Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Third icebreaker abandons rescue of climate scientists boat in Antarctica, media fog, obscure, don't say "climate"


Joannenova.com
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 17:38 UTC
LATEST NEWS: Aurora Australis abandons attempt to save Akademik Shokalskiy in Antarctica. The SMH headline could've said "Another icebreaker abandons attempt to save climate scientist's boat in Antarctica."

UPDATE: Russia says 54 of 74 passengers to be helicoptered off if weather permits. (h/ tPeter Miller) The Polar Star icebreaker has left from the US to come help. It will take 8 -9 days to arrive. (Guardian)

Welcome to Media-Sport, where we score points watching a part of the media dance around the hysterical folly of an Antarctic climate science expedition trapped in sea ice for six nights (and counting). The Art of Propaganda is not just in the telling of one-sided lines, but is crafted through parts left unsaid.
Akademik Shokalskiy
© Joannenova.comMore global warming, it is everywhere you look. View from Akademik Shokalskiy.
With three ice-breaker rescue ships trying to reach them, the latest news is that the scientists and media entourage may have to abandon ship and be helicoptered to safety (though right now even that is not possible due to the very rough weather). The ABC news home page at time of posting this has zero references to "Antarctica", but does say there are cracks in ice around a stranded ship.

The decision to abandon the latest attempt was made at 9am Australian EST. The SMH story appeared at 4.40pm, and the ABC reported it on "just in" at 5.40pm. Marvelous how "fast" satellite communications and social media can work. No mention on The Guardian Australia site (despite them having a reporter on the boat). No twitters seen on the @GdnAntarctica, or @guardian, @alokjha (their journalist), @loztopham (their documentary maker), or #spiritofmawson or @ProfChrisTurney. (Perhaps those trapped on the boat don't know?)
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Cloud Precipitation

Flood warnings as more storms forecast for New Year's Day


BBC News
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 11:35 UTC
Flood warnings have been issued across England and Wales as forecasters predict more heavy rain and strong winds for the first day of 2014. The Environment Agency said communities in Cumbria and parts of southern England were particularly at risk.

flood
© BBC NewsYalding in Kent has been badly affected by flooding
Hundreds of households are still recovering from storms that caused floods and power cuts over Christmas.

Scottish and Southern Energy customers who faced a prolonged blackout will be entitled to compensation payments.

A statement on the company's website said domestic and business customers without power for 48 hours could claim £54 plus an extra £54 for every subsequent 12 hours.

In total, 130,000 customers had power restored, but this was mostly within 48 hours. A spokeswoman was unable to say how many customers would be eligible for payments.

Meanwhile, Commons energy select committee chairman Tim Yeo has said the bosses of the UK's energy distribution companies are to face questioning by MPs about the power cuts and Energy Secretary Ed Davey has summoned them to an "urgent meeting" next week.

It comes after more than 150,000 properties across the UK were left without power, many for several days, during the storms over Christmas.

Mr Yeo said it was "ludicrous" that some people had to wait five days for their power to be restored.
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Ambulance

Stag attack in Scottish Highlands leaves woman fighting for life

Maev Kennedy
The Guardian
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 14:13 UTC
Kate Stone in serious but stable condition after suffering injuries to her neck and spine while holidaying in Lochailort

Image
© AlamyA red deer stag in the Highlands
A Cambridge University academic is fighting for her life, with injuries to her neck and spine, after she was attacked and gored by a stag while chatting with friends outside a cottage in the Highlands.

Kate Stone was first treated at a local hospital on Monday night after the attack at Lochailort near Fort William, in which her throat was pierced. She was then airlifted to the Southern General in Glasgow when the seriousness of her injuries was realised.

She remains in intensive care where her condition was described as "serious but stable". Her neck was pierced so deeply that the animal had to shake itself free.

Stone, a research engineer at Cambridge's institute of manufacturing, who also runs her own hi-tech printing company, was holidaying with a group of friends, staying in a B&B near the site of the attack. She was with a group of friends standing chatting after they returned from a ceilidh at the nearby Lochailort Inn, in the darkness outside the home of a local musician.
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Igloo

Flashback Swedish man survived in snowed-in car for two months

Lizzy Davies
The Guardian
Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:23 UTC
Image
© Scanpix Sweden/ReutersThe man survived inside his car by eating snow. Doctors said he may have hibernated, like a bear.
A Swedish man who spent two months snowed inside his car as temperatures outside dropped to -30C is "awake and able to communicate", according to the hospital treating him, where stunned doctors believe he was kept alive by the "igloo effect" of his vehicle.

The man, believed to be Peter Skyllberg, 44, who was found near the north-eastern town of Umeå on Friday by passers-by, told police he had been in the car since 19 December without food, surviving only by eating snow and staying inside his warm clothes and sleeping bag.

Dr Ulf Segerberg, the chief medical officer at Noorland's University Hospital, said he had never seen a case like it. The man had probably been kept alive, he said, by the natural warming properties of his snowed-in car which would have acted as "the equivalent of an igloo".

"This man obviously had good clothes; he's had a sleeping bag and he's been in a car that's been snowed over," said Segerberg. "Igloos usually have a temperature of a couple of degrees below 0C and if you have good clothes you would survive in those temperatures and be able to preserve your body temperature. Obviously he has managed to preserve his body temperature or he wouldn't have made it because us humans can't really stand being cooled down like reptiles, for instance, which can change the body temperature."
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Igloo

All scientists and passengers to be taken off ship stuck in Antarctic Ice

Anthony Watts
WattsUpWithThat?
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
© Andrew Peacock/Australasian Antarctice Expedition/Reuters
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority's (AMSA) Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) was advised this morning by the Aurora Australis that the ship will not be able to reach the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.

The Aurora Australis advised RCC Australia it would be at risk of becoming beset by ice itself if it continued to make further rescue attempts.

The Aurora Australis made attempts yesterday to reach the MV Akademik Shokalskiy but was driven back into open waters due to adverse weather conditions such as winds up to 30 knots and snow showers resulting in poor visibility. The ship is currently located about 16 nautical miles east of the Russian vessel.

The helicopter on board the Chinese flagged vessel Xue Long will now be used to rescue the passengers from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.

This rescue will be a complex operation involving a number of steps and subject to factors such as weather.

The helicopter is unable to fly in the current weather conditions, and will hold off on the rescue until conditions improve. Weather conditions are unlikely to start improving until tomorrow and decisions related to carrying out the rescue may be made at short notice.
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Bizarro Earth

New island south of Tokyo grows to 8 times original size


Mainichi
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
© Intellasia
A new island formed from volcanic activity near Nishinoshima Island in the Ogasawara island chain south of Tokyo has expanded to around eight times its size at the time of its discovery last month, analysis revealed on Dec. 24.

The analysis was conducted by assistant professor Fukashi Maeno of the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo using photographs he took from the Mainichi Newspapers plane "Kibo" on Dec. 20. He estimated the volcanic crater on the island is as high as 50 meters above sea level.

Maeno estimates the island's area as of Dec. 20 at around 120,000 square meters. The island was around 450 meters long and wide. Around 2 million cubic meters of lava had erupted from it. Based on the manner in which the island was expanding, the daily eruption amount seems to be increasing.
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Arrow Down

50 meter-wide sinkhole suddenly opens up in Derbyshire, UK (VIDEO)


BBC
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 19:28 UTC
foolow sinkhole1

A large sinkhole has appeared in part of the Peak District in Derbyshire. The hole, which eye witnesses said measures about 160ft (49m) wide, has opened up in the village of Foolow.

Caver Mark Noble, 58, from Eyam, said he saw the hole during a walk on Christmas Day, but believes the land began to fall the day before. He said he has explored the caves at Foolow in the past as huge cavities were left in the area from an old lead mine.

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Bizarro Earth

Red alert as tropical cyclone strikes Western Australia's Pilbara coast


The New Zealand Herald
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 15:20 UTC
Cyclone Christine
© JMAResidents were hunkering down as an intensifying Tropical Cyclone Christine crossed into Western Australia.
Residents took shelter as Tropical Cyclone Christine approached Western Australia's Pilbara coast bringing destructive storms to the region.

A red alert has been issued for people in or near coastal areas between Pardoo and Mardie, including Port Hedland, South Hedland, Whim Creek, Roebourne, Point Samson, Wickham, Karratha and Dampier.

The Department for Child Protection and Family Support has set up a relocation point at the JD Hardie Centre in South Hedland, where about 85 people have sought shelter.

A yellow alert is current for people in inland areas, including Marble Bar, Tom Price, Paraburdoo and Pannawonica.

Authorities say there is a possible threat to lives and homes.

A blue alert remains for people in or near coastal areas between Bidyadanga and Pardoo, and between Mardie and Onslow, and the inland area from Marble Bar to Newman.

Cyclone Christine will continue to intensify and was expected to cross the coast between Karratha and Port Hedland today, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

Source: Australian Associated Press
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Snowflake Cold

"Climate Change" scientific crew on ice: The Antarctic 'research' fiasco

Anthony Watts
Wattsupwiththat.com
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
As we reported previously on WUWT here and here, the saga of the "climate scientists/tourists trapped in ice" continues to fascinate many. Now a second ship has given up on rescue, after the Chinese ship "Snow Dragon" gave up two days ago. The Aurora Australis has abandoned rescue of the trapped Russian "research"vessel in Antarctica and a helicopter evacuation in now being ordered. This episode has taken on a heightened comedic fiasco-like quality.

Now, with such a fantastic failure in full world view, questions are going to start being asked. For example, with advanced tools at their disposal (that Mawson never had) such as near real-time satellite imaging of Antarctic sea ice, GPS navigation, on-board Internet, radar, and satellite communications, one wonders how these folks managed to get themselves stuck at all. Was it simple incompetence of ignoring the signs and data at their disposal combined with "full steam ahead" fever? Even the captain of the Aurora Australis had the good sense to turn back knowing he'd reached the limits of the ship on his rescue attempt. Or, was it some sort of publicity stunt to draw attention? If it was the latter, it has backfired mightily.
Guardian_antarctica_media_stunt

Source: [ http://twitter.com/GdnAntarctica/status/412977161323036672 ]

One might argue that with photos like the one below, this whole "Spirit of Mawson" research expedition, is little more than a media stunt.
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Bizarro Earth

El Salvador begins evacuation after Chaparrastique volcano erupts for the first time in 37 years

Maria Tadeo
The Independent, UK
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 12:37 UTC
Chaparrastique volcano
© The Indepentdent, UKEl Salvador issues yellow alert as evacuation begins in San Miguel.
Authorities in El Salvador have started to evacuate the municipality of San Miguel after the Chaparrastique volcano erupted on Sunday, shooting a giant ash cloud into the sky.

The government has issued a yellow alert and is expected to evacuate families within 3 kilometers (approximately 2 miles) of the volcano to emergency shelters.

More than 5,000 people live near the volcano according to civil protection officials.

Civil defence director Jorge Melendez said: "We have implemented emergency measures to evacuate villages located within 3 kilometres of the volcano."

There were no immediate reports of serious injuries, although two people are being treated for respiratory problems.
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