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)
I hope they run out of food and fuel and heavy storms prevents any kind of rescue or food drops. Much hilarity ensues.
@Old Ranga, The tourists are nothing. What happens when these scientists run out of medications?
A ‘whitewash’ on the national evening news (in the US) tonight; both our ABC and NBC news networks presented this as the ‘Russian’ ship and its passengers awaiting rescue and nary a word about the cli sci/CAGW nature of the ‘mission’ …
Typical. Uninformed. Reporting.
No wonder their viewership has dwindled! The internet reveals the truth … (normally I don’t even schedule a ‘viewing’ of the evening news; I just wanted to see tonight what the ‘ministry of truth’ was pumping out on this event tonight.)
.
The party atmosphere on the ship of fools will not endear them to the other researchers whose long-planned activities have been disrupted or cancelled by the diversion of rescue ships .
Perhaps even the climate scientists among them will join us sceptics in criticising the leaders of this fiasco expedition.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/rescue-effort-for-trapped-antarctic-voyage-disrupts-serious-science/?_r=1
Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7 says:
December 31, 2013 at 9:02 am
…. I also suspect insurance rates for these Antarctic “research” trips will rise sharply as a result….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Alan, first thanks for the information on the Polar Star.
As far as the insurance goes, expect ALL insurance to go up. After 9/11 our insurance agent told us the insurance companies were increasing all rates and canceling a lot of policies. Our business insurance went up by 25%.
This of course depends on whether or not the insurance company is even willing to pay. If it can be documented that Prof. Christmas Turkey ignored the Ship Master’s warning and didn’t pack-up and leave ASAP then Prof. Christmas Turkey (and his Univ.) could get stuck with the bill. So expect a lot of He said – She said on the subject of “Who Pays”
Bishophill comments
@Paul Matthews – Dec 31, 2013 at 10:37 AM
And
Dec 31, 2013 at 11:39 AM | Unregistered CommenterRichard Tol
I’d guess they’ve nixed while mixing all hemispheres.
Ahem.
The position ‘reporting’ via radio and display on the web is for the benefit of the data ‘consuming’ public; make no mistake, the bridge crew of those vessels are fully aware of the their position, long/lat coordinate pair and maybe even their ‘maidenhead locator’ grid square.
Perhaps an intro to the ‘hobby’ of ship (incl position) monitoring is in order? See for a quick overview: – http://www.marinetraffic.com/p/expand-coverage
How does this ‘system’ work – FAQ: http://www.marinetraffic.com/p/faq
The system is based on AIS (Automatic Identification System). As from December 2004, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all vessels over 299GT to carry an AIS transponder on board, which transmits their position, speed and course, among some other static information, such as vessel’s name, dimensions and voyage details.
References – Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System
.
The response of the watermelons to this “unexpected” event shows almost decisively that CAGW is a religion, and hasn’t the remotest connection with science (unless one includes cargo cult science). These individuals will learn nothing from this event and it wouldn’t surprise me if Trenbeth were to rationalize the sudden cooling that froze the ship in thick ice as the effects of anthropogenic CO2 chasing the heat from the upper ocean levels into the deep ocean beyond the reach of our current instruments. The whole procedure is very similar to the piling on of epicycle after epicycle to preserve the dogma that the sun rotates around the earth.
Here in Kamloops where the CAGW dogma has decreed that rainfall will become far less frequent and that winters will become warmer and drier, we’ve had one of the wettest winters I’ve ever experienced. Also, the average termperature for December was -3 C lower than in 2012. In order to deal with the coming drought, the city of Kamloops mandated that all houses have water meters so that the city could monitor water consumption so that it would be better prepared to deal with the coming drought. Sounds as if the same individuals who forecast the recent anomalous Australian “wet” droughts were employed to advise the city of Kamloops in the area of future water management.
IMHO Gaia has a very highly developed sense of humor and it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s got some severe summer storms planned after first adding many terrajoules to Trenbeth’s “missing heat” total.
Gail, Pat and others – that’s what we’ve just been discussing – who will be held financially at fault; and who will be initially paying for this fiasco. Mind you they are still trapped together and cabin fever hasn’t set in – yet, so I don’t see them turning on each other while still trapped in ice. When they get out – then the finger pointing and shouting will commence.
AND we’ll all likely get the final bills….as usual.
How many of these “tourists” are employed by the BBC?
Or, as Benny Hill would have it, “Bloody Tourists”.
SFGate (San Francisco Bay Area News):
“Global warming researcher gets stuck in ice”
Debra J. Saunders
Published 3:39 pm, Monday, December 30, 2013
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/saunders/article/Global-warming-researcher-gets-stuck-in-ice-5102720.php
Saunders quotes Dr. Roy Spencer:
“I’m sure some researchers can find a possible explanation where humans are causing both Arctic ice melting and Antarctic ice growth, but I’m skeptical of scientists who blame every change in nature on human activities. Nature routinely causes its own changes, without any help from us,” quoth Spencer, himself a climate change contrarian.
Shokal’skii, Iulii Mikhailovich
Born Oct. 5 (17), 1856, in St. Petersburg; died Mar. 26,1940, in Leningrad. Soviet oceanographer, geographer, and cartographer. Honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1939; corresponding member, 1923).
After graduating from the Marine Academy, Shokal’skii worked at the Main Geophysical Observatory and Main Hydro-graphic Administration. From 1910 to 1930 he was a professor at the Naval Academy; beginning in 1925, he was also a professor at Leningrad State University. He served as president of the Geographic Society of the USSR from 1917 to 1931.
Shokal’skii’s principal works dealt with meteorology, hydrology, and oceanography. From 1923 to 1927, Shokal’skii led an oceanographic expedition in the Black Sea and studied the Northern Sea Route and ways of developing the route. He headed projects summarizing hypsometric materials and compiled a relief map of Russia. With A. A. Tillo, he developed a cartometric technique and applied it to calculating the surface of the Asiatic part of Russia and the lengths of the most important rivers. Shokal’skii was the compiler and editor of a series of general geographic maps and atlases. Twelve geographic features, including a strait between islands of Severnaia Zemlia, an island at the entrance to Ob’ Bay, and an island in the Kara Strait, have been named after Shokal’skii.
WORKS
Okeanografiia, 2nd ed. Leningrad, 1959.
Fizicheskaia okeanografiia. Leningrad, 1933.
negrum says: @ur momisugly December 31, 2013 at 12:01 pm
I think an Ig Nobel prize would be a fitting reward for the amount of scientific effort that went into this expedition.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
We can hope but it ain’t going to happen.
“..The ceremony is co-sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students and the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association. “ link
Harvard, and Radcliffe? That is deep in Politically Correct, CAGW territory.
when the captain returns to Russia he will sent to sibera
“clipe says:
December 31, 2013 at 3:54 pm
Bishophill comments
@Paul Matthews – Dec 31, 2013 at 10:37 AM
…
The Carbonscape Holdings share registry. There is a total of 29,553,564 shares on record for this company.
Catherine Ann TURNEY, Ian Stewart TURNEY, LATIMER TRUSTEES 2006 LIMITED 4,730,880 shares ~ 16.01%
Christian Stewart Macgregor TURNEY 382,400 shares ~ 1.29%
James TURNEY 290,581 shares ~ 0.98%
Tim FLANNERY 159,733 shares ~ 0.54%”
Gotta wonder who owns the other 23,989,970 (~81.2%) of the shares…
Soros? Gore? Rockefeller, Ford, or Gates Foundations?
Sorry, left off the source of the above re Shokal’skii, Iulii Mikhailovich. Wikipedia. The ship is named the Academic Shokalskii. It is interesting that his work dealt with meteorology, hydrology, and oceanography.
Folks, just go take a look at http://www.christurney.com and you get the full picture of what this halfwitted stunt is all about.
This is climate science meets twerking! Is Chris Turney the Miley Cyrus of Climate Science?
Anthony, perhaps we could have an on-line poll to see just who is the greeeaaatesst climate science twerker? An annual award? “The Twerkeys” ?
Looks like the Aurora Australis is getting deeper into the ice pack, still headed east-southest.
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0a0_1388530475
no shortage of morale boosters on board.
I enjoy a laugh as much as the next person. But some of these comments are going a little too far. Let’s not overstep the mark here.
The ship almost certainly WAS trapped by older multiyear ice which broke free somewhere else, was blown by the wind to block them in, and then refroze in place around the ship. Turney is quite correct to offer this explanation and does not deserve ridicule for it. Those who seem to think several metres of sea ice suddenly just froze around the ship need to check the temperatures in the area.
redress says: @ur momisugly December 31, 2013 at 2:44 pm
…Words fail me…..and the ABC try and implicate the crew in the accompanying article.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That is why the Ship Master is always left out of the story. If as someone above mentioned, it was Prof. Turkey and his research crew who refused to get the lead out and get back to the ship ASAP, they may be trying to spin the story so the Ship Master is the scape goat. Can’t have the plebs realize a ‘Climate Scientist” is an utter fool.
In the end it does not matter, The Christmas Turkey will be Persona Non Grata and his career is finished. The other research teams are NOT going to forgive him. Unfortunately the innocent will get punished too.
Tim FLANNERY 159,733 shares ~ 0.54%”
Wasn’t this guy some cAGW honcho the Australian govt? I wonder if this guy was awarded shares for a little cooperation if you know what I mean. Who would put their own cash into this thing afterall? Anyway looks a little fishie.
ldd says: @ur momisugly December 31, 2013 at 4:10 pm
AND we’ll all likely get the final bills….as usual.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
No matter who is “at fault” and who pays initially pays, you are correct it will be us. Either tax payers through a government, tax payers via the government financing the university or any one with insurance if the cruise ship company pays.
For some fun her is the advertisement for this cruise from Expeditions Online:
http://expeditionsonline.com/tour-44/spirit-of-mawson-akademik-shokalskiy
This is even better: http://expeditionsonline.com/vessels/expedition-ships/akademik-shokalskiy/
And the prices: http://expeditionsonline.com/vessels/expedition-ships/
Avery M says:
December 31, 2013 at 1:24 pm
“We can’t start a Wikipedia article about this until an MSM reporter starts to uncover the story. So email them, guys. Just FYI”
There is no way the wikipedia will ever report the truth about anything related to the climate. Don’t try it; you will only frustrate yourself.