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)
Speaking of fiascos — The Energy Department will not review it’s upcoming rule on the social costs of carbon.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/energy-department-rejects-social-cost-of-carbon-challenge/article/2541380
On the Aurora web cam there’s 14 1/2 hr gap between the last picture time stamp (1 Jan 14: 3 A.M.) and the time laspe video time stamp (31 Dec 3: 12:30 PM). The last few time laspe pics show them surrounded by ice.
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora
It makes me wonder if they too are stuck in the ice.
I think an Ig Nobel prize would be a fitting reward for the amount of scientific effort that went into this expedition.
Any news on a Polar Star rescue mission will probably be released by Allyson Conroy, an assistant Public Affairs Officer at Coast Guard Pacific Area in Alameda, California.
RockyRoad, DirkH, Stephan Richards,
RE: Big Oil, prospecting, etc.
A bit OT, but y’all might find this interesting…
7 things everyone knows about energy that just ain’t so (2013 Edition), Kurt Cobb
Mark Twain once said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” And, there are many, many things that the public and policymakers know for sure about energy that just ain’t so.
That list is very long indeed and getting longer as the fossil fuel industry (which has little interest in intellectual honesty) continues its skillful manipulation of a gullible and sometimes careless media.
Below I’ve listed seven whoppers that it would be charitable to call misleading. Longtime readers will recognize that I’ve addressed them before in various pieces. But I thought that it would be useful to review the worst of the worst of 2013 as the year ends.
http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2013/12/7-things-everyone-knows-about-energy.html
So which is it? Is the MV Xuě Lóng stuck in the ice too? There seem to be conflicting reports for the last 2 days. Is there any reason they would be hiding that fact (if it is a fact)?
DirkH says:
December 31, 2013 at 11:56 am
DirkH,
You have hit the proverbial nail on the head! A+ on your analysis!
Mtk
What has had me constantly updating reports about the Akademie is the apparent total lack of understanding about the situation this ship of fools is in. Either they have realised that they could all die, and soon, and what we are seeing is a type of mass hysteria evident in the tweets and BBC and Guardian updates, or they are totally oblivious to the danger they are in, let alone the danger they have placed the crews of the Xue Long, the Astrolabe (now released from rescue duty) and the Aurora into.
Add in the fact that McMurdo Station has not received the supplies and technical equipment needed, the cost of keeping 2 ships on standby waiting for a break in the weather to attempt a rescue attempt, and all the “tourists” can do is treat it like a summer break at Fort Lauderdale.
If I thought that there was no danger to their lives, I’d just leave them there till the ice melts, either a late summer melt, or next year, or the year after, as a poignant reminder of what Mother Nature thinks of CAGW and its proponents.
– “How did you get trapped in ice ? we told you to ask Chris Turney where to go”
” Si, senor I ask the Chris’mas Turkey, and she point beak south.. So I went south”
..apologies to Latino’s it’s just to demonstrate mishearing between different language speakers, it could be any accent you imagine
I have read elsewhere that the lead scientist, Turney, runs a company called Carbonscape that aims to “fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.”
I have found the web-site but Turney is not listed as the owner. Can anyone else verify this?
So if this is true, as they always say… follow the money.
Wouldn’t it be further irony that a global warming alarmists / scaremonger trying to cash in is stuck in the ice?
Can anyone start a Wiki page entitled “The 2013 Akademic Shokalskiy Incident”? I’m not too savvy on Wiki editing unfortunately. Right now there is a sub-section within the main Akademic Shokalskiy page entitled ‘Incidents’ with some basic info but I don’t think that does this fiasco justice. There’s no detail, no mention of Turney’s statements about the supposed ice breakout and subsequent entrapment. I think the whole detailed unfolding of events needs to go down in history for all time. It’s an important incident that needs a page in its own right for the sake of posterity.
After all, the insignificant town of Copiapó in Chile has its own Wiki page, but the Copiapó Mining Incident of 2010 has its own separate Wiki page as it should. The incident gripped the world for a week and thus is far more important than the town. The Shokalskiy Incident has, or should have, gripped the world for the last week. The incident is greater than the ship.
These Wiki article sub-sections often link through to a main article if the incident is important enough, either in hindsight or as events unfold. I think events have unfolded far enough for that to happen.
Would someone familiar with maritime law comment on how rescue costs are settled among the various parties? I assume the owner of the distressed vessel is ultimately responsible and carries insurance to cover it. But if as reported the Chinese ship Xue Long is itself now in need of rescue and if said rescue were to be effected by the Polar Star, does the US Coast Guard collect from the Xue Long owners and can they pass this on to the Akademik Shokalskiy owners as part of the cost of attempting a rescue they could not actually carry out?
Warren in New Zealand says: December 31, 2013 at 9:36 am ‘This could never be made into a film, no-one would believe it.’
Less plausible than ‘Virus’ and without the benefit of Jamie Lee-Curtis and Donald Sutherland as ‘Frankenskipper’.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120458/
@Nigel;
At least they were both ‘A’ rated actors.
*both parents were ‘A’ rated.
Walter Allensworth says:
December 31, 2013 at 12:39 pm
I have read elsewhere that the lead scientist, Turney, runs a company called Carbonscape that aims to “fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.”
I have found the web-site but Turney is not listed as the owner. Can anyone else verify this?
So if this is true, as they always say… follow the money.
====================
Here is the info, Walter!
http://au.linkedin.com/pub/chris-turney/25/8a1/926
J. Philip Peterson says:
December 31, 2013 at 12:18 pm
So which is it? Is the MV Xuě Lóng stuck in the ice too? There seem to be conflicting reports for the last 2 days. Is there any reason they would be hiding that fact (if it is a fact)?
Yeah interesting, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority which has prime responsibility for the rescue of Turney’s Turkeys does not mention anything about the Xue Long being stuck in ice and now unable to mount a helicopter rescue:
http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/
Only the BBC says this MAY be happening:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25558276
Question now is whether the BBC is indulging in some guesswork here or whether AMSA is censoring reports (unlikely in my opinion).
However last tweet from the man on the spot was “weather warm, wet and windy, unlikely we are flying this morning” and he seems unaware that the Xue Long is stuck in ice if that is indeed the case.
But then again he may be just sitting there having his Eggs Benedict waiting for it all to happen.
@Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7,
I’d guess it will cost you your $TSLA investment times seven.
But ones and zeros are funy things!
“Earlier passengers and crew rang in the New Year with dinner, drinks and song, congregating in the bar they sang a song about their adventures” Great!!!!!
.
We can’t start a Wikipedia article about this until an MSM reporter starts to uncover the story. So email them, guys. Just FYI
“Earlier passengers and crew rang in the New Year with dinner, drinks and song, congregating in the bar they sang a song about their adventures”…. and then Pooh Bear said to Christopher Robin, “What a lovely time we are having on this wonderful boat trip on the ocean!”
Mac the Knife says: December 31, 2013 at 12:16 pm
7 things everyone knows about energy that just ain’t so (2013 Edition), Kurt Cobb
Mark Twain once said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” And, there are many, many things that the public and policymakers know for sure about energy that just ain’t so.
http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2013/12/7-things-everyone-knows-about-energy.html
I second this: You can take all that Curt Cob says to the bank as fact. Understanding all 7 points is more important to your future than AGW either Pro or Con. As a matter of fact future Energy prices will trump any carbon costs that any of these yahoos try to foist on anyone with their AGW agenda..
regarding Radio New Zealand reports, keep in mind they are listed with BBC & Guardian at the bottom of the Expedition leaders’ page, as media connections of some kind.
also check under “science outreach” at the top of the page u get “doodle4google”.
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/aae-leaders/
NBC featured De Losa as a passenger in an article, without mentioning she won the google comp:
21 Nov:Daily Telegraph: Rohan Smith: Hornsby student Olivia Kong’s Brain Matter design Google’s favourite
The 15-year-old’s design was deemed the very best of thousands of entries from across the country in the Doodle for Google competition.
It will now be splashed across the Australian landing page of the world’s biggest search engine operator, Google…
For her award-winning design, Olivia wins a Chromebook and $10,000 worth of technology for her school.
***Her teacher, Nicole De Losa, wins an expedition to Antarctica to bring knowledge back to her students…
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/the-hills/hornsby-student-olivia-kongs-brain-matter-design-googles-favourite/story-fngr8i1f-1226757525133
GoogleNZ: Doodle 4 Google New Zealand 2013
Judging Process and Prizes
Special Prize 2013
To celebrate our theme of Exploration, this year we’re announcing a special prize for one teacher, nominated by the Doodle 4 Google national winner’s school: a trip to the Antarctic onboard the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. The expedition prize is sponsored with thanks to ASB…
http://www.google.co.nz/doodle4google/prizes.html
meanwhile, google news pages barely carried stories on this fiasco, until it became impossible to ignore it and, even today, check what those AlGore-ithms choose to display:
Scientists trapped on ship in Antarctic keep spirits up
BBC News – 1 hour ago
In Depth: Auld Lang Syne in the Antarctic as stranded adventurers await rescue – The Guardian
what arrangements, if any, were made between the media & the ship’s operators, aurora edpeditions, are not yet known.
negrum says:
December 31, 2013 at 9:18 am
“I wonder if Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Change will start replacing Acts of God in insurance contracts?”
Can we have an association of that name – CACCA – that reports and researches instances of CACC.
Also, slightly OT but Bob Geldof has made a starling prediction – http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/bob-geldof-the-world-could-end-by-2030-8864186.html. I wish Bob a long and happy life, long enough to get past 2030 and review his eschatological claim.