Posted on 12/28/2013 5:32:24 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
(CNN) -- A Chinese ship trying to reach a trapped expedition vessel in Antarctica has now become hampered by ice itself.
The Chinese icebreaker Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, was just six nautical miles away from the Russian-flagged vessel when it became obstructed by heavy ice. Even the icebreaker could not break through the floe, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said Saturday.
"We have been waiting for better weather and ice conditions since last night," Zhao Yanping, second captain of the Xue Long, told CNN. "Xue Long is not moving forward but we're not stuck."
The Chinese crew was hoping a French icebreaker that was also en route would be able to assist. But by midday Saturday, the Australian maritime authority called off the French ship's mission.
But AMSA said another icebreaker, the Australian Aurora Australis ship, is still en route and is expected to arrive late Sunday.
The Russian expedition ship is carrying scientists and passengers led by an Australian climate change professor. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I don’t know why the Chinese break up the ice.
It just comes back in an hour.
The Chinese breaker was made in the Ukraine and is rated at 1.1 meters. The Australian breaker is rated at 1.23 meters.
The ice is reportedly 3-4 meters thick.
ROFL!!!! I am too late to the thread - I know there will be a zillion comments on global warming ahead of me. That pic and comment is priceless though, thanks for the laugh!
They're somewhere in the ice pack at top center of the view. Further down along the right side, you can see McMurdo obscured by clouds. You can see the "dry valleys" adjacent to the base, which appear as a brownish smudge.
You can click on the smaller pixel sizes in the panel at the left to get higher resolution raw images.
A Ukrainian made breaker is going out there to save a Russian breaker?!!!!
ROFLMAO
correction:
Russian ship instead of Russian breaker
And this is SUMMER in the Antarctic! It looks like we have already stopped glow-bull warming by removing too much CO2 from the atmosphere.
The Chinese say they are not stuck, but if you cannot move forward and cannot back up. You are stuck.
Ice has a habit of freezing in behind you.
Didn’t Al Gore say the ice caps would be melted by now?
The question is whether any of these”Scientists”are going to “Jump Ship”on The GLOBAL-WARMING HOAX?????????????????
I’ll bet there isn’t an”Adult Beverage”to be had?
And the guy on”Cheers”said all the oceans would be gone ten-years ago.I guess it’s like the doctor who told his patient that he had 6-mos. to live?At the end of the 6-mos.,he hadn’t paid his bill so the doc gave him another 6-mos.??
An icebreaker made in China where they have so much experience with that.
I just saw something about this. Why does australia even have an ice breaker? What about Canada? Don’t they have a bunch of those? Why does China have one? Do we have one we could send? Could they rescue the people with helicopters and come back for the ship in the spring?
I sound like a little kid with all my questions!
Any answers will be appreciated!
If true the ship would be ten - thirten feet in ice. That could possibly start to put the ships power plants and propulsion in danger. Once the sea water intake and discharge ports freeze up the ship can't function. That would include back up generator.
nuke the ice
or abandon ship and pick them up in a helicopter
An East wind blew the ice into the Russian Ship. It got stuck 2 miles from open water. The wind is still blowing and forecast to blow for at least 3 more days. Gale force at times. Now the ship is 20 miles from open water. The ice is 3 to 4 meters thick. None of the ice breakers are capable of break 4 meter thick ice. It is hoped that 2 ice breakers working together might be able to reach her. The Chinese ship is not stuck, it is standing by waiting for another ice breaker to arrive and help. The next ice breaker is due in 24 hours.
Were I on the stuck ship I would be worried about a hull failure. 15 feet of ice driven by gale force winds will put a lot of pressure on the hull. Should all else fail the ship be be evacuated via helo from the Chinese ship.
Maybe one of the Polar pigs will get diverted for some good PR.
It may take russian nuke breaker to get them out. Whole lotta stupid on that vessel.
I don’t know how much water tight integrity or ability to withstand hull penetration that the stuck ship would have. The more water tight compartments the better the hulls survival chances. I do know one thing. I would not want to be on that ship right now. Besides the possible risk issue if the power plant goes down that ship will get cold very fast. Steel is a great conductor of heat. It’s also a poor insulator from the cold.
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