An interesting question has arisen. Is it OK to pollute the Arctic Sea so long as the quest is “noble”? The Catlin Arctic Ice Survey likes to promote their trek as having a low carbon footprint because they are walking on the ice, rather than doing the more efficient flying ice survey (such has already been done), or driving to the north pole with vehicles.
What we don’t see much of from Catlin is how much fuel it takes to support their walking endeavor. They have to get resupplied by aircraft. And, because they have to get “rescued” at some point, refueling is needed for that too since the planes can’t make the flight on one tank. They have to leave a fuel cache on the sea ice.
So what happens to the empty fuel barrels? Or even worse, what happens to full barrels?
WUWT reader Richard Henry Lee writes:
On 26 April at http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/from_the_ice.aspx, the report was:
Yesterday, the plane took off from Resolute Bay, flew north for 3 hours to the weather station at Eureka. The CAS support team hopped off, the pilots re-fuelled and then flew out onto the Arctic Ocean, in order to cache fuel in advance of tomorrow’s flight out to the Ice Team. Once sufficient fuel had been cached, the pilots then flew back to Eureka where they spent the night.
On 3 May, they report:
From a logistical point of view, the main area of consistently bad weather at the moment is over the mid-way refuelling point, rather than at the team’s location or at Resolute. That being the case, the pilots at KBA and the London-based Ops team are currently looking at the possibility of putting in a new fuel cache, so that the aircraft can take a slightly more circuitous route to the team if necessary, in effect bypassing the original refuelling point. The possibility of an airdrop is also now being considered.
So it appears that the original fuel cache is out there on the ice and they are planning to store a new fuel cache because of the weather.
So, what will happen to the old fuel cache that they cannot get to due to bad weather?
If just left there, it would eventually get into the ocean, I presume.
Yes just what does happen to those fuel drums? That is the inconvenient question.
It seems that if they leave them on the ice, empty or full, Catlin may join the ranks of Arctic polluters.
Why yes, your actual behavior doesn’t matter as much as your motivation or your feelings.
Besides, I’m sure they can purchase some offsets to make everything even out.
Does the release of volatile hydro-carbons count in your carbon footprint? I bet not, but they certainly should. Most of them are more efficient GHGs than CO2 and/or work in atmo chem processes to create GHGs.
Oh, I know. The fuel in the water would act to lower the freezing point and, thus, cause slower freezing of sea water and faster melt next year. They couldn’t be that nefarious, could they?
I think the phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do” applies here.
It seems to be they are very much up against a ticking clock that is not in their favor. Each extra day they stay on the ice beyond the “safe” extraction date raises the chance of a very bad outcome for them or the extraction team.
All for very little scientific data, and risking some bad publicity if the balloon goes up.
May be they found a new species of polar bears who consume fuel drums… 😉
Well, of course you can’t mention all of the fuel that the use to resupply, cook and keep warm! It’s obviously offset by the incredible science that they are doing /sarc off/.
It reminds me of all the holier-than-thou Boulderites complaining about SUV’s while they drive around in their Subaru Outbacks that get a whopping 20 mpg-city. Meanwhile, Right Wing Christian Fanatics like myself drive our wife’s Honda Civic around at 30 mpg. That doesn’t count for me though, because I do it to save money, and not to save the planet. Besides, I don’t have a “Save Tibet” bumper sticker on any of my cars, so apparently I’m a hater too.
There has to be some trial lawyer somewhere who will sue on behalf of the arctic wildlife. I would depend on whose territory they are leaving the oil unless this goes straight to the World Court.
Eco-maniacs (like Al Gore) CANNOT (by definition) ever pollute. No matter what they do – like creating tens of thousands of tons of trash in Central Park because of their earth day/may day socialist celebrations.
The rest of us, DO pollute – no matter what we do nor how much we save people and the environment by using energy and resources wisely – and have been (will be) sent to Siberia for our capitalist sins against the culture (er, nature.)
Don’tcha just love the internet? Everything ever written is stored somewhere. It’s just a matter of digging it up. So convenient for some. So damned inconvenient for others, especially when they get their faces smeared with a proverbial hypocritical cream pie.
Ed Begley and his fellow die-hard eco-friendlies at least live the dogma. If we ask nicely, do you think Ed could whip us up an airplane that flies on used cooking oil? There’s gotta be a McD’s somewhere in Alaska that they could refuel at. And when the drums of used oil fall through the ice and eventually rust out, the worst that will happen is that the fish will feel kinda nauseous. Or they’ll get the munchies.
OT but worthy of ridicule: The CBC has the following story, whose headline implies increased freshwater flowing into the Labrador Sea:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/05/04/labrador-sea-504.html?ref=rss
When you read the article it appears the trend has reversed and the researcher admits its too early to say anything about long term. So why report it at all I ask?
Then we have the usual crap about locals being affected by global warming: apparently “places that don’t freeze over in the winter because of the movement of currents — are getting smaller” So warming causes more freezing!
Maybe an empty fuel barrel will save one of those cute baby polar bears from drowning (see propaganda link below).
http://www.nationalgridfloe.com/
Apologies for being off topic, but on the AMSR-E sea ice extent chart (on the right of the page), there is quite a lot of daylight now between this year’s red line and last year’s next highest orange line. It looks like we’re going to have an exciting run from here to September seeing whether this year stays above the pack of 2002 to 2008 lines all the way down, despite the increasing CO2 concentration being against it.
Maybe now is a good time to start asking how long and high a rise in Arctic sea ice extent would it take to falsify AGW—assuming it is falsifiable.
Can we organise a petition to that effect to be sent to all the sponsors and the media institutions
Drums? Polar drift current takes them to Greenland, then to the Atlantic, then loop around to Trinidad, mon, where they become bass and timpani in a steel band.
So what are they doing now, apart from staggering polewards and drilling the odd hole? Is Ann still spending half the day steaming batteries, or is that no longer necessary now that so much of the equipment has packed up? Perhaps the Catlin Group would like to preserve its green credentials by collecting all the rubbish and cleaning up after them…
Tim Groves (08:43:11) :
“Maybe now is a good time to start asking how long and high a rise in Arctic sea ice extent would it take to falsify AGW—assuming it is falsifiable.”
Take the advice from Bunker Hill. “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes”
Tim Groves: The way the AGW researchers have set thing up AGW is not falsifiable. Any evidence which comes to light, either way, is said to be consistent with the theory/models. Also, their doomsday predictions are usually 50 to 100 years in the future. Maybe someone here can answer the question as to what exactly must happen to make even the believers question their faith?
I’m starting to wonder if the ‘plot’ for this story calls for a grand finale that includes a dramatic rescue due to a rapidly melting arctic. Maybe they’re looking for a suitable patch of ice to get stranded on for the photo-op of them waving their arms at the chopper while surrounded by open water. They might have to wait a while.
There are thousands, maybe millions, of 45-gallon drums scattered across the Arctic – all with a deposit on them. They are used as road markers (where there are roads) in winter. The problem is, nobody has figured out a way to get them back South economically. Find a cheap way, and you become an instant millionaire. Air is too expensive, tug-boats and rafts of drums have been considered but the ultimate cost vs benefits always cancels out the ideas. I have looked at the area near Apex (by Iqaluit on Baffin Island) and there were acres of empty drums, many dating from the building of the DEW Line. Maybe the Catlin Expedition should have been collecting drums instead of digging holes – they would have done more for the environment.
Hope those barrels don’t break the thin ice!
It reminds me (you probably get the same in the US) of the ‘eco-nuts’ who are ‘right-on for the planet man) and drive around in an old camper that belches black smoke.
Any pollution from avgas would be very short lived as it would evaporate. Assuming the barrels would rust and develop a slow leak, the fuel would probably evaporate at the surface at a faster rate than it would be leaking.
Even if the barrel broke completely open and spilled its entire contents at once, the fuel would dissipate within a few hours. Might poison a few krill unlucky enough to swim through the plume, but that would probably be about all I would expect in the way of any environmental damage.
The possibility of an airdrop is also now being considered
I’m surprised they’re considering that if the ice is as thin as they keep insisting. I have a lovely mental image of the drop canisters crashing through the ice and continuing downwards…
It might be interesting to calculate how big the Catlin carbon footprint is and then present them with the bill when they return to base. I trust that carbon credits are subject to Value Added Tax. Why stop at one bite of the cherry when you can gorge on two?
Are you sure those barrels are fuel barrels or whiskey barrels…I just was guessing if the sinuous wandering of the catlin’s expeditionaries was due to “Scotland made bio-ethanol” drinking.