This will be a top “sticky” post for awhile since interest is high – new stories will appear below this one – Anthony
UPDATE: Josh channels the boat people
UPDATE2: Another irony is discovered, this one doubly deep. See update 2 below.
UPDATE4: AMSA: Helicopter rescue of Akademik Shokalskiy likely to commence shortly
(It’s off again, then now its on again, with report the helicopter has landed)
UPDATE5: All the passengers (tourists and scientists) are off the ship
UPDATE6: Tough questions need to be asked
UPDATE7: Trouble on the rescue ship – reaching open water not so easy
As we reported previously on WUWT here and here, the saga of the “climate scientists/tourists trapped in ice” continues to fascinate many. Now a second ship has given up on rescue, after the Chinese ship “Snow Dragon” gave up two days ago. The Aurora Australis has abandoned rescue of the trapped Russian “research”vessel in Antarctica and a helicopter evacuation in now being ordered. This episode has taken on a heightened comedic fiasco-like quality.
Now, with such a fantastic failure in full world view, questions are going to start being asked. For example, with advanced tools at their disposal (that Mawson never had) such as near real-time satellite imaging of Antarctic sea ice, GPS navigation, on-board Internet, radar, and satellite communications, one wonders how these folks managed to get themselves stuck at all. Was it simple incompetence of ignoring the signs and data at their disposal combined with “full steam ahead” fever? Even the captain of the Aurora Australis had the good sense to turn back knowing he’d reached the limits of the ship on his rescue attempt. Or, was it some sort of publicity stunt to draw attention? If it was the latter, it has backfired mightily.
One might argue that with photos like the one below, this whole “Spirit of Mawson” research expedition, is little more than a media stunt.
Source: [ http://twitter.com/GdnAntarctica/status/412977161323036672 ]
Even after the ship was trapped, these reporters still had a party like atmosphere going on:
Source: [ http://twitter.com/GdnAntarctica/status/416881634273525761/photo/1 ]
Yesterday, Andrew Revkin tweeted something that I agreed with, especially since so many of the people trapped in the ice on the ship seem to have a nonchalant, almost partly-like atmosphere going on.
Scientist on trapped Antarctic ship: "Fantastic-I love it when the ice wins & we don't." http://t.co/UsxA2tiV2i What about rescue risk/cost?
— Andrew Revkin 🌎 ✍🏼 🪕 ☮️ (@Revkin) December 29, 2013
Yes, the cost and risk is significant. These folks trapped on-board don’t seem to be cognizant of that issue, following the #spiritofmawson Twitter feed, it’s like watching reports (with pictures and video) from a high school class party.
And here’s the kicker. Even the public saw through the charade at the beginning. Trying to get crowd funding from the public for this trip failed miserably as this Indigogo campaign shows:
Source: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-us-return-to-mawson-s-antarctic-hut-the-home-of-the-blizzard
Maybe it had to do with the ridiculous image of Professor Chris Turney in full cold weather gear standing in the midst of a tropical forest.
Right after the ship got stuck and there was a realization that the world was watching, one scientist on-board, Dr. Chris Fogwill, of the University of New South Wales, decided that it would be an opportune time to hit the public for money again:
Source: http://www.spiritofmawson.com/
And again, the public has seen through this, and today, the campaign remains stuck at $1000 with just a few donors. People are realizing that there’s no real science being done on this trip, and that it seems to be little more than a chartered party boat for Antarctic enthusiasts and media.
Now, with the ship to be evacuated via helicopter, will the Akademik Shokalskiy join the list of recent ships that have been sunk in Antarctic waters?
Ships that have sunk in Antarctic waters in recent years (h/t to David Archibald)
The Brazilian yacht “Endless Sea” sank in Maxwell Bay, Ardley Cove on Saturday 7th April, 2012. It was used for “scientific and educational expeditions”.
The sunken remains of the 76-ft Mar Sem Fin, aka “Endless Sea”, which sunk on April 7, 2012, lies at a depth of about 9 meters (30 ft) in Ardley Cove, Antarctica.
In November 2007, the Linblad Explorer hit sea ice and sank.
In April 2013, the Chinese factory fishing ship Kai Xin caught fire and sank near Bransfield Strait at the Antarctic Peninsula.
And there are others, these are just a few recent ones.
With so much concern for the pristine environment of Antarctica, one wonders how much environmental damage these sinkings are doing.
And when the trip is nothing more than a party for your friends and media, disguised as a “scientific expedition”, one wonders if there shouldn’t be some moratorium on such trips.
Richard Tol summed it all up nicely with one sentence:
There has been a strong and statistically significant upward trend in climate-change-related public-relations disasters #spiritofmawson
— Richard Tol (@RichardTol) December 30, 2013
UPDATE:
The #spiritofmawson hashtag is now getting competition from the hashtag #ClitanicDisaster in honor of the trapped climate scientists that the MSM won’t mention as being climate scientists.
========================================================
UPDATE 2:
reader Aphan writes on 2013/12/31 at 7:16 pm
I don’t know if anyone was posted this yet, but the IRONY just gobsmacked me.
The British “explorers” on board the MV Explorer who were “commemorating the Spirit of Shackleton” found themselves repeating HIS adventure when their ship struck a piece of submerged ice and then SANK in the Antarctic in November of 2007! None of the passengers or crew were lost. But HOW AMAZING is it that both the “Spirit of Mawson” trip AND the “Spirit of Shackleton” cruise trips ended in disaster from sea ice?????
http://www.jamescairdsociety.com/shackleton-news-104519.htm
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/news/explorer-sinks-antarctica.html
I mean…come on. What are the odds?
============================================================
Related articles
- Saving the Antarctic scientists, er media, er, activists, er tourists trapped by sea ice (wattsupwiththat.com)
- Antarctic rescue mission fails to reach trapped ship (theguardian.com)
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Welcome to Polar Summer guys! Just imagine winter!
can u believe high priestess of CAGW, Suzanne Goldenberg, made this video with Laurence Topham, who is on board, just last month!!!!
Polar bears fight for survival as sea ice melts – video
VIDEO: Suzanne Goldenberg and Laurence Topham ,Source: Guardian,Length: 2min 29sec,theguardian.com ,Wednesday 6 November 2013
As winter approaches, polar bears in sub-arctic Canada begin to migrate off the tundra and head out onto the ice for the winter, where they can hunt for seals. However, climate change is delaying freeze-up, keeping the bears out on the tundra for longer – away from their main food source. US environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg talks to polar scientists ahead of a live Q&A from Churchill, Manitoba.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2013/nov/05/polar-bears-fight-for-survival-sea-ice-melts-video
Guardian: Laurence Topham: Since joining the Guardian in 2008…blah blah
Prior to this he worked as a freelance director & cameraman – making documentaries for charities in the UK, Sierra Leone and Kenya, while also editing for the BBC. 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
‘Stuck in our own experiment’: Leader of trapped team insists polar ice is melting
Pirate Bay: Globull Warming Activist Ship Still Stuck In Heavy Antarctic Ice
Trapped in over 3 metres of irony.
Some latest photos, you have to laugh at this bloody idiots. It’s just too funny. Check out the Green Party person on deck while behind there is a GREAT expanse of white.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531159/Antarctic-crew-build-ice-helipad-help-rescuers.html
XUE LONG HELICOPTER OVERFLIGHT INDICATES SLIGHT ANOMALY FROM LEVEL ON PORT/STARBOARD; DUE POSSIBLY TO ICE PUSHING THE SHIP OVER. NO INDICATION IF THIS IS AN ONGOING PROCESS OR STATIC
AKADEMIK SHOKALSKIY: http://thesargasso.blogspot.ca/2013/12/akademik-shokalskiy-portstarboard.html
Here is a report from the Aurora Australis at 0900 UT, December 30 2013.
from https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/display_sitrep.cfm?bvs_id=19314
Here is a song dedicated to those idiots trapped in Antartica:
These people are idiots.
Gulligan’s Island?
That’s a photo from earlier in the expedition.
Gilligan would know.
There’s no certainty in helicopter rescue:
“It’s now up to us three ships [the Shokalskiy, the Aurora and the Xue Long] to agree on a [rescue] strategy,” Captain Doyle said.
While the Xue Long had a helicopter onboard, it was too heavy for the Aurora’s helideck.
“We also can’t use the helicopter at the moment because there is no visibility,” he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/aurora-australis-abandons-attempt-to-save-akademik-shokalskiy-in-antarctica-20131230-302na.html#ixzz2owBsS8ov
Bet noone knew science could do comedy
30 Dec: Indybay: The Paradox of Antarctic Sea Ice and Global Warming Denial: Research vessel trapped in ice
by Takver – Climate IMC
But Daniel Greenfield seems to think a ship trapped in Antarctic summer sea ice is a negation of global warming and the science involved in climate change.
His view probably had it’s origins in the climate sceptical website Watts Up with That where Anthony Watts wrote: So much sea ice in Antarctica that a research vessel gets stuck, in summer!.
But Mr Greenfield, or Anthony Watts for that matter, made little attempt to explain the complex science involved with understanding Antarctic sea ice…
According to Skeptic Science article on Why is southern sea ice increasing…
Australian Greens senator elect for Victoria Janet Rice appears in this Guardian Youtube video published 30 December 2013 from on board the Akademik Shokalski. Janet has a scientific background with her honours thesis on where lows around Antarctica were born and died. She will bring to the new Senate a perceptive understanding of climate science and the need for strong climate action.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/12/30/18748547.php
the above writer’s blog. be warned:
Takver’s Soapbox
http://www.takver.com/soapbox/climate/
who on earth are Climate IMC? i can’t get any of their sites to open:
Climate IMC
http://climateimc.org/
——————————————————————————–
Aurora Australis turned back? There’s still the helicopters! But there’s a weather delay…
That pecking on the portholes at night….just wind and ice Dr. Turney?
The patter of webbed feet on the deck plates, are those….happy feet?
The penguins can wait through the long Antarctic night for the feast of the New Sun. They know patience. Soon they will feast again Dr. Turney. Soon….
I wonder if they plan to use no fuel for heat? After all they should be using solar and wind to provide all their energy needs for cooking, washing and heating. They are a great chance to set an example here for everyone by going green at their finest hour.
It not like they would ever use some fossil fuel on these trips? And really, if they are politically correct then they should ask that rescues ships also not use carbon based fuels as such ships consume HUGE amounts of fuel per day.
Perhaps they thus insist their rescue does done in a “green” way in which large amounts of fuel are not used and is respectable of their climate agenda. Only trying to suggest they practice what they preach.
But hey, running around on a merry boat with meals cooked for you everyday going down a path planned by computer models sure sounds like a lot of fun. And hey you not only having meals cooked for you, but you likely get paid on the taxpayer’s dime for this fun and games.
I say call off the rescue because the signs of climate change are all around us. It is clear to everyone that East Antarctica is hot as bollocks and there really is no ice. There is no need to rescue people who are in an open sea, unhindered by ice. Is there? Let them eat penguin from an open, summer barbecue and frolic in the warm waters of the Antarctic.. (/sarc)
‘Scientist on trapped Antarctic ship: “Fantastic-I love it when the ice wins & we don’t.” ‘
I love it when we get to see natural selection in action.
As far as garbage is concerned if they are not within anybody’s territorial limits they’ll probably just bag it and throw it overboard. Unless they’re really green and will pack out what they pack in…..
I have seen countless people on Twitter (and elsewhere) claim that there were declining amounts of ice at the south pole and almost no ice at the north pole. I have seen countless people claim that the earth’s measured temperature has risen every year for the past 30 years. (really risen, not just Hansen’s frauds at NSA)
How do these common people come up with these falsehoods? Why it is because the fraudsters like those on the stuck boat have fed gullible people a steady diet of CO2 doom for decades. People just like the Guardian reporters stuck on that boat in heavy ice, high winds, and deteriorating conditions in the summer time.
So what if so many were fooled? Billions upon billions tossed away, sky high energy bills, loss of manufacturing jobs, and an ever expanding “green” bureaucracy seeking to control you and make sure you shiver in the dark — especially the poor.
And some on this thread think we should worry about their safety? What about the reported 33,000 in the UK who died of the cold last year? Did the alarmists worry about them any at all? I don’t wish for anything other than Karma do whatever it will. I will merely observe and wonder how some men can seek to gain power and money by frightening the masses. Fracking witchdoctors did that for ages, and now we have … what? They look to be witchdoctors to me.
As the Australians would say:
“an inconvenient………….strewth !!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
J. Herbst says:
December 30, 2013 at 3:37 pm
“Seems those animals are disturbed by global change. And because of them a lot if polar ships got stuck. Welcome to Germany, the land of the real global warming. Come here and feel warm!”
Just wait til February, smartass.
I got stuck in ice on Lake Superior in a 1960s “Baricuda” 14 foot boat back in the 1980s, boy that is a solid boat, while fishing the wind shifted and pushed ice back to shore such that it blocked our return to the cabin. We just shoved and pushed our way with oars for two hours through the 1/4 mile of icy mess back to the cabin. I suspect this “getting trapped in ice” business is pretty common for those who deal with ice on a daily basis, like Eskimos or whatever. Ice sounds a lot worse when a motor prop is hammering on the ice, making it more of a modern man issue than primitive man issue. I suspect the warmists were just too confident in their ships abiltiy to navigate ice and get out of there.
Folks, you have all missed the most important point. This scientific expedition is a huge success!
1. It has found the missing Antarctic ice. The evidence is right there, all around them, on camera, being beamed all over the world. This is undeniable.
2. It may also find the missing heat on the ocean bottom. That triumph could come any day now, especially if the present winds freshen. Stay tuned.
So I say credit where credit is due. s/off
They have updated the Spirit of Mawson blog, explaining the reason for their entrapment. Reason, mind, not excuse- it’s all sea ice and it’s all moving around for whatever reason, contributing to near-record levels.
Includes a before and after satellite photo pairing. The first one doesn’t show the whole bay so we don’t know how clear it really was.
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/one-week-on/
Ship of Fools
pat says:
December 30, 2013 at 4:44 pm
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/12/30/18748547.php
_______________________
You linked to a warmunist blog which cites (Zhang, 2013) as an explanation for why Antarctic ice is increasing. In a nutshell, Zhang, 2013 attempts to say that due to anthropogenic warming, there is more wind around the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, which blows the ice around and makes it thicker and there is plenty of first year ice, too. He got there by using – wait for it- CLIMATE MODELS.
This is the same joker (Zhang, 2007) who claimed that Antarctic sea ice is growing because it’s getting warmer- via coupled ice model to ocean model. We discussed that epic failure of scientific reasoning in one of the other threads concerning the stuck boobs down south.
SIG INT Ex said:. . . Seems there was a “party” attitude of the ‘upper class’ onboard the Titanic as well.
Hardly. First, the RMS Titanic was a passenger liner, the largest in the world and “designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury” with a gym, pool, squash court, libraries, cafes, restaurants and opulence. Next, as a liner the Titanic was on a regular passenger-line course, from Southampton to New York. No different than a flight to Europe on a 777, nothing out of the ordinary.
More relevant to the thread and contradicting any hint of irresponsibility, when the worst happened some of the best of humanity showed. Despite class differences, many men followed the ‘Birkenhead Drill’ to their death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Birkenhead_(1845)#Birkenhead_drill
“The ship’s band in any emergency is expected to play to calm the passengers. . .” (bandmaster, RMS Carpathia). It was no party, they all knew they would die, but did what they were hired to do: Play music.
So here’s to those men who did their jobs, who played until the waters took them away: Bandmaster Wallace Hartley, pianist Theodore Brailey, bassist John Clarke, violinists John Hume and Georges Krins, and to cellists Percy Taylor, Roger Bricoux and John Woodward.
They were Men. Any resemblence to the current playboys-of-climate-change is a bad hallucination and a smear on the memory of the Titanic’s band. /rant off