Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Breitbart / James Delingpole – US scientists appealed to Argentina for help when the US icebreaker Laurence M Gould failed to break through the ice.
American scientists rescued from icebound Antarctic island
BEN GITTLESON
March 12, 2018
A group of American scientists was rescued from an island off Antarctica’s coast after ice prevented a U.S. Antarctic Program research vessel from reaching them.
The four U.S. scientists and a support staff member conducting research on Antarctica’s Joinville Island were airlifted by helicopter Sunday from an icebreaker ship dispatched by Argentina, said the National Science Foundation, which funds and manages the Antarctic program.
…
Argentina sent the icebreaker ship after receiving a request for assistance on Friday, the country’s foreign ministry said Saturday. The Argentine ship has helicopters able to reach the group’s camp “regardless of the ice conditions,” the National Science Foundation, a U.S. government agency, said.
…
No doubt in a few decades helicopter rescues of scientists stuck in the global warming will be a thing of the past.
Having said that, perhaps the USA should consider upgrading its ice breaker fleet, just in case the ice melt takes a little longer than anticipated.
Another “ship of fools”
What is it with these climate “scientists”?
Are they incapable of learning from past mistakes?
Not exactly a ship of fools. This was a group of geologists who had been set down on an island to do some research with the expectation that they would be picked up some time later when their research was done.
Came time for the pick-up, and the ship couldn’t get to the island.
They need wind-powered ice breakers and solar-powered helicopters to save out “fragile” planet.
Interesting backdrop to this is that summer ice melt minimum ice extent happened very early, back in February, when normal minimum is in March. Extent was very low at that point, but since then ice growth has accelerated at a very abnormal rate. Could be these guys just got complacent and got caught. Check out the NSIDC website for details on the recent Antarctic ice growth. On the same site you can see that counter to some opinions, Arctic ice extent has not maxed yet. Recent growth and extreme cold conditions ( -27C in 80 degree north region) has got the experts guessing.
Today’s Antarctic sea ice extents ARE expanding rapidly as the yearly refreeze continues.
The Antarctic sea ice extents are well within the 2 standard deviations band of the long-term average sea ice extents for this date (12 March is displayed). So, at most, one can claim “Antarctic sea extents are low!” – which is true.
But more accurately, you must also add, “… but they are within the normal range for this date.“
And it seems that Europe is due for another “beast from the East” the coming weekend.
„A group of American scientists was rescued from an island off Antarctica’s coast after ice prevented a U.S. Antarctic Program research vessel from reaching them.”
They were not the only scientists having ice trouble at the Antartic these days. See for example:
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) announced today (March 2) that the captain of the research vessel RRS James Clark Ross had made the “difficult decision” to turn back from the Larsen C region after encountering pack sea ice up to 16 feet (5 meters) thick.
https://www.livescience.com/61913-expedition-to-hidden-antarctic-ecosystem-thwarted.html
Another ship of fools? Definitely not. It was a wise decision on part of the captain to turn back.
There is no ice, look at the computer models.
It’s high time these people chose a ‘real’ icebreaker such as the Mighty Mac which crushed ice on the Great Lakes for over 40 years.
Unlike this wimpy 200+ foot ship and its pathetic 4,575 hp the Mighty Mac, at about the same length, boasted 10,000 hp along with a removable bow propeller to either set a forward wave to lift and crack ice ahead or increase water flow around the hull to assist in forward motion.
Enjoy the Drake Passage before we dam it next century.
I find it charming that whenever the folks are rescued, not a single one of these brilliant scientists has the presence of mind to reflect on what technology they depended on for their rescue.
You guessed it: fossil fuels.
Go figure.
Well of course this will all be settled by about 2030 when they ban fossil fuelled vessels. Nothing wrong with sail – as long as the winds favour you.
My big thing is I cannot wait for the Tesla Plane to go from JFK to Heathrow or wherever to take all the alarmists to their Annual Conference.
Canada is not building any icebreakers because
our mastersoopsour mistresses(sorry) those people in Ottawa haven’t figured out how to make them gender-neutral.Send Boaty McBoatface to the rescue!