There are a lot of news items in major media starting to appear about the folly of Professor Chris Turney’s tourism disguised as science expedition. Turney is now backpedaling on the idea that “climate change” caused them to get stuck. Perhaps the laughter has finally reached him. A roundup and video follows.
First, from the NYT:
Stranded Antarctic Ship Story, Like the Ice, Will Not Let Go
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
A team of rescuers from a Chinese icebreaker may need to be rescued themselves, soon after they plucked dozens of people from the Antarctic ice aboard a ship that had been stranded for more than a week.
Chris Turney, a leader of the expedition whose members were evacuated by the Chinese vessel Xue Long’s helicopter on Thursday, shared more photographs of the mission and then an update on Twitter about the unexpected turn of events in the rescue ordeal.
Full story here: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/stranded-antarctic-ship-story-like-the-ice-will-not-let-go/
Here is a video of the rescue operation in progress:
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From the Guardian, authored by Turney himself, who links to WUWT in the article:
Antarctic expedition: ‘This wasn’t a tourist trip. It was all about science – and it was worth it’
Chris Turney, leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, says his critics are wrong: the team was prepared, the risks were known, and much was achieved
The last 24 hours have been sobering. I am sitting in the comfort of a cabin on board the Australian icebreaker the Aurora Australis, one day after evacuating the Australasian Antarctic Expedition from our Russian-crewed vessel, the MV Akademik Shokalskiy. After sleepless nights thinking about keeping everyone safe, it is a relief to know everyone is on board the Aurora and well.
There is relief, but there is also frustration over what appears to be a misrepresentation of the expedition in some news outlets and on the internet. We have been accused of being a tourist trip with little scientific value; of being ill-prepared for the conditions; putting our rescuers at risk; and making light of a dangerous situation. Others have remarked on what they describe as the “irony” of climate researchers stuck in unexpected ice.
…
Let’s be clear. Us becoming locked in ice was not caused by climate change. Instead it seems to have been an aftershock of the arrival of iceberg B09B which triggered a massive reconfiguration of sea ice in the area.
[See story below on the statement -Anthony]
Full story here: http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live/2014/jan/04/antarctic-expedition-was-worth-it-chris-turney
Note: This bit of justification in the article from Turney (bold) about the cost is laughable, he’s only off by a factor of 5-6. So much for scientific precision.
The aim of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) is to lead a multidisciplinary research programme in one of the most scientifically exciting regions of our planet, straddling the Southern Ocean and East Antarctic. Using the latest in satellite technology, we are beaming images, movies and text in an attempt to excite the public about science and exploration, inspired by one of the most scientifically successful efforts in the Antarctic: the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914, led by British-born Sir Douglas Mawson. Starting out at the unbelievably young age of 28, Mawson managed to raise £39,000 in a year – equivalent to some $20-25m today. With this he kitted out an entire ship to discover what lay south of Australia.
Umm, I don’t know where Turney gets those numbers, but using the calculator provided by the Reserve Bank of Australia here: http://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html
I get:
$4.2 million is sure a long ways from $20-25 million, but I suppose when you are always using other people’s money, being accurate doesn’t matter.
The article with Turney’s calc is saved here as a PDF Turney-spiritofmawson-and it was worth it _ Science _ The Observer -Anthony
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Turney Backpedals! Now Says Getting Stuck In Sea Ice NOT Due To Climate Change”!
By P Gosselin on 4. Januar 2014
It appears that now even Professor Chris Turney admits blaming his expedition mishap on global warming was an astronomical stretch after all.
Yesterday I reported here, quoting flagship Swiss daily (NZZ), that his communication director Alvin Stone blamed global warming for the vessel getting trapped in ice. The whole world laughed.
I couldn’t believe it myself so I wrote an e-mail to Stone asking if they really believed this.
Stone answered circa 9 hours later:
Dear Pierre,
That is not quite the quote that I gave.
This is my understanding from talking to Chris and other glaciologists.
- The 120km long ice berg B09B that is grounded in Commonwealth Bay broke away from the continent three years ago, very likely as a result of climate change.
- B09B collided with the Mertz Glacier, smashing a large ice tongue that released the ice into that area.
- It was a mix of this ice that was blown across the path of the Shokalskiy, which led to it being trapped and explains why much of the ice surrounding the ship is old ice.
– See more at: http://notrickszone.com/2014/01/04/turney-backpedals-now-says-getting-stuck-in-sea-ice-not-due-to-climate-change/#sthash.rG7qwsHv.CeXyK3bZ.dpuf
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Australian taxpayers will pay $400,000 cost for climate scientist’s ship stuck in ice. Total cost “millions”.
The saga just keeps going. The Chinese Icebreaker is now also stuck, and has asked for help so the Aurora Australis with 52 extra passengers rescued from the Russian Charter boat have to stay nearby to help. Twenty two Russian sailors are still trapped on board the Russian boat — the Akademik Sholaskiy. Plus other scientists in Antarctica still don’t have their equipment. Costs for everyone involved are continuing to rise. Though there is a free-for-all on social media…
http://joannenova.com.au/2014/01/australian-taxpayers-will-pay-400000-cost-for-climate-scientists-ship-stuck-in-ice-total-cost-millions/
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Antarctic Debacle Probably Biggest Setback For Campaigners Since Climategate
- Date: 03/01/14 Christopher Caldwell, Financial Times
The debacle in the Antarctic ice is probably the largest setback for global warming campaigners since Climategate scandal in 2009.
When a Chinese helicopter rescued 52 passengers from a Russian climate-science cruise ship trapped in ice off Antarctica, it was a skilfully managed end to an ordeal that had begun on Christmas Eve. It was also a debacle for climate change activists. The 233-foot Akademik Shokalskiy, a Russian meteorological ship leased by the Australian tour outfit Aurora Expeditions, had been on a mission called the “Spirit of Mawson”. It aimed to replicate part of a gruelling voyage the explorer Douglas Mawson had made in 1912. The ship carried 22 scientists looking to perform various experiments, led by Chris Turney, a professor of climate change at the University of New South Wales. They were joined by 26 tourists paying for the adventure, along with journalists for The Guardian, BBC and The Sydney Morning Herald.
http://www.thegwpf.org/ft-antarctic-debacle-biggest-setback-campaigners-climategate/
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This speaks for itself, now the USA is involved:
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Even NYT’s Andrew Revkin, who has been on such expeditions himself, is calling it a fiasco:
A helpful update on several facets of the #spiritofmawson Antarctic fiasco from @RTCCnewswire: http://t.co/bdsY1Fn92Y
— Andrew Revkin 🌎 ✍🏼 🪕 ☮️ (@Revkin) January 2, 2014
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As are the French:
French Polar Chief slams SpiritofMawson fiasco
This really has been a PR debacle of amazing proportions. The ship stuck in ice has captured something larger than I would have expected. Methinks the timing must be apropos.
Good scientists are distancing themselves from the publicity hungry climate lightweights and commentators on both sides of the fence are agreeing in their criticism.
A third effect we are barely starting to see may ripple on for months — that’s when mass-media victims realize that the “Russian Tourist ship” was really a boat load of Australian and New Zealander scientists, paid for mostly by taxpayers and loaded and advised by supposedly “expert” climate scientists. This misinformation was despite the boat having BBC, and Guardian media on board, and Fairfax press in one of the rescue icebreakers. Today I see evidence of the first two effects.
From Skynews. The French chief of polar science calls the Spirit of Mawson trip “pseudo-scientific” and laments the effect it is having on real research.
The head of France’s polar science institute has voiced fury at the misadventures of a Russian ship trapped in Antarctic ice, deriding what he called a tourists’ trip that had diverted resources from real science.
More here: http://joannenova.com.au/2014/01/french-polar-chief-slams-spiritofmawson-fiasco/
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This animation is hilarious:
ACM on Chris Turney and the Akademik Shokalskiy fiasco
By Simon on 4 January, 2014
ACM on Chris Turney and the Akademik Shokalskiy fiasco
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@ur momisugly A.W….you might want to transpose the words ‘always’ and ‘using’….”$4.2 million is sure a long ways from $20-25 million, but I suppose when you are using always other people’s money, being accurate doesn’t matter. -A”.
Thanks for all the links. The Turney Fiasco is the gift that keeps on giving.
In the Lapdog Media, this story will get the Clinton-Lewinsky treatment. First, the meme that “she was old enough to make her own decisions”. Second, thoughtful consideration of what really constitutes “sexual relations”. Third, sociologists weigh in on the positive aspects of lying – “It’s a normal coping mechanism”, then “Everyone does it”. Fourth, the dalliance didn’t hamper Clinton’s performance of his official duties. Fifth, explanations that this is, afterall, private behavior and should not be compared to public exhibitions. Finally, discussion of what the meaning of “is” is.
So the media will end up discussing the meaning of “ice”.
Move along, nothing to see here.
In the UK today’s Daily Telegraph is still pushing the idea of AGW being the cause of the sea ice that trapped them. The Telegraph’s story is that melting of the ice cap put extra fresh water into the sea which froze more easily than sea water. It seems that no one sent Geoffrey Lean the new script.
TheGuardian media guy in his video says “this has been quite an intense morning.” Behind him at 0:16, one of his ‘scientific colleagues’ is throwing a snowball! Perhaps a study of how Antarctic snowball ballistics are affected by AGW?
Bob Greene says:
January 4, 2014 at 12:40 pm
Do you suppose there will ever be an honest accounting of the costs of this fiasco?
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Yes – when flying pigs loop the loop – with a barrel roll on top.
In the meantime – don’t hold your breath.
Auto
Happy New Year!!!
[The mods point out that the newly required loopy-pig barrel roll will leave the pigs upside down at the end of the loop. This site is not responsible for the ultimate flight safety of any such inverted pigs above the viewing crowd. Mod]
Why didn’t they just book on a National Geographic expedition cruise? Then they might have got to do really cool stuff like this; Link http://www.antarctic-circle.org/shortcut.htm
http://weaselzippers.us/wp-content/uploads/halp-us-al-gore.jpg
How Ironic, the BBC & Guardian try to hide that it is a Scientific Expedition and now he is telling the world that it is.
CT explains the ‘precious scientific data’ collected during the expedition to the still somewhat confused milkshake kid
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/CoolAntarctica.htm
“CHRIS TURNEY: Well, the fundamental issue is if you didn’t have carbon in the atmosphere, the planet would be about minus 50 degrees centigrade, give or take – that’s what you’d have”
Well, if thats the quality of a climate change “scientist” then they are on very thin ice.
Everybody knows a body in space around the Earth averages 0 Centigrade.
I see it all, in spite of all precautions, iceberg B09B snuck up on them and they were trapped.
Meanwhile, Seven Sunrise in Sydney has just interviewed Timmy Flim Flam. He assures his interviewers that skeptics really don’t understand the big picture, because you have to look at all levels of the atmosphere not just near the ground. He says the IPCC is where the scientists are, and they know all the heat is going into the ocean.
Nodding amonst themselves, they found that convicing.
Does Donna’s book come in hardback? There’s somebody i want to hit with it.
BBC and Guardian journalists? Must all he above board then surely? Fine unbiased reporters from these two fine institutions wouldn’t be involved in anything less than a professional scientific expedition would they? And pigs might fly……
1935, Roses and Daffodils blooming in Britain: http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/january-3-1935-roses-and-daffodils-blooming-in-britain/
Nothing more dynamic but the weather.
As for the AGW crowd telling us that the in infra red heat exchange by greenhouse gases, especially human emitted Co2 is causing a catastrophic and irreversible heating of the earth’s atmosphere I think we can agree with this:
Their static climate models are not able to predict a dynamic system and their assessments have corrupted.
Their science is completely BS and their political objectives are completely insane.
Read about the well documented climate extremes in the past and enjoy the most favorable weather conditions we experience today.
I say, find a real job and do something useful.
This planet doesn’t need to be saved and we don’t want your green ideology to destroy our economies, our civilization and our freedoms.
The same goes for our current political establishment and their propaganda machinery.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/01/obamas-second-term-is-all-about-climate-change.html
They have pushed this climate hoax and their centralized power grab too far and now the time has come for a serious reset.
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/experts-speak-out-about-global-warming/
Here IMO they have two choices.
They can do a reset themselves and role back their devastating plans and regulations or people will find a way to give them some expert help.
Anyhow, we’re fed up with all the corruption, the fraud, the waste of good taxpayer money, the economic decline, the loss of jobs and above all, the loss of civil rights and freedoms.
From a historic perspective the current situation is not new.
The Finns, totally unprepared, faced a Russian invasion at the start of WWII.
The following article provides the insights.
Violence in the face of tyranny is often necessary:
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/1911-violence-in-the-face-of-tyranny-is-often-necessary
I wonder if anyone has asked Turney what roles his wife and young child played in the “scientific” expedition, and who paid their fares?
Oops. Make that Weekend Sunrise, convincing, and I.
Alvin Stone says,”The 120km long ice berg B09B that is grounded in Commonwealth Bay broke away from the continent three years ago, very likely as a result of climate change. B09B collided with the Mertz Glacier, smashing a large ice tongue that released the ice into that area. It was a mix of this ice that was blown across the path of the Shokalskiy, which led to it being trapped and explains why much of the ice surrounding the ship is old ice.”
His understanding is just plain wrong.
B-98 is only about 100km, unless of course the ice berg has grown in size in the last 24 hours.
Then he says that the released ice from that impact on Mertz Glacier, with a mix of other ice is to blame for stranding the Shokalskiy.
Yet as I reported in a recent blog here at wp.me/pOWA1-bM, that is impossible.
No, I am afraid that CAGW had nothing to do with this fiasco. Nor is his understand even close to reality.
Just as it has been covered here, and elsewhere, Chris Turney won’t be able to talk or pixel his way out of the mess he’s got himself into.
Turkey, “This wasn’t a tourist trip. It was all about science – and it was worth it”
That’s good to hear. That must mean he’s going to cover all the expenses!
(Now where did I put that sarc tag….)
The arrogance of at least one rescued passenger is astounding – but not the least surprising.
After the massive effort rescue them, and after significantly affecting the work of their rescuers, which is based on a small window of favorable weather, and decimating their rescuers budgets, putting their entire season of work in peril, one of those “rescued” had this to say about the delay of the Aussie ship in standing by to help the Chinese icebreaker if needed:
“An Australian icebreaker carrying the 52 passengers is waiting in open water to see if it has to go back to help the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon. The trapped vessel says it will try to break free when the tide conditions change in the next few hours. The Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis is waiting around 7 miles north of the Snow Dragon as a precaution. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority says there’s no immediate danger to the Snow Dragon.
Although he acknowledges the reason and necessity for the delay I still find his comments disrespectful and arrogant considering the massive efforts, disruption and costs their folly has caused.
The crews from 2 ships have abandoned their own legitimate and important work – risking their entire season, and spent days, and huge sums of money, helping and then rescuing these passengers from their silly lark. And this yahoo has the audacity to complain of being “frustrated” by the delay in getting them home to their “family and loved ones.”
You can only shake your head at the arrogance and cluelessness.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/chinese-icebreaker-trapped-helping-antarctic-rescue/story?id=21409396
onetwotreeman,
Thanks for the reference to the corporation page. I note our own extremist warmist Tim Flannery gets a mention as a 0.54% shareholder. After the debacle of his Geothermal adventures you would think he’d shy away from climate investments. They haven’t done his bank account much good. The Turneys seem to have the lion’s share so keeping the warming scare alive would be very important to the family’s financial future. A collapse of public support and withdrawal of carbon initiatives would render their shares worthless so we have a warmist with a serious conflict of interest doing “science” to show how climate change (man made of course) is destroying the world as we know it. How can a man who is so dependant on a particular outcome be an unbiased researcher??
Turnkey should have learned Churchill’s dictum: It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt. Which he and his team continue to do.
The generally accepted temp absent water vapor feedback is about -18C, not – 50C. And he is supposed to be a climate professor?
Did anyone get this link showing the pre expedition publicity of the exposition?
No doubt it was an AGW inspired trip.
Talk about BS. Looks like he wanted the leopard seal to become the Antarctic Polar Bear symbol.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-25/15-million-australian-expedition-to-antarctica/5116158
Cheers
Roger
http://www.rogerfromnewzealand.wordpress.com
http://www.thedemiseofchristchurch.com
Turney’s wife and kids were along for… science? Speaking of the inter-human aspect, I’m reminded of the Great Blackout that stranded millions of urbanites when power was lost to the US north east. 9 months later the babies started popping up. This story is far from over.
Sorry “expedition”
So much for the auto spell check on my new computer.
Cheers
Roger
This “trip,” this “expedition,” was to be a corporate publicity campaign for CARBONSCAPE. The Carbonscape website asks for investors! Do we all understand that? They ask, beg, suggest, “potential” investors to contact them. The chutzpah! They did this trip to raise money for Chris Turney’s corporation. UNCONSCIONABLE… unconscionable!