You may recall Lewis Pugh and his laughable “expedition” in Kayaks last summer to plant flags of nations on the ice. I came a little more respect for this group, since at least they are attempting some science. But given the media coverage and the problems they face in getting any meaningful data, I have my doubts about this project as well. – Anthony
“Occasionally it’s disheartening too when you’ve slogged for a day and then wake up the next morning having drifted back to where you started.” – Pen Hadow
A team of polar explorers has travelled to the Arctic in a bid to discover how quickly the sea-ice is melting and how long it might take for the ocean to become ice-free in summers.
Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley will be using a mobile radar unit to record an accurate measurement of ice thickness as they trek to the North Pole.
The trio will be sending in regular diary entries, videos and photographs to BBC News throughout their expedition.
The Catlin Arctic Survey team started its gruelling trek on 28 February.
From Pen Hadow’s online journal: Conditions have been hard.
We have been battered by wind, bitten by frost and bruised from falls on the ice.
Occasionally it’s disheartening too when you’ve slogged for a day and then wake up the next morning having drifted back to where you started.
The Arctic sea ice is constantly moving, breaking open and reforming into different shapes – which means we can end up moving several kilometres in any direction while we are asleep in our tents.
The wind chill today will slice us up – it’s taking the temperature down to below -50C, so we have decided to take a day’s rest to recharge our batteries and soothe the aches and pains.
We are resigned to several weeks of daily discomfort and general misery, safe in the knowledge that conditions, our progress and general well-being will improve over the coming months.
See a video and audio report from Hadow at the BBC website here
K (10:48:04) :
“Dying is hard, but not as hard as comedy.
But no matter. The team seems to be interested in gathering data not propaganda and I wish them well.”
A sobering observation.
“We’re all very, very cold and have lost feeling in our fingers and toes.”
“Even the tent offers little sanctuary, since the team’s breath freezes to the tent inner overnight and they wake up entombed in a cavern of ice crystals, whilst their low temperature-rated sleeping bags struggle to offer even a modicum of warmth during the bitter Arctic nights.”
This doesn’t sound good to me, either, especially as the last time I looked, their re-supply was well overdue. Frostbite and hypothermia come to mind; lives and limbs have been lost in the NZ Alps in these circumstances, leave alone on the Arctic ice.
Given that the ‘science’ is of little value, surely it is time for whoever is managing the base operation to call it all off, before one or more of the team is seriously hurt or even dies and before someone is hurt or worse attempting a rescue. They may genuinely think they are helping in some cause or other, but the ‘science’ is useless and ‘raising awareness’ of a non-problem is not worth anyone’s life, however foolish or misguided.
Reading the headlines they have already made up their mind on the “Scientific Discoveries” they will make so what is the point?
1.53 km per day, hmmm maybe Gaia is not happy with them, hopefully Darwinism will deal with them if Gaia wont.
Annie Dillard wrote a beautiful essay about faith (mod–not a religious post, I promise), comparing it to polar expeditions. She had this to say about the early polar explorers:
“They went, I say, partly in search of the sublime, and they found it the only way it can be found, here or there–around the edges, tucked into the corners of the days. For they were people–all of them, even the British–and despite the purity of their conceptions, they man-hauled their humanity to the Poles.”
They man-hauled their frail flesh to the Poles, and encountered conditions so difficult that, for instance, it commonly took members of Scott’s South Polar party several hours each morning to put on their boots. Day and night they did miserable, niggling, and often fatal battle with frostbitten toes, diarrhea, bleeding gums, hunger, weakness, mental confusion and despair.”
I hope that these gentlemen don’t end up writing something like Salomon Andree, whom Dillard notes “confided in his diary, with almost his dying breath, ‘Our provisions must soon and richly be supplemented, if we are to have any prospect of being able to hold out for a time.”
Peter, re how does Arctic ice grow?
Same way as lake ice. Cold air causes the upper layer of water to freeze. The ice is not a perfect insulator, but has a defined thermal conductivity.
Heat in the underlying water is conducted through the ice into the very cold air above the ice. The ice grows in thickness as long as heat continues to be transported from the water through the ice into the air. Radiation effects are negligible at these temperatures.
For ice thermal conductivity, see this site:
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ice-thermal-properties-d_576.html
On this page it says
http://www.bancroftarnesen.com/explore/ArcticOcean2007/envIntro.jsp
“The global mean temperature has increased by 0.74 degrees Celsius since 1906. In the Arctic, temperatures have increased almost twice as much.”
About the claim of a 1.5 degrees increase in the Arctic since 1906, how was this figure arrived at? By Arctic what exactly do they mean because that is a very wide area?
” I tried to convey that climate change and the loss of the sea ice up here will affect everybody on the planet – unpredictable weather changes, rises in sea levels are all linked to food shortages and poverty.” This quote states a foregone conclusion before the data is collected.
BrianMcL (11:23:23) :
Someone really should stop them now before anyone’s got to risk their lives trying to save them.
Happy Birthday… Martin.
“All I want for my birthday is a Twin Otter” – Martin Hartley about 1 hour ago from web.
Pen_testing_sprite_bigger
ArcticSurvey
http://twitter.com/ArcticSurvey
OH!!
http://www.borekair.com/
If this the twin otter that you want, go for it.
Hope it is on its way to you.
Seems to me I’ve read most of this on another thread to this blog. Maybe the river ice breakup bet article? OT, but there.
Aron (14:03:18) :
“About the claim of a 1.5 degrees increase in the Arctic since 1906, how was this figure arrived at? By Arctic what exactly do they mean because that is a very wide area?”
Not only that, but how a rise of 1.5 degC could be responsible for the presumed disapearance of the ice when the air is normaly and generally in the sub-zero?
Me think the water had much more influence on the melt!
On Friday 6th there was the first main report from the team. It was introduced on the Science and Environment section showing the 2 skiers + plane on the ice (as shown on BBC link to the Catlin report for Friday 6th March). Underneath, it printed “Team have dramatic night due to melting ice” BBC word – melting. I complained (2 emails, 2 ‘phone calls). My second email complaint was:- “I wrote a few hours ago about the title you give the report. Namely:- “The team have a dramatic night on melting ice”. This must be utter nonsence. the latest temperature on their website gives a temperature of MINUS 37 Deg Centigrade !!! Explain and correct your incorrect statement for all to see.”
It was changed on Monday 9th to ‘shifting ice’, and eventually on Wednesday 11th the following was their reply “Thank you for your e-mail and apologies for the delay in replying. You make a reasonable point and that item was changed to say “shifting ice”.”
My response was:- “Thank you for your reply. Yes, I saw that it was changed to ‘shifting ice’ on Monday. The original report saying ‘melting ice’ was there from Friday until Monday. Plenty of time for a lot of users of your website to see it and to perhaps pick up on something that was incorrect. I request that you highlight on your website that the original ‘melting’ was wrong.”
Their reponse to this:- “We wouldn’t agree that it was misleading or incorrect. The whole premise of the expedition is to gauge how quickly sea-ice is melting. We were happy to clarify the wording of the promotional link, but the story itself was perfectly accurate. We would clearly wish to put right a factual error but do not feel as issue of nuance in a promotional link would warrant any sort of follow-up.”
Naturally I objected to this, but all that the BBC did was to give me the runaround and I got nowhere. In particular they said that they could not (later) see the statement (i.e. promotional link – gone by then) saying ‘melting ice’ on the published website. No, it never was. It was on the BBC page link but they refused to acknowledge this.
Did anyone by any chance see it and save it? If so please put it in the comments here and I will use it to reopen my ‘negotiations’ with the BBC
AGW attention is fixed on Arctic ice. Al Gore, Mark Serreze, and apparently the BBC, have made it the primary indicator for the AGW hypothesis. They keep placing it clearer and clearer on the radar. One side side put it there. The other side didn’t. But whatever the case it’s center stage now.
We’ll be blogging about it for some time.
Is the movement of ice Pen Hadow speaks of the ‘death spairal’ Mark Serreze talks about? 😉
So, whatever happened to the Shakeltons of the world?
[parenthetically, one of the best books in English, by an amazing Englishman, which defines in my mind the exact PINNACLE of the Empire:
http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing/dp/078670621X/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237328223&sr=8-1
Favorite part: Shakelton reaches into an exploding crack in the ice and ONE-HANDED yanks a man in a sleeping bag from a certain death. All in a day’s work. Specfawkingtacular. The man must have had the forearms of a Welsh coal miner. And the testicles of his pony.
On their return (Shakelton brought back EVERY MAN alive) something on the order of 2/3 of them perished in The Great War.
Give this book to your sons and daughters that they might develop a tenth of Shakelton’s, well, whatever the heck he had. Not to say I wish Pony Testicles on your daughter, but you know what I mean]
You want something to laugh at, Ray and everybody else? Despite their claims of temperature increases in the Arctic and how climate change will be a disaster for Arctic ice and global sea levels, here is the level of science on their site:
http://www.bancroftarnesen.com/explore/ArcticOcean2007/envObservation.jsp
Look at their answer to the last question on that page.
They’ll randomly mutate?
Some have been asking what the Marxists will want to grapple next after CO2.
Well, they are just as interested in water supplies as they are in CO2 as a method for attacking private industry and entrepreneurs. They’re building up the water footprint crusade quietly in the background while people are diverted by CO2 and global warming.
Here is one example
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/16/istanbul-water-forum
Note the nationalisation of more resources to force more bankruptcies, which eventually means the public will be burdened with water taxes on top of the carbon taxes:
“There is mounting evidence that privatisation has failed. We believe water should be a public trust.”
There is no evidence that water companies and suppliers have failed. More cleaner water is being supplied to more people than at any time in recorded history.
Not only do they want to nationalise the delivery of water, but activists are also discreetly working away at banning chlorine. If they have their way you’ll end up with incompetent bureaucrats controlling water, water rationing, higher taxes, and water that isn’t safe to drink.
http://www.greenspirit.com/logbook.cfm?msid=82
Joe Thornton authored the 1997 Greenpeace USA document “Planning the Transition to a Chlorine-Free Economy”
http://www.greenspirit.com/logbook.cfm?msid=83
Greenpeace wants to ban the use of chlorine in all industrial processes, yet the addition of chlorine to drinking water has been the single greatest public health advance in history, and 75% of our medicines are based on chlorine chemistry.
I’m sorry if this has already been mentioned in the 100+ posts, I haven’t gotten through all of them yet.
But if “The Arctic sea ice is constantly moving, breaking open and reforming into different shapes – which means we can end up moving several kilometres in any direction while we are asleep in our tents.” is true, which I’m sure it is, how do you possibly draw any conclusions about ice thickness at Point X, when Point X is constanty moving? It’s not like you can go check the same spot next year, because the ice is dynamic.
Given that, what’s the value in what they’re doing, other than the progaganda aspects?
JimB
Reminds me of a barge trip from Wyndham in the extreme north west of Australia, to a locality on the coast to the west, Faraway Bay. Tides in this part of the world are pretty strong, and travel had to be at night.
A colleague told me that lying on his swag looking at the stars steaming to the destination, that they were actually going backwards for a few hours, the tide being that strong.
Can appreciate their dillemma on the ice after a night’s sleep.
Have these guys even taken any measurements yet?
Neil Crafter (11:35:20) :
B Kerr (11:07:14)
Is Pen his real name or is it a nom de plume?”
Its obviously a pen name!
Thanks!!!
Is Neil your real name??
Is anyone else concerned with the lives of these people? I’ve e-mailed most of the sponsors and the WWF telling them I hold them responsible for the safety and safe return of these people and that three human lives are not worth their silly marketing and PR programs.
There are safer ways to collect the data if that’s what they are really trying to do, but I think we all know that’s not their end game.
Join me in this. Catlin makes this simple by posting the sponsors on the expedition website. Most are accessible through the “contact us” feature. Some make it difficult if not impossible to get through. They’re too busy selling product to listen to the proles. Post the path if you find the route for the difficult ones. Or do you want to enable “assisted suicide”?
I’m pissed!
I think these three are all very experienced polar explorers (daredevils that is).
There has just been a lot of problems.
First, the temperatures are a little colder than expected (if you have ever experienced -40C temps, you can handle it for periods of time, but eventually you have to go into a warm place. Things break at -40C like the circulation to your fingers and toes, equipment and like Martin’s tooth on day one when he bit into some frozen chocolate.
Second, they are in an area of giant ice heaves. So much for the polar ice thinning since it is being stacked up 12 feet high.
Third, Ann keeps spilling things. Like the stew she kicked over (it takes a lot to heat up stew when it is frozen to -40C) and the fuel she let drip out of the fuel bottle while cooking and set the tent, fuel bottle, cooking stove and food on fire. Luckily, someone grabbed enough snow to put it out but they might have lost a lot of resources in the incident.
Fourth, the ice is drifting backwards nearly as fast as they are going forward.
Fifth, they haven’t spent enough time at WUWT to know that global warming has not yet defeated the 6 months of darkness that hits the Arctic each winter.
Sixth, they are so desperate to prove the impact of global warming is greater than feared, they didn’t take enough precautions.
Frostbite and hypothermia will put an end to the journey without a tent that has a heater in it and they should really build an igloo now, it will eventually warm up inside over time.
JimB (15:18:03) :
But if “The Arctic sea ice is constantly moving, breaking open and reforming into different shapes – which means we can end up moving several kilometres in any direction while we are asleep in our tents.” is true, which I’m sure it is, how do you possibly draw any conclusions about ice thickness at Point X, when Point X is constanty moving?
JimB, JimB … come on…come on.
“Measuring the area change in Arctic sea ice is relatively straightforward using spacecraft data; but getting at the thickness is not so easy.”
Yes relatively straightforward, thought you knew that.
Thickness now that is another question.
How thick do you need to get?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7902766.stm
Half way down.
“Measuring the area change in Arctic sea ice is relatively straightforward”.
Relatively straight forward.
What can I say???????
hareynolds,
I read Endurance years ago and I can heartily recommend it.
Shakleton’s sailing ship was wooden and lacked a radio like most ships in the early 1900’s.
I won’t ruin the book, but the very beginning starts out with the ship getting wedged in the ice, with the crew watching helplessly as the ship was slowly crushed in front of them and sank in the middle of nowhere. They were stranded on the vast polar ice sheet with no way to contact the outside world.
If anyone wants to read about a great leader in a desperate situation, you won’t go wrong with this story. And it’s all true.
Shakleton comes up in conversations about once a year. I will always consider him my all time pick for top bad ass in history.
Arn Riewe (15:38:11) :
I agree. This foolishness has gone on long enough. Their lives are in peril & they will never get any data worth a fig.
Get them home!
DaveE.