Antarctic Pleasure Cruise
A letter published by Chris Turney in the journal Nature under the title “This was no Antarctic pleasure cruise” tries to defend the scientific basis of the expedition and its abandonment. He is talking about the “The Spirit of Mawson,” the “Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 2013-2014.”
What happened?
Purpose
Margot O’Neill, reporter with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, interviewed the expedition leader and filed a transcript on Nov. 25. 2013. The headline says “Professor Chris Turney from the University of New South Wales is mounting the largest Australian science expedition to the Antarctic with an 85-person team to try to answer questions about how climate change in the frozen continent might be already shifting weather patterns in Australia.”
Turney himself describes the purpose of the study as “The aim was to study various aspects of this vast, remote region to better understand its role in the Earth system, and communicate these results directly to the public.”
Cruise Plan
The official expedition web site of the expedition lists a complement of altogether 49 scientists, students, and media representatives; with the following breakdown:
LEADERS: C. Turney (leader), C. Fogwill (co-leader), and G. Mortimer (co-leader).
SCIENCE TEAM: Altogether 24 scientists from the following institutions: University of New South Wales, The Blue Penguin Trust, Exeter University (UK), Google Australia & New Zealand, Landcare Research (NZ), University of Wollongong, Sydney Institute of Marine Science, University of Victoria, University of Waikato (NZ), The South Australian Museum, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Western Australian Museum.
Included in the list above is Annette Turney, wife of Chris Turney, whose contribution to the expedition is described as “Annette will be coordinating the development of educational materials for schools.”
Ph.D. STUDENTS: Altogether 18 people.
MEDIA: Five media persons, namely from University of New South Wales (1 person, shore based), Radio New Zealand (1 person), Guardian Newspaper, London (2 persons), and the BBC (1 person).
SUPPORTERS: The web site lists a total of 20 university, government, and private entities as supporters. However, it is unstated as to how many people, if any, from that group were on board or what their functions may have been, other than going along for the ride.
The Turneys’ two children Cara and Robert were also along to help blog, Tweet and broadcast about the experience for schools around the world. For example, Cara posted the following on Dec. 18: “After zipping across the bay on the zodiac, we landed on the ice, finding ourselves surrounded by Adele penguins jumping out from the water. Milling around our feet, they staggered and slid like drunken ice skaters. We set up two camps amidst the penguins; the first a replica of Mawson’s original tent and supplies…”
Explanation
In his communication Turney stated “For the past six weeks on board the Russian icebreaker MV Akademik Shokalskiy, my colleague Chris Fogwill and I have led a team of scientists, science communicators and volunteers on a voyage from the New Zealand subantarctic islands to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.” Further on it reads “What went wrong for the [expedition ship] Shokalskiy? Contrary to some reports, the ship was not frozen in, but was pinned by remobilized sea ice that had been blown by fierce winds.”
Plight
Imagine a number scientists from different universities planning a joint study for two years, having it all approved, sanctioned, and funded by government agencies in two countries and a few weeks after departure abandoning the study because they were “pinned” by sea ice for a few days. Internet chatter at the time was about running out of beer soon.
The ship was in no danger of being squished by the ice, did not sustain any damage, had many weeks food supply, constant satellite communication with the rest of the world and nobody on board needed to be “rescued” from anything but possible boredom. They did not even need to set out across the ice to find some penguins to study; curious penguins came to visit them quite voluntarily.
Nevertheless, of the complement of some 50 scientists, science communicators, volunteers, and possibly a few genuine tourists, all were “rescued” by helicopter and transferred to another vessel. The Shokalskiy’s crew remained on board to wait for a change in the wind to get “un-pinned” from the ice. Of course, it’s summer in Antarctica and they ought not to have to wait long for that.
My View
Now, a few days after everyone in need, perceived or real, has been taken care of and the media attention has waned, perhaps it’s time for an independent view.
Despite claims to the contrary, this cruise was not designed nor hoped to be just a scientific expedition in the traditional sense with some novel hard data as the output. There definitely was an expectation of great news coming out of it, possibly related to Turney’s pet theme of “parts of the East Antarctic being highly susceptible to melting and collapse from ocean warming.”
While there may not have been an expectation of a pleasure trip a la first class style on the Queen Mary, I’d hazard the guess that at least some members of the official complement expected it to be the next best thing. More importantly though, it is difficult to combine a scientific expedition with great media expectations, even under the best of circumstances. No “Lesson Plans” were published though indicated on the expedition website.
On balance, it would appear this endeavor was not thought of as a scientific expedition but rather as a publicity affair and pleasurable cruise from the outset.
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Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser is author of CONVENIENT MYTHS, the green revolution – perceptions, politics, and facts
convenientmyths.com
Dr. Kaiser can be reached at: [email protected]
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