Chinese Icebreaker Is Stuck In Ice After Antarctic Research Vessel Rescue

New submitter Cochonou writes "In an unforeseen turn of events, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long is now stuck in heavy Antarctic pack ice, just a day after its helicopter was used for the rescue of the passengers onboard the ice-trapped MV Akademik Shokalskiy. The Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis, which is now carrying the passengers of the Shokalskiy, has been placed on standby to assist. The Chinese vessel is waiting for favorable tidal conditions on Saturday to make another attempt at freeing itself."

Comments

Hey dawg..

[sl4shd0rk]

We heard you needed an ice rescue, so we're sending you an ice rescue for your ice rescue.

Re:Hey dawg..

[Anonymous Coward]

Or to quote Hot Shots Part Deux,

Now we have to go in to get the men who went in to get the men who went in to get the men.

Unforeseen

[SJHillman]

If you send a ship to rescue another ship from ice, and that ship gets stuck in ice... I don't think that's exactly an "unforeseen" event. They knew the ice was there. And building up fast. It's a humorous turn of events, sure, but hardly unforeseen.

Re:Unforeseen

[SJHillman]

Nobody said anything about the helicopter having problems. However, the helicopter is from the Chinese ship that did get stuck, which is a polar resupply ship and not an full-fledged icebreaker. Even if it was an icebreaker, they have significant limits to how much ice they can break through. Therefore, it's not entirely unexpected for a ship, icebreaker or otherwise, to get stuck rescuing another icelocked ship than it is unexpected for a pickup truck to get stuck in mud trying to pull out a car from mud. It's less likely, but certainly not unforeseen.

International cooperation

[Anonymous Coward]

I just think it is cool there is such cooperation between Russia, China, and Australia on this "saving" of essentially Antarctic party animals, on a Russian drinking and discovery cruise.

JJ

That's a problem...

[grub]

That's the problem with Chinese ice breakers. You get stuck again in an hour.

Re:Just remember now...

[Kielistic]

Just like gravity

Go outside and look up. What do you see? Birds! Gravity isn't stopping them. If gravity were real why do we see things like dust floating around seemingly freely. Gravity is just a scam to keep airline profits sky-high.

Obvious sarcasm is obvious- I hope.

Re:Just remember now...

[ApplePy]

The AGW bigots are kind of like Jehova's Witnesses. JWs, several times throughout their history, asserted the end of the world was coming. When the end failed to materialize -- each time -- the church would sidestep their inaccuracy with things like "well, we have 'new light' now." Or they'd flatly deny they ever said the end was coming, instead claiming they only meant a change of some sort was coming... and oh look, some kind of change did happen!

So how does this apply? When I was a wee lad, the "settled" climate science was that Earth was cooling, and we were careening head-on into a new Ice Age that was going to destroy us all. It wasn't just a tale, either -- they had mountains of data and the most sophisticated models the computers of the day allowed.

Then, as the science progressed a bit (and as the Coming Ice Age had failed to raise the requisite amount of alarm in the populace) it was decided that no, we're not cooling -- we're warming. In point of fact, the phenomenon was called "Global Warming". Pretty specific, that. Not, "we're not sure what's happening but it ain't good," but "it's definitely getting, and will continue to get, warmer, and we're all gonna fuckin' die!"

Then, as science, data collection, and computer modeling advanced yet further... "Global Warming" has been called into question. So much so, in fact, that many of the climate scientists of today will not use the phrase "Global Warming", but have chosen the trademark of "Climate Change". It's back to "we're not sure what's going on but we're all gonna die!" "Climate Change" is a delightfully vague yet alarming turn of phrase, and a stroke of genius.

So now, every time something odd, unusual, rare, extreme, or even normal happens with weather, it can be attributed to "Climate Change" -- because something changed, see? Climate Change equals different weather, so something in weather that didn't happen last year or the year before is now because of Climate Change.

This, kiddos, is what we call circular reasoning.

Go ahead, Climate Change bigots. Mod me down. I've got karma to burn. I could post AC, but I'm thumbing my nose at you.