UPDATE2: get a load of the hilarious announcement from the expedition, where they claim sea ice is disappearing, see update 2 below.
UPDATE3: A film (now a video) has been found from 1912 showing Mawson landing in ice free Commonwealth Bay in 1912. see update 3 below.
UPDATE4: Bad weather has forced the Aurora Australis to back off from its rescue attempt. See below.
UPDATE5: See my opinion piece on why this is a fiasco
There’s quite an ongoing worldwide fascination over the So much sea ice in Antarctica that a research vessel gets stuck, in summer! episode with the ship Akademik Shokalskiy we first reported on WUWT.
I think it was best summed up by this Tweet:
http://twitter.com/ElBuehn/status/416608616070664192
Now, after the first rescue ship The “Snow Dragon” failed:
Our rescue boat, the Xue Long, has had to turn back because the ice was too thick for it to get through. We're now awaiting Aurora Australis
— Alok Jha (@alokjha) December 27, 2013
Which we see in the distance here…
…all eyes are now on the Aurora Australis, which was trapped in ice for 3 weeks last month.
But, even that ship seems to have trouble picking through the sea ice. here is the webcam from the bow of the Aurora Australis:
![A133631800A[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/a133631800a1.jpg?quality=83)
Link to webcam: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora
Supposedly, the ice around the Akademik Shokalskiy 3-4 meters thick.
Then there’s the comedy of a scientific research expedition disguised as a junket for activists and reporters, such as this guy, tweeting up a storm from on-board:
The other fellow, Chris Turney, has some science credentials, but also has a propensity for wackadoodle alarmism as we see in this WUWT post: Now it’s 2°C climate change target ‘not safe’
Mostly, it’s a media sponsored event, presumably so they can tell us how terrible things are in Anarctica with melting and such:
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.
Meanwhile, in the “Spirit of Mawson” Spirit of “never let a good crisis go to waste”, the folks on-board have realized the world is watching, and decided to make a pitch for money at their website, presumably to fund next year’s research media junket:
Mother nature doesn’t seem to care about the comedy either way, as Antarctic sea ice is still over 2 standard deviations above normal.
National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) – Click the pic to view at source========================================================
UPDATE1: Thanks to Roger Tattersall “Tallbloke” who writes:
I’m amused to see Global Warmist Professor Chris Turney’s expedition to Antarctica to retrace polar explorer Douglas Mawson’s route and replicate measurements has run into a spot of bother.
Here’s an old news report on Mawson’s expedition
It looks like that part of the Antarctic was warmer in Mawson’s day than now. In fact the antarctic is currently colder than it has been for a long time. The high latitudes of the Southern Ocean have been cooling since the 1980′s according to SST data.
====================================================
UPDATE2: You can’t make this stuff up. This is from a news.com.au story covering the incident and the announcement made by the expedition:
Um, no, sea ice isn’t disappearing right now, it is growing in the Arctic and within two standard deviations:
National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) – click to view at sourceTwo standard deviations above normal in the Antarctic:
National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) – Click the pic to view at sourceAnd above normal globally:
Cryosphere Today – University of Illinois – Polar Research Group – Click the pic to view at source========================================================
UPDATE3:
A video has been found from 1912 showing Mawson landing in ice free Commonwealth Bay in 1912.
========================================================
UPDATE4: The Times of India reports:
SYDNEY: Bad weather on Monday forced back an Australian icebreaker struggling to reach a scientific expedition ship stranded off Antarctica, while snow and winds have prevented a helicopter rescue, authorities said.
The Aurora Australis made it to within 10 nautical miles of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which is stuck in an ice field, before retreating in the face of freezing winds and snow showers.
“Adverse weather conditions have resulted in the Australian Antarctic Division vessel Aurora Australis moving back into open water this afternoon,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.
==========================================================
Related articles
- Rescue near for trapped Antarctic ship (foxnews.com)
- Cracks in ice new hope for stranded Antarctica ship (worldnews.nbcnews.com)
- Chinese icebreaker forced to cut Antarctic rescue attempt short (ctvnews.ca)
- Rescue of icebound Antarctic ship faces setback (foxnews.com)
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Oldseadog says:
“Aw, come on guys, I hate to spoil the fun but the ice moves around all the time and any vessel can get trapped at any time”
I certainly wouldn’t like to go to sea with you in charge. Getting caught in the ice press is quite dangerous and any number of ships have been crushed by ice over over the years.
Whom did they bring as Ice Master? (if anyone)
In the old times of the Hudson Bay Company, the Ice Master (typically an experienced arctic sailor from Orkney) was the only man who had the authority to tell the ship’s Captain where to go.
@ur momisugly BruceC
December 29, 2013 at 1:03 pm
Nothing new from Aurora Australis for 19 hours.
Must still be sleeping.
One of the passengers, Janet Rice, Senator elect, Green Party. Her life partner is Penny Wheaton, climate scientist for CSIRO.
A quote from Greg Mortimor, expedition co-leader on Australian PM John Howard, “I’d like to take him to Antarctica (maybe a one-way ticket) and show him what we risk losing if we don’t act soon on climate change.”
Expedition press release: “Here ice is building… Forests of algae are dying as sea-ice blocks the light … Who can say … whether the low number of seals suggests changes to their population ? ”
—————————————
I have a few questions for these “scientists”:
1. What are the scientific references on dying algae and low numbers of seals?
2. If true, what are the references supporting the alleged role of climate in causing both “observations” ?
3. How does global warming explain simultaneously receding ice in the Arctic and expanding ice in the Antarctic ? References please.
4. Would it be preferable that Antarctic ice recede and that Arctic ice expand ? Please explain.
Hilarious announcement? Let’s see .. 74 people aboard, maybe a crew of 20 .. that leaves 54 “scientists and tourists” as per BBC. And “…The ship’s shell plating was ruptured on the starboard, 1.8 meters above the waterline. There is no danger to the crew or passengers.” Under these circumstances, they are deadly serious. Just like early Christians in the Coliseum.
C’mon guys, where’s your community spirit, we should be trying to help these poor unfortunates that Mother Nature has trapped, so stoke up your furnace, wind up the aircon (Southern Hemisphere) and drag the SUV out of the mothballs, and let em rip.
I mean guys n gals, CO2 is all powerful, and this was the same solution the people stuck on that ship proposed to save the victims of cyclone Haiyan – let’s not build cyclone shelters, build windmills and install solar panels instead.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11179386
Aurora 20km away from Akademik, (aka Ship of Fools), slow progress due to snow and winds.
Radio report mentioned evac by Helicopter from the Snow Dragon is likely as even if Aurora reaches Akademik, it may not be able to keep a passage clear.
Global Warming – the biggest hoax ever pulled off in the history of this world. It’s all about the money and control. Lies…
“This seems to state that open water reflects more light than sea ice. What happened to the runaway albedo-caused warming as the ice disappears?”
It’s the other way around: “water sky” is darker than the sky over ice. There is a word for the lighter sky over an icefield too, it’s called “ice blink”.
If all four ships get stuck, they could just wait it out for two or three years like other Antarctic expeditions have done. The sea ice eventually moves out of the way in less than three years. And there does appear to be penguins and seals in the area, so they could survive on them for two or three years like other Antarctic expeditions. If the diesel runs out, they could just use candles or whale oil to stay warm like other Antarctic expeditions have done and losses from frost-bite should be manageable.
Of course, this is factual proof there is no global warming here. Two wooden sailing ships went right through this exact same area 172 years ago and had few problems.
As the rations run out for our intrepid scientivists I have one good tip for them: Don’t eat yellow snow!!
Swiss Bob says:
December 29, 2013 at 12:30 pm
Lord Galleywood,
At the end of the word ‘Green’ the ‘other writing’ is clearly a snow-angel made by someone lying down on the deck.
No idea what it’s supposed to mean though.
————————————————————————
It’s the green-angel, there to protect the crew and bless the mission./s
From the captain … “the bad news is we’ve run out of scotch. The good news is we’ve got lots of ice!”.
Bill Illis says:
December 29, 2013 at 2:23 pm
If all four ships get stuck […]
———————————————
They could play ship to ship Euchre.
About helicopter evacuation, it might not be as easy as everyone seems to assume. This class of ship doesn’t have a helipad and landing on the uneven sea-ice is not at all easy, particularly when the weather is overcast and there is no contrast.
Harry, the yellow snow might be marginally more nutritious than the white snow…
Oldseadog says:
December 29, 2013 at 1:22 pm
“Aw, come on guys, I hate to spoil the fun but the ice moves around all the time and any vessel can get trapped at any time.”
Yeah, I hear that’s the problem they’re always having at Royal Caribbean.
RE: First pic above. If you wanted to be rescued, couldn’t you just walk over to the other ship?
Why don’t they use solar powered icebreakers?
Latest news reports say that following the failure of the French and Chinese ice breakers to reach the trapped ship, the Aurora Australis has now arrived, but may not get through the thick wall of ice surrounding the Russian ship! So the Chinese may air lift people off.
I hope they are going to plant some trees down there to off-set their carbon foot prints that they’ve left all over the ice!
😎
If there is a God, (s)he has a sense of humour.
Only a couple of years ago, the publicity stunt that was Row-to-the-“Pole” at the other end of mother earth was disrupted by …………. unexpected ice.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/07/31/the-row-to-the-pole-publicity-stunt-looks-doomed-to-failure-by-a-sea-ice-block/
I get the sense this incident is embarrassing the poo out of the alarmist trolls.
Not a whisper out of them this time around.
A century ago Mawson literally sailed his old-fashioned ship unimpeded through the Antarctic ocean.
Today, as a result of catastrophic climate change that is surely ‘worse than previously thought’ and has supposedly melted the Antarctic to within an inch of its life, their state of the art modern vessel is stuck fast like a plump little piggy in a pen.
Alarmists, the BBC, Guardian, Independent, ABC, C4, Ed Davey et al, UK Met Office and every other sopping wet liberal-agw-loving-grant-chasing ‘climate scientist’, activist and social commentator on Mother Gaia, please excuse the self-indulgent behaviour of all us Filthy Denier Sceptics while we collectively laugh our cocks off at your miserable expense.
Has anybody noticed Turney stands to make money from the global warming scare?
Professor Chris Turney (AAE Leader) (Link to Carbonscape)
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/aae-leaders/
Carbonscape was conceived by a team motivated to address the burgeoning problem of carbon dioxide (CO2) release.
http://carbonscape.com/about/overview/