event was fully consistent with global warming and why all the icesheets present a clear and present danger to out children and grandchildren. And why they really need to go back to do further research.
I hope their grant providers will say: NO. Enough is enough.
————————————————————————————————————–
Don’t worry Turney has already come up with a fanciful hypothesis that the ice they were caught in was “old” and due to iceberg B09B calving off in 2010 (due to climate change), breaking up as it collided with the Mertz Glacier and subsequently winds moving all this ice into the Bay.
Mr Turney is quoted in addition as saying:
“ Unfortunately for the Australian Antarctic Expedition it appears the region has just undergone a massive reconfiguration of sea ice, years after the loss of the Mertz Glacier tongue” (The Australian newspaper A PLUS ‘ Icy Blast of Scepticism’ 2 Jan 2014).
Looks like we have another Tim Flannery in our midst with tongue-in-cheek contorted “theories” and “predictions”. God help us.
Phil Ford said,
“Never mind, the BBC here in the UK has already started the whitewash. This afternoon’s 1pm news programme ‘The World At One’ led-off with this story and then handed the mic to a CAGW zealot to remind us all – entirely uninterrupted – that this was a ‘highly professional scientific expedition’ doing ‘important work for the future of the planet’. She also managed to slip in a few sneering comments disparaging the critics of this ill-fated Antarctic adventure on the twittersphere.”
Phil I heard that as well whilst I was driving and nearly went off the road as the red mist descended over my eyeballs. The “CAGW zealot” was Sara Wheeler an experienced polar journalist who, as you said, was desperate to get the CAGW meme into the story as quickly as possible despite being asked, from her experience, what the conditions would be like where the ship was stuck. She veered immediately into “over the last few days the twittersphere has been hijacked by skeptics talking about the irony of the situation”. Then she roared into CAGW mode by starting to claim that we are doomed or something and the ice was all to do with the wind etc etc – HOWEVER the BBC presenter (Shaun Ley) did stop her and tried to get her back by saying something about the foolhardy nature of the voyage. She tried the same tack again but again Mr Ley cut her off and eventually moved on to a different topic.
I actually felt there was some hope maybe for the BBC (I know, call me naive) or more probably Shaun Ley will be “re-educated” somewhere in N. Korea or the BBC basement.
The great white wail.
So, they are on their way to Casey Station. That is about as far away from the icebound vessel as sailing from Seattle to Los Angeles or from Gibraltar to Athens. That will take a while when traveling at a safe speed in iceberg waters. On top of that, a look at Casey Station will show that there is no air strip there. The expenses will continue to mount for quite a while.
I hope the Chinese and the Australians are keeping close accounting of the tab. However, separating the “eco-propagandists” from the Russian ship and its crew will make separating the tab a lot easier.
The Akademik Shokalskiy Passenger’s Lament
By the Darn-Poor Rhymer
A Russian ship was sailing,
For Commonwealth Bay’s shore;
Adventure is my failing,
And this cruise promised more.
One storm, two storm, three storm, four,
Five storm, six storm, seven storm, more!
And so I took a cabin,
And found I was among
Some scientists, whose babblin’
Did seem to me far-flung.
One theory, two theory, three theory, four,
Five theory, six theory, seven theory, more!
They said: “This global warming
That you and we have made
Is killing penguins. Aw! Ming!
Please pass the marmalade.”
One unsubstantiated accusation, two unsubstantiated accusation, three unsubstantiated accusation, four,
Five unsubstantiated accusation, six unsubstantiated accusation, seven unsubstantiated accusation, more!
And journalists had passes;
Grauniad, BBC.
Repeating, for the masses,
Alarmist litany.
One it’s worse than we thought, two it’s worse than we thought, three it’s worse than we thought, four,
Five it’s worse than we thought, six it’s worse than we thought, seven it’s worse than we thought, more!
The evenings, though, were hearty.
It was a Russian ship,
And they ensured the party
Would all enjoy the trip.
One vodka, two vodka, three vodka, four,
Five vodka, six vodka, seven vodka, more!
And so, we came to sea ice,
And to our penguin count.
They said, “Don’t be too precise;
The total must not mount.”
One penguin, two penguin, three penguin, none!
One penguin, two penguin, three penguin. Fun!
And then the Captain ordered
Us all back to the ship.
For we would soon be bordered
By ice we couldn’t rip.
One message, two message, three message, four,
Five message, six message, seven message, more.
But I was chasing Boojums;
And too late did I hark,
Until there came a few chums.
Boy! Did they give me snark.
One insult, two insult, three insult, four,
Five insult, six insult, seven insult, more.
We all survived our bad trip,
And live another day.
But now, I ask, how much scrip
Do we deserve to pay?
One trillion, two trillion, three trillion, four?
Five trillion, six trillion, seven trillion, more?
Clearly the increase in dangerous ice berg calving due to global warming and climate change is what trapped the ship. Bs baffles brains. Details at 11
This has got to be the funniest story since some Nordic lass reported they were banning urinals for schoolboys on military.com some years back. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Some climate clowns decide to prove the Antartic is melting in the middle of High Summer there and get entombed in ten foot of ice where there was none a 100 years ago. Better so did a load of media hacks meant to denounce it to the world. I did check the date to make sure it wasn’t April 1. ‘Happy Feet’ needs a sequel!
rogerknights says: January 2, 2014 at 10:24 am
They’ll throw the procrastinating penguin counter under the bus. It’s their only option. (He must be dreading this naming and blaming.)
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It could be a “she”.
Michael Craig says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:14 am
Why were they rescued at all? Were they in imminent danger? The crew seems to be fine to stay on the ship until it is freed of ice. Why couldn’t somebody have air-dropped a load of supplies and said see you in the spring?
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it is summer in the southern hemisphere.
Surprised that Scientific American left Prof. Turney out of this slide show.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=climate-scientists-pose-for-pin-up-calendar
Reminds me of that picture of him dressed in cold weather gear with a jungle in the background (it appeared earlier in WUWT but I’ve lost the link). Or perhaps he has already been edited out of the slide show — so much revisionism going on after all 🙂
Perhaps if one of them had bothered to check the Sea Ice reference page that Anthony so graciously offers they might have noticed that the current Sea Ice Area Anomaly is +1.5Mil sq. kilometers and although the sea ice is dramatically “disappearing”, it does the same every Summer dropping to 2 mil sq. kilos but recovering to an increasing Winter maximum for some time now. The notion that Antarctic Sea Ice is in danger of “disappearing” is absolutely moronic in its limitless stupidity!!!
maroon
edscientistsI made graphs of daily and year-average anomalies of the global and southern sea ice area.
The global 2013 average sea ice area is the highest since 1996.
http://www.friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/Sea_Ice_global.jpg
The global annual average sea ice area increased by 455,000 sq. km in 2012, and increased by another 1,008,000 sq. km in 2013. The global 2013 year-average sea ice area was 104,000 sq. km above the (1979 to 2008) 30-year average. The December 31, 2013 global sea ice area was 1,016,000 sq. km above the 30-year average, which is the highest for that date during the satellite record starting in 1979.
The Southern 2013 average sea ice area is the highest during the satellite era which began in 1979.
http://www.friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/Sea_Ice_south.jpg
The southern annual average sea ice area increased by 527,000 sq. km in 2012, and increased by 468,000 sq. km in 2013. The southern 2013 year-average sea ice area was 890,000 sq. km above the (1979 to 2008) 30-year average. The December 31, 2013 southern sea ice area was 1,513,000 sq. km above the 30-year average.
How does that saying go?
This bunch was below 60 degrees! (IIRC)
If so, I wonder if she’s hoping for a little unequal treatment this time around. I.e., gallant silence when a woman’s name is involved.
Well, so the owners are on the hook — and will be coming after Turney? Pass me the peanuts and Cracker Jacks! … For it’s: “One, two, three and you’re out!”
It’s one thing to sit in a university’s ivyed, ivory towered wall & “cry wolf.” But this was Chris-n-Little yelling, “The Sclimate’s falling, the Sclimate’s falling!”
@elmer –
If we’re lucky they’ll go to one of the Inuit villages that have been having to fight off the polar bear overpopulation (not /sarc) and maybe some of them will get eaten by the bears (a little /sarc, but noit much).
Given that the “real scientists” at Casey have been down there since last year and are waiting to go home I foresee one last experiment, at what temperature does pitch boil at in Antartica. If this drongo is not tarred and feathered by the crew at Casey I will be very much surprised. A serious scientific expedition on which he took his wife and two young children! This was is no more than a tourist jaunt.
2014 might be the year that CAGW jumped the penguin.