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Antarctic Climate Research Expedition Trapped In Sea Ice

Posted by timothy on from the that-looks-like-a-fun-vacation dept.

First time accepted submitter Stinky Cheese Man writes "An Antarctic climate research expedition, led by climate researcher Chris Turney of the University of New South Wales, has become trapped in heavy ice near the coast of Antarctica. The captain has issued a distress call and three nearby icebreaker ships are on their way to the rescue. According to Turney's web site, the purpose of the expedition is 'to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.'"

14 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Mission accomplished by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    > the purpose of the expedition is 'to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.

    Looks like they found some.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:Mission accomplished by roc97007 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I had not intended to imply that. Only that, if there were an unusual amount of sea ice in what amounts to the peak of summer in the south, that would be interesting data.

      My point was more like "you can find interesting data even in failure". They did not get to their destination, but the reason why may yield data important to their project. Just sayin'.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    2. Re:Mission accomplished by riverat1 · · Score: 3, Informative

      You should learn the difference between Sea Ice an Ice Shelf and an Ice Sheet before spouting off showing your ignorance. I stand by my statement that Antarctic sea ice melts nearly completely every year. Regarding the Antarctic Ice Sheet which you cited it's a big chunk of ice and would take several thousand years to completely melt under any imaginable circumstances.

    3. Re:Mission accomplished by riverat1 · · Score: 4, Informative

      The story itself has nothing to do with global warming nor even the increase in Antarctic sea ice. It's about a ship that got caught by shifting winds closing existing ice around it and trapping it which is possible with nearly any amount of sea ice in the vicinity. But it was a sure thing that global warming would come into the conversation.

    4. Re:Mission accomplished by riverat1 · · Score: 4, Informative

      One interesting fact about Antarctica is that the sea ice essentially melts out completely every year so there is no carry over from one year to the next like there is in the Arctic.

      I have to admit I was a bit wrong on this. I've been saying that for a while and decided to check on it. I downloaded the monthly mean sea ice extent and area from the NSIDC*. The data covered from November 1978 to November 2013. The Antarctic sea ice minimum monthly extent always occurs in February and is around 3 million miles^2 varying mostly from about 2.5-3.5. The Antarctic sea ice maximum always occurs in September and is around 19 M mi^2 varying mostly from about 18.5-19.25 except it was a record 19.77 last September.

      So I was wrong that it melts out completely but it drops around 85% every year. In my defense that may be valid for some values of "essentially melts out completely". ) The remaining sea ice is mainly in the Weddell Sea (about half of it according to the Mk. 1 eyeball) which is protected from the prevailing currents and winds by the Antarctic Peninsula and along the Western Antarctic coast which is further south than most of the continent. One other interesting thing I discovered was that the sea ice extent drops precipitously from November to January every year from around 16.5 M mi^2 to around 5 M mi^2.

      I could do the area too but I've already spent too long on this research so I'll leave it there but it was fun.

      * Data cite: Fetterer, F., K. Knowles, W. Meier, and M. Savoie. 2002, updated 2009. Sea Ice Index. [indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5QJ7F7W.

  2. Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarctic by mc6809e · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There's about 1.53 million more square km of ice than what is usual.

  3. Antarctica is Awesome... by DexterIsADog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...it's starkly beautiful, and nothing compares to hiking an extinct volcano and looking down on a colony of hundreds of penguins.

    But I don't recommend getting stuck there. No. Definitely not.

  4. This Article is Denialist Propaganda by CajunArson · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone who would insinuate that there is any ice left anywhere on Earth after Global Warming must be an anti-science denialist and must be purged in the name of tolerance.

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
  5. Time to rename their expedition... by 14erCleaner · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They can call it the "Endurance Centennial Reenactment".

    --
    Have you read my blog lately?
  6. Boy Am I tired of this.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As you contemplate the likelihood of sea level rise, consider that just 20,000 years ago—a snap of the fingers in geologic time and well within the span of human existence—the North Sea didn’t even exist. Global sea levels were as much as 400 feet lower than today, Britain was part of Continental Europe and terra firma stretched from Scotland to southern Norway.

    Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Never-Heard-of-Doggerland-Blame-Climate-Change-From-Millennia-Ago-208341111.html#ixzz2ocNb29cW
    Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12!: http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
    Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

  7. Re:Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarc by djmurdoch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The GP posted a statement of fact, relevant to the story. Doesn't sound like a denialist to me.

  8. That sword cuts both ways buddy by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    what it does prove is the complete intellecutual bankruptcy of the deniers

    You AGW cultists are a real trip. When you say there will be less sea ice before you say there will be more, it means that the scientists arguing against your beliefs are the ones in intellectual bankruptcy?

    Have the stones to admit you don't actually understand what you thought you did. But then, a real cultist will die before undergoing change to deeply held beliefs...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  9. Re:Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarc by JWW · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Your post is unbelievable.

    The GP poster posted a subject of:

    Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarctic

    And then they posted a LINK to a graph that proved their subject.

    THIS IS ALL THEY POSTED!! No follow on sentences about global warming. No links to any other sites about global warming or to sites denying global warming for that matter.

    The post stated only facts, and made no arguments. Facts that seem to be backed up by the research vessel being stuck in the ice.

    YOU brought global warming into the discussion, YOU called the GP poster a denier (note: I am speaking only to evidence in the GP post, if mc6809e is a raging denier elsewhere I don't know it).

    This isn't really cherry picking of data, it is only presentation of data.

    If there is an increase in antarctic summer ice at the same time there is a decrease in arctic summer ice, we should study what is happening.

    There really wasn't a global warming argument being made in the GP. You just saw one there. Check your glasses.

  10. Re:Seems there's more ice than usual in the antarc by Beeftopia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    mc6809e wrote:
    There's about 1.53 million more square km of ice than what is usual.

    Ol Olsoc wrote:
    allow me to post the rest: http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/

    mc6809e noted that in the SOUTHERN hemisphere, there is a +1.53 million square km ice anomaly.

    However, in the follow-on post, it shows that in the NORTHERN hemisphere, there is a -0.63 million square km ice anomaly.

    So, +1.53 - 0.63 = +0.9 net global ice difference over the past 3 years. And this is relative to the mean from 1978-2008.

    Personally, it does make sense to me that there is AGW, but these graphs indicate a net global sea ice increase over the past 3 years. Is it the last word in the discussion? No, but it is an interesting data point.