Well that’s the end of that story…until investigations begin.
Press release: 12:30pm AEDT, Wednesday 8 January 2014
Antarctic rescue operations complete
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority can confirm that the Akademik Shokalskiy and the Xue Long have broken free from the ice in Antarctica and are no longer in need of assistance.
The United States Coast Guard ice breaker Polar Star has been released from search and rescue tasking by AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) and will now continue on its original mission to McMurdo Sound.
At about 730pm AEDT on Tuesday RCC Australia received a message from the Captain of the Akademik Shokalskiy stating that about three hours earlier cracks had started to open in the ice around the trapped vessel.
A short time later the Akademik Shokalskiy began to make slow movements in an attempt to break free from surrounding ice. The Captain reported that at approximately 8pm AEDT they had managed to successfully clear the area containing the heaviest ice and had begun making slow progress north through lighter ice conditions. At approximately 830am AEDT the Akademik Shokalskiy informed RCC Australia that it had cleared the ice field and was no longer in need of assistance. The Captain of the Akademik Shokalskiy passed on his thanks to all those who assisted the vessel and informed the RCC that they will now proceed to Bluff in New Zealand.
Shortly after midnight RCC Australia was advised by the Captain of the Xue Long that, at about 9pm AEDT, it too had managed to break free of the heavy ice and is now making slow progress through lighter ice conditions. The Xue Long advised RCC Australia this morning that it is not in need of assistance and will continue its research mission in Antarctica.
AMSA again offers our thanks to all of the participants in the effort to assure a safe resolution to the situations that emerged following a distress incident experienced by MV Akademik Shokalskiy in Commonwealth Bay on Christmas Day.
In total five ships were involved in the multi-lateral cooperative effort – Akademik Shokalskiy (Russia), L’Astrolabe (France), Xue Long (China), Aurora Australis (Australia) and USCGC Polar Star (United States of America). The national Antarctic programs and other agencies of France, China, Australia, Germany and the United States of America have been engaged in actual operational responses, contingency planning or the provision of specialist data.
“This was a great example of the multi-lateral cooperative nature of Antarctic operations” said AMSA Acting CEO Mick Kinley.
Media Enquiries: 1300 624 633
Source: http://www.amsa.gov.au/media
==============================================================
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the funny thing is CSIRO has not had a word to say about the AAE Expedition, but they made the MSM with this:
28 Dec: Hobart Mercury: CSIRO tells Tasmania to brace for fire and drought conditions
AS global warming progresses, Tasmanians must brace for more drought and extreme bushfire conditions…
Lead Author Wenju Cai said a positive IOD had been associated with major wildfires in southeast Australia, coral reef deaths around Indonesia, and increased malaria outbreaks in East Africa…
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/csiro-tells-tasmania-to-brace-for-fire-and-drought-conditions/story-fnj4f7k1-1226790905851
yet note this is CSIRO big-wig, Penny Whetton, partner of Janet Rice, the Greens Party Senator-elect for Victoria, who was on the Shokalskiy:
Wikipedia: Penny Whetton
Penelope Whetton (born 5 January 1958) is a climatologist and an expert in regional climate change projections due to global warming and in the impacts of those changes…
In 1989, she joined the Atmospheric Research division of CSIRO (later becoming CMAR CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research). Whetton became a research leader in 1999 and a research program leader in 2009.[3] She was a Lead Author of the IPCC’s Third Assessment Report, and of the Fourth Assessment Report which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (jointly with Al Gore).[4] She is currently a Lead Author of the yet to be released Fifth Assessment Report…
Whetton lives in Footscray, Victoria with her spouse Janet Rice, a Greens politician and former Mayor of Maribyrnong, and their two sons. In 2003, Whetton underwent a sex change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Whetton
The BBC leaps to the defense of the good prof Martin
Quote
One of the AAE’s co-leaders, Greg Mortimer, told the BBC World Service’s Discovery programme what he suspects happened.
“[We had] an enormous area of very old ice (frozen sea ice of 10-15 years of age), which was to the east of where we were, and to the east of the famous Mertz Glacier.
“All of a sudden, the mass of ice was just spat out to the west, like a cough-ball if you like.
“It was a massive area of ice hundreds of square kilometres in size, and we just happened to be there at the time.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25647689
Unquote
Now that explains why it was not predictable, lol
“I understand that the break out of thick sea ice that trapped the Akademik Shokalskiy was the result of a massive reconfiguration of sea ice in the area and could not have been predicted. But the incident does not prove that warnings about the impact of global warming are exaggerated, nor does it justify labelling the expedition an “embarrassing failure” ”
Sea ice amount and “reconfiguration” is mostly due to local climate and circulation in ocean and atmosphere. If they can’t predict that in the next 24-48 hours they simply should not be there in the first place.
8 Jan: BlueMountainsGazette, Australia: B.C. Lewis: Lawson man’s Antarctic escape
It wasn’t quite the trip to the Antarctic that Dr Ben Maddison of Lawson was expecting.
The academic and adventure guide was one of 52 expedition members on board the Russian chartered ship the Akademik Shokalskiy when it became trapped on the ice on Christmas Eve, near Mertz Glacier in Commonwealth Bay, attracting international media headlines…
Dr Maddison, a polar history specialist, spent his days waiting for rescue helping run a program of art classes and Russian lessons, even finding the time to stage the 2014 Antarctic Writing Festival on the ice.
He said the trip’s website had registered over half a million hits and “last I heard there have been more than 13,000 press items since we got beset on the ice… it is history making”. The expedition even unwittingly becoming part of the debate about climate change.
Dr Maddison’s voyage was part of a five-week landmark trip celebrating the centenary of the first Australasian Antarctic expedition led by Mawson… He was on board to deliver history lectures and said he would use the experience to deliver lectures about escaping the ice and look at “how ships beset in Antarctic ice escaped – or not”…
Dr Maddison was trying to bring the unsung working class heroes of the polar regions to the world’s attention and did an early launch of his book Class and Colonialism in Antarctic Exploration 1750-1920 about the issue…
http://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/2009312/lawson-mans-antarctic-escape/?cs=12
given the Australian Antarctic Division celebrated the Mawson Centenary in 2012, this entire Turney/AAE fiasco is even more bizarre:
Austn Govt: Australian Antarctic Division: AA Magazine: Issue 22: Mawson Centenary Special, 2012
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-antarctic-magazine/2011-2015/issue-22-2012
According to the ABC it was melting ice (The ice that was supposed to be not there due to AGW of course) that freed the ships. On Channel 10 news tonight, the cause of the ships becoming free is now correctly attributed to a change in weather and wind direction.
should have made it clear Dr. Maddison is still with the Aurora Australis:
– The Aurora Australis will head towards the Casey base to complete a resupply before heading to Australia. Dr Maddison said he was enjoying being a “five-star refugee”. They are not expected to arrive back in Australia until January 18 at the earliest.
“But the incident does not prove that warnings about the impact of global warming are exaggerated, nor does it justify labelling the expedition an “embarrassing failure”
But it raises some serious questions when Antarctic is not warming up and now has record seaice?
An “media” expedition to prove global warming in Antarctic that gets stuck in pack ice, and ends up being recued by heli, is an definitely “embarrassing failure”
“All of a sudden, the mass of ice was just spat out to the west, like a cough-ball if you like.” (Mortimer — laughs courtesy of Grey Lensman)
Sure, dude. Whatever you say. Like this, huh?
You can say that again, Santa Baby (LOVE that name!… and the Eartha Kitt version of the song: “I wanna yacht and that’s not a lot, …” #(:))
“A “media” expedition to prove global warming in Antarctica that gets stuck in pack ice and ends up being rescued by heli, is definitely an “embarrassing failure.’
In one line — nice!
If the outcome of this pseudo-scientific Antarctic escapade is a full opening of informed debate about the science of global warming or catastrophic anthropogenic climate change, that is a good thing.
UNSW could be well served to be the academic institution to stand up and sponsor open debate. Its reputation could be re-gathered by doing so.
this AAE expedition was obviously just a media opportunity – certainly the media was included in the select group who went to Cape Denison where they cleaned up the huts/did a zillion scientific experiments in 12 hrs etc. however, it’s becoming clearer by the minute that mawson’s centenary was officially celebrated a year ago:
20 Dec 2011: Douglas Mawson centenary trip to Antarctica frozen as cold reality sets in
ONE hundred years after Douglas Mawson’s first Australian-led Antarctic expedition was almost defeated by thick pack ice, the same problem has stumped those seeking to follow in his wake. Unusually dense ice floes off the coast of East Antarctica, and particularly Mawson’s landing spot of January 1912, Commonwealth Bay, have in recent days repelled private expeditions seeking to commemorate the centenary of the historic event…
http://article.wn.com/view/2011/12/20/Douglas_Mawson_centenary_trip_to_Antarctica_frozen_as_cold_r/#/related_news
14 Jan 2012: ABC: The ‘A’ factor
Posted by Karen Barlow, ABC:
Heavy fog has rolled in during air transport for the Mawson centenary commemorations and we are now grounded on the Aurora Australis.
Half the landing party is over at Mawson’s Huts while the rest of us remain on fast ice 20 kilometres away.
I was actually on an aborted flight. I almost made it.
Amid much excitement, ABC Producer Ben Hawke, AAP journalist Lloyd Jones, the CSIRO’s Steve Rintoul and myself boarded the squirrel just after 2pm…
The Mawson centenary commemorations can’t happen without us. The Antarctic Division’s Tony Fleming and historian Tom Griffiths are supposed to be officiating the event.
This journey to follow in Mawson’s footsteps is not over yet.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/news/2012/01/the-a-factor.html
The volume and area of global sea-ice is close to or at an all-time record, since reliable satellite observations became possible and the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has substantially increased over this same period?
Correlation between two variables does not necessarily mean that a cause and effect relationship exists between them; however, this does remain a possibility.
Perhaps, at any enquiry into the unfortunate and unforeseen entrapment of the Akademik Shokalskiy and the Xue Long, in Antarctic sea-ice, Professor Turley or Professor Martin could explain whether there is any correlation between the increasing atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and the increasing area of sea-ice.
The apparent possibility that carbon dioxide promotes cooling of the Antarctic by some unsuspected mechanism should be properly investigated, by physicists, to ascertain its nature, thereby permitting incorporation of its mathematical simulation into the various seriously flawed computer models of the development of the world’s climate, under increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
What level of carbon dioxide would be required to promote growth of the Antarctic sea-ice, sufficient to encroach upon New Zealand?
At current rates of increase in concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, how many years would it take for this to become an imminent threat?
On an unrelated note, why have recovering substance-abusers, undergoing treatment for drug addiction suddenly started talking about going “cold Turley”?
Its quite funny how this is being reported by the Australian government broadcaster – they are reporting that a Russian ship was helped by the Australis, and that an effort would be made to recoup the cost of rescuing the Russian ship.
If I was a Russian I’d be pretty pissed off at this attempt to shift the blame to the Russian captain.
Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/
It’s NOT seaice…that doesn’t exist anymore due to Catastrophic Anthroplogical Global Warming.
This Was an Iceberg…one of the B00Bs …Chris turley said so.
No B09B.
( am not making this up)…
So unlike the Titanic that hit an iceberg in the dark, these latter day Captain Smiths hit an iceberg in the 20 hours a day of full sunshine with modern navigational equipment and sattelite communications.
admittedly they did refuse the poor Russian Captain’s orders to leave on time.
As such the expedition has been renamed Spirit of Dawson’s Creek instead of Spirit of Mawson.
captain said “Leave!!!” And they said “Whatever!”
And Mawson did crawl out from his grave and complain.
Time the UNSW had a full enquiry into what this bunch of warmies posing as scientists complete with propaganda arm was doing spending taxpayer $ on pseudo science?
Bloody bunch of ice Deniers!
@Janice Moore:
…And that, the Watt Bay part, proves to me (yes, I realize others here do not even believe God exists, much less had anything to do with it) that it was, indeed, the finger of God. Also, I had (and I think other believers, too) been praying exactly that prayer..
Please thank your God from all of us for getting the ship trapped in the first place…
Mike Kelly says:
January 8, 2014 at 12:36 am
“Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:”
Not according to these pages. Nearly there now.
“We are now only hours away from Casey and the commencement of Casey station resupply part 2.”
https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/display_sitrep.cfm?bvs_id=19322
https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/VoyageTrackSingle.cfm?bvs_id=19322
I just prepared my GIPA (freedom of information) request to UNSW. We will see just how ” well prepared ” they were.
This whole incident can be viewed as an outstanding example of media bias, manipulation, censorship, deception and downright lying to the public. Anyone wishing to inform themselves about the new Stalin-ism when it comes to reporting inconvenient facts such as this fiasco, only has three elements to consider; the BBC, the Guardian and reality. Draw a timeline from December 2013 to January 2014. Plot every significant development that was proven to have happened to, around, and on this ship. Now look at how the BBC and the Guardian actually reported, lied about, or just plain ignored every embarrassing event. It’s a real eye opener. “Comment is Free”? More like “Censorship is Frantic.”
Re: “Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:”
Maybe all is OK, they spent about 7 hours in that little bay near Casey and now seem to be circling around: “Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:”
http://kirrawee.net/images/20140108_1023.JPG
Hopefully the rescue cost comes out of their budget. They also owe the nations who have had their research stuffed big time-should also come out of their budget. Oh dear, they will just have to close the propaganda unit down.
The Akademik Shokalskiy is a Russian ship under a Russian master. The ship was chartered for an expedition in the Antarctic summer, as permitted by her ice class. Weather and ice conditions were worse than had been expected/hoped for, and the ship was stuck. This is not unusual.
In the coming months and years the cost of assistance and rescue will be settled in and out of court. A similar case, the Magdalena Oldendorff, was stuck (through the winter) in pack ice in 2002 and the cost of rescue operations is still not settled.
Perhaps the shipowner in this case will try to recoup some of the cost from the charterer, on the grounds that scientific activities crucially delayed the return to open waters. This might not hold up, as the ship is said to have had hull damage 1,8 m above the waterline. If correct this is probably the reason the captain allowed the ship to get stuck. Better to stay and repair in the relative calm of the pack ice than going out onto stormy seas with a leak in the hull.
Whether the passengers on board were climate scientists or little old ladies is irrelevant. Where the passengers wanted to go and at what time is irrelevant. The captain makes the desisions and bears the responsibility, and the shipowner and insurance companies bear (most of) the cost.
“AP says:
January 8, 2014 at 2:11 am”
Please post their response, but don’t hold your breath!
p.g.sharrow says:
January 7, 2014 at 7:46 pm
GOD does have a sense of humor….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
She sure does because the crack near Watts Bay is another piece of evidence about where they are.
Almost every day now we see and hear claims of media bias, deliberate media distortion of facts or the deliberate failure [ sins by ommission ] to report the true facts.
And those claims of deliberate media bias and accusations of deliberate dis-information and deliberate spinning of news and the censoring of those who do not toe that media outlets agenda are now coming from every quarter of society.
And we are once again seeing the media distortion in the wide spread disinformation and straight out lies in the reporting on the Turney Turkeys Ship of Fools debacle a lot of it without doubt quite deliberate as the information is there for all to see as the internet so prominently and openly publishes
But in reality has anything much changed with the media ?
I suspect not.
I suspect that blatant bias, deliberate distortion of the information and facts, straight out lies at times, the deliberate and whole sale spinning of news items and everything else that the media is being accused of today has always been a part of media’s arsenal of misinformation, disinformation and agenda promotion.
One thing certain is that the various media outlets and occasionally the bulk of the media together have always had some sort of on going agenda aimed at something or somebody or aiming to achieve it’s owner’s or editor’s personal agenda’s or political aims.
What has happened is that within only the last decade, in a period of arguably no more than about a dozen years, the whole media world has been upended by the total pervasiveness of the internet and World Wide Web and the flowering of the new types of almost instantaneous world wide communications that allow the immediate checking of any media claims as to whether they are accurate, spurious, distorted or straight out lies or otherwise in the news and articles. And now the widespread use of opinion pieces which themselves are nothing more than some gross spinning of some agenda driven cause by those same opinion writers.
Consequently and due mostly to the Main Stream Media’s long held and quite arrogant assumptions that it is unchallengable by anybody that it regards as inferior, and thats most of us, to it’s own selfie percieved and lofty elevation in the affairs of men, assumptions that held until the advent and wide spread penetration of the internet and WWW into our lives a dozen or so years ago, the media is now being not only just challenged but is being roundly castigated and is being held in increasing contempt by an increasing portion of the populace as it has been found to be not only giving highly inaccurate distorted and grossly spun reports on news and events but is being increasingly seen and increasingly believed by ever larger parts of the populace to be deliberately distorting news and the reporting of events to fit with the various media outlet’s own agenda’s and aims and the reporters and editors own personal beliefs and ideologies.
When that happens as it has for large sections of the global media as the internet in it’s all encompassing embrace of global communications is now being used to uncover the more nefarious actions off the global media, then it becomes a very slippery downhill slope to eventual oblivion for those sections of the media who refuse or fail to recognise their world has changed dramatically in the last dozen years .
And changed in ways that if they are to survive at all they will have to completely rethink their ethics and morals and their agenda driven actions and reporting attitudes to news and events of every type and calibre.
The alternative is for most of today’s agenda driven and quite dishonest and ethically lacking as well as deliberate or totally incompetent or complete lack of fact checking accuracy in reporting by the majority of media outlets, is for them to be just wiped right out by more nimble and more honest and more ethically and accuracy orientated news reporting up and comers in the years ahead. .
Thanks to the internet, like Salome’s seven veils, the old established MSM news media has had it’s long held allure and mystique stripped from it by the Internet and it is becoming clear that instead of a very attractive media maiden that can be trusted implicitly under those veils there has been a very ugly, twisted, corrupt and lying old media hag hidden under those veils for the many decades past.