Icebreaker trying to reach trapped ship in Antarctica also stonewalled by ice

CNN ^ | December 28, 2013 | By Michael Martinez, Holly Yan and CY Xu

[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. . .

[Brad from Tennessee]

According to Watts Up with that? blog: The expedition is being led by Chris Turney, “climate scientist”, who has “set up a carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.” The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”

[Slyfox]

Time to send in the U.S.S.R. ALGORE:

[Blood of Tyrants]

I’ll bet that they are praying for some of the global warming now.

[SamAdams76]

That’s okay, with “global warming” and all, it shouldn’t be much longer before all the ice melts and they can then float into the Caribbean with all the displaced polar bears. Let’s just airdrop them some bathing suits and sun screen.

[bunkerhill7]

Confucius say man who sail boat on ice put on ice

[fso301]

The Australian icebreaker is the same class ship as the Chinese breaker. I don’t see the Australian breaker having any more success than the Chinese.

[Navy Patriot]

Hopefully, all the Globull Warmers on board will freeze to death.

[Moose Burger]

I suppose there’s a chinese phrase for “And do you call yourself an icebreaker?”

[PeteB570]

Good thing it’s summertime down there - otherwise the ice would be thicker.

[beethovenfan]

That GoreBull Warming is a bitch.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.” The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”

It's working so well, we're all going to freeze to death.

[JRandomFreeper]

I wonder if he's hiding in his cabin now?

/johnny

[Robert A Cook PE]

The following recent update from various Australian sources was posted on WattsUpWithThat.com It has links and TV interviews. WUWT has been tracking thie stuck ship, and the failed rescue attempts for several days now. The AUstralian icebreaker is as small as the Stuck Russian ice-stiffened ship, but can't break the ice now around it.

this video, less than a minute, has Nicky Phillips (Fairfax) being filmed on Christmas Day by Colin Cosier (Fairfax/ABC). they are on the Aurora Australis ice-breaker, not the Akademik Shokalskiy, which isn’t named in this video, but which the ice-breaker is off to rescue. Nicky says unfortunately they won’t get to wherever they planned to go to study ice cores, which is one of the main reasons she and Cosier have been in the Antarctic for 3 weeks:

Christmas on an icebreaker (00:52) Nicky Phillips and Colin Cosier’s Christmas day in Antarctica changed from a planned flight to a deep field camp into a rescue voyage in the sea ice. Credits CAMERA/EDIT: Colin Cosier http://media.watoday.com.au/news/national-news/christmas-in-antarctica-5037954.html

u will not find this bland AAP report (which is precisely how this story has been reported all along in Australia) on Fairfax homepages. :

29 Dec: SMH: AAP: Steve Lillebuen: Anxious wait for ice-stranded ship rescue Stranded passengers onboard a ship wedged in Antarctic sea ice are hours away from knowing if a second rescue attempt will fail like the first one… A group of scientists, explorers and tourists has been stuck on the Russian research ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, about 1500 nautical miles south of Hobart, for the past five days.

Two icebreakers have already given up on efforts to push through the thick and dangerous ice floes near Antarctica to try to free the trapped research vessel. A third icebreaker, Australia’s Aurora Australis, is on its way to the stranded ship and is due to arrive about 11pm (AEDT) on Sunday.

It is the last ship in the area that will be able to help… Retired teacher Kayleen Lawson, of Brisbane, is onboard the stricken vessel after paying thousands to join the expedition as a tourist.

“The frustration is not knowing when we’re getting out of here, when we’re going to go home,” Ms Lawson told News Corp during a satellite phone interview. “It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime, and it still is … but it’s turning out a little differently to what I expected…

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/anxious-wait-for-icestranded-ship-rescue-20131229-301ay.html

u will not find this on Fairfax homepages either:

29 Dec: Age: Nicky Phillips: Australian ice-breaker closes in on trapped Russian ship Aurora captain Murray Doyle said it was always possible the ice would be too thick for the Xue Long. ”We were always option B,” he said. ”We were always going to be sent on until the end.” Reports from the Chinese ice-breaker and the Akademik Shokalskiy say pack ice in the area is 10/10ths, which means the vessel is surrounded, and some ice floes are between three and four metres thick. The Aurora could comfortably slice through ice up to 1.35 metres thick, and crash through thicker slabs by reversing and ramming. But Mr Doyle was unsure how the ice-breaker would handle ice thicker than three metres. ”It’s not what we’re built for,” he said… The Aurora is due to arrive near the pack ice that surrounds the Shokalskiy about 10pm on Sunday. ”Then it’s up to the rescue co-ordination centre in Canberra and what they want us to do,” Mr Doyle said. ”They might want us to go in or just stand by and wait.” But it would be a waste of time trying to ram ice that was too thick. ”It’s like driving your car into a brick wall,” he said…

Mr Doyle said he would be wary of driving too far into the pack ice in order to avoid the Aurora also getting trapped. During the past few days, the Shokalskiy was blasted by south-easterly winds, which applied more pressure to the pack ice around the ship. This would made the rescue operation harder still.

”But by the time we get there the weather could change,” Mr Doyle said. A westerly wind would ease the pressure on the ice and help break it up, he said.

The Xue Long and French ice-breaker L’Astrolabe will remain in the area should the Shokalskiy’s crew and passengers need to be evacuated. http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/australian-icebreaker-closes-in-on-trapped-russian-ship-20131228-300pa.html

i only found this latest Phillips’ report by clicking on this link on the Age homepage & finding a link underneat the video:

29 Dec: VIDEO 51 secs: Age: Spirits high despite rescue snag in Antarctica

http://media.theage.com.au/national/selections/spirits-high-despite-rescue-snag-in-antarctica-5040480.html

[Sacajaweau]

Trapped by their own stupidity.

[Iron Munro]

According to reports the global warming is over 10 feet thick and hard as ice.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Ironically, in 2012, Russia contracted to build it most powerful ever nuclear icebreaker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-powered_icebreaker

Truthfully, the US needs to design and build a “next generation” nuclear icebreaker. An awful lot of R&D goes into icebreakers.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It may be too late but the US could fit out and sail the Mighty Mackinaw down to help out. I believe the cutter is retired, parked up in Michigan.

[SeaHawkFan]

"Xue Long is not moving forward but we're not stuck."

It's just a flesh wound.

[1_Rain_Drop]

If the Australian breaker was not made in China, then it may succeed in its mission.

[cardinal4]

Define irony: global warming enthusiasts iced in trying to prove the existence of global warming..