For the latest, see this new story. and this opinion piece on why this is a fiasco
UPDATE: Turns out this “research” vessel was mostly a taxpayer funded junket for getting video stories to BBC in the UK and ABC in Australia, see update2 below.
It is summer in the southern hemisphere and yet there is still signifiicantly above normal amounts of sea ice present as the passengers and crew of one tour ship discovered. The icebreakers Xue Long and Aurora Australis, and a French research vessel Astrolabe are cruising towards the Akademik Shokalskiy at full throttle for rescue. Photos and maps follow.
PR from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Dec 25th, 2013:
Search and rescue of passenger vessel trapped in ice underway
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is coordinating a search and rescue for a Russian passenger ship beset by ice approximately 1500 nautical miles south of Hobart.
AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre Australia (RCC Australia) was contacted by the Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in the United Kingdom on Christmas morning.
The Falmouth MRCC received a distress message via satellite from a Russian flagged vessel, MV Akademik Shokalskiy, with 74 people about 7.20am (AEDT).
The ship is in the Australian Search and Rescue region, 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont D’Urville.
RCC Australia assumed coordination of the incident and issued a broadcast to icebreaking vessels in the area.
Three ships with icebreaking capability have responded, including the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) vessel Aurora Australis, and are now en route to the area.
The closest vessels are at least two days sailing time away.
Further updates will be provided when more information is available.
###
Source: http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documents/25122013AkademikShokalskiyUpdate1_Media_Release.pdf
===============================================================
This is apparently an image tweeted by somebody on-board the Akademik Shokalskiy, showing the ice around it:
AMSA is now coordinating the response to a ship beset by ice about 1500nm south of Hobart. http://t.co/P4zO9RUMth http://t.co/S5ST1wgwbN
— AMSA News (@AMSA_News) December 25, 2013
UPDATE:
The expedition is being led by Chris Turney, “climate scientist”, who has “set up a carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.” The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”
http://www.christurney.com/ (h/t to Sagebrush Gardener)
It seems they found out what the “environmental changes taking place in the south.” are.
From the WUWT sea ice page, Antarctic Sea Ice is more than 2 standard deviations above normal:
![S_timeseries[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/s_timeseries1.png?quality=75)
According to this sitrep report for one of the rescue vessels, the Aurora Australis the Akademik Shokalskiy is trapped in sea ice in the Commonwealth Bay region of Antarctica.
This is what the current sea ice coverage looks like at the south pole with the approximate ship location marked:
Image source: National Snow and Ice Data Center via the WUWT sea ice page.
Wikipedia says about the ship:
MV Akademik Shokalskiy (Russian: Академик Шокальский) is an Akademik Shuleykin-class ice-strengthened ship, built in Finland in 1982 and originally used for oceanographic research.[5] In 1998 it was fully refurbished to serve as a research ship for Arctic and Antarctic work.[3] It was named after the Russian oceanographer Yuly Shokalsky.[6] The ship has two [7] passenger decks, with dining rooms, a bar, a library, and a sauna, and accommodates 54 passengers.[3] It is currently operated by Aurora Expeditions, an Australian expedition cruise line.[3][8] In 2011, the Akademik Shokalskiy sailed cruises along the coast of Russia[9] and to East Antarctica.[10] Her sister ships are Akademik Shuleykin, Arnold Veymer, Akademik Gamburtsev, Professor Molchanov, Professor Multanovskiy, Geolog Dmitriy Nalivkin, Professor Polshkov, Professor Khromov.
UPDATE2:
WUWT reader “pat” writes at 2013/12/26 at 1:59 pm
seems this expedition was more a BBC/Guardian/ABC CAGW exercise!
18 Dec: Guardian: The Guardian lays claim to Antarctica – in pictures Journalists Alok Jha and Laurence Topham have landed in Antarctica with the 2013 Australasian Antarctic Expedition Documentary filmmaker Laurence Topham lines up a shot from the bows. Photograph: Alok Jha/Guardian…
http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live/gallery/2013/dec/18/guardian-antarctica-pictures
Guardian: Laurence Topham, documentary filmmaker
In 2007 he worked for Current TV, where he edited over 50 short-form documentaries for terrestrial broadcast…
http://www.theguardian.com/open-weekend/laurence-topham
Guardian: Science: Antarctica live (MASSIVE COVERAGE, NO HINT ABOUT THE SHIP’S CURRENT PREDICAMENT!)
http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live
26 Dec: BBC: Andrew Luck-Baker: Science continues for trapped Australasian Antarctic expedition Science reporter Andrew Luck-Baker is on board the Russian research vessel Shokalskiy, covering the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013 for the BBC World Service programme Discovery…
Tantalisingly, a low band of grey sky to the Northeast suggests clear water lies not so many kilometres away. The grey colour is light reflected from open water. The early Antarctic explorers named this colour phenomenon “water sky” and used it to navigate their route through the treacherous pack ice…
In addition to the Russian crew of 22, the expedition team consists of 18 professional scientists from Australia and New Zealand, and 22 volunteer science assistants. They are members of the public, ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s. They paid to join the scientific adventure…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25519059
25 Nov: ABC Lateline: $1.5 million Australian expedition to Antarctica Professor Chris Turney from the University of NSW is mounting the largest Australian science expeditions to the Antarctic with an 85-person team to try to answer questions about how climate change in the frozen continent might be already shifting weather patterns in Australia.
ABC’s MARGOT O’NEILL: The research stakes are high. Antarctica is one of the great engines driving the world’s oceans, winds and weather, especially in Australia. But there’s ominous signs of climate change.
CHRIS TURNEY: The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds encircle Antarctica, and over the last 20 or 30 years or so, they’ve been pushing further south. Now – so actually in a way it’s almost like Antarctica’s withdrawing itself from the rest of the world…
EMMA ALBERICI: And tomorrow night, in the second part of this special report, could the British Antarctic explorer Robert Scott have lived? We look at how Professor Turney discovered that choosing the right team can be a matter of life and death.
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Patrick says:
December 28, 2013 at 11:46 pm
“…In anyone’s English, that’s a taxpayer junket.”
________________________
It’s just a business expense.
The governments of the world are in the business of increasing their wealth and power by tightening control of their populations. What greater yoke than to get the people to willingly submit to taxation of the very air that they breathe in the name of CO2 reduction.
Rob Ricket at 7:32PM
I’ve travelled in a couple of vessels of this class, and while they are old they have been comprehensively modernized so they probably have CHT incinerators or similar, particularly since the environmental requirements for tourist traffic in Antarctica are very strict (much stricter than for government-sponsored activities).
Don says:
“Would appreciate any mariner with Antarctic experience explaining why they think the Shokalskiy cut it so close on this cruise. Is the trapped ship in danger of staying right where it is for days or weeks?”
I’m no mariner, but I have travelled on ships of this class in both the Arctic and the Antarctic and I am quite surprised that they have gotten themselves into this situation. The captains and officers usually have extensive arctic experience, and while ships of this type must necessarily take somewhat larger risks than ordinary cruise ships it is strange that they took on this trip. Normal tourist trips to East Antarctica go to the Ross Sea area which is more or less ice-free in summer (and more photogenic). The Commonwealth bay area has a very bad reputation for extreme katabatic winds (Mawson’s book on the 1911-12 expedition wasn’t called “The home of the Blizzard” for nothing). I presume they must have been paid a lot more than the ordinary charter rates to risk it.
Someone should take a good hard look at Aurora Expeditions.
This mob has been taking ‘adventure tourists’ down to Antarctica for many years, and knows exactly what the ice has been doing. Forget the modelling – they’ve seen the reality for themselves. But that hasn’t stopped them from making good money out of welcoming the next mob of useful idiots on board. In January 2009 it was “Terribly sorry, everyone, but we’ve had a nasty surprise! The Ross Sea has frozen over in an unusual weather event and we can’t get you down to Deep Antarctica to see the things you paid $A20,000 to see” Similar situation the previous year, according to shipboard scuttlebutt. Well, when you read the fine print they don’t actually promise anything, they shrug their shoulders about unexpected weather, and if you’re one of the suckers what can you do?
Just never forget feeling dudded, and not forgetting who did the dudding.
“I presume they must have been paid a lot more than the ordinary charter rates to risk it.”
Chinese ice-braker has given up. Now investigating a landing site for their helicopter to evacuate tourist “science assistants”.
Since it’s now the middle of summer I guess that implies abandoning the ship. It will be interesting to see what conclusions the flotilla of eco-warriors draw from their “research” exercise.
Warren in New Zealand says:
December 28, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Akadamik may be left with skeleton crew.
You didn’t mean to say
Akadamik may be left with skeletons of the crew.
?
🙂
***I’m no mariner, but I have travelled on ships of this class in both the Arctic and the Antarctic and I am quite surprised that they have gotten themselves into this situation. ***
My guess is that they gave too much leeway to Chris Turney. Maybe he thought that the ice was “rotten” as Barber did in the Arctic.
Okay, the Aurora Australis should be on site. Where’s the 24 hour coverage? Where’s the Web cam? Where’s the on-the-spot reporter on a caffeine high?
Ric Werme, We know the answer to your questions. If this was a story which showed that CAGW had some credence, then the MSM would be doing what you suggest. But since the opposite is occurring, then the less said about it the better, so far as The Team is concerned.
I believe the junket was a success in that the central question was answered. The headline will read: Climate change causes weirding. And there is no better proof of how weird it is than to be caught in ice in summer on board a research vessel equipped to break through ice. The sad part about this is that watermelons will believe it is connected to CO2 hook, line and sinker.
Passengers reveal how they are coping on stranded MV Akademik Shokalskiy in Antarctica
Sir Douglas could get there, they can’t. Otherwise all is well except “The beer is running low.“
The extremely inconvenient truth:
More ice at the South Pole now than we had during the day’s of Sir Douglas Mawson who simply sailed the same route where the Academic Shokalskiy is trapped right now. Wattsupwitthat?
When are we going to stop replying to the hubris told by the warmista’s.
You can’t have a sane conversation with idiots.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/#
Where is the Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star? It left Seattle three weeks ago headed for the Antarctic, and should be in the area by now.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/12/04/coast-guard-icebreaker-deploys-to-antarctica.html
Scientists trapped in Antarctic Sea Ice say “it’s disappearing…..”
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/scientists-trapped-in-record-sea-ice-announce-that-it-is-disappearing/
We can stop the rescue operations now, the problem is solved.
As I said before, total idiots.
Rationalization Follows: By Dr Masson
“Sea ice packs could also raft up on top of each other, doubling the thickness of the ice and forming pressure ridges several metres thick, he said. Sea ice could occur anywhere around the cost of Antarctica, but that particular area had changed due to the calving of icebergs – when icebergs break away from the land ice and float away.” Says Dr Masson.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/third-vessel-heads-to-rescue-passengers-on-akademik-shokalskiy-trapped-in-antarctic-ice-20131229-301rp.html
No comments so far. They must require a positive tone.
I hear Vladimir Putin is very concerned.
He has asked a BP tanker to refuel a Japanese whaling ship in order to convey special forces to the area so they are free before the Winter Olympic amnesty season comes to an end.
A statement from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition:
We’re stuck in our own experiment. We came to Antarctica to study how one of the biggest icebergs in the world has altered the system by trapping ice. We followed Sir Douglas Mawson’s footsteps into Commonwealth Bay, and are now ourselves trapped by ice surrounding our ship.
Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up. We have found this has changed the system on many levels. The increase in sea ice has freshened the seawater below, so much so that you can almost drink it. This change will have impacts on the deep ocean circulation.
Underwater, forests of algae are dying as sea-ice blocks the light. Who can say what effects the regional circulation changes may have on the ice sheet of the Antarctic plateau, or whether the low number of seals suggests changes to their population.
http://www.news.com.au/national/stricken-russian-ship-mv-akademik-shokalskiy-with-aussie-scientists-aboard-is-playing-the-waiting-game-in-antarctica/story-fncynjr2-1226791671102
If you tried to sell a story to Hollywood about this level of blind stupidity on a different topic, no one would believe it, or buy it.
Mike says:
December 29, 2013 at 9:35 am
Where is the Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star? It left Seattle three weeks ago headed for the Antarctic, and should be in the area by now.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/12/04/coast-guard-icebreaker-deploys-to-antarctica.html
___________________________
Their radio’d orders were a bit garbled and confusing and were misinterpreted as “head for Vladivostok”, instead of “head for Vostok” and the crew has recently reported that their GPS navigation system has been reprogrammed and they are underway.
Alan Robertson says:
December 29, 2013 at 12:17 am
Patrick says:
December 28, 2013 at 11:46 pm
“…In anyone’s English, that’s a taxpayer junket.”
________________________
It’s just a business expense.
The governments of the world are in the business of increasing their wealth and power by tightening control of their populations. What greater yoke than to get the people to willingly submit to taxation of the very air that they breathe in the name of CO2 reduction.
Except that the new Australian Government is lead by a man of some integrity who is on record as saying the ‘global warming’ scare is crap.
Obviously this is one of many junkets that will slip through the cracks while the new Government tries to get a grip in the purse strings, hampered by a senate that is preventing the passing of many bills including the repeal of the Carbon Tax.
What really burns my biscuit is that having funded this craptitude, we Aussie taxpayers now have to fund all these attempts to rescue these numpty’s – and it is increasingly looking,oike a helicopter rescue and a crushed and sunk ship.
Not that the Aussie MSM will report much, so far I have seen exactly ONE report on C9 – and that emphasizes the ‘retracing the 100 old year journey’ thing. No word of ‘Climate change’ – my missus thinks I am a prophet because I said it would be about ‘CC’ and then went looking for the proof 😀
http://www.theguardian.com/world/antarctica-live/video/2013/dec/29/akademik-shokalskiy-evacuated-helicopter-improve-video
Expedition leader says “ship may be stuck for some time”. Like until it sinks 😉
Marine ecologist Tracey Rogers tells us the “whole area transformed over the last 2, 3 days ” and it’s credibly unusual to have such dense multi-year pack ice in Antarctica”.
Well if it’s “multi-year” it can’t be that unusual can it? They seems so engulfed in their own spin that they could drown and say it was because of the drought caused by global warming.
AAE: “Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up. ”
Maybe the had the map upside down when planning the trip. Antarctic sea ice has been increasing since as long as we’ve been watching yet they say it’s “disappearing due to climate change”. Incredible.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.anomaly.antarctic.png
Well no, actually it’s _increasing_ , “due to climate change” or not, it’s there and you’re stuck in it.
Jeezus , these guys are so dense it must the result of multi-decadal build-up. You just can’t get that stupid in a year or two.
Akademika Sokoldsky , niet meltsky !!
HedgingContrarianism (@JackHBarnes) says:
December 29, 2013 at 10:04 am
“A statement from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition:…
http://www.news.com.au/national/stricken-russian-ship-mv-akademik-shokalskiy-with-aussie-scientists-aboard-is-playing-the-waiting-game-in-antarctica/story-fncynjr2-1226791671102
If you tried to sell a story to Hollywood about this level of blind stupidity on a different topic, no one would believe it, or buy it.”
_____________________
True to form, those people are spinning this for all it’s worth and some of their spin is so obviously wrong, that one wonders if they are grossly incompetent, or just liars. For instance: “ The increase in sea ice has freshened the seawater below, so much so that you can almost drink it. “ 180 degrees opposite of the truth. Surrounding sea water would increase in salinity as the ice freezes and expels salt. These “scientists are either grossly incompetent , or are merely PR flacks, lying just like all PR flacks are paid to do.
vukcevic says:
December 29, 2013 at 4:45 am
Warren in New Zealand says:
December 28, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Akadamik may be left with skeleton crew.
You didn’t mean to say
Akadamik may be left with skeletons of the crew.
🙂 That is worth a laugh Vukcevic Thank you
8.30am news here is that the Aurora is at the edge of the ice sheet, and waiting for clear weather before attempting to proceed into the ice.
Upcoming news will be, “2 ice breakers trapped in ice, Akademik still listing, send Beer”
Aurora Australis – ship webcam
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora
Good link Hedging!
What utter nonsense! Are there no limits to the lies these hijackers of Science will peddle! There is no Science being conducted on this expedition; unless, obfuscation of truth through sophistry passes for the advancement of knowledge.
Media outlets faithfully report these lies which are incessantly parroted by useful idiots devoid of critical thinking skills. So, in this latest revision of the expedition’s mission statement, we are to believe (contrary to prior mission statements) that the principal focus was to study an iceberg! The truth be told, the ship was trapped because the expedition leader insisted on transiting tourists to Mawson’s huts.
Incidentally, (not to detract from the heroic nature of the Mawson expedition) I haven’t been able to find Mawson’s raw data online. One would think that such important data would have been catalogued for mass consumption. Of one outcome we can be certain: the expedition resulted in Australia laying claim to a third of the Antarctic land mass. Science marches on!
With regard to removing comments that show ill will toward these charlatans, sure keep it classy.
But I too bite my tongue and resist the urge to wish an end befitting their actions.
My sympathy does go to the rescuers and the ships crew, the various taxpayers funding this mess and the families of the activists.
But its hard to not bless them on their way.
Derision for people who are either severely deluded or thieving parasites, now getting served up, by mother nature, a fate that directly contradicts their preaching.
This is just too funny.