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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Plar = Polar.
guardian – Grauniad (although with spell-checkers they’re better now than in the 70s and 80s)
Auto – righting [my] wrongs!
Mark,
No worries. We have it first hand that it’s all “Good Fun”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25547703
So we’re not laughing at them, we’re laughing with them.
It is obvious they used computer models to figure out what conditions where and then plotted their courses based on those modeled outcomes. They clearly couldn’t be bothered to check real time conditions or actually look out a window or perhaps pull up satellite data. That might have contradicted the computer models and we all know that climate scientists can only rely on computer models and not real verifiable conditions.
“Fantastic-I love it when the ice wins & we don’t.” Revkin will be looking forward to the next ice age then.
So, the Grauniard people are all Snowden, I mean icedin? Wot a shame.
By the way of WUWT straw poll, why are there no Polar bears at the South Pole?
The fact there are no bipolar bears makes me depressed.
Wonder if the insurance policy on the ship covers such nonsense; hull loss due to grand-standing on behalf of fare-paying customers. Come to think of it, this is kind of in the same category as the Italian captain who piloted the Costa Concordia cruise ship into an area he had no business being …
I wonder how long they will laugh when they realise how difficult the rescue will be.
I am sure the rescuers are not having a ball!
“GlynnMhor says:December 30, 2013 at 10:16 am
I wonder how much volume their sewage holding tanks can hold…”
This is a major concern since the organisers and Guardianistas are so full of that stuff already.
Oscar Bajner says:
December 30, 2013 at 12:57 pm
“By the way of WUWT straw poll, why are there no Polar bears at the South Pole?
The fact there are no bipolar bears makes me depressed.
___________________________
a) Polar bears don’t like the taste of Penguins
b) Sea Leopards do like the taste of Polar Bears
Fox News now quotes Turney as saying that “we’re stuck in our own excre. . .” Oops, pardon me! He said, “we’re stuck in our own experiment.” When and where was this experiment defined? Is the protocol posted somewhere? Who told the star-crossed voyagers that they were going to be the subjects in an experiment? Was there informed consent? I see a serious ethical boundary violation here.
Eaten by a voracious species of penguins who died out when they finished off all the south polar bears?
/intended funny
What’s not so funny – these media darlings put countless ships and sailors at risk for their personal narcissism alone. That is not funny. Tens of thousands of dollars squandered, thousands of man hours, wear and tear on ships and men – that isn’t funny.
Alan Robertson says:
December 30, 2013 at 11:09 am
Michael Ronayne says:
December 30, 2013 at 10:47 am
Question:
What do you call a ship load of trapped Global Cooling Deniers who are in danger of freezing to death?
Answer:
A good start!
_______________________________
Q: What do you need if you find a shipload of Climate Numpties, stuck in the ice?
A: More ice.
And some bourbon.
🙂
Auto says:
December 30, 2013 at 12:45 pm
I am concerned about the apparent disconnect between beliefs and reality described above: –
_________________
A wise man in the Arctic once said (an I assume this can be applied as well to the Antarctic), “You loose engine heat…now you have a problem”.
People are realizing that there’s no real science being done on this trip… ?
I dunno. Seems like they are finding out (or confirming) just how stupid nominally intelligent humans can be.
Seriously, by all accounts, isn’t the Antarctic gaining ice?
Why go there to show a loss of ice?
Just wondering.
Like others note, there is a real risk that rescuers’ lives may be put at risk. I imagine flying helicopters in Antarctic snowstorms doesn’t please your life insurer.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Typical rescues in the southern ocean involve small private sailing vessels or same in round the world yacht races. Misfortunate due to seas/weather aside, these sailing craft are usually skippered by experienced amateur/professionals skippers.
Here we have a bunch of global warming enthusiasts on new years holiday in the Antarctic. Next year mommy and daddy should be firm/resolute and put there foot down for English Harbor.
Being so close to the south pole, I hope they don’t get Polaroids from sitting about on all that ice!
Mike McMillan says: @ur momisugly December 30, 2013 at 11:17 am
…
The Chinese icebreaker is stuck. What are the Chinese doing with an icebreaker? Maybe the Russians will send an icebreaker to free the Australian icebreaker that is on the way to free the Chinese icebreaker that was on the way to free the Russian vessel.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
No it is the US ship Polar Star sent to free the Australian icebreaker sent to free the Snow Dragon sent to free SS CAGW.
Now all we need is Elmer to sing it to the tune of ‘The Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly’ but we can settle for If We Had Some Global Warming until he gets it recorded and up on M4GW
Where can I sign the petition to DEMAND that the Polar Ice frees the Antarctic 72.
Thank you WUWT contributors for giving me so much laughter. It is amazing how much comedic talent there is out there in blogland. The one with the comments by the Chinese crew had me in tears.
But when this little escapade into the melting ice of the great South land, rapidly turning into a real life drama, is all over and the public start asking some questions like “why is there so much ice down there?” what is the CAGW party line going to be? My latest betting market is:
Global warming is causing record sea ice because:
6-4 Melting fresh water from the Antarctic continent is freezing quicker than salt water.
5-2 Increased snowfalls with melting fresh water run off which has the same effect.
3-1 A change in global wind patterns is pushing the ice around.
7-2 A change in global cold water currents have all concentrated in Antarctica?
9-2 The Ozone Hole is getting bigger.
9-2 The Ozone Hole is getting smaller.
9-2 Increased ocean acidity.
9-2 Decreased ocean acidity.
5-1 Any combination of three of the above.
8-1 Any combination of two of the above.
10-1 You name it.
Yet another reason to be a believer, free cruises
Nobody wants these people to perish.
However, it would be just to have them endure some financial pain by being made personally liable for covering a part of the huge cost of their rescue.
The balance should come from the deep pockets of the groups that organized this fiasco.
It would be unjust to have the cost born by people who need to buy insurance for legitimate activities.
In 100 years, they’ll have another cruise to Commonwealth Bay to celebrate to “The Disastrous Turney Expedition of 2013-14”.
Compare the current 3 metre (10 foot thick ice) to a high quality video clip of the Mawson expedition landing in Commonwealth Bay on January 7, 1912.
http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/antarctic-pioneers/clip2/
This brings up a question: Will they be charged for the cost of this rescue?
Fuel, extra manpower costs, food, including a daily ‘overhead rate’ to cover the costs a rescue ship at sea incurs (maintenance escrow fund, insurance on the hull, utilities like sat comms etc)
First we have climate scientists on a scient…er PR cruise stuck in ice.
Now we have an arsonist setting himself on fire!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/arsonist-lights-self-on-fire-trying-to-burn-down-store-192237490.html
The gods of irony have started partying early this year.