The Catlin team has been on the ice for 10 days, and has traveled a total of 17 miles so far as the crow flies. At that rate, they will reach the North Pole in September, except that the ice gets too dangerous by early May and they will have to evacuate. Their current position is 85 47 N 78 22 W, after starting at 85 32 N 77 44 W on March 15. Their web site uses a cool Google earth plugin to map their tortuous route – seen below.
http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/GoogleEarth.aspx
The Google Earth map below shows how far they have traveled in reference to the North Pole. Note that their starting point and current position are almost right on top of each other at that scale.
The team have been making lots of noise about how unusual the ice conditions are in the Arctic, based on the tiny fraction of the Arctic they have navigated.
“The conditions we’re experiencing are unlike anything I’ve seen in any of the nineteen expeditions I’ve previously been on,” says Martin Hartley. “There are great swathes of only recently refrozen open water peppered with small snow-covered islands of ice in the distance. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come for Arctic travel?”
The map below shows just how insignificant their coverage has been. Their starting and end points appear to be right on top of each other at Arctic scale.
The Arctic Ocean covers 5,427,000 square miles. Catlin 2010 has seen maybe ten square miles of it, meaning they have sampled less than 0.0002% of the ice. They also choose to travel on refrozen leads because they are flatter and smoother, so their sampling is not random. No serious scientist would attempt to draw any conclusions about the quality of the ice based on a cherry picked sample representing less than 0.0002% of the Arctic, but this is no ordinary scientific expedition.
Same story, different year. From 2009 : Can the Catlin Arctic Survey Team Cover 683 km in the Next 21 Days?
Catlin Team Averaging 1.7 Miles Per Day – Only 295 Miles Left to Go!
The Catlin team has been on the ice for 10 days, and has traveled a total of 17 miles so far as the crow flies. At that rate, they will reach the North Pole in September, except that the ice gets too dangerous by early May and they will have to evacuate. Their current position is 85 47 N 78 22 W, after starting at 85 32 N 77 44 W on March 15. Their web site uses a cool Google earth plugin to map their tortuous route – seen below.
http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/GoogleEarth.aspx
The Google Earth map below shows how far they have traveled in reference to the North Pole. Note that their starting point and current position are almost right on top of each other at that scale.
The team have been making lots of noise about how unusual the ice conditions are in the Arctic, based on the tiny fraction of the Arctic they have navigated.
“The conditions we’re experiencing are unlike anything I’ve seen in any of the nineteen expeditions I’ve previously been on,” says Martin Hartley. “There are great swathes of only recently refrozen open water peppered with small snow-covered islands of ice in the distance. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come for Arctic travel?”
The map below shows just how insignificant their coverage has been. Their starting and end points appear to be right on top of each other at Arctic scale.
The Arctic Ocean covers 5,427,000 square miles. Catlin 2010 has seen maybe ten square miles of it, meaning they have sampled less than 0.00002% of the ice. They also choose to travel on refrozen leads because they are flatter and smoother, so their sampling is not random. No serious scientist would attempt to draw any conclusions about the quality of the ice based on a cherry picked sample representing less than 0.00002% of the Arctic, but this is no ordinary scientific expedition.
Same story, different year. From 2009 : Can the Catlin Arctic Survey Team Cover 683 km in the Next 21 Days?
At least all their tents are matching colors….
Gucci?
God this is funny – I get so much amusement out any Catlin expedition, so please keep on giving us a progress report, as the TV over here in England isn’t showing any decent comedy programmes at the moment. This could only be funnier if Ponce Charles was a member of the expedition!
One would have thought that they would have learned from their last attempt not to tempt fate again. How many hammer strikes to the head does it take to realize that this is not good for you? I am afraid that they are going to cause the death of someone trying rescue them from a perilous situation. There easier and safer methods to measure Arctic Ice conditions. As was mentioned in the article above, their measurements would be useless due to a limited sample and selection bias. They will not even be able to help the AGW cause since their plight will be because of harsh cold weather conditions further eroding the public perception.
Their photos remind of this oldie but goldie:
http://tstein4.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/spies_like_us.jpg
http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/65/34/33/18854331.jpg
and
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/jammasterflex/movie_spies_like_us_chevy_scared1.jpg
I’m stunned that somebody ponied up the cash for these jokers to do this a second year.
“I wonder if this is a sign of things to come for Arctic travel?” The Top Gear team could probably show them how to get to the pole by 4×4.
Why are these people trekking around the Arctic ice?
These clowns are traveling against the prevailing drift of the ice pack. They did the same thing last year. Are they really that dense, yes.
What is the motivation for going to the north pole? The outcome of the trip is already determined.
Anthony said;
“No serious scientist would attempt to draw any conclusions about the quality of the ice based on a cherry picked sample representing less than 0.0002% of the Arctic, but this is no ordinary scientific expedition.”
Swap the references to ice to that of sea surface temperatures, and surely we are also trying to draw conclusions -back decades- from the sampling of a tiny fraction of the ocean surface.
Tonyb
But if we are to believe this quote from the website, the basecamp has moved 42 kilometres south from them?
Or they have moved 17 miles towards the pole on a piece of ice while it drifts 42km south away from the pole?
Survey Director Pen Hadow explains more.
“By reviewing the distance and direction that the team’s campsite drifts each night as they sleep, we can roughly determine how mobile the sea ice has been over the course of their first 9 days of the expedition. It would seem the extent of their drift due south is around 42km.”
For March 25, the IARC-JAXA data for ice extent is the highest for the date since 2003. It’s not surprising that an expedition at this time would be encountering the nine million sq km that have refrozen since the minimum. It’s not surprising that the first ice they encounter, which will be the most recently frozen, would be the very thinnest. Is there a story here?
With the caveat that another anomaly can occur, the ice at this point seems poised to sustain itself another half million sq km above 2009’s minimum. “Third worst ever” wasn’t all that impressive in 2009, and “Seventh worst ever” would be really lame. I’m guilty of a lot of wishful thinking and weak science here, but it would be so nice to watch Mark Serreze squirm his way out of another annual increase.
They aren’t lost, they’re wandering around hoping to come across a Starbucks, but refuse to ask any polar bears for directions.
Actually, they might have a better shot this year, since the ice extent (at least the 15% extent) is trending later in the year as has been posted here a few times. I suppose we’d have to look at the higher percentage extent lines to figure out if they actually have a shot. And regardless, they’ve had wonderful trekking weather this year.
/sarc off
Phil. (07:42:07) :
Good catch. Looks like they are sitting on a huge fissure in the ice.
In the famous words of John McEnroe, they can’t be serious.
Would be nice if WUWT contacted those Germans who fly over Arctic and made a story of their efferts to record ice thickness. Certainly a more scientific method than this Catlin escapade.
They actually avoid the thickest ice areas because the going gets so tough there. They are like geographers sent to record the height of both hills and valleys who choose to measure only valleys.
I’m amazed that these bloody idiots have the chutzpah to try this stunt, and try to get themselves killed again!
After the UK Govt.’s scare campaign to get believers to do without central heating for the winter I’m surprised that there are any believers left to attempt stunts like this.
Mind you, maybe spending 3 months shivering at home terrified to turn on the heating lest some dogs drown (?) was good preparation for more nonsense like this.
Wind Rider (09:01:04) :
Maybe a wise choice. A coffee wired polar bear might mistake them for fur seals 🙂
In Texas an individual who wishes to have the appearance of importance, but is considered to be without substance is referred to as, “All hat and no cattle.”
Around here we call it, “All show and no go.”
Just a reminder – the Top Gear guys went to the North MAGNETIC Pole, not the geographic pole. Still, I’d rather be in a Landcruiser with a nice heater than a tent; there is a reason the igloo was invented.
Any chance we can persuade their relief to forget to pick these numbskulls up? 🙂
Can I get funded to study rising sea level at the shoreline in Tahiti ?
I’ll drill some holes, and use a ruler in the water. I will personally sample the
air, and observe the quality of the sand.
And I will catch some bugs. Shouldn’t take long. Just a couple of years.
Promise.
Yawn. Wake me up when they find flaming ice.
At this rate, it will take them 1,000 years to get to the Pole.