TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums World Wide Travel Scientists and tourists stuck in Antarctic ice

Some serious irony here.

It seems that a number of global warming scientists and tourists are stuck in unexpected sea-ice near Antarctica - IN SUMMER. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" />

Professor Chris Turney, the expedition's leader, is a scientist and entrepreneur. Dr. Turney started and directs a company called Carbonscape which specializes in carbon sequestration.

While they are putting on a good face, their situation is perilous. The ship could be crushed according to what I'm reading, and several rescue attempts have failed because of 4-meter thick ice. Unprecedented ice at this time of year.

I pray for the safety of the rescuers and those in peril.

While I wish a fast rescue for these scientist
Back to greenhouse gasses it really surprised me when they basically made Freon (R12) gas illegal to use in America on AIr Conditioners, Fridges Etc and put a tax on this Very efficient product so they could put in its place a more dangerous gas that had to be processed so it wouldn't explode ( and the politicians had an investment in it)
So Freon which
used to sell for $40.00 for a 30 pound container was raised to $350.00
Now the vile horrible Freon was basically pulled off the market in the USA.
Yet is still sold and legal around the world and can still be bought (2005) in St Maarten for $40.00

They are reporting now that the tourists have been rescued but the crew has remained onboard, as they hope to continue the expedition. Glad they were rescued.

As for the global warming implications, this is not a topic which will be discussed here in detail, as it is too politically charged.

Thanks Carol. Yes, I will not delve into the politics surround this incendiary issue. It was not my intent here.

I don't think that the objectives of the expedition can be met with the climate scientists all gone. The crew that remains there is to run the ship.

I also read that the crew is staying on-board in hopes that the ice will break up and that they can free their ship.

Though Antarctic sea-ice is running more than 2-sigmas above normal, there's a lot of summer melting left, and maybe they will get lucky and get the ship free. If they get unlucky it could remain stuck and then get crushed / sunk in Antarctic winter ice. Plus another rescue would then be required. Ugh.

I've have often dreamed of going to the Antarctic. In 1960-61 my father spent a year there as part of the US Navy's Operation Deep Freeze expedition. He has a ton of stories from those days. This is the reason I have a keen interest in what's going on there.

Oh, sorry, I didn't read the story closely enough, with regard to the scientists being gone also. The political slant that I was referring to was sail445's post.

Carol I was under the impression from some of the news articles that the scientist were in Antarctica to study the effects of global warming.
So I decided to throw in a tidbit about how politics played a part in it and the economy.
TTOL is strictly travel related and politics don't mix with travel.
Have a Happy New Year.

Twanger, your dad must have some real interesting stories.
I just looked at the website gdargaud.net