Ship with 52 rescued Akademik Shokalskiy climate scientists and tourists is only able to make 1/4 knot (0.29 mph) in heavy ice towards open water. Latest webcam views show all ice all around the ship and no open water ahead.
More webcam views follow.
Australian Maritime Safety Authority Press release: 8.00am AEDT: 3rd January 2014
Antarctica rescue operation now complete
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) can confirm that the rescue operation from the Akademik Shokalskiy in Antarctica has been completed.
RCC Australia was notified at 6.15pm AEDT yesterday evening that the first group of 12 passengers had boarded the helicopter from the Xue Long at around 6pm AEDT. RCC Australia was then notified at 7.30pm AEST that the first 12 passengers had arrived at the Aurora Australis.
Five flights were conducted to take the passengers to the Aurora Australis over a distance of about 14 nautical miles. Four flights were undertaken with 12 people each flight, and the fifth flight rescued four passengers. The helicopter landed on an ice floe adjacent to the Aurora Australis.
At 10.05pm AEDT, AMSA was advised that all 52 passengers had been safely rescued and were on board the Aurora Australis.
Aurora Australis advised AMSA that helicopter operations had been completed at about 10.45pm AEDT and all passengers, luggage and equipment had been transferred.
The Aurora Australis will now start heading towards open water. The ship is currently travelling at a quarter knot in heavy ice towards open water. It will take until late evening to reach open water.
The Aurora Australis will then head towards the Casey base to complete a resupply before heading to Australia. The Aurora Australis is not expected to arrive in Australia until mid-January.
All 22 crew members of the Akademik Shokalskiy remain with the vessel.
RCC Australia has overall coordination of the incident as it is in Australia’s search and rescue region and has regular contact with the vessels involved.
The search and rescue operation commenced on Christmas morning AEDT after the Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in the United Kingdom received a distress message via satellite from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy. The distress message and subsequent coordination of the incident was passed to RCC Australia, who is the responsible search and rescue authority for this area.
===============================================================
Other camera views.
Port Camera:
![A140022300C[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/a140022300c1.jpg?resize=616%2C494)
Stern camera:
![A140022300B[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/a140022300b1.jpg?resize=616%2C494)
Source: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora
The irony of this whole mess is amazing.
Hope the cost of all this becomes transparent sometime.
1/4 knot headway in heavy ice, who will rescue the ‘rescuers’ ?
So the original purpose was to confirm “an increasing body of evidence” showing “melting and collapse from ocean warming” as well as to retrace the steps of the Mawson expedition. I hope they are asked repeatedly whether the mission was a success by their own standards and whether they were prepared for all that ice.
Good luck!
They don’t need a bigger ice breaker; they need a bigger credulity breaker
It’s worse than we thought?
Maybe it’s my eyesight but that sure looks like a lot of ice heading towards the horizon. These visiting journalists and tourists will never forget this lesson. Many will turn into closet sceptics or head off into the kitchen any time someone mentions Antarctic thermal meltdown.
It’s more ironic than we thought!
The rescue ship Aurora Australis has CAGW form….Sept 2012…..
http://tomnelson.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/another-warmist-expedition-sets-off-in.html
their new 2014 guest will be made warm and welcome as they have already crossed P&Os palm with silver.
At least they can still move. 0.25 knots is better than just the speed of the ice pushing them about.
The warmist PR machine is grinding:
Just watch the Drudge news lines:
‘GLOBAL WARMING’ INTENSIFIES…
Blizzard to Reach From NYC to Boston…
CHILL MAP…
USA ushers in 2014 with record-low temps…
Chicago Sees Biggest Snowfall In 15 Years…
NFL: Bitter cold coming to Green Bay on Sunday – High of four degrees… Winnipeg deep freeze — cold as uninhabited planet… Frozen Out: 98% of Network Stories Ignore That Ice-bound Ship Was On ‘Global Warming’ Mission…
Don’t you love it…?
I believe you can see about 13 nautical miles across water before the curviture of the earth kicks in if thats correct then there is at least 26 nautical miles of ice visible forward and aft not to mention starboard and port.
Is the Chinese Sun Dragon stuck? Lots of mileage left in this drama yet.
You couldn’t even write a song about it….maybe http://youtu.be/4c6TL30PoUk
I’m a Climate Scientist / Guardian Reporter “GET ME OUT OF HERE”
Could make good reality TV (Haven’t they’ve got BBC on board ?)
May be Ant & Deck could help (re Celebrity Jungle in UK)
Has anyone ever considered the damage to the sea ice done by these “ice breakers” ?
What I don’t understand is why a rescue alert is send out in the first place now the complete crew of 22 souls is left behind. It can’t be that an emergence only goes for passengers.
I smell a rat.
So if the Aurora was equipped for helicopters why did it land on the Chinese ship first the passengers loaded onto barges? Or am I mistaken. Doesn’t the “H” on the stern of the boat stand for “helicopter
REPLY: Two possibilities.
1. That helipad couldn’t accommodate the rotor size of the Chinese copter
2. Some silly rule about sovereignty prevented Chinese copter from landing on Australian ship.
-Anthony
1500 feet per hour at what throttle setting and limited by what, due diligence seamanship or hull limitations. 1/4 Kt. is slow but indicative of nothing in an of itself.
Really now. The posters on this thread seem kind of mean spirited. Some folks get caught in a bit of bad-weather and you get all climatey on them.
Just noting there is time-stamp on the webcam images which allows one to back up and look at the history of the images
The Aurora cycles new pics every 30 minutes (occasionally, it takes 31 minutes).
So, the Bow camera in the head post here has a link/time-stamp of:
http://images.aad.gov.au/webcams/aurora/14/A140022300A.jpg
Change it to, http://images.aad.gov.au/webcams/aurora/14/A140022331A.jpg , and you get the newest image. In this case, it was not 30 minutes but 31 minutes.
The last five digits are the time in 2400 clock, and A is the Bow camera, B is the Stern camera and C is the Port camera.
So, http://images.aad.gov.au/webcams/aurora/14/A140022230C.jpg gives you the Port camera 30 minutes ago.
When it flips over the 2400 hour clock into the next day, the 14002 will change to 14003 and the image link will change to /A140030000C.jpg at the end.
Hope that makes sense.
maroon scientists formerly marooned scientists
Forgot the ??s
@Stu
Brilliant song and video! I am still chuckling. Thanks.
The Aurora Australis does not yet appear to be in a good place:-
http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=VNAA
It seems that everywhere you look, it’s 52 passengers rescued, as though these were poor victims of a cruise line’s poor planning.
Only here on WUWT (and other skeptic (reality) oriented sites) does reality exist with the clear identification of the essential detail, “Ship with 52 rescued Akademik Shokalskiy climate scientists and tourists”
And the Xue Long? Can they make their way out?
Let’s see what happens!
stephen says: January 2, 2014 at 4:08 pm “I believe you can see about 13 nautical miles across water before the curviture of the earth kicks in …”
Bowditch APN V.II, Table 8 Distance of the Horizon explanation, page 5, says distance in miles to the horizon is 1.17 times the square root of the height of eye in feet.
The helicopter cannot land on the Aurora, weight and size is an issue as posted by others.
Frank says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Really now. The posters on this thread seem kind of mean spirited. Some folks get caught in a bit of bad-weather and you get all climatey on them.
+++++++++++
Frank, is that your real name or are you Michele Obama talking about non us liberal US citizens?
R de Haan, with only 22 aboard an emergency evacuation can be done much faster than with almost four times that number.
Plus with fewer aboard the supplied will last longer, as will the space available in the sewage holding tank.
Or maybe they’ve just been dumping their sewage into the ocean… I have no idea.
I must be really stupid, for I continuously forget the correct explanation for how global warming continues to cool this poor planet.
Even more, I fail to see any trace of this warming in global temperature anomalies as published by every official weather/climate observing agency.
It was so easy after 1975 and before 1998; temperatures rose with CO2, those were the days!
Oh, now I remember; the heat has taken to hide undetected in the deep oceans, were it cannot be measured. How clever is that?
—————————-
Zoom in to the track, doesn’t look like a ship in clear water!
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/
I hope the get home soon. Expedition leader Turney is going to need at least one lifetime to fulfil his promise to plant trees to completely offset the CO2 emissions of his expedition
Yeah, they can’t find the heat but at least they found the ice.
So the Chinese saviours are abandoned in the ice?
If so these activists are sure running true to form.
@ Frank 4.13 You forgot the sarc.
Wait until 2014 as the disinterested public start to realize just how expensive the CAGW scam has become.
Australia is leading the way, the timing of this Antarctic Fiasco is perfect, for the new Government.
Why keep endangering more and more merchant marines and valuable life saving equipment for a few scientists? Give them dog sleds and a dog team to fight their way back. They will get a more detailed view of the melting ice from global warming.
Oh No! More delays?
But the nearest peanut and banana milkshake could now be weeks away!
How much more sobbing anguish can the Clitanic survivors endure?
Frank says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Really now. The posters on this thread seem kind of mean spirited. Some folks get caught in a bit of bad-weather and you get all climatey on them.
———————————————————————————-
1. The vast majority of posters have commented that they hope everyone returns safely – that is genuine concern and is not mean spirited as you suggest.
2. The irony of the situation is obviously totally lost on you especially given your phrase “a bit of bad weather”.
3. The purpose of the voyage was to show how the Antarctic is being affected by global warming and now even the ice-breakers are stuck in the ice while the world looks on.
Who would have thought a group of climate scientists trying to prove the catastrophe of global warming caused by fossil fuels would be saved by a Chinese ice-breaker and a Russian helicopter. A denier could not have scripted better fiction, only this is real and we are savouring every morsel. Maybe you don’t like the menu (Chris(tmas) Turkey).
Frank says: @ January 2, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Really now. The posters on this thread seem kind of mean spirited….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I hope you just forget the /sarc tag on that statement.
These self-centered prima donnas cost the Australian tax payers millions, disrupted REAL researchers and may, if thing go bad, have sentenced to death 23 people.
Aphan has documented Prof.Chris(tmas) Turkey’s idiotic moves that resulted in this mess. Note that after getting the ship stuck by ignoring the Captain, he does not even bother to mention much less thank the Captian and crew who are still risking their lives trying to salvage the ship.
SEE:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/02/now-that-the-ship-of-fools-is-safe-in-antarctica-tough-questions-need-to-be-asked/#comment-1522059
and
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/02/now-that-the-ship-of-fools-is-safe-in-antarctica-tough-questions-need-to-be-asked/#comment-1522117
For the direct quotes from the diaries showing Prof.Chris(tmas) Turkey KNEW the conditions were bad days before they got stuck and that the ship was stuck because the ‘Tourists’ took an additional two hours getting back to the ship after the Captain recalled them.
From the way the diary reads it seems the message from the Captain wasn’t even passed on!
So who says the Media are ignoring “climate change” in the reporting of this dbacle?
From the AP:
http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2014/01/52_passengers_rescued_off_rese.html
Nope, no single weather event can be blamed on climate change (wink wink, nod nod).
Neo says: @ January 2, 2014 at 4:10 pm
Has anyone ever considered the damage to the sea ice done by these “ice breakers” ?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, I have often wondered just how much of the decrease in Arctic sea ice is due to the increased traffic of the “ice breakers”
When these fossil ‘fool’ losers finally get home can they please be tarred and feathered?
I seem to remember from when I was in the Navy, that the horizon was over 20 miles away from viewing at deck level.
Hmm, 4 hours to go 1 “mile” = 20 x 4 = 80 hours. They can make it faster if the ice starts thinning out. Let’s hope they can make it to open water.
Anyone know if they did the 2 luggage transport rescues?
Why not? The BBC thought it was climatey. Take a look.
Those who live by the climatey will die by the climatey, matey. 😉
Jimbo says: @ January 2, 2014 at 4:53 pm
When these fossil ‘fool’ losers finally get home can they please be tarred and feathered?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I can just see it now. A mob of irate tax papers with signs reading:
TAR AND FEATHER PROFESSOR CHRIS(TMAS) TURKEY!
With pictures of a half plucked turkey and bags of feathers to toss like confetti.
And they got stuck in over 3 metres of “how quickly the Antarctic’s sea ice was disappearing.”
So the ice breaker is close to getting trapped in the ice itself? I that like a snow plow getting stuck in the snow?
The irony it burns.
Hmm the ice extent we see at NSIDC and cryosphere today suggest moth-eaten late season ice. The Aurora cams reveal pretty wintery, crisp, powdery snowy cold jammed ice.
is it really the height of summer down there……….
Thank you Anthony for all the nice webcam pics. Now we know what disappearing sea ice looks like. (Health warning for the benefit of the humoristically challenged: this comment contains sarcasm.)
@Stuart Elliot: January 2, 2014 at 3:51 pm
I’d bet they won’t get any hard questions from the spineless Australian media.
would anyone on this expedition be at all concerned about thelse people?
US News: India Suffers Through Deadly Freezing Temperatures (PHOTOS)
1 of 12
A stray dog sleeps with laborers under blankets on a sidewalk in New Delhi, India. At least 230 people have died from record freezing temperatures in India, marking the coldest winter in 44 years.
5 of 12
Homeless people sleep wrapped in quilts that are rented by the night on a footpath in New Delhi, India.
11 of 12
A young Indian child looks out from a blanket in a slum area as thousands of homeless people seek places in temporary shelters to escape from unusually cold temperatures throughout the country.
12 of 12
Indian pilgrims fight icy winds while drying clothes at a temporary camp in Kolkata. The extreme temperatures are attributed to dense fog which has obscured the sun and icy winds from the snowy Himalayas to the north.
http://www.usnews.com/photos/india-suffers-through-deadly-freezing-temperatures
Vientiane Times, Laos: People shivering in the freezing northern temperatures
Large numbers of people in the northern provinces are spending their nights huddled around fires to keep warm, due to a lack of warm clothing in this incredibly cold weather which has caught many people by surprise
“Students could not write in the morning because their hands were frozen, therefore teaching hours began later when it became warm during the day,” said the union’s President Ms Longkham Phonmixay…
According to Ms Longkham, in communities where electricity is available the situation is much less serious as a lot of people have cheap electric heaters…
http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/FreeContent/FreeConten_People.htm
J. Philip Peterson says: @ January 2, 2014 at 4:56 pm
… Anyone know if they did the 2 luggage transport rescues?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It is not clear. The orginal plan was 5 trips for people and two for luggage. The above report says: “Five flights were conducted to take the passengers to the Aurora Australis over a distance of about 14 nautical miles. Four flights were undertaken with 12 people each flight, and the fifth flight rescued four passengers.”
At 10.05pm AEDT, AMSA was advised that all 52 passengers had been safely rescued and were on board the Aurora Australis.
Aurora Australis advised AMSA that helicopter operations had been completed at about 10.45pm AEDT and all passengers, luggage and equipment had been transferred.”
So there was an additional 40 minutes they may have made the extra trip or two. Otherwise the last trip was 4 people and some of the luggage and a half hour to unload.
The original estimate, if I remember correctly was 5 hours for 7 trips but that was to the Snow Dragon. I doubt if they did more than one extra trip for luggage.
The tourists could easily have been told to make two piles, one for essentials (10-20 lbs) and a second for the second trip if the conditions remained good.
When I go to the webcam I see open water with a few ice floes. But I’ve been seeing the same picture for the last couple of hours. Suspect they’ve stopped the live feed for some reason.
hoboduke;
Give them dog sleds and a dog team to fight their way back.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
What the poor dogs done to deserve that?
Does anyone have current info on the fate of Akademik Shokalskiy’s crew?
I have wondered about that too and it seems it’s not yet settled science.
So no need to fund research in that area? Has there been research in this area? Why am a feeling suspicious again? I am just too cynical for my own good. I THINK that ice breakers have virtually no effect in the Arctic. So there.
Jimbo you can’t tar and feather climate activists! That would be blasphemy! You can only roll them in organic yogurt and coat them lightly with flax seed! (But they’re delicious that way!)
How much carbon/climate impact, and how many dollars, has this debacle cost? And why, if it was safe to leave crew on the ship, was the huge expenditure in money and climate impact made to remove the passengers.
They had plenty of food and water, and could have easily been supplied more with a single helo trip.
Hypocrites.
Yes Aphan, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
pat says: @ January 2, 2014 at 5:09 pm
would anyone on this expedition be at all concerned about these people?…
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
No of course not.
Remember you have BBC and Grauniad reporters there who are responsible for pushing CAGW and anti fossil fuel propaganda while their fellow countrymen froze to death.
Just last spring:
Instead of doing something to help these people (what the fifth estate SHOULD be doing) they are using the money stolen from them to pay for this junket.
Contempt does not even come close to what I feel for these selfish parasites.
What happened to Rabaduke & Willis on this saga? Willis must be cooking up something or maybe it’s just too trivial for them to comment. Not scientific enough. I suspect they are on Holiday…
Maybe I missed their posts…
Aphan says: @ January 2, 2014 at 5:13 pm…
I prefer to marinade my vegans in wine and spices for 24 hours before cooking. With this bunch I can forget the marinade. It has already been done.
The Aurora Australis can accommodate the Sikorsky S-76 which has a gross weight of 5307kg. The Kamov KA32 (“Chinese helicopter”) has an empty weight of 6500kg (gross 11000kg). Given that the KA32 rotor diameter of 15.8m (the aircraft’s greatest dimension) is less than the overall 16.0m length of the S-76, it looks like a weight issue. Also, the tailplane of KA32 is very low so might impact the helipad guardrail if that doesn’t drop.
The Aurora Australis has a hangar that can store 3 or 4 helicopters. It looks like none were aboard (or operable).
The media will drop the story now that the “celebs” are “rescued”, unless the Russian boat gets into difficulties. Hopefully our host’s weather forecast will be realised and the wind will break up the ice and allow ship and crew to quietly exit to safety.
.
OLD DATA says: January 2, 2014 at 5:11 pm “Does anyone have current info on the fate of Akademik Shokalskiy’s crew?”
No, not current, but they may have had juust about enough time to tap the tun of vodka in preparation for a long win…ahh…summer’s nap – now that the tourista’re gone. Is her hull shaped to pop up or pop under pressure ice?
Yep roughly the same as early July in the northern hemisphere, so only a few more weeks of peak heating then the temperature decline of autum begins.
J. Philip Peterson says:
January 2, 2014 at 5:25 pm
What happened to Rabaduke & Willis on this saga? Willis must be cooking up something or maybe it’s just too trivial for them to comment. Not scientific enough. I suspect they are on Holiday…
Maybe I missed their posts…
++++++++++
Willis is quite engaged in a number of recent posts he’s made. I’m sure that’s keeping him busy.
I bet you can find him playing in one or more of these sandboxes 🙂
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/28/climate-as-a-heat-engine/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/21/the-magnificent-climate-heat-engine/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/28/the-thermostatic-throttle/
J. Philip Peterson says:
January 2, 2014 at 5:25 pm
What happened to Rabaduke & Willis on this saga? Willis must be cooking up something or maybe it’s just too trivial for them to comment. Not scientific enough. I suspect they are on Holiday…
Maybe I missed their posts…
++++++++++
Willis is quite engaged in a number of recent posts he’s made. I’m sure that’s keeping him busy.
I bet you can find him playing in one or more of these sandboxes 🙂
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/28/climate-as-a-heat-engine/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/21/the-magnificent-climate-heat-engine/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/28/the-thermostatic-throttle/
And here’s a more recent one where you will find Willis:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/30/cancelling-the-tropical-cancellation/
Indiegogo campaign still stuck at 1k; hasn’t moved in a week. It would seem that public opinion is somewhat less than favorable.
http://www.spiritofmawson.com
GeorgeL says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:38 pm
I hope the get home soon. Expedition leader Turney is going to need at least one lifetime to fulfil his promise to plant trees to completely offset the CO2 emissions of his expedition
Johnny Appleseed 2
I’d make Turney personally pay for the all the extra cost.
Perhaps that is why Turney was so adamant in a recent video that Austalian tax payers have to foot the bill. One way to stop the alarmist propaganda is to make them pay personally for their fake forecasts. Money is the number 1 motivator for people today. There shouldn’t be a positive motivator for the alarmists as exists today. It should be pay for performance.
Unfortunately, Turney will now be hero with the alarmists and he will be rewarded in several different ways by climate science.
Doug, maybe it was the depleted state of the vodka supplies that induced them to turf out the passengers… so they could enjoy the rest themselves.
What happens to all the equipment that was left on the ship?
Thank you Doug. Russians certainly understand/respect ice and might find their way to Mawson station? I’ve no doubt these scientists/tourists/journalists have pushed the patience of each crew beyond reason. Soon it might look like a game of ‘hot potato.’
The National Post chimes in:
“Terence Corcoran: Science of climate change not on the same course as reality”
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2014/01/02/terence-corcoran-science-of-climate-change-not-on-the-same-course-as-reality/
“The key to success when stuck on a giant floe of irony is to pretend it doesn’t exist, which is exactly the trick performed by Prof. Chris Turney, leader of the global warming science expedition that was rescued Thursday by a Chinese icebreaker off the coast of Antarctica.”
Well said! 🙂
Aussie MSM have been predicting record heat all week, & have failed to report when records weren’t broken, while Murdoch’s Sky Weather Channel has had constant programming since dawn titled “RECORD HEATWAVE” which goes til 9pm tonite, when it changes to detailed analysis of SEVERE WEATHER in this SEVERE WEATHER SEASON!
3 Jan: ABC: 2013 was hottest year on record in Australia, Bureau of Meteorology says
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-03/2013-was-the-hottest-year-on-record-for-australia/5183040
BOM: Annual climate statement 2013
Accessing Australia’s climate change datasets
The Bureau is responsible for collecting, managing and safeguarding Australia’s climate archive. Several homogenised datasets have been developed from this archive to identify, monitor and attribute changes in the Australian climate.
This statement has been prepared using the homogenised Australian temperature dataset, ACORN-SAT and high-quality rainfall data
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/annual/aus/2013/
They had no clue. It was to be a fun cruise with fame and glory for all. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-25/15-million-australian-expedition-to-antarctica/5116158
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3899674.htm
Overall Antarctic ice extent is still declining, according to WUWT reference pages. So how was it that these people managed to choose one of the few places where ice is expanding? I wonder what it was they did to offend Gaia?
PaulH says:
January 2, 2014 at 5:40 pm
The National Post chimes in:
—-
I wonder if MSM journalists are starting to read WUWT for their articles?
pat says:
January 2, 2014 at 5:45 pm
“The Bureau is responsible for collecting, managing and safeguarding Australia’s climate archive. Several homogenised datasets have been developed from this archive to identify, monitor and attribute changes in the Australian climate.”
Pat you are aware, of course, that the homogenisation of temperature data is in the hands of folks who fervently believe in CAGW. It will be a wonder if they don’t succeed in predicting record temperatures. That is what they are there for!
Gail Combs says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:53 pm
Neo says: @ January 2, 2014 at 4:10 pm
Has anyone ever considered the damage to the sea ice done by these “ice breakers” ?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, I have often wondered just how much of the decrease in Arctic sea ice is due to the increased traffic of the “ice breakers”
_________________
I remember reading an argument that a cause of the cold NH winters during WWII (or was it just the winter of ’44) was the churning up of the ice cover by war ships. This tended to exposed the underlying water to the atmosphere. The analogy was with stirring up your bowl of soup to cool it down.
CNN coverage is now clearly stating that there was climate research involved and that Turney was a climate researcher.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/antarctica-ship-stuck/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2
3 Jan: ABC: Your say: BOM says 2013 was Australia’s hottest year on record
COMMENT BY Craig-Lee Smith: But you wouldn’t have known it in Victoria and Tasmania, we had the coldest Spring on record, and judging by the temperatures we are going to get this week, it will be the coldest and dreariest January on record.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-03/your-say3a-weather-bureau-says-2013-was-australia27s-hottest-/5183536
2013 in South-East Queensland was mild…we were still wearing sweaters in early Summer & it’s 35 degrees today at midday, not the 40 degrees predicted, tho perhaps it will go up further.
With record ice in Antarctic waters (and it does look like powder snow on the ice) and the refreeze merely 6 weeks away if not earlier (less time than the length of the trip these guys made), I think the Academik and its crew is at considerable risk of never getting out of there afloat.
cynical_scientist says:
January 2, 2014 at 5:10 pm
If refresh doesn’t work try clearing cache..
Mother Nature can be a right bitch sometimes.
These visiting journalists and tourists will never forget this lesson. Many will turn into closet sceptics or head off into the kitchen any time someone mentions Antarctic thermal meltdown.
——————————————————————————————————
Jimbo, no!
This is yet again real evidence of warming creating unprecedented winds packing the sea ice. Mawson did not experience it a hundred years ago so it must be due to warming on a grand scale.
Bit like that other Oz clown Karoly saying that warming had not stopped as CO2 was holding the T up as we were now on a down part of the T cycle just like previous down cycles. He just could not bring himself to admit that if there is a natural down component of a cycle then there must also be a natural up part of such cycles and perhaps CO2 was irrelevant.
Oz excels and punches above its weight in many fields. We certainly have our share in this climate field with the likes of another palentologist/climate komissar flim, flam Flannery, his buddy Karoly, Lew of Lewandowsky fame (thankfully this tax burden departed our shores), his mate Cook of SKS and many more including the chief scientist who could not tell us what effect any CO2 abatement would have and who instead of taking the lead in asking the hard questions stated that, whilst questioning was good in science, we should have done that twenty years ago.
Right you are, sir; climatology by fiat science and the world stood still. Hail Caesar! I learned a new word the other day; subreption – it colours every aspect of this pitiful climate saga and the imposters posing as scientists.
bet tomorrow we hear they are ice bound.
need the russian nuke ice breakers there.
Louis says:
January 2, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Overall Antarctic ice extent is still declining, according to WUWT reference pages. So how was it that these people managed to choose one of the few places where ice is expanding? I wonder what it was they did to offend Gaia?
Actually, according to the WUWT sea ice page, Antarctic sea ice has generally been above average for the past 10 years. See for yourself:
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.anomaly.antarctic.png
Those idiots were idiots because they believed the CAGW hype and expected the ice to be melting. They weren’t just unlucky to have chosen the rare spot where ice was expanding. The above-average ice is found all over Antarctica. See:
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/S_bm_extent_hires.png
There is the true believers, the deniers, and now an icebreaker between them, come on mates can’t we just get along and find watts wrong
Gary Pearse –
yes, i have learned what to be wary of in these reports…from visiting with the good people on WUWT, JoanneNova, Bishop Hill, etc.
I guess the Aussie “climate scientists” have been proven right after all. The climate IS changing— to a very cold one, indeed.
“The times, they are a’changin'”
I’m a bit confused about the “emergency”. If 22 crew members can wait it out, why can’t they all?
Did their inconvenience justify all that expense and risk?
clipe 6:03PM
The images are updating, if you read Bill Illis’ post at 4:14PM:
The image will not refresh, you have to edit the jpg file name the way Bill explains.
Why do I wish to see the Aurora Australis get stuck in the ice and need another passenger transfer? LOL
Thanks for that, had the same problem. I was at 349mb towards my 350mb limit, clearing the cache worked.
What?!
“The ship is currently travelling at a quarter knot in heavy ice towards ‘open water.’ It will take until late evening to reach open water.”
“The Aurora Australis will then head towards the “Casey base !”
This is MADNESS. First, to get to “open water” they have to cut perpendicular to the surface winds! then turn left parallel to the surface winds (parallel, yes with the flow) and then try to cut the pack ice which is moving with the wind flow direction at a small angle! Yet AGAIN what FOOLS!
Casey Station is on the Antarctic coast! in now dense pack ice!
These fools are trying their hardest to die! without doubt in spite of all the other efforts and Multi-Million dollars, choose your favorite currency, thrown at them to help them escape and live.
What a “Climate Science Phenomenal waste!”
“… and allow ship and crew to quietly exit to safety.”
Indeed. The crew left on the Akademik Shokalskiy is now my main concern.
Does anyone know whether the Xue Long and its helicopter will wait in the area until the Akademik Shokalskiy is clear of the ice?
The video link above is brilliant.
Thanks or posting
Another comment on Pat’s comment.
The BOM lie through forked teeth……or some other such saying. I am in Melbourne and had to get out the winter hat for my morning walks this year; usually just wear ear muffs. I also keep an eye on Weatherzone, which has a graph of temperatures updated every 10 minutes from BOM (I think this is correct). I am often amazed and stunned that the daily maximum is as much as 3C higher than what the graph plots.
Interesting last pic at 10.30 about seven people on the Heli pad wearing life jackets.
AleaJactaEst says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:02 pm
The rescue ship Aurora Australis has CAGW form….Sept 2012…..
http://tomnelson.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/another-warmist-expedition-sets-off-in.html
That site calls it a “Super Ice-breaker”!!!
I think that the Polar Star may be needed to rescue all of those ships.
Actually it has warmed since 1967. The following proves global warming.(sarc)
Does anyone remember the “Ice Bowl” played at Lambeau Field on Dec 31, 1967? Isaw it.
Check this:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grb/?n=icebowl67
Here is a description of the weather.
Weather
Dubbed by the sports media as “The Ice Bowl”, the game-time temperature at Lambeau Field was about −15 °F / −26 °C, with a wind chill around −48 °F / −44 °C.[28][unreliable source?] Lambeau Field’s turf-heating system malfunctioned, and when the tarpaulin was removed from the field before the game, it left moisture on the field, which flash-froze in the extreme cold, leaving an icy surface that got worse as more and more of the field fell into the shadow of the stadium.[29] The heating system, made by General Electric, cost $80,000 and was bought from the nephew of George Halas, George Halas Jr.[citation needed] On the sidelines before the game, some Dallas players believed that Lombardi had purposely removed power to the heating coils.[30] The heating system would eventually be given the moniker Lombardi’s Folly.[citation needed] The prior convention to prevent the football field from icing up was to cover the field with dozens of tons of hay.[31]
The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (then Wisconsin State University–La Crosse) Marching Chiefs band were scheduled to perform the pre-game and half-time shows. However, during warm-ups in the brutal cold, the woodwind instruments froze and would not play; the mouthpieces of brass instruments got stuck to the players’ lips; and seven members of the band were transported to local hospitals for hypothermia. The band’s further performances were canceled for the day.[citation needed] During the game, an elderly spectator in the stands died from exposure [32]
Prior to the game, many of the Green Bay players were unable to start their cars in the freezing weather, forcing them to make alternate travel arrangements to make it to the stadium on time. Linebacker Dave Robinson had to flag down a random passing motorist for a ride. The referees for the game found they did not have sufficient clothing for the cold, and had to make an early trip to a sporting goods store for earmuffs, heavy gloves, and thermal underwear.[33] Packers quarterback Bart Starr attended an early church service with his father, who had visited for the game, and as Starr later said, “It was so cold that neither of us talked about it. Nobody wanted to bring it up.”
The officials were unable to use their whistles after the opening kick-off. As referee Norm Schachter blew his metal whistle to signal the start of play, it froze to his lips. As he attempted to free the whistle from his lips, the skin ripped off and his lips began to bleed. The conditions were so hostile that instead of forming a scab, the blood simply froze to his lip. For the rest of the game, the officials used voice commands and calls to end plays and officiate the game. At one point during the game, CBS announcer Frank Gifford said on air, “I’m going to take a bite of my coffee.”[34]
I can’t help but think that the Russian crew, especially the Captain couldn’t wait to have the group of scientists…err tourists…err fruitcakes get off their ship. The helicopter I’m sure replenished some of their stores and I hope they are save and telling humorous stories of the event. Let’s hope the captain is writing down everything the turkey gobbled!
Gore effect part (insert your personal number here)!
Just sayin ($¿$) apologies in advance 😎
Gerald Machnee says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:02 pm
Gerald, . . I wonder if this weekend’s game for the Packers just might be played at a COLDER temperature . ?
, Well, this time, att least people should be ready for this . . . wait, with the whole ‘globull warming’, maybe not . . .! 🙂 🙂
( . .gee, I sure hope I don’t have to add a tag . . . )
Martin C says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:37 pm . geez, I missed the SARC in ” . .add a SARC tag . . ” must be the cold that prevented it . . !
“Round and around we go”
“pat says:
January 2, 2014 at 5:45 pm”
I’d be keen to find out how far back the long term average goes back and what devices were used at the start of the record. I know the BoM currently uses ~112 ground based thermometers to calculate a nationwide average (This is all before the change to satellites last year). I am confident that soe devices now appear in the record that were not there 150 years ago. The MSM are spinning the claim that Sydney has had its hottest year since records began 150 years go. Thats’t fine but they don’t go on to say if it was masured at the Observatory or the Airport (Certainly not 150 years ago) or a combination. One of the recorded highs in South Australia this was at an airport.
berniel says: January 2, 2014 at 5:53 pm
“This tended to exposed the underlying water to the atmosphere.”
Intact sea ice cover insulates the warmer ocean from the atmosphere. Stirring up the ice should lead to warming of the air above as exposed water freezes and releases heat to the atmosphere.
Doug Huffman says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:24 pm
“Bowditch APN V.II, Table 8 Distance of the Horizon explanation, page 5, says distance in miles to the horizon is 1.17 times the square root of the height of eye in feet.”
=========================================================================
Ah, Bowditch, I remember it well. Few non-nautical folks will recognize the authority the reference carries. Remember the sailing ship captains who ran their ships “by Bowditch and the Bible.”
The camera forward view looks to be from about bridge height. Probably around 30 feet. Using a square root of 5.5, the horizon is about 5.5 x 1.17 = 6.4 miles (assume that is nautical miles). However, that last mile or so is just a visual sliver. From my experience, I could rarely identify much beyond about 4.5 miles from a bridge 30 feet above the water.
So open water could be much closer than others on this thread have supposed.
Jimbo says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:53 pm
Jimbo,
With all the birds being chopped by wind turbines, we have plenty of feathers.
I just heard a news brief on TV claiming that everyone had been airlifted from the ship, all 52 of the people on board.
I guess in the media viewpoint the crew aren’t real people.
For Greg Mortimer, one of three expedition leaders whose program chartered the beset Akademik Shokalskiy, arriving on board his rescue vessel, the Aurora Australis, on Thursday evening came with mixed emotions.
“I was immensely relieved for the people under my care,” he said.
But leaving the Shokalskiy and its 22 Russian crew on the stricken vessel had been tough, he said.
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“It was very sad. I’ve known that ship for a very long time.
“In a sense we’ve left [the crew] behind and to their own devices.”
The rescue had been a “roller-coaster”, he said.
“The outcome was uncertain for most of the day but it came together at about six o’clock tonight.”
Mortimer said it was amazing to fly across the extensive sea ice pack that had formed around their ship since they became stuck on Christmas Day, five nautical miles (nine kilometres) from the ice edge.
On Thursday the ship was 22 nautical miles (40 kilometres) from the ice edge.
“All that ice has blown in, in the past week. And it’s big, multi-year ice under enormous pressure,” he said.
“A catastrophic event has taken place in the last week, and we were party to that,” he said.
They were the cause of it, they really believe, that this could not have been prevented, they were just unlucky. They will never admit to their stupidity !!!
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
And these fools seem to have a legion of like-minded fools (followers)– especially in the media.
Everybody is talking about Turney and his mob of ignorant fruitcakes who it now seems have been completely irresponsible or much worse in not strictly adhering to the timetables and the Captains orders to be ready to depart when the Captain saw that conditions were starting to deteriorate quite quickly..
There are two other seriously affected parties here
The first is the Ship’s Captain and crew.
For a Captain to [ possibly ] lose his ship is one of the worst fates of those who sail the oceans.
To lose his ship through nothing more than sheer carelessness, arrogance and and ignorance on the part of another party would truly a fate that no Captain would ever wish on his worst enemy.
The Captain’s very unfortunate situation not apparently of his own making, has been discussed in many posts around the web.
But please consider another group who by now are probably getting distressed and very, very irate and possibly quite angry about this whole bucketful of outright stupidity on the part of UNSW fools and idiots who shipped themselves in the Akademik Shokalskiy without any adequate preparation or organised backup to the Antarctic, one of the most hostile environments on the planet.
The Scientists and researchers and their support staffs at the Australian Antarctic Casey Base [ other international Antarctic bases and researchers may be in a similar situation to Casey ] have only had about one third of their supplies and research equipment unloaded at Casey before the Ice breaker Aurora Australis had to leave and make the dash to rescue the unprepared and idiotic partying fools on the Akademik Shokalskiy.
Two thirds of the supplies and experimental equipment destined for Casey is still on the Auroroa Australis which is forcing it’s way through ice at a snails pace to try and get clear still some hundreds of kilometres distance from Casey station.
Some or perhaps most of those scientists and researchers and maintenance guys would likely have spent a good portion of their career finding funding, collecting and testing various equipment for the experiments and research they intended to carry out upon reaching Casey, experiments and research which is limited to the few weeks of summer where conditions are mild enough in that harsh environment to conduct research and to travel to the more remote regions reachable from Casey to repair, or replace or install equipment and to research those more remote Antarctic regions’
Every day that the Aurora Australis misses in it’s unloading schedule means that the scientists, their backup crews, the experiments and research all become less and less likely to be conducted or there will no longer be enough time to do the research and experiments as was intended.
For some of those scientists and researchers it would have been a cumulation of their entire scientific career .
Now for some or most it is gone to hell perhaps forever as it was their one chance only.
All due to some idiotic, self promoting, arrogant and ultimately ignorant warmists intent on having a good time party and trying to impress everybody with what we now know to be not their scientific knowledge but instead an abysmal level of ignorance and arrogance and irresponsibility and complete lack of any sense of responsibility to the real scientists and the real researchers and staff of the international Antarctic bases and ships.
Here’s an example of what happens when a “climate scientist” refuses to see the ice.
Good thing he has a bunch of Skeptics for friends!
It’s quite possible some of the tourists, after arriving at Casey Station, may end up taking a further 70 km trek to Wilkins Runway, and board the AAD’s Airbus A319, and get a direct 4hour and 30min flight back to Hobart..(in the spirit of mawson of course)..
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/travel-and-logistics/aviation/intercontinental-operations/a319-background-information
Looks like the fat lady hasn’t burst into song yet.
AMSA report that the Aurora Australis is to standby in open water as a precaution as the Xue Long has concerns about its ability to move in the heavy ice in the area.
One can only hope that the Aurora Australia IS in open water otherwise this thing will turn from embarrassing fiasco into high farce.
Watch this space:
http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documents/030114UpdateAntartica.pdf
Aurora Australis is blocked in ice anyway as far as we can see from their webcam today –
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora
If at all possible they should work with the Xue Long to get both ships to clear water.
So the Aurora Australis is making about 0.25 knotts. The big question is therefore:
Is this “over the ground” as sailors say or “over the water” as sailors say. If the latter the next big question is:
What is the ice velocity?
Noting that velocity has direction as well as magnitude this could be important……
Watch the melting ice…..
Xue Long now STUCK IN ICE – hopes to make way tomorrow
Aurora Australis on standby as a precautionary measure
Xue Long notified AMSA at 1pm AEDT this afternoon it has concerns about their ability to move through heavy ice in the area.
The Aurora Australis has been placed on standby by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA)
Rescue Coordination Centre Australia (RCC Australia) to remain in open water in the area as a
precautionary measure.
The Xue Long has advised RCC Australia that it will attempt to manoeuvre through the ice when tidal conditions are most suitable during the early hours of 4 January 2014.
There is no immediate danger to personnel on board the Xue Long.
Please keep an eye on AMSA’s Twitter feed @AMSA_News for updatesthrough heavy ice in the area.
The Aurora Australis has been placed on standby by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA)
Rescue Coordination Centre Australia (RCC Australia) to remain in open water in the area as a
precautionary measure.
The Xue Long has advised RCC Australia that it will attempt to manoeuvre through the ice when tidal conditions are most suitable during the early hours of 4 January 2014.
There is no immediate danger to personnel on board the Xue Long.
Please keep an eye on AMSA’s Twitter feed @AMSA_News for updates
So we now have two stuck ships plus the Aurora on standby:
The Aurora Australis has been placed on standby by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA)….
This seems to be unecessary as the Aurora isn’t going anywhere soon….
Fortunately the melting ice will save further embarassment.
eco-geek,
The web cams still show the Aurora Australis surrounded by ice, so who is on stand by to rescue them?
“Fortunately the melting ice will save further embarassment.”
What melting ice? At this rate they’ll be stuck waiting for next spring.
For those wondering about the Russian crew, I am sure they are very much on the minds of the climate “scientists”…. as they could be very useful scapegoats.
After all, this is the kind of classy behaviour we have come to expect and this shower will have learned from the rest of the climate alarmist community that there are never any serious consequences for anything, however egregious. (No consequences for themselves of course – not for everyone else)
The BBC for one is usefully preparing the ground by, at least in one main TV report, referring to the ship as a “Russian research” vessel. No mention at all of who was leading the expedition, it’s purpose or the fact that it was merely hired from the Russians.
MattS – I should use /sarc tags more often…
The web cam does seem to show open water at the edge of the melting ice about ten (guess) miles ahead so the Aurora might make it out in a couple (guess) of days.
Of coure she is now “on standby” to rescue the Xue Long. I guess this means she may be “hove to” in the ice now as there is little point in making for open water if she really has to go back and rescue the Xue Long.
A big Russian icebreaker is on its way to rescue all three ships anyway so baring calamaties the embarassment really should be over in a week or so – subject to hull strength, wind direction etc.
The whole misadventure is gobsmacking testimony to the AGW misadventure.
The Aurora’s chopper is a lot smaller (good pictures on marinetraffic.com) which explains why the helipad is not strong enough as mentioned earlier.
@ ROM that is a great point about the real scientist at Casy and to King of Cool , that might mean the Russian ship and it’s crew is FAR from safe, because as you point out this ain’t over yet and the fallout in the next few weeks will tell the story I hope.
Some one else mentioned the A319 air craft that flies to Hobart. I somehow feel the 52 “scientists” should take the slow boat, although I am not sure if the Aussie crew would agree with me. What, as they say, a bloody c.ck-up. (btw looking at the wind map on Google that ship is still in a pocket of dead air).
Sorry Casey of course.
The new Australian Government unlike the last one, is not stuffed full of ecolunatics {that’s how they got elected} might just send these idiots the bill for the rescue operation which by now must be rising by the hour!
I woner if they complied with any of the following:-
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/tourism/visitor-guidelines
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/tourism/australian-policy
Especially this from the Australian Tourism Policy
a financial security system that requires all tourism activities to carry adequate insurance, provide a bond, or otherwise indemnify or reimburse others against the cost of support provided in the event of accidents or an emergency.
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/tourism/environmental-approvals-for-tour-and-expedition-organisers
Are this lot the modern-day equivalent of an albatross ?
ROM says:
January 2, 2014 at 8:50 pm
Well said Sir, I fully concur with your evaluation of this farce
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_01_03/Antarctic-mission-Akademik-Shokalsky-has-routine-day-Chinese-ship-in-difficulties-8161/
Info. on crew of russian vessel, who are still onboard and will remain until she can get underway..or..
Marooned scientists? Macarooned scientist!
Ed Zuiderwijk:
~You say
“Marooned scientists? Macarooned scientist!”
Or, as the immortal Bugs Bunny would say,
Scientist maroons!.
Richard
MattS says: January 2, 2014 at 11:37 pm
> “Fortunately the melting ice will save further embarassment.”
> What melting ice? At this rate they’ll be stuck waiting for next spring.
You seem to forget that seasons in the southern hemisphere are 6 months shifted from the northern hemisphere. Their January 3rd is equivalant to our July 3rd. In other words, it’s mid-summer in Antarctica right now.
Yeah. The ice is going to melt in a couple weeks or on the outside a month, so barring getting squished between a couple big chunks, these boats and crews can out last it. For that matter the tourists could have hunckered down and waited for the thaw.
The real anxiety for the expedition was getting the matter out of the public eye.
DavidQ says:
January 2, 2014 at 6:42 pm
Sorry, muffed the /blockquote
.
No editing of URL required. Just clear cache, that’s all.
artwest says:
January 2, 2014 at 11:37 pm
“For those wondering about the Russian crew, I am sure they are very much on the minds of the climate “scientists”…. as they could be very useful scapegoats.”
artwest – the Australian ABC is all ready trying to write the media out of any role in the ruination of the Antarctic official research programs. they have posted this onto facebook.
“ABC News
The Australian Antarctic Division says the operators of a Russian ship stuck in Antarctic ice should foot the bill for a rescue involving the Aurora Australis.
What do you think? Should the operators of the Akademik Shokalskiy foot the bill for their rescue?”
Their question needs a few links to this site for the truth about who delayed the ship and put it at risk and some genuine comments sheeting the bill and the disruption of the real Antarctic scientific program home to the promoters, the university,the media and the ship of fools responsible for this debacle.
The Captain and crew will otherwise get a Kangaroo trial and be inferred to be the guilty party to get the rest of the idiots off the hook.
We should be loud and clear on this scapegoating and loading guilt on other parties to dodge there own culpability is Un Australian.