As David notes there is great amusement at the climate scientists and Guardian/BBC journos etc getting stuck in the Antarctic ice.
There has been no mention of climate change at all for some reason in any of the BBC news bulletins I have heard…until today when the intrepid World at One broached the subject inviting in a renowned climate scientist (13:08)…because as you know they don’t invite just anybody in to comment on climate…..well, actually they do….if they are pro-climate change that is (English graduate Roger Harrabin for one of course).
So on came writer Sarah Wheeler who has travelled and written about the polar regions for some time…but does that make her qualified to chat the chat about climate change though?
She was fairly unamused that the ‘Twittersphere’ was not taking things seriously and everyone was saying how cold it must be in the Antarctic.
Sarah assures us that ‘this is absolutely not the case.’ No, that’ll be right, the Antarctic isn’t cold at all….it’s a right wing conspiracy pet.
But why is the ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy stuck in the ice?
Sarah tells us it is because the nearby Mertz Glacier has calved…and you know what…no one knew…no one could have known…it was such a surprise!
As far as I can see no one else has blamed the Mertz Glacier for this ice….it is solely referred to as sea ice or pack ice…I’m sure that excuse will start to pick up momentum now though.
Curious though that no one read this from 2011/12’s similar expedition at the same time of year:
David Ellyard AAE Report 2012 Voyage
THE COMMONWEALTH BAY ADVENTURE
DAY 1 (6 JANUARY 2012)
Every now and then a sighing sound passes down the sides of the ship, now moving at a reduced speed. The noise is that of floes of pack ice, split by the impact of the ship’s bow, scraping gently along its length. The strength of the ship easily deals with any of the floes we have encountered so far, but the collision still generates a thump and a slight shudder.
Throughout the day the pack ice has become more dense, and the individual floes larger. Some are 20 or 30 metres across, all are one or two metres thick, and often crowned with drifts of snow.
[So…there is thick ice all around scraping the side of the ship….but nothing to do with a glacier calving….that comes later….]
All of the Antarctic ice cap, all 30 million cubic kilometres of it, arranged in a huge dome up to 5 km deep, is in motion outwards towards the coast. Some parts are moving noticeably faster than the rest and these are recognised as glaciers. If conditions are right, the glacier can push offshore and float out sea for some kilometres, forming a glacier tongue. So it was till recently with the Mertz Glacier.
The arrival of our friend B9B changed all that. This vast iceberg, 100 km long and 30 km wide (though now broken into three) originated in the Ross Sea, south of New Zealand and hundreds of kilometres to our east. As it drifted west, carried by the current, it hugged the shoreline, colliding with the end of glacier tongue and breaking it off. Where there was a large slab of floating ice, there is now open water.
So the Glacier calves…and there is thick pack ice?…er no…’open water’
Here is an image of the Mertz Glacier breaking off in 2010….note the size of the ice bergs…behind which is looser material….would a ship get caught in that? Pretty careless if the answer is yes.
Everyone’s a joker…..Sarah will not be amused…. from WUWT
Rescued by fossil fuel powered carbon foot (sorry) person print creating helicopters.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1486660_10152162619315281_1217383337_n.png
Who will foot the rescue bill? No doubt I already know the answer.
I would assume whoever funded the expedition. Although I don’t believe the Guardian and BBC journalists hitched a ride for free and questions should be asked in the UK, about who funded the BBC “tourist.”
Oh they love their tax-payer funded junkets at the BBC, look at Glastonbury…..far more staff than are needed. Still, nice to see the Warmist nazis taking a hit, lets strip mudhut Monbiot and stake him out on an ice-flow, tell him it will warm up soon…..git.
They can blame the Sun:-
“Sun ‘flips upside down’ while reversing magnetic poles”
[concluding excerpt]:-
“Solar Cycle 24 has been viewed as quite unpredictable. First, it came late by about a year, with extremely low activity recorded throughout 2009. This prompted astronomers to shift a predicted 2012 peak to 2013. Scientists say the cycle is already among the weakest reported and if the trend continues, the Earth might see another Little Ice Age.”
http://rt.com/news/sun-upside-down-flip-990/
I must confess to bookmarking a few blogs and feeds on this topic as it is, well, so darn funny.
One has to be grateful that the dangerous aspects have now been averted by the evacuation…. as our intrepid 52 have left the ship, if it appears also its crew, behind. At least it was not sinking, as there may have been some further headlines writing themselves they didn’t fancy by leaving it, and the Icetanic’s 3rd class crew, behind.
I also read somewhere a fair point that if there was no actual sinking threat, why was the crew remaining but the dedicated research teams scarpering PDQ on the first offset chopper ride out? It’s almost like this was in fact a tourist jolly that went the shape of a pear.
‘Sarah tells us it is because the nearby Mertz Glacier has calved’
Maybe by this measure she is at least a smidge better qualified in analysis than the Graun?
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/02/antarctic-ship-stranding-delights-climate-change-sceptics
‘It was pinned by ice carved off from the Mertz glacier, a well-established ice formation’
Maybe the spirit of Christmas roast gone by still pervades?
“No white meat, Vicar; we’re… objective reporterators and know what’s good for all”.
Have to admire the empassioned posters demanding an end to the burning of fossil fuels by way of justifying all this.
One presumes they mean only once the diesel craft and (probably not) angel’s tears-powered whirlybirds have fully charged the ‘team’s’ iPads, Pods & Phones back up to full #prasnews capacity?
Yes I will be reminding all the eco-loon’s of this when they are posting about “get out of your car and walk” sorry guy’s my journey to work is far more important (and probably less damaging) to the environment than some green jolly.
“The climate change trip stuck in ice”
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/01/the-climate-change-trip-stuck-in-ice/
Are we having Global warming or another Ice Age? Some of the warmists have changed their predictions to the latter.
Global Warming ended in 1997, Global Cooling starts in 2018.
Google “Ed Fix” “Nicola Scafetta” “David Archibald” for the “length of the Solar Cycle”, “Planetary orbit induced Barycentre wobble” “Speed of plasma in the Sun” Cloud Albedo induced by regulation of Galactic Cosmic Rays induced Global Warming and Global Cooling.
Simple really, unless you work for the BBC.
Looking forward to the BBC comedy flagships tonight blasting holes into the comedy and irony brought up by these self-serving chilled out entertainers at Guardian Broadcasting HQ.
Pen in hand-let`s enjoy the Lefties rip their pals apart!
Eez zees funny?…
you know whats coming next week dont you, when they come back to the uk the caring and sharing touchy feely victoria derbyshire on radio 5 live will have them on her show listening to them blubbering about how cold it was stuck on that ship in the antartic,no doubt vicky will say to them you must be very traumatised at your experience being trapped on that ship in the middle of that bloody iceberg that did not want you there ,i sense there will be tears flowing in the studio and vicky will embrace them with hugs and say dont worry your safe now back in the uk,thats,thanks vicky and radio 5 live for letting us on to tell are story,that when i will get my sick bag out.
We’ve been funded for the “carbon futures” stock,(which will hold economies to ransom when the bubble’s start to burst) but we don’t know that was the reason we’re here. We “greenies” are here to save you, the earth and help governments legislate how you breathe, eat, and how much your allowed to have.
We “greenies” have integrity to protect your freedom, as long as you collectivize into how our word is god, and the green movement is gospel, in the name of saving the earth through the global control, of the UN.
We are all equals, but the green movement is more important than others. So some will be exempt, for a global crusade.
While trawl through ‘Ice age now’ site for more on ‘ship of fools’ came on this Australian TV report from November
Listen carefully at 1 min 25. So what exactly is the status of those ‘passengers’? Either Professor Chris Turney was making stuff up then or he’s lying now
No wonder the BBC are being circumspect about the exact nature of ‘expidition’
Mawson in ice-free Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica, 1912
It’s summer down there, isn’t it? And it’ll still freeze your cream crackers off! God, I hope it gets warmer quickly! Get burning stuff, folks, you know it’s your duty.
It now looks as though the rescue ship Aurora Australis may have difficulty breaking through to the open sea. This reports that it is making only a quarter of a knot per hour – with ice right across to the horizon :
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/02/rescue-ship-aurora-australis-slowed-to-a-crawl-fighting-heavy-sea-ice-to-reach-open-water/
You can manipulate the URL of the image to give later bow views – this is the latest I could get, it really looks grim again :
http://images.aad.gov.au/webcams/aurora/14/A140030300A.jpg
More from the BBC on so-called climate scientists (or even head of art!) on board the vessel:
“Those Chinese guys are heroes,” added Nicole De Losa, head of Art at Hornsby Girls High School in Sydney.
“They made what could have been a frightening experience so quick and easy for us. Without them, we would still be stranded.”
Latest on ship of fools from ‘Ice age now’
http://iceagenow.info/2014/01/video-rescuer-rescuing/
The laughter never stops