Filed under: Environment, Global Warming, Junk Science, Science/Technology | Tags: Akademic Shokalskiy, Looking for Climate Change, Stranded in the Ice
The Climate Change activists stranded with their guests on the Russian ship Akademic Shokalskiy in the ice in Antarctic summer, have been rescued by a Chinese helicopter and airlifted to a nearby Australian icebreaker, which had tried and failed to reach the stranded ship. The Russian ship’s twenty-member crew has stayed with the Akademic Shokalskiy, well supplied with food and fuel. Three rescue attempts had failed due to growing levels of sea ice and weather conditions.
The Australasian Antarctic expedition was intended to demonstrate the extent to which sea ice was disappearing due to climate change. They believed the ice was sure to be vanishing, and invited paying passengers to accompany them on their scientific expedition. They had been stranded since Christmas morning. Forty one stories about the ‘mission’ failed to mention climate change or global warming, or why the ship was there. The fact that there has been no warming for over 17 years is rarely mentioned in the media.
Chris Turney, the expedition’s leader, is a professor of climate change at the University of South Wales. According to Turney’s personal website the purpose of the expedition was to “discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.” A global warming mission in the Antarctic summer.
The idea that the earth was warming excessively originated in computer climate programs, which have been demonstrated over and over to be ineffective at predicting climate. People whose livelihood and career depend on grants for study of various aspects of global warming are seldom willing to admit that it has all been a fraud — and the earth is always warming and cooling in long cycles that aren’t yet that well understood.
Journalists who write on climate and environment belong to the Society of Environmental Journalists. If the panic about an overheating globe is over, what will the journalists write about? And then there’s the politics of climate change. President Obama is still convinced that saving the country from the rise of the oceans, and our fatal dependence on foreign oil requires ever more funding from taxpayers. It’s a very complicated situation, and there are lots of true believers, and lots of people who want to invest in “renewable energy,” and where did you think all those grants come from, anyway?
ADDENDUM: It appears that the Australian icebreaker which is rescuing the intrepid Antarctic publicity climate change seekers is now stuck in the ice as well as the original ship. This is, however, weather, as is the cold spell blanketing the Eastern states. Very exciting, gives the environmental journalists a lot to write about. Manitoba is colder than Mars. Oops! Got this one wrong. The Chinese rescue helicopter came from a Chinese icebreaker the Xue Long to which the rescued climate activists were transferred. The Xue Long is having trouble with advancing ice, and is attempting to manouever through it but has notified the Australians that they may need help from their icebreaker which has been put on standby.
The idea that the global warming scientists would prove anything by looking at a small section of the ice sheet which covers 4.5 million square miles is — silly. The whole thing does not grow or shrink all at once, some parts grow, some parts shrink, and that string of volcanoes under part of the ice only confuses matters. Weather is sudden chill that creates more ice, climate is averages of what happens over time.
ADDENDUM II: The plot thickens. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has requested help from the United States Coast Guard. We still have one heavy duty just-refurbished ice breaker. The Polar Star left Seattle in early December on one of its primary missions— Operation Deep Freeze — to break a channel through to McMurdo Sound to resupply and refuel the U.S. Antarctic Program’s (USAP) McMurdo Station on Ross Island. They will cut short their planned stop in Sydney to support the AMSA’s request for assistance before moving on to break a channel through to McMurdo.
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American Elephants 
I have been following this expedition as well, and never did I get the impression that “discovering and communicating the environmental changes taking place in the south” meant concentrating only on climate change. There are plenty of changes taking place — in bottom flora and fauna, in the quantity of krill and fish (in part due to over-fishing), in ice patterns (with sea ice expanding in some areas and declining in others, and the gradual accumulation of heavy metals in Antarctica’s soils and biota.
Are you suggesting that a ship getting caught in moving pack ice is proof that the earth isn’t warming?
By the way, new data show that 2013 was Australia’s warmest year on record:
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/2013-confirmed-as-australias-hottest-year-on-record-20140103-308ek.html
And globally, November 2013 was the world’s warmest on record.
http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news/index_en.html#november
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Comment by Subsidy Eye January 3, 2014 @ 1:04 amIn Antarctica, much of what has been considered “climate change”, melting ice etc. has turned out to be volcanoes under the ice. Weather is not climate. Also see: You might consider signing up for their newsletter. Also see:
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Comment by The Elephant's Child January 3, 2014 @ 9:57 amI’m not sure there is enough evidence yet to say “much of”, but I agree that volcanoes appear to be a contributing factor:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11158845
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Comment by Subsidy Eye January 3, 2014 @ 10:19 amIt should be noted that the Shokalskiy does not have an icebreaker hull, merely an ice-rated hull (reinforced along the beam, thicker hull plating in the forward areas). The press pics aren’t showing it, but that ice is doing a number on the Shokalskiy’s hull (the AMSA has received on report from the ship that a hull seam just forward of the engine room on the starboard side has cracked) and even the published pics show the Shokalskiy at a 7-8 degree list to port – not because she is taking on water, but that she is being pushed over by the ice sheet. When the “scientists” abandoned ship/were “rescued”, the statement made was that they were hoping the Shokalskiy would be freed when the ice sheet broke up “late next week” (meaning later this week). The problem is that the ice field shows signs of getting thicker (the reason the Xue Long couldn’t get through is because the ice was already thicker than what her hull was rated for), not breaking up. It may be possible that the UCGS Polar Star (rated for thicker ice than any of the icebreakers on site) might be able to get through to the Xue Long, and together the two of them might get through to the Shokalskiy (this is the plan I’ve heard), but by the time the two icebreakers get to the Shokalskiy, it may be too late. the closest the Xue Long was able to get to the Shokalskiy was approx. 22 nautical miles, and it would take the better part of 36-48 hours to break through enough so the Shokalskiy could get underway (provided the ice has not damaged the Shokalskiy’s rudder or drive propellers).
There is quite a bit to be overcome.
According to the Goreacle, none of that ice should exist anyway. Apparently, Reality has gotten it wrong. Again.
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Comment by Lon Mead January 5, 2014 @ 8:44 am[…] 52 Rescued From Ship Stranded in the Ice in Antarctica, No Mention of Climate Change […]
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