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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Good point; this will have a rippling effect, unforseen and unobserved for the moment by the so-called ‘mediots’ in the business of synthesizing ‘news’ and the reporting of same …
All because, a grand-standing attention-seeker (Turney) sought to ‘joy ride’ in a dangerous, frozen environment known for ‘enveloping’ and eventually overwhelming meager human endeavors and slowly evolving into circumstances that result in the unfortunate loss of human life … these frozen climes are no place for un-prepared happy-go-lucky cli sci ‘amateurs’ out for a good time and the ‘press’ that puts their name in lights.
I am now wondering what part alcohol and an open bar might have played all around in the bad decision made to ‘challenge the ice’; probably none. Still, the thought persists …
.
I just can’t get rid of the ear worm… “a 3-hour tour, a 3-hour tour…”
Andrew Bolt has some interesting reading on this including excursion personnel selection criteria over at his site: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/somethings_cracking_and_its_not_the_ice_around_the_warmists_ship/
On the Andrew Bolt blog, there is a comment in an interview that the wife and Children
of turney are also on the voyage.
This raises questions, are they paying tourists or is their fare paid for ?
The UNSW is listed as providing financial support. So presumably there are risk assessments at UNSW that will list all the passengers. This information is probably accessible at
the Faculty level and is probably subject to FOI. I assumed someone other than
Turney approved the risk assessment. Was this trip supported by external research
grants?
Part of the risk assessment should indicate procedures to be followed in case of
problems, e.g. [protocol for rescue and who will pay for that rescue.
Documentation at UNSW will also indicate the sources of funding to pay to the trip.
There is also problem that Ph.D. students are on the trip. Is the data to be gathered
essential for their Ph.D. If yes, waht is plan B? If no, then why are they on the trip,
e.g. is it just scientific tourism?
the wife of Turney has a a MEd Language and Literacy at University of Wollongong followed by an MSc in Educational Research focusing on multimedia education at University of Exeter, UK and is part of the scientific crew, as you can see here:
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/aae-science-leaders/
@cynical scientist, yeah right.
This is shaping up to end badly,
It is Antarctica, known for killing the clueless and stupid.
The ice is continuing to press in on the ship, the weather is known to change for even worse, very quickly.
The needy are, by their own admission, absolutely oblivious to their danger.
They have endangered the crews of 3 other ships, two of which are fighting to maintain position, to further risk their lives, to rescue these idiots.
3 countries research projects have been interrupted, possible writing off this seasons work, but the pretty boys are whining about narrow beds and running out of booze.
Then there are 5 so called journalists on board, yet they cannot inform their public of the obvious?
As a satire you could not make this situation up.
Mockery is too good for these activists.
Extortion is in order, they pay up now or the rescuers leave them to seek their global warming.
Watching the Snow Dragon and Aurora sail over the horizon, might, just might, help these characters focus.
@ur momisugly negrum says:
December 31, 2013 at 10:40 am
——————–
Oh BS to you negrum ! I feel sorry for you that you can’t call it out for what it is…
Too much blah, blah, blah and blah going on to present the truth which is they (AGW types) have been lying, are lying and will continue to lie. Hell, they are lying right now is desperate attempts to CYA this unfortunate event in Antarctica and that is CLEARLY obvious in the international media.
Man-up and speak the truth about this horrendous cancer on science called AGW !
Funny! On the news today here in Australia the “passengers” of this failed expedition are on the ice “flattening” out the snow trying to make a landing pad for the Chinese helicopter. I don’t think the pilot will be too impressed!
Might this incident be remembered, years from now, as the single defining moment when reason, hubris, and irony supplied the straw that broke the camel’s back of CAGW.
The University of New South Wales’s Antarctic Propaganda Expedition has been bungled as their top Global Warming / Climate Change Scientist Professor Chris Turney is trapped in (supposedly non-existent) Antarctic Summer sea ice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhMWvdwgwZU&feature=c4-overview&list=UUAR0Oi4L0Om4F26uwpANgCg
After getting stuck Turney was quoted as saying; “We are stuck in our own excrement”.
Prof Turney organised the trip to “Assess the impact of human-caused Global Warming in the Antarctic” by re-tracing the voyage of Mawson, made in 1912 to Commonwealth Bay in the Antarctic. Mawson sailed there in 1912 in open waters, yet warmist Prof Turney is stuck fast in 4 meter thick sea ice.
Now we know how the supposed ‘human-caused global warming’ is affecting Antarctica; – its a hell of a lot colder and there is a hell of a lot more ice now than when Mawson was there in 1912.
This propaganda exercise was funded by the BBC, Australia’s ABC and the Guardian newspaper; since the scientists and activists got stuck on Christmas Eve, it has been hardly mentioned in these media sources or in other mainstream media. All reference to the real reason for the expedition has been deleted and it has now been re-badged as a ‘cruise’.
Amazingly, warmist Prof Turney thinks its still not cold enough, quote; “The inevitable conclusion (from our research) is emission targets (of 80% in the EU) will have to be lowered further still.”
Maybe he wants the ice to be over his head as well as under his feet?
I wonder just why anyone is still listening to these fraudsters???
Mawson’s trip to an ice-free commonwealth bay in 1912 is here; http://mawsonshuts.antarctica.gov.au/cape-denison/building-the-base
Tim Flannery; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRT7dlUu3Y0
David Karoly; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHiwp_tq7XU
Alarmists are the Real Deniers; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spa35uBZJv8
Donna Laframboise Part 1 of the IPCC; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPz2QnD0HFg
UKs Economic Suicide — The Climate Change Act; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_V5alLmoBs
IPCC Doomed as AR5 is panned by climate scientists; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAtoRyJ_3AQ
John Cooks 97% Consensus Fiction; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY-LVhNM5fA
Wind Farms Part 1; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgiFMpzKk74
Murry Salby Part 1; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li75zFoaKlI
Charles Mackay wrote: “Men go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.”
john robertson says:
December 31, 2013 at 9:23 pm
“… Watching the Snow Dragon and Aurora sail over the horizon, might, just might, help these characters focus.”
*******************************
That would be entirely in keeping with the “Spirit of Mawson” who missed his ship Aurora by just 6 hours. Oh the weight of irony this story is generating will probably crush their ship long before the ice does.
Here’s a problem I have with the whole thing.
In 2010, the Mertz glacier tongue (the part that sticks out into the sea when a glacier reaches the shore and keeps going) was broken off by a huge iceberg called B09B, that had been “nudging” and battering into the side of the Mertz tongue for almost 18 years. The debris along with the remains of B09B moved north and west into Commonwealth Bay-where Mawson’s expedition base camp was. They filled in and froze in the bay three years ago. Satellite images captured the whole event beautifully.
The captain of the ship KNEW this because the ship/cruise ships webpage states that it cannot promise any passengers that they would make it to land to visit Mawson’s huts/camp due to the passage being blocked by ice and the iceberg, and it being summer and all, the ice might not be safe to travel across.
Now, the Mertz tongue had FORMERLY kept random sea ice chunks from entering the bay. It acted as a sort of “shield” and deflected anything floating out and around it into open water. Prior to 2010, getting into Mawson’s Commonwealth Bay was fairly easy to do in the summer without encountering a lot of ice at all.
But for THREE years, scientists, anyone who checks a satellite image once in a while, or reads an occasional article on the area, and ALL ship captains who take cruises there, has KNOWN that conditions near the Bay are unpredictable and different than they had been before. They KNEW that the “protection” of the Mertz tongue was GONE, and that any OLD ice in the area could easily at least damage their ships, if not seal them in during a storm.
So why…why on earth would ANY knowledgeable ship’s captain, familiar with the conditions and fierce events of that region, anchor a ship at the edge of a sea ice sheet that is known to shift, ESPECIALLY in the summer when the natural temps cause the ice on the shelves to calve more and break free? A captain who KNOWS that the sea ice blows into the Bay area MORE when south east winds blow? A captain who knew he was STILL two miles from open water as a storm blew in?
Was the captain stupid? Inexperienced? Pressured by the “media” presence on board? Or the AGW activist/scientists that couldn’t claim AGW was melting the Antarctic if they didn’t actually get to explore it where Mawson did?
Just how much about the Commonwealth Bay area did Chris Turney KNOW before he left? Did he research the area for years and have a perfect knowledge of the “new” shore conditions in that area since 2010? Or did he just pick a popular meme (Mawson) and decide to ride it’s coattails to media fame (by bringing along his own reporters) and head out with a group of innocent citizens who thought it sounded like a fun and “noble” thing to do?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademik_Shokalskiy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Xue_Long
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Astrolabe_%28icebreaker%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Australis_%28icebreaker%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Polar_Star_%28WAGB-10%29
All ice breakers are not the same. Compare Polar Star with three propeller shafts with the other four. Polar Star has 3 each 25,000 HP gas turbines each driving one shaft + 6 each 3,000 HP Diesel Generators that power electric propulsion motors for 18,000 HP cruising at sea.
US CBS TV said at the beginning of this the Akademik Shokalskiy pushed through two miles of floating ice to reach the ice shelf where they stopped and people went exploring on the ice, When the offshore wind clocked around 180 degrees the shore parties were recalled but parties were as much as eight miles from the ship. Once everyone was aboard a blizzard began and a decision was made to wait for improved visibility before leaving. When visibility improved they found they were trapped by wind blown ice.
On another climate related subject San Diego is experiencing the weather that made San Diego famous. A strong high pressure system centered over the four corners area is keeping us warm. 70s-80s days 40s-60s nights. We have had this weather since mid December and tonight weather forecast said at least another ten days. Normally December and January are our rainy season. The last time we had Christmas – New Years beach weather was 2004-05.
frolly says:
December 31, 2013 at 9:57 pm
Jo Nova’s latest post is well worth reading. Charles Mackay is quoted there too.
http://joannenova.com.au/2013/12/skeptical-view-makes-australian-front-page-climate-madness-dishonesty-fraud-deception-lies-and-exploition-says-maurice-newman/
Apparently a facor in this fiasco, as I have read in other blogs, is land-based ice is melting, running into the sea and freezing contributing to expanding sea ice and sea level rises.
Adding to the info on ships sunk on expeditions to the Antarctic. In 1986 the expedition dubbed “in the footsteps of Scott” had 3 people retrace Scott’s trip to the pole. (Swan, Mears and Wood”.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Swan
Whilst enroute their vessel, the Southern Quest” was crushed and sunk by pack ice. All persons had to be rescued by military personnel at McMurdo.
Whatever you do do not name an expedition to Antarctica as something to do with historical figures. The original explorers were “deadly serious” in their endeavours. The more recent wannabes are game playing by comparison.
Redress quotes:
“Chris Turney is leading the team of scientists, meteorologists, marine ecologists, oceanographers, ice-core and tree-ring specialists”
Tree-ring specialists? Are they for real? Probably swabbing the decks. (hope it’s Mann!)
The tree ring specialist was on the first “leg” of the journey, which covered the subarctic islands South of New Zealand.
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/aae-science-leaders/
http://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=TLEhXX8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra
I checked also for the link “supporters” on their site. Google tells me: Not found.
“To minimise our impact on the planet, the AAE will offset its carbon emissions by planting trees. Not just any trees, nor just anywhere. As Sir Douglas Mawson quoted above, images of the New Zealand kauri (Agathis australis) have long been a source of inspiration and admiration to explorers and travellers alike. Kauri is also a relic from a bygone era; tracing its lineage back to when Antarctica and New Zealand shared a common link as parts of the supercontinent Gondwanaland. The AAE is delighted to announce a grove of kauri trees will be planted in its natural range on a property owned by The Kauri Museum at Matakohe, Northland, New Zealand; the world’s first carbon neutral museum.”
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/our-legacy/
How many kauri trees will they have to plant to compensate for all the carbon they are using up with this trip and the rescue attempts? They might need to a planting area larger than the entire North Island of New Zealand.
You couldn’t make this stuff up !
More funnies! A tourist flight above Antarctica to see in the new year. I hope they bought plenty of carbon offsets. Looked like a 737 sized plane, ~300 “passengers?
About carbon emiisions there is no problem at least with the AAE. They have already planned ahead and calculated them with a special tool. Now they will plant new zealand kauri trees that will wash them free from all environmental sins within 50 years of growing time.
And they have been very wise to choose the kauri tree. As this species lives up to 2000 years, even the carbon emissions from thr rescue actions are included. So in about 500 years every trace of CO2 from that Expedition will have vanished.
Well that’s bogus CAGW twaddle. Watch the Antarctic time lapse link posted by Ulric above.
Ask those silly posters of that info how did that land ice melt? Then ask how that melted water reach miles out to sea?
Ranks right up there with Turney’s silly statement about the ice pulling salt out of the seawater so that it was almost fresh water beneath the boat.
“It is very simple. At minus 55, ice melts and runs into the sea as fresh water. The hot Sea Water melts floating ice. This all freezes at minus 55 and results in even more ice. Some call it magic but climate “scientists” know better. Sigh.
It just really makes absolutely obvious who the real deniers are.
“clipe says:
December 31, 2013 at 3:54 pm”
All the Turney family are shareholders. I’d imagine his wife is secretary, but more interestingly it’s registered in New Zealand. I am sure there is a vaild tax reason why the company is registered there, ie, company tax is lower in NZ than in Australia.
“ATheoK says:
December 31, 2013 at 10:48 pm”
I agree, but you do have to laugh when you read posts like that. But some people just don’t want to face facts, even when we have actual visual proof the area was ice free in 1912 and packed solid enough to require icebreakers in 2013/14. Somthing has gone seriously wrong in 100 years.
We’ve all had our fun.
Now let’s get everybody out alive.
I’ve been trying to piece together what’s going on with the ice in this area. Here’s a short summary.
1987 Iceberg B09B calved from the Ross Ice Shelf.
1992 B09B had drifted to just east of the Mertz Glacier tongue, but remained grounded.
Late 2002 B09B begins to move again toward Mertz.
Feb 2010 Iceberg B09B collided with the Mertz Glacier tongue, breaking it off. It already had large cracks and was expected to calve anyway soon.
Turney in his Dec 30 blog post incorrectly states “In 2010, a large iceberg known as B09B, calved from the continent and collided spectacularly with the extended tongue of the Mertz Glacier.” It calved in 1987.
The calved Mertz Glacial tongue created Iceberg C28. C28 drifted west affecting the main polynya adjacent to the glacier.
Some months later C28 split into several sections and most moved out into open water.
Meanwhile B09B remained east of the remaining Mertz glacier tongue for a while, then slowly moved west. Today it is in the area of Commonwealth Bay.
The Polynyas have largely returned to normal. Good timing the WUWT Polynya article. The Polynya acts like a sea ice factory.
Both B09B and C28 have resulted in considerable ice in and around Commonwealth Bay since 2010. Much of it dense and thick multi-year ice. This was well known to the expedition before they left.The effects of this ice movement and changes in the polynyas have been studied for years.
The heavy ice in the area has (in theory) affected the Penguin population around Commonwealth Bay. Supposedly, this is one of the things this expedition wanted to investigate. The day they got stuck in the ice, they were out counting penguin nests. The population should rise again once B09B and the the “fast ice” around it moves out.
The CAGW meme will have to be that B09B and later C28 calved as a result of global warming, and this series of events over 26 years resulted in large amounts of ice where the ship is stuck.