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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Glenn:
Thankyou for your post at January 1, 2014 at 11:50 am
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/30/the-antarctic-research-fiasco-would-you-could-you-in-a-boat/#comment-1520439
I appreciate the laugh you have given me and I thank you for it. But that is not the reason for my post.
You have spelled-out the claims likely to be foisted as excuses for this ludicrous fiasco. Forewarned is forearmed. We now know what to prepare for when those excuses appear in the media so we can prepare the ridicule those excuses so richly deserve. Thankyou.
Richard
Glenn,
They were there to study what is making the ice disappear. If the irony of their getting stuck in the very ice they claim is disappearing is lost on you, then, soldier on, thanks for coming…
@Glenn Skankey – “as someone who has actually been on a research expedition.” Really?
Apollo 13, and its astronauts, returned because the best-of-the-best ‘relied’ on applied knowledge of math, science, engineering and other classical studies to solve problems. They loved the idea of computers but they relied on their slide rules. Together they crafted, and executed, one of the most successful evacuations ever. But then we we’re arguably the best in the world in math and science. I was fortunate enough to learn to ski, toboggan and fish with one of them.
Unfortunately, dodos in parad-ice, haven’t a clue.
Glenn, you say this is a far cry from being a propaganda tour.
You say you know as one who has been on such a research trip, to Greenland.
So how many journalists did your “research” vessel carry?
This one has five.
At least the most important part of Apollo 13, protecting all astronauts, returned.
Our President says math is too complext. Perhaps it is?
bbc’s Andrew Luck-Baker on bbc world service a couple of hours ago. didn’t hear the start, but at the end he was asked if – when it’s over – the trip will be viewed as a success or failure. he paused briefly, to feign careful consideration, & declared it would be “as a success” because (presumably) the scientists on this trip have discovered a particular penguin’s numbers are badly depleted.
this bbc page has the rest of the news on that broadcast, but not a peep about the Luck-Baker interview.
http://www.bbc.com/news/
bbc has now documented the Luck-Baker interview on the Xue Long being trapped:
31 Dec: BBC: Rescue for Antarctic ice-bound ship under threat
However, the captain of the Xue Long has told the Shokalskiy that he is keeping his vessel in a “holding position”.
The Aurora Australis, is now understood to be planning to carve through the dense thick pack to assist the Xue Long…
Under the initial plan, the remaining crew members would have stayed on board until another, more powerful US icebreaker arrived in up to 10 days’ time, the BBC’s Andrew Luck-Baker reports from on board the Akademik Shokalskiy
However, it may now be that all of those on board may have to wait for the US icebreaker, the Polar Star, he adds…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25558276
Glenn says:
January 1, 2014 at 11:50 am
_______________________
Glenn,
I’m not the least impressed with you false indignant display. Do you get equally indignant at the thought of the tens of thousands of documented deaths because of the policies advocated by those on that ship of fools and advocated by you? Do you just dismiss those human deaths as collateral damage to your plan, or are their deaths part of your plan?
Trapped here in ice
I’m getting bored
In layman’s terms
Out of my gourd
So get us out!
You hoi-polloi!
I’ve tired of my
Antarctic toy!
A bummer too
Our agit-prop
Has proven such
A PR flop
But worst of all
I feel the strain
Of life without
My gravy-train
****
So as the proles
Do toil and grunt
To save us from
Our little stunt
Befitting hive-
Aristocrats
It’s party-time
For us spoiled-brats
Thus our self-worth
We justify
And try to keep
Our spirits hgh!
***
And not for us
To praise serfs’ guts
Nor care “the help”
Might lose their butts
For members of
Our lordly class
Disdain the plebs
Who save our ass
***
One “selfie” more
Now let me take
And bitch I’ve no
Peanut Milkshake!
And that’s you know
No hardship slight
Just ask any
Hive-parasite!
M Courtney says:
January 1, 2014 at 12:38 pm
“Glenn, you say this is a far cry from being a propaganda tour.
You say you know as one who has been on such a research trip, to Greenland.
So how many journalists did your “research” vessel carry?
This one has five.”
Credible researches would not allow one. They taste too much like chicken and this distracts too much from research.
Glenn,
“What Darwin Said”
This is how it works.
Did these guys know how to use the internet?
Scroll down this page and look at the map of where they are stuck.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531159/Antarctic-crew-build-ice-helipad-help-rescuers.html
Now look at the current satellite ice maps of those areas. They appear to have been better to use skis and sled dogs.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/NEWIMAGES/antarctic.seaice.color.000.png
http://tinyurl.com/n5m3bh3
You call that a polar research vessel?
This is a polar research vessel.
Dear Neptune, great thunderer of the Seas, please give the University back their climatologists and press workers, when we get our incandescent bulbs back. (: (;
You’re new to this news, aren’t you Glenn? Or did you just get told to visit the site and spin baby spin?
Every day has a new stories on why and how the ship of AGW fools got stuck. You’ve just added completely new ones for both how and why.
Your stories directly contradict what the stuck chief fools stated just the other day.
I’m glad you know more because you’ve been to Greenland than the people in the boat stuck in Antarctica, that could soon be dining on unknown species of penguins.
@Zeke, Zeus thundered while Neptune swam. Universities will never recover because they’re run by idiots. Then again my cat was named Zeke and he still is.
Re the journalists on this fiasco; recall the real scientific expedition, the one that has been abandoned by the Aurora Australis in order to help rescue the tourists. As far as I can make out, there is not one journalist there. They had hoped to do real science – boring stuff, best left alone. For headlines, you need Adventures!
One wonders when the supply of the real scientific expedition will be completed.
Glenn says:
January 1, 2014 at 11:50 am
” – #4 In your separate blog post on the matter, you refute the claim of these scientists that sea ice is increasing in the Arctic by using a plot with a timescale from September-December of this year … ”
” … The obvious point they were making is that we have been seeing a trend of less and less sea ice each year in the Arctic. , not that ice doesn’t increase between the end of summer and beginning of winter.”
——
I don’t want to pre-empt an answer by the host of this blog, but after a quick scan of your points I can only conclude that there might be others who are better qualified than you are to do PR for this expedition. Seems like a bit of a contradiction at point 4 or am I missing something? I can’t make out whether you (or those that you are supporting) claim that sea ice is increasing or decreasing in the Arctic.
Some helpful hints (since you are clearly new to civilised debate):
-When looking down your nose in surprise at other people’s ignorance, it is best to keep your story straight. It is even better not to adopt this kind of attitude at all if you want to be taken seriously by the rest of us.
– CAPS never help you to convince rational people of your point – just trust me on this one.
– Bluster gets you nowhere here. Do cite some references other than yourself (qualified as you might be in your own mind.)
– Your opinion might not be the most important thing on this blog (Difficult to accept I know, but that’s just the way it is.)
Welcome and I do hope that you will benefit from the above advice so that proper discussion can begin.
On the other hand, Old Data, in the Etruscan Pantheon there were eight or nine gods and goddesses who wielded lightning, mostly for beneficial reasons, such as giving signs and direction to the suppliant.
And it is the return to the simple incandescent light bulb, which captures that lightning, that I have humbly asked for. Hail and hecatombs to all, for a return to the simple, non toxic, one dollar, non volatilized mercury-based, 60 watt incandescent light bulb.
@MichaelMoon
You said “They were there to study what is making the ice disappear.” In their own words they said [CAPS mine for emphasis]: “We came to Antarctica to study how one of the biggest icebergs in the world has altered the system by TRAPPING ICE”.
Glenn-
#1-“This leg involved studying why sea ice was getting trapped in this particular area, and the possible effects the presence of one of the world’s largest icebergs was having.”
Everyone KNOWS why sea ice is getting trapped in this particular area-the Mertz glacier tongue break-off in 2010 no longer protects the area and directs random sea ice out to open water. And WIND. DUH. Basic physics.
2# I have no problem with paying passengers being along for the ride.
3# The captain IS responsible for the boat being stuck. But who HIRED that captain and ship? The SAME ship got stuck in 2011 attempting to access Commonwealth Bay on a similar expedition and had to turn back. Did Turney do his homework? Did he know this? Did Turney know about all the OTHER ship/expeditions that have had to turn back since 2010? If he didn’t, he’s an idiot. If he DID, and thought he could win against the ICE that has been trapping ships in this exact same area for three years and went anyway, he’s an egotistical idiot.
#4 YOU said: In your separate blog post on the matter, you refute the claim of these scientists that sea ice is increasing in the Arctic by using a plot with a timescale from September-December of this year. This is pretty blatantly taking the scientists out of context, as no one argues that sea ice in the Arctic does not increase as we head into winter. The obvious point they were making is that we have been seeing a trend of less and less sea ice each year in the Arctic., not that ice doesn’t increase between the end of summer and beginning of winter.”
Um…first of all, THESE scientists are stuck in Antarctica, NOT the Arctic. And you seem to not know that a “plot with a timescale from September-December of this year” would NOT be heading into winter in Antarctica, it would be heading OUT OF winter and into Spring/Summer there. These scientists ARE INDEED “claiming that sea ice is increasing” in Antarctica during the SUMMER (which is why Anthony and the rest of us are incredulous) and they claim it is because the LAND ice is melting, and then the “fresh water” (from land) is running into the sea and forming sea ice AND because it’s so WARM down there that the ice shelves are compromised and collapsing and breaking off etc. They are pretending that there is a TREND of MORE and MORE sea ice in Antarctica during the summer there BECAUSE of global warming.
The IRONY is that these idiots are trapped in the ice in the SUMMER in Antarctica-not the winter. The irony is that they want us to BELIEVE that it’s getting warm enough to melt the fast ice/ice shelves while at the same time being COLD ENOUGH to then refreeze the water it JUST MELTED around their ship!
Please.
Hi Glenn
why are the kids there ?
Dirk, thanks for the link to the Polarstern, a proper polar research vessel which is also an icebreaker.
As Pierre Gosselin points out in his latest at No Tricks, this mission was woefully underprepared and seemingly done on the cheap.
Glenn says: January 1, 2014 at 11:50 am
In conclusion, this episode is not some scientific “fiasco”. They went into a situation they knew was risky, and got stuck. If they truly were expecting there to be no sea ice, and this happened, you’d have a point. Of course their own words point out that they were more than well aware of the fact, THEY WERE THERE TO STUDY IT
Glenn, you’ve just about convinced me to take back every disparaging word I’ve said about CAGW–just about! If, as you say, “They were there to study it (i.e., sea ice),” then their skill at arriving at the right place is beyond question unequaled. Everywhere they look but up, they have sea ice to study. Skill at such a high level has been absent from mankind’s endeavors since Einstein.
@negrum
First off, I have now had several people in this thread accuse me of simply showing up to do PR for this group (which does nothing to advance a healthy discussion). For the record this blog (and the actual story in discussion here ) was brought to my attention by a regular reader and fan of this site. I’m not here to vouch for this research group and their competence. I simply pointed out some flaws in Mr. Watts arguments. In fact there has been very little substance to the criticism I have read from Watts and other readers of this site.
As far as Arctic Sea Ice, tell me why this is confusing. In the winter, sea ice in the Arctic Ocean (note we are talking north polar region here, not south polar where this research group currently is) increases and in the summer a bunch of it melts. The recent trend over the last few decades is that there has been less and less sea ice in the arctic ocean during the summer months. This is well established fact, and has lead to renewed significance of the region for Russia, the US and others (The Arctic Ocean would become a significant global shipping lane, and there is also a ton of oil and other resources that may be uncovered). However, in the months of September through December, the melting stops and there is a temporary increase in ice again for obvious reasons. This is like taking an ice cube tray out of a freezer for two hours, then placing it back in the freezer for an hour before taking it back out again for another two hours. Obviously in that one hour you place it back in the freezer, you would expect the amount of ice to increase over that time period, while the overall trend over that 5 hour period will be for a decrease in ice. Follow?
@EternalOptimist
By kids, are you referring to the research students? Or were people bringing actual children on board?