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Australian Icebreaker Tries To Get Through To Stranded Antarctic Research Ship
The shipload of researchers and tourists stuck in the Antarctic ice are still stuck. A Chinese icebreaker, the Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, has gotten tantalizingly close but was hampered by "unusually thick ice." Now, an Australian vessel, the Aurora Australis, will attempt to rescue the 74 people aboard the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.
Web cam for Aurora, hopefully will be on when they are getting close http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora '
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25540040 ... ... ... ...
Seventy-four scientists, tourists and crew are on the Shokalskiy.
Despite being trapped, the scientists have continued their experiments, measuring temperature and salinity through cracks in the surrounding ice.
The goal of the modern-day Australasian Antarctic Expedition is to repeat many of the original measurements and studies of the Mawson expedition to see how facets of the environment have changed over the past century.
Completely neglected? Are we looking at the same BBC reports?
The ice-strengthened vessel is within 100nm of Dumont D'Urville with a typical December daytime temperature hovering around freezing (http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDT60803/IDT60803.89642.shtml). This ice did not suddenly appear in clear water because it got cold, the ship was sailing through broken ice floes when weather conditions pushed the ice and the ship into tight formation. The water between the sheets froze and the rest, as they say, is history.
Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button