Regular readers may recall that back on June 15th, I pointed out the absurdity of this “Row to the Pole” publicity stunt sponsored by the whisky company “Old Pulteney” which had plans to row to the North Magnetic Pole (based on the 1996 location) and along the way take some temperature, water, and ice samples along the way in the guise of a science expedition.
Only problem was, the North Magnetic Pole is far into the Arctic sea now, and ice locked. The destination they chose for “Row to the Pole” hasn’t been the location of the North Magnetic Pole for 15 years, as I illustrated below, they’ll fall about 738 km/458 miles short of the North Magnetic Pole due to a drift of about 41km/year:
Undeterred by this complication, the group of rowers has set off anyway, and made some good progress according to their Facebook page, covering 40 kilometers on the first day. They even offer a satellite tracking page to watch the progress.
Too bad though they have not checked the latest satellite images from NASA’s AQUA Modis RAPIDFIRE page. I did, and it looks like the expedition is going to hit a wall of ice
soon.
Here’s the area I chose to look at today from this NASA image link=>
I rotated/cropped, plotted the approximate proposed path, and annotated the image from NASA to help readers see what the Row to the Pole people are soon going to run into in a couple of days:
Note the patch of white in the red box that the planned rowing path transects. Are those clouds or ice? The magnified view area gives the answer below.
Yup, unless those guys in the rowboat have an icebreaker leading the way, or there’s an “instamelt” de-icing ahead of them, they likely aren’t going anywhere near the old North Magnetic Pole circa 1996, much less the actual one.
Looks like “Scotch on the Rocks” for them.
However, like any good publicity stunt, they’ll probably figure out some way to make a success out of it, perhaps declaring that “important though incomplete science has been done”.
Old Pulteney? The only whisky I could never tolerate. Old Pukeney more like. Yuk.
Why doesn’t WUWT go into competition and organise a row to the South Magnetic Pole? The chances of success are about the same and if you can get sponsorship from Cambletown or Lagavulin I’ll certainly be the first to volunteer. I’ll even supply the ice ‘cos there aint none down there anymore.
‘J Calvert N says:
July 31, 2011 at 5:26 pm
According to their website, they have an ice expert in their support group. Wonder what he has told them?’
” Yep, that’s ice”
If they do claim they made it to the pole but they actaully didn’t then acomplaint to the advertising authority will be on it’s way as a commercial organisation will be getting publicity out of a false claim.
“It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense”. Mark Twain.
I’m expert on ice. Just let me teach you guys what ice is:
It is white
It floats on water
It can be photoshopped.
Whiskey loves it.
It’s cousin, snow, has now become so rare in Europe and the US that our children don’t know what snow is. So we are taking up sand boarding in Anractica, as advised by the lord of great knowledge, aka Al Gone.
Well, I for one wish them good luck. GW activists have been known to have trouble dealing with polar reality.
SSam says:
July 31, 2011 at 11:23 pm
_Jim says:
“Hmmm … I’ve never tried tape …”
3M is the best, much less bitter than that cheap Chinese import. A good cellophane after dinner goes well with stamps. A good weekend tape is duct, and pretty much any maker can get that right… well, usually. For this category I recommend Gorilla™ since it has the staying power of the old school duct tapes.
True, however one could wind up with tape worm.
Gary Hladik wrote:
“BTW, for those who deplore satirical, mocking, or derogatory articles and comments on this, a “puzzling things” blog, rest assured that my previous comment about dog sleds was totally serial.”
Totally Serial??? Maybe Captain Crunch will show up and give them a lift!!!
“Wonder if they know that Shackleton’s crew was only able to pull boats about 1mi/day over pack ice.”
The picture of these geeks harnessed up to their boat on what looks like a perfectly flat frozen lake and pretending to be pulling is priceless. Check out the pics from the Shackelton expedition. Pack ice is more like pulling the boat through the debris of the World Trade Center. And Shackelton had dogs for most of the time. Not to mention that the ice is constantly shifting, cracking and splitting. Good luck boys.
The funniest factoid I read about this is that the bottom of the boat is painted yellow so in case it capsizes they will be able to find it again. I hope the videographer keeps his camera dry and gets that shot!
I hate booze hounds.
Why don’t they just drive to the geographical north pole in a Hägglund BV-206?
Aka the Ferrari of the Antarctica.
The British army have lots of them.
A bit of work occasionally, though:
This expedition is typical of the younger crowd’s indoctrination to the new wave principles of the power of positive thinking. They understand this principle as – ignore reality and think beautiful thoughts about ice and it will respond by parting like the red sea. It is somewhat akin to the idea of controlling climate via CO2 manipulation.
I think a comparative skeptical expedition would be a voyage to the Maldives to prove it hasn’t sunk below the waves. Who do you suppose, will experience, the more enjoyable exercise? Just to ensure the expedition is regarded as “scientific”, the Maldives coastline, could be accurately mapped, and the square meter area of the island calculated and compared to the value 30yrs ago.
Now, if we could only find some fat cat to sponsor us. GK
scotch..on the rocks, sometime soon.
hope they got the Eperb ready, idiots.
really for scotch, no water, no ice, nice:-)
they go to all that effort to get the water out while distilling, why add it back?
They’re succeeding in their Marketing Efforts!
After reading this article, I’ll have to try it.
It’s all about Name Recognition.
Rowing up to the ice wall will provide great pics and videos.
This is nothin’. When I was a kid, we had to walk 81 miles to school through snowdrifts taller than we were, uphill both ways, and all we had to drink was Glenfiddich. These kids don’t know how easy they got it !!
Do you have any idea how many people have tried similar stunts over the last several years?
Most of the time the Canadian Coast Guard has to airlift them out before they die. Sheesh.
Hah! David Ball! 81 miles to school. You were lucky. Me Dah had a paper shop. When I got home from school it’d blown away!!!
On the science page they quote “During the last four summers, Scientists have reported the four lowest minimum ice extents since records began” (www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/ArticReportCard_full_report.pdf) So I had a look at this report card and on page 7 that statment does exist.However on page 11 it is contradicted by “While 2009 and 2010 did not meet or exceed the record minimum sea ice extent set in 2007,the summer sea ice cover remains relativly small.”
Now how can a dummy like me get my head around this science stuff with this type of confusion?
Am I missing something here or are they talking about two different things?
Could some kind person please have a look and enlighten me or should I just have another drink of Old Pulteney?
You may want to check out the picture
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/follow-polar-rowing-expedition-with-online-map-2328789.html
Who needs an ice breaker?
mwhite says:
August 1, 2011 at 11:11 am
You may want to check out the picture
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/follow-polar-rowing-expedition-with-online-map-2328789.html
Who needs an ice breaker?
Not even in their wildest dreams.
Likely, it will be more like this:
http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/remote_sensing/images/sea_ice04.jpg
Hmm. This is interesting. I saw on their Facebook page that someone commented about ice and they seem confident it will be melted by the time they get there. This will be more interesting to follow than the standard sea ice extant so thanks for posting!
REPLY: They mention looking at a sat image from late May…a lot of help that will be. -Anthony
Maybe they have sails and can sail across that nearly melted ice…..lol
From their Facebook page:
“Row To The Pole
Hi, We have designed the boat with integrated runners on its hull to be able to be hauled across ice if need be. Ultimately, there are no guarantees of completion, but for the last two years the ice has recededfar enough, and in such a way …for our satellite imagery to show a route through will open up. the very hardest section may not open until the last week or two of the summer ice melt season. In the true spirit of adventure, the crew is going to give it a go. Oh, and boots…all are capable of walking if they have to!”
They seem to be happy enough at the moment – they have made good progress across the ice-free Wellingtron Channel. But I expect they’ll be having Close Encounters of the Reality Kind real soon!
Presumably when they hit the ice they will cut the bottom off the boat and proceed in the manner of the Henley-on-Todd Regatta. http://www.henleyontodd.com.au/
Mr.D.Imwit says:
August 1, 2011 at 9:51 am
“The last four summers” doesn’t include this one, so it’s 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/ArticReportCard_full_report.pdf doesn’t seem to exist. Look at http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover_30y.uk.php . Note the last four years. Note they are the lowest minima of the record.
You appear to have read the description as “four lowest minimum ice extents” as sequential, i.e. each newer year breaking a record set by the previous year.
I wonder if the Canadian Coast Guard keeps records of the people they have had to assist and rescue. I imagine there’s been an uptick in the past decade. It might be fun writing an article describing the troubles people have gotten themselves into.
A good use for whisky is to lubricate the tongues of men who are, or have been, in the Coast Guard. They’ve got some pretty funny tales about naive people who imagine the sea is always flat, and sailing is always smooth.
I wish I could be rescued, for it would mean I could afford a boat.
People are fully capable of getting themselves into trouble at sea, without throwing grinding ice into the mix.