Saturday, December 28, 2013

Lots of fossil fuel will be needed to rescue global warming research mission trapped in Antarctic ice. An icebreaker will have to get through 13 miles of 7 ft. thick ice

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"According to Turney, there’s 13 miles of ice – 7 feet thick – blocking them from open waters."...
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12/26/13, "Stuck in Antarctica's icy grasp," UK Guardian, Alok Jha
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"Trapped in heavy pack ice just off the coast of Cape de la Motte for the past two days, we await icebreaker assistance." Alok Jha and Laurence Topham are with the Australasian Antarctic Expedition"
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"This is no place for people....
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Antarctica is not just cold, windy and wet. It is the extreme of all those things. Leave a hole in your armour – a glove not tucked into a sleeve, a gap around your neck where you forgot your scarf – and the weather will find and punish you fast. The cold starts off as stabbing, then it sears the skin and eventually sends the nerve-endings into a symphony of confusion. I took a glove off to type an email outside at one point and, after my fingers turned white and I lost the ability to move them, I swear they felt hot. Painful, boiling hot, as though I had just plunged them into a cup of coffee....
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Here, people are each other's eyes and ears: the first sign that the Antarctic conditions are taking their toll is when people stop moving around, stop talking and turn inwards upon themselves. Groups are always told to be careful when stepping out but, almost as important, they are told to keep watch on each other just as much....

Right now the continent has us in its grasp
and, though help is coming, the continent will decide when to let us go.".

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12/27/13, "Ship trapped in Antarctic ice must wait longer for rescue," CBSNews.com

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