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
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“We are not here just to make a journey to the North Pole. We’ve all done that. That’s not the motivating force. How much information can we find out and deliver back to the wider world for its use?” Hadow asked.
Interesting. If they are just after the data collecting, why not use the dogs or wait for a better weather and proceed quicker? I’ve read about polar expeditions that started in March and ended in April. I don’t think there will be much use of data from such a short transect.
I know you shouldn’t laugh………..
I heard via the media about this expedition, just had a read through the comments.
and couldn’t stop laughing especially…… this quote from their blog.
‘So, our spirits were lifted (and the hairs on the back of our necks stood up!) when we saw evidence for the first time that We Are Not Alone out here. We knew it of course, but it’s still exciting to see: Polar Bear Tracks’
I do hope they have some shot guns around.
Looks like a couple of academic researches completely removed from any resemblance of the real world, and have got themselves into real trouble.
I hope they survive though.
Be intresting to see their reports on AWG.
We couldn’t reach the pole due to the quantity of the ice…………..
The supply plane has been forced to turn back
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/mar/18/catlin-arctic-survey-poles
The Guardian is trying to act like it really cares when it is culpable for encouraging the idea that explorers can just waltz out there because of global warming.
Just Want Truth… (14:25:36) :
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.
What is this fixation with Arctic Ice? How does anyone think that, if it is melting, this proves that anthropegenic CO2 is the cause. It’s the same with all the other ‘melting’ stories. Where is the link?
They are trying to reach them today. Don’t know how you can stay out there with frostbitten toes. You would think they could build some sort of snow house to save their lives.
Back in the good old days you would take your rifle and shoot the Polar Bear and eat him. Problem solved.
@Mike T.
The ples are to be the first affected by the Earths warming according to the old AGW theory. Of course these
theoriesmyths change very quickly to suit the circumstances.jack mosevich (07:26:04) :
Here is a link to the Catlin Blog. Scroll down for satellite images
http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/opsroom
Looks like they aren’t making any new posts. This is deeply unsettling. The Gore effect is usually humorous but not this time.
These explorers are brave, although risk takers to the max, prepared to be martyrs to the cause. Sometimes it can take a lot of effort to see the nose on one’s face, as noted by George Orwell.
A lot of misinformation about polar bears here:
“Polar bears are always aggressive”
As a matter of fact polar bears are not particularly aggressive, however they are completely unafraid of humans, and sometimes hungry which certainly make them dangerous. I definitely wouldn’t venture into polar bear country without a high-powered rifle (not a shotgun as somebody suggested), though I wouldn’t expect to have to use it.
“Back in the good old days you would take your rifle and shoot the Polar Bear and eat him. Problem solved.”
Not quite that simple. First you have to find your bear. Then you better make sure you kill him with the first shot, otherwise you are in big trouble. Third you had better be able to cook the meat thoroughly. Polar bear are often trichinous.
Solrey, when referring to yourself, please don’t place scare quotes around the term environmentalist. You’re entitled to describe yourself that way. The complaint most of us have is with the con artists who’ve hijacked the movement to achieve political and personal power and couldn’t care less about the environment.
As for the twits and concern about their well being…
I think about the misery and death their ilk intends with the policies they’re pushing…
I think about the Coasties, Canadian or US, who’ll have to risk their lives in a rescue attempt…
And I sincerely hope the three of them get eaten by the bear, or fall through an ice crevasse and disappear.
Frederick: Ann Daniels’s post is new today, 2 hrs ago I think. Supplies not yet arrived.
Those three scientists are a bunch of naive knuckle heads. Nobody in their right minds would attempt such a trip in the middle of winter. They totally believe the hype about the Arctic warming and ice melting… now they’re miserable and freezing their asses off and wondering when their overdue supplies are going to arrive. I’d bet they quit pretty soon… they should otherwise some one is going to die.
On the Catlin website right now the ice team is said to be 930.07 kilometers from the pole. That’s after 16 days. They were only 925.63 km. away when this thread was first posted. So they have lost almost 5 kilometers in the past 4 days. Let’s see, if they continue at this pace how long will it take them to reach the pole? And which pole would that be?
This misconceived expedition hired an outfit called Ken Borek Air out of Calgary Alberta. They have extensive experience flying in the arctic and antarctic. They have done rescues to the south pole in the winter, twice, being the only ones in the world able to do so. So when a company like this with a long and extensive history on both poles, I wonder what their take is on the poles supposedly melting. Anyone think to ask.
When they were approached by this expedition I wonder how the initial conversation went, something like, You want to do what, when!!!!
They ventured onto the ice to measure the ice, but it appears the ice is taking their measure instead. Indeed, their tent walls are ice covered, as are the insides of their sleeping bags. That, combined with the delayed resupply, and being forced onto half-rations, and fuel running low, and they are exhausted from just surviving the harsh conditions means they need to call a halt to this ridiculous expedition, and pronto.
Supply plane has arrived, according to the banner on the website:
Resupply flight has just this minute touched down (2115 GMT)
JimB
Supplies have been delivered and the team is ready to continue:
http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/live_from_the_ice.aspx
I see the resupply flight landed an hour ago.
Lets hope that common sense prevails and it becomes an airlift instead.
Surely their ops team will have to insist that conditions are too bad and that it’s just too dangerous for them to go on.
Might Ann be a closet sceptic?
A comment from her blog (OK ever so slightly out of context but still)
“the cold is all consuming and refuses to go away”.
Perhaps a bit of warming (OK 50 degrees or so) might not be such a bad thing after all.
Catlin web site says
“Resupply flight has just this minute touched down (2115 GMT) “
This is just great, I haven’t laughed so much in ages! Let me see if I have this right:
They are travelling at 1.44 km a day
They’ve got 930 km to go
930 divided by 1.44 =
NEARLY TWO YEARS!
Classic.
@TTY
The early explorers were always shooting Polar bears and eating them. The Inuit ate the meat raw.(Germans still consider raw ground pork a nice sandwich meat) If I was starving I would eat the Polar Bear and worry later. And I wouldn’t be to frightened to go find the Polar Bear and shoot him. Follow the tracks and likely he would find you. Of course the Polar bear will not worry if you have worms so be careful.
Actually, it would be quicker to walk to the South Pole from where they are!
” …. but the team are now surging forwards once again”
Is that a typo ?? I thought they were surging backwards ??
If I were really curious about the arctic ice thickness I would send a letter or two off the the various nuclear navies of the world and ask them for a sanitized plot of ice thickness vs. latitude. I’m pretty sure submarines are still going under the ice pack.
Hasn’t anybody else read the novel “Ice Station Zebra?” How about real stories about the USS Nautilus (SSN 571) trip under the ice. (Basis for the novel.)
Of course publishing real data of scientific use pales in comparison to a showboating expedition. If they do survive to write a report, the final paragraph will undoubtably include a request for funding to repeat the trip. Got to show a year-to-year trend you know.