We recently published a piece on the epistemology of global warming protagonists which made mention of the Russian icebreaker caught in Antarctic ice to illustrate how that epistemology rolls. Several commentators have exposed the irony of this event. It turns out that the expedition had the objective of going to Antarctica to find evidence of global warming. It was part serious science, part "scientific" tourism. That's why green politicians and Guardian journalists are on board. Unfortunately, it has been so cold the ship has got stuck in pack ice. Sea based rescue attempts have been abandoned, so thick is the ice and so cold the temperature. Now it is over to helicopters.
The occasion for the trip was to retrace the expedition of explorer Douglas Mawson who visited Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica in 1912--a century ago. Mawson made observations of the climate, the conditions, and the topography. He apparently encountered no difficulties with sea ice because he sailed down at the height of summer. The modern expedition wanted to compare Mawson's findings with their own observations to track the effects of one hundred years of global warming upon Antarctica. We are not making this up.
In January 2013, National Geographic published an account of Mawson's expedition. He was lucky to survive. At least one of his colleagues did not.
It was December 14, 1912. Thirty years old, already a seasoned explorer, Douglas Mawson was the leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), a 31-man team pursuing the most ambitious exploration yet of the southern continent. Let Scott and Amundsen race for the South Pole. Mawson was determined to discover everything he could about a 2,000-mile-long swath of Antarctica that was terra incognita, and to wring from it the best scientific results—in terms of geology, meteorology, magnetism, biology, atmospheric science, and glaciology—ever obtained on a polar journey.Photographs records the scene at Commonwealth Bay, 1912. Now a film has been discovered taken at the time during the expedition, which has been uploaded as a YouTube video:
Having built a hut on the shore of a cove they named Commonwealth Bay, the men of the AAE had wintered over in what was later proven to be the windiest place on Earth (at least at sea level), with gusts up to 200 mph. At times, the gales were so strong they knocked the men off their feet and sent them sliding across the ice.
Notice anything unusual? Well, it's just that Mawson and colleagues could actually sail into Commonwealth Bay, and there was clear water therein. Contrast this with the current expedition: stuck in sea ice, miles and miles from Commonwealth Bay. This from Watts Up With That:
After a century of alleged global warming--man caused, of course--Antarctica appears colder now than it was a hundred years ago.
But don't worry. Global warming is happening, Jim--it's just not as we know it.
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