UPDATE: see the latest excuse below.
The satellite tracking map has been like this for two days. Follow the yellow brick road for an about face and head to land.
WUWT reader “strawbale” reports in Tips and Notes that:
Listen to the Row to the Pole latest news on their website, they have spent today iced in and unable to move. Apparently the climbed up a hill to see how far the ice stretched and its goes to the horizon.
…spent today “licking their wounds” is how their audio report put it…
Hopefully when cloud cover conditions improve we’ll see just how far that ice extends on the NASA MODIS page: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/realtime/
UPDATE: The latest RTTP post from their website:
As the current path is blocked by more ice sheets, the crew use the downtime to put in some drill practice, moving the Old Pulteney up onto the ice.
UPDATE2: Well here’s the problem, they are still thinking like it is 2005! Too much listening to Dr. Mark “death spiral” Serreze of NSIDC, not enough time looking at observational data. From the RTTP Facebook page:
UPDATE3: they are on the move again, along the coast, trying to find an opening
Ice Extent has reached the minimum and refreeze has started for the year! When weather conditions improve a rescue copter can pull them from the ice.
Of course someone could send an ice breaker to retrieve them from the “ice free” area they wanted to showcase by this stunt.
LOL They’re aiming at the low-hanging fruit (not even the present magnetic north pole) and have difficulty reaching even that! What a farce!
Their “satellite” map shows lots of nice blue water – why don’t they just row? Or, is the blue colour another fake?
I’m going to send them a small missive of encouragement!
Such a disappointment, how terribly sad, bloody idiots!
Bartender! I’ll have a shot of Old Pulteney, with a schadenfreude chaser!
Richard S Courtney says:
August 12, 2011 at 3:08 am
Friends:
It is tempting to think this escapade was pointless, but not so.
Now the intrepid ‘rowers to the pole’ are stranded on the ice thay are a potential food source to help survival of any polar bears in the vicinity, and we all know that polar bears need all the help they can get if they are to survive.
Richard
Excellent! Can I have the bottle(s) if they’re no longer using it (them)?
The way I see it is they have 2 options :-
1) Turn back now and admit defeat, although with the AGW Liberal mantra of ‘it’s the taking part that counts’, this will be spun as a success along the lines of well 10 years ago they would not of got this far.
2) Carry on probably get stuck and need resucing or get eaten, although right up until the point the bear is cewing on there leg I’m sure they’ll be trying to cuddle one of the last polar bears.
My guess is 2 as they probably have that egotistical attitude that nothing can go wrong because there saving the planet.
Why, they have already passed the point where the North Magnetic Pole used to be in 1973 (73/96, what’s the difference, they’re just numbers). A bit sideways, but still, they could declare victory and call in a helicopter while they still have power to connect to the Internet, to bring them back home to safety. That would be the sensible course to follow, anyway. The only drawback is it would leave poor sweet fluffy white roly-poly bears desperate and hungry.
Greg Holmes: “Who is funding this row nonsense? taxpayers again?”
Click on the link to their site, there’s a page listing sponsors.
This is just further proof of AGW. The warming makes the ice expand rapidly prior to disappearing or something…
You simply couldn’t write comedy like it …
Pointman
Well I had to give them some encouragement on facebook. I hoped all that nasty ice would melt for them…
Mother Nature says: “It is not nice to worship the false Gaia* goddess, silly humans.”
* GAIA => G.A.I.A. => Gore Ate It All
John
Now that they’re iced in, if they’ve got enough ammo they should be able to live off polar bear meat till the next thaw.
polar Bear #1 ‘We are doomed. doomed I tell ya’
polar Bear #2 ‘Whattaya talking about’
polar Bear #1 ‘Global warming. I have the evidence’
polar Bear #2 ‘I’m sceptical’
Polar Bear #1 ‘I just saw some dead humans floating in the water’
I wonder if they were relying on an old Mark Serreze ice forecast.
This Satellite view is helpful;
http://www.arctic.io/observations/
as it allows you to zoom at the top left and switch to inferred at the top right.
This version of it is focused on the area of the Arctic the Pulteney team are attempting to traverse:
http://www.arctic.io/observations/8//6-N76-W102/Northwest-Passage
Also, here are the full Arctic versions from Modis;
True Color;
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?mosaic=Arctic.2011212.terra.4km
and Inferred:
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?mosaic=Arctic.2011212.terra.367.4km
Yesterdays satellite pass shows some pretty large chunks of ice between them and Cornwall Island. North is the right hand side of the picture. Scroll down to the bottom and about two thirds to the right to clealy see. Cornwallis Island where the started from at Resolute bay , Devon Island which they are now camped at the far northern end and then Cornwall Island under cloud. Click band 3-6-7 to get a much clearer view and also fully appreciate the amount of ice cover.
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r04c02.2011223.terra.250m
Old Pulteney and ice go together quite nicely.
The rescue mission almost certainly will be.
Adding insult to the injury of becoming trapped in ice that wasn’t expected (at 1:20 of the audio clip):
“… cleaned up what’s fast becoming a pretty smelly boat.”
What more can you say? ;->
They have about another week to 10 days to get there and back—summer ends about now and fall lasts a couple of days (if you’re lucky) before winter storms arrive
Apparently it’s worse than they thought.
Anyone know what the options are for rescuing these half-wits?
I assume there is a rescue station equipped with a helicopter close enough for a short notice lift?
Annoying though they are I would hate to see them come to serious harm…
strawbale – gem! You jest but I think it will be worth checking the footage carefully… 🙂