Ship with 52 rescued Akademik Shokalskiy climate scientists and tourists is only able to make 1/4 knot (0.29 mph) in heavy ice towards open water. Latest webcam views show all ice all around the ship and no open water ahead.
More webcam views follow.
Australian Maritime Safety Authority Press release: 8.00am AEDT: 3rd January 2014
Antarctica rescue operation now complete
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) can confirm that the rescue operation from the Akademik Shokalskiy in Antarctica has been completed.
RCC Australia was notified at 6.15pm AEDT yesterday evening that the first group of 12 passengers had boarded the helicopter from the Xue Long at around 6pm AEDT. RCC Australia was then notified at 7.30pm AEST that the first 12 passengers had arrived at the Aurora Australis.
Five flights were conducted to take the passengers to the Aurora Australis over a distance of about 14 nautical miles. Four flights were undertaken with 12 people each flight, and the fifth flight rescued four passengers. The helicopter landed on an ice floe adjacent to the Aurora Australis.
At 10.05pm AEDT, AMSA was advised that all 52 passengers had been safely rescued and were on board the Aurora Australis.
Aurora Australis advised AMSA that helicopter operations had been completed at about 10.45pm AEDT and all passengers, luggage and equipment had been transferred.
The Aurora Australis will now start heading towards open water. The ship is currently travelling at a quarter knot in heavy ice towards open water. It will take until late evening to reach open water.
The Aurora Australis will then head towards the Casey base to complete a resupply before heading to Australia. The Aurora Australis is not expected to arrive in Australia until mid-January.
All 22 crew members of the Akademik Shokalskiy remain with the vessel.
RCC Australia has overall coordination of the incident as it is in Australia’s search and rescue region and has regular contact with the vessels involved.
The search and rescue operation commenced on Christmas morning AEDT after the Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in the United Kingdom received a distress message via satellite from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy. The distress message and subsequent coordination of the incident was passed to RCC Australia, who is the responsible search and rescue authority for this area.
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Other camera views.
Port Camera:
![A140022300C[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/a140022300c1.jpg?quality=83)
Stern camera:
![A140022300B[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/a140022300b1.jpg?quality=83)
Source: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora
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“… and allow ship and crew to quietly exit to safety.”
Indeed. The crew left on the Akademik Shokalskiy is now my main concern.
Does anyone know whether the Xue Long and its helicopter will wait in the area until the Akademik Shokalskiy is clear of the ice?
The video link above is brilliant.
Thanks or posting
Another comment on Pat’s comment.
The BOM lie through forked teeth……or some other such saying. I am in Melbourne and had to get out the winter hat for my morning walks this year; usually just wear ear muffs. I also keep an eye on Weatherzone, which has a graph of temperatures updated every 10 minutes from BOM (I think this is correct). I am often amazed and stunned that the daily maximum is as much as 3C higher than what the graph plots.
Interesting last pic at 10.30 about seven people on the Heli pad wearing life jackets.
AleaJactaEst says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:02 pm
The rescue ship Aurora Australis has CAGW form….Sept 2012…..
http://tomnelson.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/another-warmist-expedition-sets-off-in.html
That site calls it a “Super Ice-breaker”!!!
I think that the Polar Star may be needed to rescue all of those ships.
Actually it has warmed since 1967. The following proves global warming.(sarc)
Does anyone remember the “Ice Bowl” played at Lambeau Field on Dec 31, 1967? Isaw it.
Check this:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grb/?n=icebowl67
Here is a description of the weather.
Weather
Dubbed by the sports media as “The Ice Bowl”, the game-time temperature at Lambeau Field was about −15 °F / −26 °C, with a wind chill around −48 °F / −44 °C.[28][unreliable source?] Lambeau Field’s turf-heating system malfunctioned, and when the tarpaulin was removed from the field before the game, it left moisture on the field, which flash-froze in the extreme cold, leaving an icy surface that got worse as more and more of the field fell into the shadow of the stadium.[29] The heating system, made by General Electric, cost $80,000 and was bought from the nephew of George Halas, George Halas Jr.[citation needed] On the sidelines before the game, some Dallas players believed that Lombardi had purposely removed power to the heating coils.[30] The heating system would eventually be given the moniker Lombardi’s Folly.[citation needed] The prior convention to prevent the football field from icing up was to cover the field with dozens of tons of hay.[31]
The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (then Wisconsin State University–La Crosse) Marching Chiefs band were scheduled to perform the pre-game and half-time shows. However, during warm-ups in the brutal cold, the woodwind instruments froze and would not play; the mouthpieces of brass instruments got stuck to the players’ lips; and seven members of the band were transported to local hospitals for hypothermia. The band’s further performances were canceled for the day.[citation needed] During the game, an elderly spectator in the stands died from exposure [32]
Prior to the game, many of the Green Bay players were unable to start their cars in the freezing weather, forcing them to make alternate travel arrangements to make it to the stadium on time. Linebacker Dave Robinson had to flag down a random passing motorist for a ride. The referees for the game found they did not have sufficient clothing for the cold, and had to make an early trip to a sporting goods store for earmuffs, heavy gloves, and thermal underwear.[33] Packers quarterback Bart Starr attended an early church service with his father, who had visited for the game, and as Starr later said, “It was so cold that neither of us talked about it. Nobody wanted to bring it up.”
The officials were unable to use their whistles after the opening kick-off. As referee Norm Schachter blew his metal whistle to signal the start of play, it froze to his lips. As he attempted to free the whistle from his lips, the skin ripped off and his lips began to bleed. The conditions were so hostile that instead of forming a scab, the blood simply froze to his lip. For the rest of the game, the officials used voice commands and calls to end plays and officiate the game. At one point during the game, CBS announcer Frank Gifford said on air, “I’m going to take a bite of my coffee.”[34]
I can’t help but think that the Russian crew, especially the Captain couldn’t wait to have the group of scientists…err tourists…err fruitcakes get off their ship. The helicopter I’m sure replenished some of their stores and I hope they are save and telling humorous stories of the event. Let’s hope the captain is writing down everything the turkey gobbled!
Gore effect part (insert your personal number here)!
Just sayin ($¿$) apologies in advance 😎
Gerald Machnee says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:02 pm
Gerald, . . I wonder if this weekend’s game for the Packers just might be played at a COLDER temperature . ?
, Well, this time, att least people should be ready for this . . . wait, with the whole ‘globull warming’, maybe not . . .! 🙂 🙂
( . .gee, I sure hope I don’t have to add a tag . . . )
Martin C says:
January 2, 2014 at 7:37 pm . geez, I missed the SARC in ” . .add a SARC tag . . ” must be the cold that prevented it . . !
“Round and around we go”
“pat says:
January 2, 2014 at 5:45 pm”
I’d be keen to find out how far back the long term average goes back and what devices were used at the start of the record. I know the BoM currently uses ~112 ground based thermometers to calculate a nationwide average (This is all before the change to satellites last year). I am confident that soe devices now appear in the record that were not there 150 years ago. The MSM are spinning the claim that Sydney has had its hottest year since records began 150 years go. Thats’t fine but they don’t go on to say if it was masured at the Observatory or the Airport (Certainly not 150 years ago) or a combination. One of the recorded highs in South Australia this was at an airport.
berniel says: January 2, 2014 at 5:53 pm
“This tended to exposed the underlying water to the atmosphere.”
Intact sea ice cover insulates the warmer ocean from the atmosphere. Stirring up the ice should lead to warming of the air above as exposed water freezes and releases heat to the atmosphere.
Doug Huffman says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:24 pm
“Bowditch APN V.II, Table 8 Distance of the Horizon explanation, page 5, says distance in miles to the horizon is 1.17 times the square root of the height of eye in feet.”
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Ah, Bowditch, I remember it well. Few non-nautical folks will recognize the authority the reference carries. Remember the sailing ship captains who ran their ships “by Bowditch and the Bible.”
The camera forward view looks to be from about bridge height. Probably around 30 feet. Using a square root of 5.5, the horizon is about 5.5 x 1.17 = 6.4 miles (assume that is nautical miles). However, that last mile or so is just a visual sliver. From my experience, I could rarely identify much beyond about 4.5 miles from a bridge 30 feet above the water.
So open water could be much closer than others on this thread have supposed.
Jimbo says:
January 2, 2014 at 4:53 pm
Jimbo,
With all the birds being chopped by wind turbines, we have plenty of feathers.
I just heard a news brief on TV claiming that everyone had been airlifted from the ship, all 52 of the people on board.
I guess in the media viewpoint the crew aren’t real people.
For Greg Mortimer, one of three expedition leaders whose program chartered the beset Akademik Shokalskiy, arriving on board his rescue vessel, the Aurora Australis, on Thursday evening came with mixed emotions.
“I was immensely relieved for the people under my care,” he said.
But leaving the Shokalskiy and its 22 Russian crew on the stricken vessel had been tough, he said.
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“It was very sad. I’ve known that ship for a very long time.
“In a sense we’ve left [the crew] behind and to their own devices.”
The rescue had been a “roller-coaster”, he said.
“The outcome was uncertain for most of the day but it came together at about six o’clock tonight.”
Mortimer said it was amazing to fly across the extensive sea ice pack that had formed around their ship since they became stuck on Christmas Day, five nautical miles (nine kilometres) from the ice edge.
On Thursday the ship was 22 nautical miles (40 kilometres) from the ice edge.
“All that ice has blown in, in the past week. And it’s big, multi-year ice under enormous pressure,” he said.
“A catastrophic event has taken place in the last week, and we were party to that,” he said.
They were the cause of it, they really believe, that this could not have been prevented, they were just unlucky. They will never admit to their stupidity !!!
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
And these fools seem to have a legion of like-minded fools (followers)– especially in the media.
Everybody is talking about Turney and his mob of ignorant fruitcakes who it now seems have been completely irresponsible or much worse in not strictly adhering to the timetables and the Captains orders to be ready to depart when the Captain saw that conditions were starting to deteriorate quite quickly..
There are two other seriously affected parties here
The first is the Ship’s Captain and crew.
For a Captain to [ possibly ] lose his ship is one of the worst fates of those who sail the oceans.
To lose his ship through nothing more than sheer carelessness, arrogance and and ignorance on the part of another party would truly a fate that no Captain would ever wish on his worst enemy.
The Captain’s very unfortunate situation not apparently of his own making, has been discussed in many posts around the web.
But please consider another group who by now are probably getting distressed and very, very irate and possibly quite angry about this whole bucketful of outright stupidity on the part of UNSW fools and idiots who shipped themselves in the Akademik Shokalskiy without any adequate preparation or organised backup to the Antarctic, one of the most hostile environments on the planet.
The Scientists and researchers and their support staffs at the Australian Antarctic Casey Base [ other international Antarctic bases and researchers may be in a similar situation to Casey ] have only had about one third of their supplies and research equipment unloaded at Casey before the Ice breaker Aurora Australis had to leave and make the dash to rescue the unprepared and idiotic partying fools on the Akademik Shokalskiy.
Two thirds of the supplies and experimental equipment destined for Casey is still on the Auroroa Australis which is forcing it’s way through ice at a snails pace to try and get clear still some hundreds of kilometres distance from Casey station.
Some or perhaps most of those scientists and researchers and maintenance guys would likely have spent a good portion of their career finding funding, collecting and testing various equipment for the experiments and research they intended to carry out upon reaching Casey, experiments and research which is limited to the few weeks of summer where conditions are mild enough in that harsh environment to conduct research and to travel to the more remote regions reachable from Casey to repair, or replace or install equipment and to research those more remote Antarctic regions’
Every day that the Aurora Australis misses in it’s unloading schedule means that the scientists, their backup crews, the experiments and research all become less and less likely to be conducted or there will no longer be enough time to do the research and experiments as was intended.
For some of those scientists and researchers it would have been a cumulation of their entire scientific career .
Now for some or most it is gone to hell perhaps forever as it was their one chance only.
All due to some idiotic, self promoting, arrogant and ultimately ignorant warmists intent on having a good time party and trying to impress everybody with what we now know to be not their scientific knowledge but instead an abysmal level of ignorance and arrogance and irresponsibility and complete lack of any sense of responsibility to the real scientists and the real researchers and staff of the international Antarctic bases and ships.
Here’s an example of what happens when a “climate scientist” refuses to see the ice.
Good thing he has a bunch of Skeptics for friends!
It’s quite possible some of the tourists, after arriving at Casey Station, may end up taking a further 70 km trek to Wilkins Runway, and board the AAD’s Airbus A319, and get a direct 4hour and 30min flight back to Hobart..(in the spirit of mawson of course)..
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/travel-and-logistics/aviation/intercontinental-operations/a319-background-information
Looks like the fat lady hasn’t burst into song yet.
AMSA report that the Aurora Australis is to standby in open water as a precaution as the Xue Long has concerns about its ability to move in the heavy ice in the area.
One can only hope that the Aurora Australia IS in open water otherwise this thing will turn from embarrassing fiasco into high farce.
Watch this space:
http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documents/030114UpdateAntartica.pdf
Aurora Australis is blocked in ice anyway as far as we can see from their webcam today –
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora
If at all possible they should work with the Xue Long to get both ships to clear water.
So the Aurora Australis is making about 0.25 knotts. The big question is therefore:
Is this “over the ground” as sailors say or “over the water” as sailors say. If the latter the next big question is:
What is the ice velocity?
Noting that velocity has direction as well as magnitude this could be important……
Watch the melting ice…..
Xue Long now STUCK IN ICE – hopes to make way tomorrow
Aurora Australis on standby as a precautionary measure
Xue Long notified AMSA at 1pm AEDT this afternoon it has concerns about their ability to move through heavy ice in the area.
The Aurora Australis has been placed on standby by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA)
Rescue Coordination Centre Australia (RCC Australia) to remain in open water in the area as a
precautionary measure.
The Xue Long has advised RCC Australia that it will attempt to manoeuvre through the ice when tidal conditions are most suitable during the early hours of 4 January 2014.
There is no immediate danger to personnel on board the Xue Long.
Please keep an eye on AMSA’s Twitter feed @AMSA_News for updatesthrough heavy ice in the area.
The Aurora Australis has been placed on standby by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA)
Rescue Coordination Centre Australia (RCC Australia) to remain in open water in the area as a
precautionary measure.
The Xue Long has advised RCC Australia that it will attempt to manoeuvre through the ice when tidal conditions are most suitable during the early hours of 4 January 2014.
There is no immediate danger to personnel on board the Xue Long.
Please keep an eye on AMSA’s Twitter feed @AMSA_News for updates