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:
============================================================
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
==============================================================
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
================================================================
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/
=================================================================
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/
================================================================
This speaks for itself, now the USA is involved:
================================================================
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
=================================================================
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/
==============================================================
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
Is the syllable break before or after the t? Perhaps it depends if there was any screaming from the AGW crowd.
From what I see at BBC, CNN etc this is not even a story. We are given the impression here that this is big… its not even on the MSM radar as usual.. Unfortunately AGW as usual again wins.
Alan Robertson says:
January 4, 2014 at 3:45 pm
“I’ve very little idea of the politics of any European nation, but I’m standing up with anyone in the world who stands against the statist totalitarians. ”
I just recently learned about a nice law we have called “Verunglimpfung des Staates”; “denigration of the state”; so if some hypothetical person would tell you that the current incarnation of Germany was created by the Allied Forces as a colony of the American Empire… well… you know, they wouldn’t find that terribly funny. That’s in addition to our well known holocaust denial laws. BTW, the European court just decided that the Armenian holocaust may be denied by anyone; that’s A-OK in the EU; not the other one; not that I wanted to…but the more I look into all this the rottener it gets.
Oh really! 🙂
Eliza says:
January 4, 2014 at 4:46 pm
“From what I see at BBC, CNN etc this is not even a story. We are given the impression here that this is big… its not even on the MSM radar as usual.. Unfortunately AGW as usual again wins.”
Not so fast. Amazingly my brother here in Germany who doesn’t care much about Global Warming etc and gets his news from our state media asked me whether I noticed this story, so I gave him the details. Obviously even our warmist state media have reported it. Ship stuck in Antarctis with 50 hapless tourists on board is too big to ignore. Turney is a genius, and he works for us. NOBODY would have noticed that amount of sea ice in SH summer without his help. He’s the Wile E. Coyote of Global Warming.
How can Turney be a scientist (“If you put more carbon in the atmosphere,…”) when he can’t even tell the difference between Carbon and Carbon Dioxide. I suppose he pours hydrogen out of the tap when he is thirsty. Typical climate AGW warmist trying to deceive the public through the Greenie loving ABC.
Ric Werne – thanks for pointing put that black body radiation temeperature of the Earth is about 258 k and that with an atmoshpere suface temperature is 288k. Thus Turney saying it is 50 degrees k difference suggests a lack of basic knowledge.
I trust that the ships and crews are rescued and best luck for the US Coastguard. If they can’t break through then as for melting/ blasting the ice to rescue the ships I presume that two 20kT ground burst atomic bombs are out of the question?
davidmhoffer says:
January 4, 2014 at 3:15 pm
Ric Werme says:
January 4, 2014 at 2:38 pm
Well, no. He has released NO hard data, soft-data, or even luke-warm melted data. But, it is early yet, let us not be too strongly critical. yet.
BUT! It is even worse than you think:
What “Professor” Turney (and his apologists here on the pages of Watts Up With That) religiously believes is that “Warmer air due to CAGW HAS warmed the air above the Antarctic continent above its previous normals,
which HAS warmed its rocks, and ice, and glaciers and ice cap above their previous normals of -25 to -35 degrees,
which excess warmth HAS melted parts of its ice and glaciers and ice cap above their previous normals of -25 to -35 degrees to 0-2 degrees,
which excess fresh water HAS run off into the trillions of tons of salty South Sea water around Antarctica,
which excess fresh water at 0-2 degrees HAS diluted that entire trillions of tons of salty south sea water mass (so it will now freeze faster) AND HAS cooled off enough of those trillions of tons of now-not-so-salty South Sea salt water to cause/allow EXTRA sea water to freeze into surface sea ice at below 0-2 degrees salt water,
which HAS caused an excess 1.6 million sq kilometers of “excess” sea ice to be formed – and stay formed permanently (well, for at least 2-1/2 years now) …”
That IS their most-recent, most-often quoted theory, right? Does any CAGW-“scientist” want to deny it now, before it gets even worse?
Now, that 1.6 million sq kilometers of “x\excess” sea ice is all between 1 and 2 meters thick. The entire continental area of 14.0 Mkm^2 of ice cap does not have to melt to deliver “some” fresh water into the ocean around Antarctica, but “a lot” does.
can these CAGW-apologists do the arithmetic required?
1. How much Antarctic land ice (now at -25 to -35 degrees) needs to “melt” due to “hotter air above the ice” to dilute enough ocean water at 2-4 degrees C to cause that diluted ocean water to be able to freeze to create an “excess” volume of sea ice of 3,200,000 x 10^6 cubic meters of sea ice (1.6 Mkm^2 of sea x 2 meters thick)?
2. Assume that Antarctic conditions near the coast are similar to McMurdo: Its HOTTEST temperatures are in December (-3.4 degrees C AVERAGE daily temperature) and January (-2.9 degrees C AVERAGE daily temperature) each year. Maximum daily temperatures at McMurdo are -0.8 (December) and -0.2 (January) (Mean measurements).
Every other month of the year, and in almost every other location on the continent land mass, average temperatures – and maximum high temperatures – are ALL LOWER than those measured air temperatures at McMurdo. But let’s use them anyway. Further, let’s assume that December 2013’s measured Antarctic air anomaly of +2.5 degrees C also happened every month of the past three years. (They didn’t, but so what?)
If December 2013’s satellite measurements show a regional increase in temperature of +1.5 C to +2.5 degrees C above Antarctica, then actual December 2013 maximum air temperatures “might” actually be above 0.0 C, but only – at a few hours per day, and only in December and January. Every other day of the year, actual measured air temperatures around the coast of Antarctica WILL BE BELOW ZERO, have been below zero, will continue to be below zero.
(For the scientifically challenged CAGW-favoring readers amongst us, we will remind all that fresh water ice at atmospheric pressure and temperatures, must FIRST be heated up to 0.0 degrees C by the air above it (and the “normal” unchanging-from-normal-amount of solar radiation BEFORE it can BEGIN melting into fresh water. And that fresh water glacier ice and ice cap water must STAY above 0.0 degrees C in order to run off beneath the ice cap and glacier ice masses (at -25 to -35 degrees C) into the sea water around Antarctica. The salty ocean around Antarctica remains approximately 2-4 degrees above zero at all times, so it must be cooled to below -2.0 degrees C to freeze at all. receiving fresh water at 0-4 degrees C will only serve to heat up the salty ocean water further, which is why we need to calculate how much the salty ocean water must be diluted by the warmer fresh water before it can be cooled (by the CAGW-heated-hotter-than-normal air above it?) to freeze an additional mass of salty ocean water into excess sea ice to trap the CAGW-religion ship. Right? )
3. How did the continental land ice and glaciers and ice cap get enough heat in December and January of any year – much less December 2013 – to “melt excessively” to cause that “calculated” billions of tons of land ice to flow into the surrounding sea water to cause it to become diluted enough to freeze into 3,200,000 x 10^6 cubic meters of “excess” sea ice around Antarctica?
“The team will take part in live online chats with schools across Australia during the expedition, …”.
Excuse me, but all schools are closed for the summer break in Australia. So what schools is he talking about? Then again, he is a climate scientist who doesn’t let facts get in the way of his message.
To add to the mounting financial losses is the almost certain cancellation of the A Shokalskiy’s next voyage. It’s for 48 tourists paying US $18,700 to $33,660 each (excluding air fares and other expenses) to be taken on a sightseeing trip to the Ross Sea and Subantarctic Islands. The ship is due to leave New Zealand on the 18 January 2014 returning to NZ 29 days later.
http://www.cheesemans.com/antarctica_rs_jan14.html#ship
VIDEO: APPROX 38 MINS: Professor Chris Turney’s Brainfood lecture, June 2013:
LISTEN FROM 24 MINS: DOODLE4GOOGLE COMP. SUPPORTED BY COMMONWEALTH BANK. JUST LAUNCHED TODAY.
AVAILABLE 10,000 SCHOOLS NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA. THE TEACHERS FROM WINNING SCHOOLS IN NZ AND AUSTRALIA JOIN THE EXPEDITION. BERTHS FOR SALE. FLYERS OUTSIDE. IT ISN’T REALLYMEANT TO BE A CRUISE SHIP PER SE (PAUSE) IT IS A CRUISE SHIP…. WE’LL BE USING GOOGLE+. GO ON YOUTUBE OR GOOGLE+, U’LL BE ABLE TO WATCH US BLAH BLAH. DAILY MOVIES FOR TEACHERS. THEN THERE’S SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY, EXPENSIVE, NOT PROHIBITIVE, I DIDN’T LIKE THE BILL WHEN I GOT IT. (SHOWS SATELLITE VIDEO EXCHANGE WITH TEACHER IN SYDNEY – TURNEY LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING HOME & HAVING A DECENT COFFEE). WE ARE PLANTING A HECTARE OF KAURI TREES IN NZ, DEDICATED TO AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION, WHICH WILL HAVE THE ADDED BENEFIT OF FIXING THE CARBON USED TO RUN THE EXPEDITION OVER THE NEXT 50 YEARS…IT WILL BE ALL FIXED.
ABC Big Ideas: Chris Turney: In the Footsteps of Mawson
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2013/08/05/3817179.htm
For crying out loud, people, can you not focus on the most staggering, jaw dropping revelation that has been presented in the thread
Davidmhoffer, Manfred and one or 2 others have referred to it. I think, though, it was Pat, i.e.
who first commented on an ABC interview with ‘Professor’ Chris Turney. At the end of the interview Mark Colvin (the interviewer) concludes with
Has everyone got that. The interview is with Chris Turney who is Professor of Climate Change at UNSW. Earlier in the interview, however, the Professor of Climate Change made this statement.
This is someone who hasn’t got a clue. As, Manfred points out, this is a person who doesn’t understand the basic science.
Sorry about the formatting in the previous post.
[ Fixed. ModE]
Political Junkie,
“LWhy aren’t you still on the ship? Exactly why did you need to be “rescued?”
If the answer is: “We were in imminent mortal danger,” then why is the full crew still on the ship?
Apparently there was no shortage of food and the ship could have been supplied by air drops if and when it became necessary. If there was no imminent danger then the whole expensive, disruptive and dangerous “rescue” operation was solely for the convenience of Turney and the other “eco-tourists” whose Antarctic escapade had run low on booze and who were simply becoming bored.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You have completely missed the point. They were rescuing the crew from Turney and friends. 🙂
A question for you: Even in the absence of any immediate danger, would you want to be stranded with Tourney somewhere?
Was I the only one to notice how Chris Turney and some in the expedition were trying to show how hot it was by their clothes? Notice these photos. There must be hot down there indeed (sarc). Chris Turney must have run to a very nice and hot coat in the end of this small interview, after the “it’s hot down here!” propaganda stunt was done…
Do these guys realize that these kind of tricks do not work anymore? Notice the clothes of everyone being rescued… What was the air temperature exactly?
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos/ship-trapped-in-antarctica-ice-slideshow/still-image-taken-video-shows-expedition-leader-chris-photo-080239971.html
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos/ship-trapped-in-antarctica-ice-slideshow/handout-shows-woman-standing-deck-australia-39-antarctic-photo-070940155.html
[NSFW] Clitanic? My initial thought is it had to do with being frigid.
This has been the best [Christmas] since 0 AD
But I fear Pierre Gosselin (Notrickszone) will be proved right
“Expect bogus commissions to clear Turney
I suspect in the end that a commission, even two or three of them, are going to be set up to investigate the whole thing. Then after some months each will issue an authoritive report claiming that although Turney could have done things better, all in all no serious violations were committed and he’ll be cleared. Of course everyone will know that the commissions were bogus. And later, with no one watching, future expeditions will be carried out under far stricter oversight.
In the end the taxpayer will pick up the rescue tab and legal expenses. ”
These people all have too much at stake and ultimately any investigation will have to cover for them. Its all their funding that is on the line.
Passenger from Sea Spirit Cruise Ship Killed During Artic Excursion
http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2013/06/articles/excursions/passenger-from-sea-spirit-cruise-ship-killed-during-artic-excursion/
A newspaper in Norway reports that a cruise ship passenger was killed and three other passengers were injured while on an Artic cruise excursion. The incident occurred when a rubber inflatable boat (a Zodiac) was swamped by a wave in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, causing all 13 people to go into icy Arctic waters.
The accident involved passengers from the Sea Spirit who were being taken on a sightseeing excursion. The deceased passenger was a U.S. woman in her 60’s. She was examined by the cruise ship doctor. A rescue helicopter was sent but the woman was pronounced dead, Two other passengers were flown in the helicopter to a hospital at Longyearbyen for treatment.
The Sea Spirit cruise ship is operated by Quark Expeditions.
Are we all being a little unkind to Professor Turkey?
He deserves an award for demonstrating the need for skepticism in science.
Thank you to Clay Morley , Steve Power and others who have highlighted the actual history of the iceberg BO9B ( or is it B9B).Iit clearly shows the Turkey is scrambling with explanations. If he did not know these details accurately before his trip, he can hardly call himself a Prof of anything.Then he adds the bit highlighted by John Finn above. If other scientists do not scream “foul” over these statements then something is very,very wrong in the scientific community.
Also a note to Turkey —it was not the sceptics who started the “tourist ship” comments , it was your mates in the MSM.
M Courtney says:
January 4, 2014 at 3:30 pm
“The Guardian has changed. At least the Guardian Environment section has changed.”
If you say so. For as long as I looked at Komment Macht Frei (since 2009 when my interest in CO2AGW started) I’m used to seeing the “removed” notices. I never ventured to comment there as it always seemed pointless in all mainstream leftist media. I once asked a question at Real Climate but it got lead down the stairs and shot in the neck in the execution chamber.
mfo says January 4, 2014 at 5:07 pm;
Thanks for the informative link!
It will be close, if the ice doesn’t blow apart on its own and they have to wait for the Polar Star.
But the Akademik Shokalshiy is now the hottest cruise-property in the Antarctic, bar none, and those signed up for the next trip are waiting with baited breath, hoping against hope that they get to go on it. They will accept a little delay, if need be.
The AS has their new Xue Long buddies about a half hour away, by groomed Argo-trail. The XL, and Beijing, now have a vested interest in the ongoing success of their partners in Antarctic drama, on the AS. They are going to be very active, doing everything in their power to have that ship ready for the return voyage, and its next cruise. They do have considerable powers.
And, they will be bending over backwards to buoy the officers & crew, so they are on their toes and ready to render the kind of seamless professionalism they have shown to the Mawson group, for the next group.
I anticipate that neither Hell nor High Water – or passing delays in Commonwealth Bay – will be adequate to interfere with Akademik Shokalshiy’ upcoming cruise-schedule. The excellent Chinese Captain Wang Jianzhong has already made this goal his personal Job #1.
Turney’s new Chinese nickname, “Sum dum Gai”, seems a natural fit. A Hollywood studio is casting for an upcoming TV series and are looking for someone to play “The Professor”. Nominations? Thurston Howell’s part is to be played by Al Gore, a howler if ever one existed. The writers are concerned that unlike Gilligan’s Island, they don’t think they can make this plot sound believable.
Ship accidents in Antarctica raise ecological and safety concerns
http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Ship-accidents-in-Antarctica-raise-ecological-and-safety-concerns/
Growing concerns
In February, a Quark Expeditions ship, the Ocean Nova, was pushed aground in Antarctica by unusually high winds. All 64 passengers and 41 crew were safely evacuated to another Quark vessel, the Clipper Adventurer. The Ocean Nova was eventually freed from the rocks, and Quark reported that the incident had done no environmental damage.
Rud Istvan says:
January 4, 2014 at 2:07 pm
“The generally accepted temp absent water vapor feedback is about -18C, not – 50C. And he is supposed to be a climate professor?”
His official title is “Professor of Climate Change”, which is a very different thing. It says something about the state of academia that Climate Change is a subject in itself these days, and one that is closer to the humanities than the sciences. The way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Faculties of Climate Change or even Schools of Climate Change before too long.