An Icy Blast Of Scepticism Greets Climate Expedition
Rescuers in Antarctica have safely transferred all 52 passengers stranded on the ice-bound research vessel Akademik Shokalskiy. The Shokalskiy has been trapped since Christmas Eve. Its 22 crew are expected to remain on board to wait until the vessel becomes free. The ice-bound research vessel has been trapped since Christmas Eve. One of the aims is to track how quickly the Antarctic’s sea ice is disappearing. —BBC News, 2 January 2014
Reporting on the environmental movement has always required a certain sense of humor. In an earlier age, explorers who so badly underestimated the expanse of polar ice would surely have perished. But the 74 passengers and crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy are thriving. In this season of new beginnings we have here a chance to appreciate the amazing technologies created by free people. For they allow us to laugh at the folly of our fellow humans, rather than having to mourn their passing. —Editorial, The Wall Street Journal, 2 January 2014
The aim of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, led by Chris Turney of the University of NSW, was to prove the East Antarctic ice sheet is melting. Its website spoke alarmingly of “an increasing body of evidence” showing “melting and collapse from ocean warming”. As they are transferred to sanctuary aboard the icebreaker Aurora Australis, Professor Turney and his fellow evacuees must accept the embarrassing failure of their mission shows how uncertain the science of climate change really is. They cannot reasonably do otherwise. —Editorial, The Australian, 2 January 2013
Climate scientist Chris Turney’s team of embedded global media and paying science-minded tourists has spent the festive season trapped in sea ice instead of exploring what melting ice caps mean for mankind. Turney is lamenting that he has become trapped in his own experiment. But the bottom line is, once again, nature has drifted from the script. Unfortunately for Turney the take-out of the mission for a legion of sceptical bloggers worldwide has been “global warming scientists forced to admit defeat because of too much ice”. –Graham Lloyd, The Australian, 2 January 2014
Who pays for the rescue of the Akademik Shokalskiy? According to the Age: The operators of a ship stricken in the southern ocean are facing a multimillion-dollar expense bill, as a third vessel began a rescue attempt five days after the tourist ship became trapped in sea ice. Under the Treaty of the Safety of Life at Sea, vessels are required to respond to a distress message, with the costs incurred a matter for the ship owners after the event, the AMSA said. These can include fuel costs, crew costs and loss of revenue. –Paul Homewood, Not A Lot Of People Know That, 30 December 2013
Winter sea ice cover in the Antarctic has grown to its largest extent since satellite records began in the late 1970s, defying most climate models and muddying the waters of the global warming debate. The data runs contrary to the projections of many climate-change models. Scientists appear unable to definitively explain the phenomenon, but believe increasingly strong winds in Antarctica and an increase in rain and snow on the Southern Ocean are the most likely factors. Some fear the findings may fuel climate-change scepticism, given that sea ice is said to be the “canary in the coalmine” of global warming. –Matthew Denholm, The Australian, 24 October 2013
Thanks to The GWPF and Dr. Benny Peiser for the compilation
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The Gobbler said: “I’m a bit sad it’s ended this way,” he said. “But we got lots and lots of great science done.”
Right.
This was nothing more than a junket; an outing at taxpayer expense, and thus with only the pretense of doing actual science. The “scientific” conclusions were already foregone ones; all they wanted were a few details about conditions there that they could slap on top, to give the appearance of science. Thus:
Fewer penguins? CAGW
More penguins? CAGW
Less ice? CAGW
More ice? CAGW
Lower salinity? CAGW
Higher salinity? CAGW
Etc. Etc.? CAGW
On top of everything was the obvious danger they put themselves and potential resuers in. This was foolhardiness in the extreme.
RockyRoad says:
“Couldn’t these “climate scientist””
and
“Must have been a Freudian slip, although they do suck on the teat of governmental largess.”
Could it have something to do with them being colossal boobs?
The media have also been unusually silent on the “Won’t somebody pleeease think of the children!!!” front. Of course to have mentioned them would have drawn attention to the Climate “Scientist” leader/father, the possible recklessness of taking them and exactly how serious was this as a scientific expedition.
RockyRoad says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:31 am
Couldn’t these “climate scientits” (I’m using the term very loosely here)
—————-
I have to concur with Mango Chutney … I think RockyRoad should get an award for the most suitable term for a Climate Scientist. Climate Scientit
@Man Bearpig
I came, I saw, I concurred
The more things change—-
I don’t know what, exactly, caused Shackleton to take his crew to Antarctica in the Endurance, but before the trip was done he probably wished he hadn’t. He lost his ship– the Endurance was crushed by the ice and sank– but he did manage to save his crew.
To this day, scientists and adventurers still can’t seem to figure that Antarctica is just about the most hostile-to-human-life place on Earth. Right now we have the ongoing soap-opera of this ship caught in the ice, and even though the ship is hardened against ice it is still very possible that the ship can be crushed if the ice presses hard enough for long enough. It’s not a game down there, it is just about the most unforgiving place on the planet– and if you venture there you must take it seriously.
——The more they stay the same.
Mike and Mario above:
There was growing concern around the world for the mental health of the ship’s Master.
Evacuating the idiots has eased the worry.
GeologyJim says: January 2, 2014 at 7:24 am
The Assoc Press report includes this pull-quote from Turley, “I’m a bit sad it’s ended this way,” he said. “But we got lots and lots of great science done.”
Turney should have added: “…and no one died! “We got lots and lots of great science done” and “no one died” are two statements the mother ship $$ CAGW cannot make with a straight face.
Thankfully, even fools can get lucky!
Good work Dr. Peiser. Happy New Year!
Taphonomic says: January 2, 2014 at 8:33 am
Could it have something to do with them being colossal boobs?
Thank you. You and Rockyroad have made my day.
RockyRoad at 8:13 am
Maybe I missed it but “scientwits” immediately came to mind.
Now that’s just mean. Spring starts on September 21st.
Spring doesn’t bring any guarantees of release for the ship anyway. Look up the Shackleton expedition and the loss of the ship Endurance. That ship was lost in the spring when the ice shifted as it broke up, crushing the ship in the process.
Damage recovery mode already proceeding as normal. “Pay no attention to your freezing behind and the fact that a ship exploring the Antarctic was trapped in ice for several days even though it is summer. And pay no attention to the satellite measurements that show no global warming for 17 years. No, trust us, the climate is warming faster than feared!”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/10546128/Worlds-climate-warming-faster-than-feared-scientists-say.html
How convenient that this story came out now. You can smell the desperation in the air.
We should endow a prize for the least likely explanation for this whole event – I would willingly stump up GBP50 to start the ball rolling. Special gold star for some line of ‘reasoning’ which has not been anticipated here or elsewhere in the blogs.
Call it the CAGW Dissonance Reduction Medal.
Stuart B
The ship could still be sunk by the ice, but if it is holed there are now many fewer people who would need emergency evacuation.
Plus the remaining onboard supplies (and space in the sewage holding tank) will be used up more slowly.
Elmer says:
“January 2, 2014 at 6:38 am
Next they’ll probably be headed to the Arctic to show the world how all the Polar Bears are dying.”
Good point, the next fiasco will be the party beseiged by a pack of the thriving population of Polar Bears.
Please let them step outside and take photos bragging about how much fun and excitement they’re having…
They’ll throw the procrastinating penguin counter under the bus. It’s their only option. (He must be dreading this naming and blaming.)
SAB
How about heat from the mid troposphere is being siphoned off in an oceanic wormhole underwater to the Antarctic where it’s melting some ice from underneath causing more to break off into the sea, thus they explain the lack of hotspot and the above average sea ice.
I wouldn’t put it past them.
Scarface says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:19 am
I’m looking forward to their paper on how this event was fully consistent with global warming and why all the icesheets present a clear and present danger to out children and grandchildren. And why they really need to go back to do further research.
I hope their grant providers will say: NO. Enough is enough.
————————————————————————————————————–
Don’t worry Turney has already come up with a fanciful hypothesis that the ice they were caught in was “old” and due to iceberg B09B calving off in 2010 (due to climate change), breaking up as it collided with the Mertz Glacier and subsequently winds moving all this ice into the Bay.
Mr Turney is quoted in addition as saying:
“ Unfortunately for the Australian Antarctic Expedition it appears the region has just undergone a massive reconfiguration of sea ice, years after the loss of the Mertz Glacier tongue” (The Australian newspaper A PLUS ‘ Icy Blast of Scepticism’ 2 Jan 2014).
Looks like we have another Tim Flannery in our midst with tongue-in-cheek contorted “theories” and “predictions”. God help us.
Phil Ford said,
“Never mind, the BBC here in the UK has already started the whitewash. This afternoon’s 1pm news programme ‘The World At One’ led-off with this story and then handed the mic to a CAGW zealot to remind us all – entirely uninterrupted – that this was a ‘highly professional scientific expedition’ doing ‘important work for the future of the planet’. She also managed to slip in a few sneering comments disparaging the critics of this ill-fated Antarctic adventure on the twittersphere.”
Phil I heard that as well whilst I was driving and nearly went off the road as the red mist descended over my eyeballs. The “CAGW zealot” was Sara Wheeler an experienced polar journalist who, as you said, was desperate to get the CAGW meme into the story as quickly as possible despite being asked, from her experience, what the conditions would be like where the ship was stuck. She veered immediately into “over the last few days the twittersphere has been hijacked by skeptics talking about the irony of the situation”. Then she roared into CAGW mode by starting to claim that we are doomed or something and the ice was all to do with the wind etc etc – HOWEVER the BBC presenter (Shaun Ley) did stop her and tried to get her back by saying something about the foolhardy nature of the voyage. She tried the same tack again but again Mr Ley cut her off and eventually moved on to a different topic.
I actually felt there was some hope maybe for the BBC (I know, call me naive) or more probably Shaun Ley will be “re-educated” somewhere in N. Korea or the BBC basement.
The great white wail.
So, they are on their way to Casey Station. That is about as far away from the icebound vessel as sailing from Seattle to Los Angeles or from Gibraltar to Athens. That will take a while when traveling at a safe speed in iceberg waters. On top of that, a look at Casey Station will show that there is no air strip there. The expenses will continue to mount for quite a while.
I hope the Chinese and the Australians are keeping close accounting of the tab. However, separating the “eco-propagandists” from the Russian ship and its crew will make separating the tab a lot easier.
The Akademik Shokalskiy Passenger’s Lament
By the Darn-Poor Rhymer
A Russian ship was sailing,
For Commonwealth Bay’s shore;
Adventure is my failing,
And this cruise promised more.
One storm, two storm, three storm, four,
Five storm, six storm, seven storm, more!
And so I took a cabin,
And found I was among
Some scientists, whose babblin’
Did seem to me far-flung.
One theory, two theory, three theory, four,
Five theory, six theory, seven theory, more!
They said: “This global warming
That you and we have made
Is killing penguins. Aw! Ming!
Please pass the marmalade.”
One unsubstantiated accusation, two unsubstantiated accusation, three unsubstantiated accusation, four,
Five unsubstantiated accusation, six unsubstantiated accusation, seven unsubstantiated accusation, more!
And journalists had passes;
Grauniad, BBC.
Repeating, for the masses,
Alarmist litany.
One it’s worse than we thought, two it’s worse than we thought, three it’s worse than we thought, four,
Five it’s worse than we thought, six it’s worse than we thought, seven it’s worse than we thought, more!
The evenings, though, were hearty.
It was a Russian ship,
And they ensured the party
Would all enjoy the trip.
One vodka, two vodka, three vodka, four,
Five vodka, six vodka, seven vodka, more!
And so, we came to sea ice,
And to our penguin count.
They said, “Don’t be too precise;
The total must not mount.”
One penguin, two penguin, three penguin, none!
One penguin, two penguin, three penguin. Fun!
And then the Captain ordered
Us all back to the ship.
For we would soon be bordered
By ice we couldn’t rip.
One message, two message, three message, four,
Five message, six message, seven message, more.
But I was chasing Boojums;
And too late did I hark,
Until there came a few chums.
Boy! Did they give me snark.
One insult, two insult, three insult, four,
Five insult, six insult, seven insult, more.
We all survived our bad trip,
And live another day.
But now, I ask, how much scrip
Do we deserve to pay?
One trillion, two trillion, three trillion, four?
Five trillion, six trillion, seven trillion, more?
Clearly the increase in dangerous ice berg calving due to global warming and climate change is what trapped the ship. Bs baffles brains. Details at 11