Arctic Research Crew’s Supply Ship Hindered By Dense Ice
Lately, we’ve been hearing reports of how Arctic sea ice has (unexpectedly) reached normal levels this winter.
This is a bit of good news that the media avoids mentioning.
But the resurgence of Arctic ice has hardly been good news for global warming alarmists, and especially for the 300 crew members of German high-tech research vessel Polarstern of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), now currently on an expedition in the mid-Arctic.
Yesterday NDR German public broadcasting reported that it appears the Polarstern’s crew will have to sit tight for a while longer because a Russian ice breaker for exchanging the crew has had too much difficulty breaking its way through the ice to the research vessel.
The sea ice is thicker than anticipated.
The NDR reports:
“There are problems with the Arctic expedition of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven. The crew on the research vessel ‘Polarstern’ have to stay on-site longer than expected.”
“Dense ice”
The problem is that the Russian supply icebreaker became bogged in “the dense sea ice of the Arctic” and now “is making little progress.” The ice has been too thick for the Russian ice breaker to make its way as planned.
The Polarstern research vessel of the AWI MOSAiC expedition departed mainland Europe last September and has since lodged itself in the middle of the Arctic ice through the winter as part of an Arctic research expedition.
It will return back to its home-port of Bremerhaven in early October of this year.
The “MOSAiC” expedition is one of the largest Arctic expeditions ever with scientists from 20 nations studying “the climate processes of the central Arctic.”
The crew of 300 on board the Polarstern is supplied and exchanged at about every three months by “an international fleet of icebreakers, helicopters, and aircraft,” Radio Bremen reported.
Thick ice caused the breaker to run out of fuel
Just recently Russian supply ice breaker “Captain Dranitsyn” was headed over to carry out a scheduled “crew exchange” but ended up consuming too much fuel trying to break through the “up to 160 centimeters thick” sea ice, Radio Bremen reported.
Now the supply icebreaker “no longer has enough fuel for the return trip because of the high energy consumption in the ice.”
There were “few open or thin spots,” one official explained.
“According to a spokesperson, the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven is now looking for solutions, and several options already prepared for such situations are being examined,” writes Radio Bremen.
The cost of the Polarstern MOSAiC expedition is 160 million euros.
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Andy Rowlands
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This is the fourth expedition to the Arctic that has got stuck in ice. The other three were during last summer.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi Andy and Others,
This is a great research effort and one can follow it day by day at (https://follow.mosaic-expedition.org/). I plan to write a post with my commentary because a fact is the Polar Stern, the icebreaker frozen in an ice floe is only at the eastern portion of the Arctic Ocean and much of the ice covered ocean is to the west as the ship seems to have reached its nearest approach to the North Pole and is now moving away from it..
So, relative to my series of how prehistoric glaciers could have been formed it will provide no information about what is occurring in the larger western portion which is totally ice covered at this time.
But, if one is really interested in SCIENCE, this a actual chance to observe it.
Have a good day, Jerry
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Andy Rowlands
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Hi Jerry, yes please do write your commentary on the mission.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi Andy,
March 2 you wrote” “Hi Jerry, yes please do write your commentary on the mission.”
I have since written a few comments about this continuing scientific preject. But there is no evidence that you or anyone else has any comments about what is being done on this project. But it getting more interesting for these scientists as the thick ice is to break apart more and more and making it it impossible to reach some the experimental sites except by helicopter.
As I have stated: these naturalists are learning what it actually is to be a naturalist who observes and measures instead of sitting in an office with a computer.
Have a good day, Jerry
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Jerry Krause
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Hi Andy,
Thanks for the encouragement. And before I read this encouragement I had decided to make these comments as comment here. For while we at PSI have just been alerted about about this massive research project, it has been going for 5 months and what I had already reviewed will never to made part of any research report beyond what can be read to the link I gave you. And I urge you and others to look at what has been pictured and described for 165 days, about which I will be begin pointing to in about an hour. For in Science is a competitive game and the early bird gets the worm. So Andy, I will wait an hour, before starting to compose my comments to give you opportunity to spend the hour studying what I have studied for about an hour. But a truth is that regardless who gets the worm, we all benefit when we learn what really is instead of what we might think it is.
Have a good day, Jerry
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Jerry Krause
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Hi Andy,
First I direct you attention to Day 1 of the project and the map which shows the extent of ice at September 1 or 2 as observed from satellite at this time. For I finally saw that this extent of ice does not change until October 2, etc.
And I have read that the area of the extent of the ice becomes become a maximum a little before the spring equinox but this area does not significantly begin to melt back until mid-May as the daytimes become longer in all parts of the Arctic Circles and incident upon the surface at a more direct angle.
The next thing which must be noticed is that the area of the ice is never centered on the North Pole as the Earth revolves about it axis. Hence, at the beginning of September we see that the ice is forced against the North Coast of Greenland and against the islands (plus shallow waters) of the Canadian Archipelago by the centrifugal effect of the Earth’s rotation.
Next focus on the expansion of ice area that has occurred between Sept. 2 (Oct. 1) and Oct. 2. Which is also the approximate date that the Polarstern begins to drift with the ice. almost directly toward the North Coast of Greenland.
Next, at Nov. 2 we can see how of the area of ice has increases south ward to the North Coast of Russia , south ward into the Canadian Archipelago and westward along the coast of North America.
But most interesting is how the drift toward Greenland begins to do ‘tricks’ between Nov. 2 and Dec. 5. Now these scientists clearly have something which I would consider quite challenging to explain. And there is what I consider a very interesting comment on Nov 3. For ROV City had drifted away a few days earlier. Obviously the ice is not a continuous and there is open water which freeze over quickly as the wind chill was -40C the previous day. And on Dec. 6 I read the remark that the colder temperatures cause the ‘leads and cracks to freeze quickly’
There is a lot of interesting stuff to read and sea. But i stop here as I am tried of typing. Hopefully what I have written will encourage others to take a look!
Have a good day, Jerry.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi You PSI Commentaters,
You can be part of ‘real’ SCIENCE and you are basically silent. You are not even asking questions. These scientists which are part of this Arctic project are doing their science outdoors when the air temperature is -40C and the chill factor maybe 20C lower. Have any of you ever experienced -40C with the wind blowing? I haven’t but I have experienced -40C without the wind blowing and it is cold and exposed flesh will soon turn ‘white’ (frozen).
One day they reported the presence of an Arctic white fox near the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Which they concluded on been chewing on the insulation of wires so some instruments were shorting out. What was not asked in their report was: What was the fox eating beside insulation? I must conclude there is other natural life on the Arctic ice for the fox to eat. Then the question becomes: What is this other Arctic life eating? And I have no clue.
I read that one scientist has some instrument to measure the presence of methane. I have to ask: From where is the methane in the middle of the Arctic ocean naturally coming. Richard Cronin (https://principia-scientific.com/climate-change-earths-internal-heat-flux-and-localized-hot-spots/) has an idea but I have not yet gotten him to share his ideas here so readers might see the connection between what these scientists are doing and the ideas of others.
John O’Sullivan believes readers come to PSI to learn about science. Given the lack of comments about this science project, I’m not so sure.
Have a good day, Jerry
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Readers,
This was just reported (https://follow.mosaic-expedition.org/): “The on-site measurements already have demonstrated that the 1 cm snow layer provided a temperature difference of 7C, showing just how insulative snow can be.” March 18, 2020.
These scientists had to go to the Arctic Ocean during the winter season to learn this????
I expect that many of these scientists, who computer model, are learning for the first time what actual SCIENCE is about: OBSERVATION AND MEASUREMENT
Have a good day, Jerry
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Jerry Krause
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Hi JD Huffman,
Been pondering how this 7C temperature difference was actually measured? I know I would have a laid a temperature diode or two on the ice and waited until it was covered by falling or blowing snow. Measured the surface temperature of the snow with an inexpensive IR thermometer like yours or mine and recorded the temperature (s) of the diode(s). Then measured the depth of the undisturbed snow right over the diode.
Have no idea what was actually done.
Have a good day, Jerry
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Readers,
One thing I have found quite interesting is that the extent of Arctic ice, as viewed from some satellite is shown to change from the 1st a month to the 2nd of the month. Hence, the area which froze during Sept. to Oct. 2 can be be immediately compared by clicking between Oct 1 and 2. And the same goes for each of the later months.
And I want anyone looking at this to make sure where the ice is shoved against land at the beginning of September. For I consider this to be significant fact. I know that anyone who Knows even a little more about accessing these daily satellite reports of the extent of ice could look back at previous years’ data for Sept 2 to so if the location of the ice area is consistently at this location. For it is easy to imagine why (how) this should be a consistent location for the ice. And if it isn’t that is even more critically important information. So, I hope someone might check this out for us.
Have a good day, Jerry
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Christopher Marshall
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Jerry,
I am no expert but wouldn’t strong winds common from one direction push looser ice to one shore until the ice became thicker and froze? Thus it would look like one side is freezing faster than the other areas, but it is a visual deception.
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