From the Catlin web site today –
Hypothermia Posted by Gaby Dean
Monday, 06 Apr 2009 15:58
In disadvantaged inner cities it’s known in medical circles as Urban Hypothermia. GPs adopted the term after seeing an increase, during winter, of elderly patients who have switched off their heating, fearful of the cost, and become ill as a result because of the cold.
Chronic, as opposed to acute, hypothermia is the official term.
The Catlin Arctic Survey Team have now been working in temperatures of below -40 degrees centigrade for more than 30 days. When the three (Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley) leave messages on the TVM – a machine that records the messages they phone into London HQ – their voices often sound slurred and they occasionally muddle their words.
Extreme cold affects the senses and everyday skills we usually take for granted, like speaking. According to CAS medical adviser Doc Martin, the team are constantly battling chronic hypothermia, which was to be expected. (Pen Hadow has described it as an ‘occupational hazard’).
“Chronic hypothermia affects people who are under-nourished, physically and mentally tired and not sleeping well”, says Doc. “You can see the connection between vulnerable elderly people and the physical and mental condition that Pen, Ann and Martin are in”.
Weather
 -35°C |
Perhaps they are preparing to come home? They are 15 km further from the pole today (722.28 km) than they were yesterday (707.83 km) and according to satellite data, temperatures have been running below normal for the last two and a half months.
And from the NSIDC web site today – It was a warm winter in the Arctic. No doubt the Catlin crew will be relieved to hear that.
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Adolfo Giurfa (13:40:14) : question of massaging data
My thought is that most researchers do the best they can to work with data that is not as nice as they would like it to be. For example, the weather station data frequently mentioned on this site is bad because the administrators have screwed up. A researcher either has to work with the data or throw it out. If the decision is made to use it, then they have to try to make it work. Reasonable people might differ on how to do these things. Try a thought experiment. Say there is a weather station in a small town of 5,000 people and in 100 years it grows to an urban complex of 3,000,000 folks and the station is moved about once every 20 years – how do you fix that?
On the other hand, it is my belief that anything touched by the UN is corrupted until proven otherwise. Cheerful thought, yes?
The New Scientist – the Mad Magazine of Pseudoscience.
It actually always was monumentally crap, way before it reached this level of moronity. Twenty years ago or so, they would headline articles about some dude or other from Sunderland Polytechnic or Huddersfield Grammar School who had invented cold fusion and a vaccine for AIDS, in the same week. In actual fact, they had really just photocopied a paper on the subject and could just about say a few sentences indicating that they barely understood the research. Another trick was to headline the fact that they were clearly on top of a Nobel Prize-winning technology when the total contribution of the English science snobbery- monger was sending a reprint request to the Nobel Prizewinner in question, ha ha ha.
Just a year or so ago, one of their “reporters” proposed that he could prove the existence of AGW because there were more vineyards in England now than there were in the Medieval Warming Period. I asked him, by e-mail, if he thought that the fact that there were more electric blanket companies now meant that there might actually be cooling. He declined the offer to respond.
Whether or not this trip to the NP is the Catlin swan song or not, country singing star Tim Mcgraw already has the title: “Nothin’ To Die For”
I hate the part of myself that looks forward to the demise of stupidity.
If these PR people die of cold this will be the worst outcome. Their sponsors may even be sued for sponsoring an under equipped expedition.
If they attacked by Polar bears than the publicity will be immense.
If they need to be rescued the publicity will be immense.
If they finish their expedition the “scientific” value will be lost in the publicity.
The publicity will be immense.
The speaking circuit will be lucrative.
The talk shows will be filled with torrid tales.
The scientific data will be lost to a cold memory card (requiring another expedition next year)
They took down the ice thickness site. They took down the daily progress site. They haven’t had the “latest from the ice” in days. No correlation of the pagillion sonar readings to the 48 record drill holes in one day. Just that their drill holes are 1.5 to 2m deep.
JEEEZ!
Not to worry folks, the sea of Oshkosk is the one true anomaly according to the cryosphere data, accounting for the majority of the sea ice loss. AND it isn’t even IN the arctic…
Can’t some Brit call Adult Protective Services and get them out of there before they damage themselves forever or die? Hypothermia causes loss of judgment in the same way scuba diving narcosis does. Let’s put an end to this.
I also know warm little New Zealand reports 1400 “excess deaths” every winter from cold, (elderly, ill, and poor) yet the newspapers run guilt inducing stories of a little wood smog created during temperature inversions. Infuriating!
NZ is so narcissistic, they think they are being the forerunner in carbon control to set an example for the whole world, they believe deeply that the UN is the source of great wisdom and leadership when they have no children, educated people leave in droves and they take in only refugees who won’t work for their dole.
The US had more babies born this year than NZ has population, yet they punish their people trying to be the model for the world. They have become a third world country.
Since our new govt seems to be a new narcissiscm embodied, I hope that’s not what’s in store for us.
In a lot of the comments here, many people are more concerned with the lives of these people than their faliure to prove anything. And the greenies say “denialists” lack compassion and consideration, because “we have become so modernized and selfish in our ipod world of convenience”. Yes, the greenies are wrong about pretty much everything but still we care about them as human beings, don’t we? And that is just so wonderful to see here!
But I wonder if any of their lot would reciprocate the sentiment if a “denialist” was baking out in a globully warmed desert in their fantasized world? I don’t know. I hate thinking of mislead people of being so cruel but they would probably laugh and kick them for “violating nature” and call them stupid republicans or something.
I hope they don’t give up. Imagine the headlines…People trying to prove the Pole is warming up er freeze to death! Rumours of AGW proved to be codswallop.
Oh yes ..well worth the cost. Freeze you [snip]s!
The ‘right on’ PC approach to equipping this expedition using synthetic materials could become a killer. The ‘hi tech knows best’ attitude is proving itself wrong. Experience is the best teacher.
Amundsen learned from the natives that fur keeps you warm and dry. Scott didn’t…
Paul (12:41:32) :
I don’t understand the need to measure ice thickness since the arctic is supposed to be ice free any day now. When it all melts in 5 years, 10 years, 30 years….when is it supposed to happen now??? Anyway, wait until it all melts and the thickness is 0 feet. A simple solution, no frostbite and they can wear their specialized arctic Speedo’s to measure.
I saw the comment about Arctic Budgie Smugglers and imediately thought of the bloke in the Top Gear video who forgot to role his hose up. I’m more worried about what became of the bloke with the frostbitten tackle than our intrepid believers. Sad but I can’t feel sympathy for zealots when the “science” is more like propaganda.
tallbloke (00:13:52) :
“The ‘right on’ PC approach to equipping this expedition using synthetic materials could become a killer.”
Synthetics are plastics made out of oil. In the end they will release their carbon.
Fur have a zero carbon footprint.
People like that are not PC or zealots or green, they are just ordinary stupid people.
James P (14:17:50) : said … “If they’re drilling through the ice to measure its thickness, why did they take a radar unit on a sledge? ”
The radar gives about 60,000 thickness readings a day. The drilling for ice cores is a slow process is done only 3 or 4 times a day. One of the main purposes of the drilling is to calibrate the radar equipment. The radar unit does not give direct readings of layer thickness – the signals have to be interpreted. Hence the need for drilling which gives actual layer thicknesses which can be compared with the radar output at each drilling point.
David (12:57:13) : How about easing up on these people. They are trying something most of us would never think of. The fact that they are in distress seems to please a lot of people here. How about just hoping that they end up safe and in good health?
David, I’ve kept quiet on this thread, until now, but have to reply because you are just wrong. Many of us would think of doing it, and have.
I was ‘on deck’ as standby for a stint at the south pole station in the 1970’s. I was very disappointed that the number one guy got to go and I didn’t. Part of the prep was finding out just what you have to do to not die in those circumstances.
Nature does not care what you want. The way you survive it is to be incredibly prepared and have very clear rules for bugging out when things start going wrong. You also must be brutally honest with yourself.
That these folks:
1) Don’t seem prepared enough.
2) Deliberately did not use all the best equipment possible (i.e. furs, sled dogs / snocats, vapor barriers, etc.)
3) Are not showing even moderate wisdom in staying on the ice long after things have started going wrong.
4) Are at risk of imminent death.
5) Are putting at risk others to rescue them.
6) Are not accomplishing their goal and know it due to failure of plan.
7) Have clearly reached a point where they can not make decent decisions and their handlers are not pulling them off the ice.
Means that:
1) Someone needs to ‘cowboy up’ and pull the plug. Now.
2) Not doing it indicates clear stupidity.
3) Stupidity, while not a crime, when displayed by folks with above average intelligence is cause for some humor. It is a normal human response to such a ‘horror in waiting’. The ice kills the stupid, even if just stupid from the cold.
4) “Easing up” is not going to get the folks home safe. Public ridicule has some small hope. When ‘stupid’ is driving decisions, whacking up side the head is a better solution than ‘watchful waiting’.
If I were managing this expedition it would have been scrubbed a week ago and we’d be doing a post mortem to decide the best route forward:
a) Re-flight to the ice in a better position now. (You can resupply so you can also reposition, after you’re warm & fed).
b) Re-equip with proper gear (furs, bags with vapor barriers, snocat etc.)
c) Try again next year.
d) Scrub.
That this is not happening means:
a) Management is stupid, negligent, or grandstanding.
b) Someone is overstating the actual conditions for P.R. purposes.
Neither of these is a good conclusion, so derision is warranted (even if I myself would not do it).
And yes, I hope they come home healthy, safe, and soon.
Sidebar: One of the stories we were told in preparation was that the military resupply guys liked to get their pictures taken in full fur coats next to the plane. One of the scientists who had been down there a long time (and was acclimated) like to do a fast jog past behind them and get ‘caught’ in the picture running in shoes, shorts, T shirt, and not much else (hat maybe?). He could do one quick out-and-back lap and needed to time it just right to avoid frostbite, but had it down. Imagine the guys trying to impress their friends with their pole pics with stories of intense cold with a jogger in the background!
(It still bothers me sometimes that I didn’t get to go. far more folks would do time on the ice if they could get a chance. I’d go now if I could, just to scratch that old itch.)
If the worst happened would you be a witness in a manslaughter trial against the handlers?
Pen Hadow is warming up.
I haven’t been following this story closely, since I’m not particularly surprised that arctic sea ice is thinner than it was 50 years ago. That the world is warmer than it used to be is not controversial, and any “data” they may gather is not particularly interesting. However, I looked at the Catlin website last night and saw Pen Hadow’s body core temp down around 34 degrees. That concerned me, so I checked again this morning around 10:30-11:00Z, and watched Hadow’s core temp increase from 34 to 37 within 15-20 minutes. Also, all their heart rates slowed from over 100 to around 70-90 BPM.
Apparently, the resupply plane reached them (I hope). Hopefully, someone will pull the plug on this foolishness and bring them home.
I don’t take any delight in their suffering hypothermia whatever the reason. I hope they get pulled from the ice before somebody dies unnecessarily.
http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/live_from_the_ice.aspx
Somebody get Pen Hadow off the ice before he freezes to death!
Core temp 33.64C !
Not good at all.
Mark (01:44:24) :
The radar gives about 60,000 thickness readings a day. The drilling for ice cores is a slow process is done only 3 or 4 times a day. One of the main purposes of the drilling is to calibrate the radar equipment. The radar unit does not give direct readings of layer thickness – the signals have to be interpreted. Hence the need for drilling which gives actual layer thicknesses which can be compared with the radar output at each drilling point.
Thank you, Mark. I look forward to seeing the results, if and when they get published!
Other than the widely publicized loss of Polar Bear habitat, what are the real problems associated with the loss of summer sea ice at the North Pole?
IMHO this story illustrates that there are some climatic conditions on the Earth that would benefit from a few degrees of warming. I don’t see how this benefits the global warming contingent at all.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Or in this case, ~snip~ idiots. At least they didn’t force a well prepared guide to die with them.
I hate to say it, but the administration’s plans to curtail most cruises to the Arctic and the north pole may be a good idea. It seems to me that many nuclear icebreakers cruising through 6′ thick sea ice could only speed it’s removal by wind and currents. Am I completely confused here?
Mike
philincalifornia (20:45:54) :
The New Scientist – the Mad Magazine of Pseudoscience.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Why not read the article!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:
“There is this thin first-year ice even at the North Pole at the moment,” says Serreze. “This raises the spectre – the possibility that you could become ice free at the North Pole this year.”
…
“Even if you lost only half of the first-year ice this year – which would be average – you are still in for a very low ice extent this summer,” says Serreze.
Some factors could still save the day, though. In summer 2007, warm winds favoured melting. “If we have an atmospheric pattern like we had last year, we are going to lose a whole bunch of ice this summer, but if we have a cooler, more cyclonic pattern, that might preserve some of that ice,” says Serreze. Watch this space
Am I a bad person for wishing Al Gore and James Hansen were with this expedition?