Global warming scientists forced to admit defeat... because of too much ice

[Gingersnap]

Global warming scientists forced to admit defeat... because of too much ice: Stranded Antarctic ship's crew will be rescued by helicopter

Chris Turney, a climate scientist and leader of the expedition, was going to document 'environmental changes' at the pole

In an interview he said he expected melting ice to play a part in expedition

MV Akademik Schokalskiy still stuck among thick ice sheet 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart, the Tasmanian capital

Called for help at 5am Christmas morning after becoming submerged in ice

Australia's back-up ship, Aurora Australis could not break through

By MIA DE GRAAF and HAYLEY O'KEEFFE
PUBLISHED: 08:19 EST, 30 December 2013 | UPDATED: 14:42 EST, 30 December 2013

They went in search evidence of the world’s melting ice caps, but instead a team of climate scientists have been forced to abandon their mission … because the Antarctic ice is thicker than usual at this time of year.

The scientists have been stuck aboard the stricken MV Akademik Schokalskiy since Christmas Day, with repeated sea rescue attempts being abandoned as icebreaking ships failed to reach them.

Now that effort has been ditched, with experts admitting the ice is just too thick. Instead the crew have built an icy helipad, with plans afoot to rescue the 74-strong team by helicopter.

The expedition is being lead by Chris Turney, a climate scientist, who was hoping to reach the base camp of Douglas Mawson, one of the most famous Antarctic explorers, and repeat observations done by him in 1912 to see what impact climate change had made.

It is thought that the group, which includes scientific researchers and a journalist, will now be able to escape by air after two sea rescues failed.

Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis was unable to reach them because it was not strong enough to break through.

A top-of-the-range Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon ('Xue Long'), was deployed earlier in the week, and hoped to reach the ship by saturday.

However just after midnight on Friday it too got stuck just six nautical miles from the ship.

LOL! Many pix at link. I doubt the scientists will "admit defeat" but it's still amusing.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2p1K0fCI4
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[Bob Loblaw 3.0]

I expect to see pictures of that in the Wikipedia entry for irony.

[Gingersnap]

I expect to see pictures of that in the Wikipedia entry for irony.

Those expectations will be dashed, I'm afraid.

[Billy Jingo]

Global warming doesn't exist! It's cold somewhere!

Your scientific rigor always impresses me, Ginger.

[Novaheart]

Global warming doesn't exist! It's cold somewhere!

Your scientific rigor always impresses me, Ginger.

It's so much more than that and you know it.

"The sea level could rise as much as six feet.... " Well, of course it could. But it isn't.

"This polar bear might have starved to death." Well he might have, but he didn't.

"POlar bears are dying from loss of habitat..." Not nearly as many as are dying from acquiring a fatal wound from a "First Peoples"

"Superstorm Sandy did unprecedented damage....." Not nearly as much damage as the federal government handing out cash to people who skated along without insurance for the last 30 years or more.

"Global warming is displacing Alaskan people ......" Living on sandbar is a wager against the forces of nature.

[Adam]

It's so much more than that and you know it.

"The sea level could rise as much as six feet.... " Well, of course it could. But it isn't.

"This polar bear might have starved to death." Well he might have, but he didn't.

"POlar bears are dying from loss of habitat..." Not nearly as many as are dying from acquiring a fatal wound from a "First Peoples"

"Superstorm Sandy did unprecedented damage....." Not nearly as much damage as the federal government handing out cash to people who skated along without insurance for the last 30 years or more.

"Global warming is displacing Alaskan people ......" Living on sandbar is a wager against the forces of nature.

Not to mention the drumbeat of "polar ice caps are disappearing!!!!1!!1" for the last fifteen years. Now here they are, stuck in a polar ice cap they said wouldn't be there.

[Norm dePlume]

Step 1: Dumb down your opponents' argument.

Step 2: Criticize it for being dumb.

Did this particular group of scientists stuck on this boat predict that Antarctica would be devoid of snow and ice when they got there? I'd like to see a link on that one.

[Billy Jingo]

Step 1: Dumb down your opponents' argument.

Step 2: Criticize it for being dumb.

Did this particular group of scientists stuck on this boat predict that Antarctica would be devoid of snow and ice when they got there? I'd like to see a link on that one.

I should read the OP. With the talk of polar bears, Alaska, and disappearing ice cap, I thought they everyone was talking about the Arctic.

[scott]

Global warming doesn't exist! It's cold somewhere!

Your scientific rigor always impresses me, Ginger.

Is that what people are saying?

I thought the story was about a group of people getting inundated in ice on a trip where they wanted to document the predicted lack of ice in that area during the summer.

[Gingersnap]

Global warming doesn't exist! It's cold somewhere!

Your scientific rigor always impresses me, Ginger.

I don't see how it could. There's precious little actual data to discuss. What there is comes from the historical record and astrophysics - not from NOAA's dubiously sited ground monitors or the political aspirations of bureaucrats.

There is no Ur climate. Shorelines and ports have appeared and disappeared for as long people have been watching. Monsoons shift over time, often widely which destroys previously productive agricultural areas. Warm eras open new agriculture which entices population movement. Cold eras wipe out those same areas. Animals move over large areas to stay in their preferred climate ranges.

The single biggest input into global climate is solar activity. This fluctuates with orbital changes and solar behavior. There will be another ice Age. That's going to happen and happen soon in geological terms. I'm much more concerned about how 7 billion grain-eaters are going to manage that than I am about the self-image of EU politicians and misinformed activists.

[scott]

Step 1: Dumb down your opponents' argument.

Step 2: Criticize it for being dumb.

Did this particular group of scientists stuck on this boat predict that Antarctica would be devoid of snow and ice when they got there? I'd like to see a link on that one.

No, but they did say this:

The scale of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean is staggering. Over 98% of the continent is submerged by three large ice sheets that drown the underlying topography. The Australasian sector is dominated by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the largest of three ice sheets that contains enough freshwater to raise the world’s sea level by some 52 metres. Until recently it was thought this ice sheet was stable, sitting on the continental crust above today’s sea level. However there is an increasing body of evidence, including by the AAE members, that have identified parts of the East Antarctic which are highly susceptible to melting and collapse from ocean warming.

The surrounding Southern Ocean has an enormous influence on Antarctica, isolating the continent from the rest of the planet. This vast expanse of water is home to the largest ocean current in the world: the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The size of this current is prodigious, transporting around a million cubic metres of seawater every second. This current plays a crucial role linking the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, while also acting as one of the great heat and carbon sinks for the atmosphere. Importantly, some 70% of all wind energy going into the world’s oceans enters through the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Most of the energy comes from the southern hemisphere westerly wind belt – the colourfully named ‘roaring forties’, ‘furious forties’ and ‘screaming sixties’. Over the last 40 years or so, this wind belt has been shifting south, and as a result caused massive disruption to the circulation of the Southern Ocean and climate of the region. The impacts over the next century are likely to be some of the most significant anywhere on our planet and could have global consequences. The effects of this marked shift in westerly winds are already being seen today, triggering warm and salty water to be drawn up from the deep ocean, melting large sections of the Antarctic ice sheet with unknown consequences for future sea level rise while the ability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to soak up heat and carbon from the atmosphere remains deeply uncertain.

http://www.spiritofmawson.com/the-science-case/

So yeah, it's pretty ironic that they got trapped in the very ice they were talking about melting.

[deudyurondame]

Step 1: Dumb down your opponents' argument.

Step 2: Criticize it for being dumb.

Did this particular group of scientists stuck on this boat predict that Antarctica would be devoid of snow and ice when they got there? I'd like to see a link on that one.

No, but if they went there expecting to be rescued from something that wasn't there ......................

[Gingersnap]

No, but if they went there expecting to be rescued from something that wasn't there ......................

Pretty much on point. These people are no different from scads of "adventure" tourists who simply can't access common data.

The sea ice in that area is not melting, it's treacherous, their boat was wrong, they screwed up and now have to be rescued. Score one for common sense.