Antarctic ice breaker Aurora Australis

[DonavonP]

If you're interested in the progress of freeing the Russian ship stuck in the ice in Antarctica, you can watch the slow progress on the Aurora's webcam.

Aurora Australis – ship webcam — Australian Antarctic Division It only works for me using Internet Explorer. The pictures update every 30 minutes.

If you use Twitter, there's a gentleman Victor Cauchi@tightorbit that gives updates and fairly accurate estimations on how it's going.

There are all sorts of other accounts too but they would be violating IRV2 political rules.

As of this posting, the ice breaker Aurora A is about 4 nautical miles from the Chinese Xue Long (aka Snow Dragon).

If anybody knows where the Russian ship is in relation to these two ice breakers, please post.

Please post any other links that would be interesting. Thanks.

[Caveman CBB]

Wow, they have web cams on everything now. Interesting to see

[Hooligan]

News dated tomorrow but actually from yesterday:..Second icebreaker attempts to free ship stuck off Antarctica | South China Morning Post

A CNN report said they will remove the people by helicopter when weather permits in a day or two.
In preparation, crew members of the Akademik Shokalskiy have marked a spot on the ice where the helicopter can land, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.
The helicopter, which can transport 12 people each trip, will take the ship's 52 passengers -- who include the research team and journalists -- to the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long. An Australian icebreaker, which tried unsuccessfully to reach the research vessel, will send a barge to pick them up.
The 22 crew members of the Akademik Shokalskiy will stay aboard, the maritime agency said.

Another option is to just wait for conditions to "change"

[rvjimmy]

I wonder who is paying for all this. Sure would be interesting. Jim

[DonavonP]

Latest report from the Australian government:

http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documen...ia_Release.pdf

[Hooligan]

The Coast Guard has an Icebreaker enroute to Antarctica, but not in relation to the stranded ship. It's main mission is resupply at McMurdo. I think the USCG only has one operational Polar icebreaker now. The Polar class breakers are our largest non-nuclear vessels.
Coast Guard Icebreaker Deploys to Antarctica | Military.com

On a different note, some 104 year old Scotch has been returned to Antarctica. "To be re-buried in the ice"
Explorer's Rare Scotch Returned to Antarctic Stash | Military.com

[DonavonP]

Antarctic rescue mission: helicopter evacuation to the Aurora Australis - video | World news | theguardian.com

The Aurora Australis is currently traveling through heavy ice at .25 nautical miles per hour.

The cost of this mission is in the millions of dollars so far.

[Hooligan]

News this morning is that the Chinese icebreaker is also stuck fast in the ice. Apparently while sitting still for the last few days the ice has closed around the ship.
Having to "winter over" was always a concern with the Coast Guard Icebreakers. They made annual missions to Antarctica to keep the re-supply lanes open. Of course now is actually the summer season there. Getting stuck at the end of the season can be a disaster...dark, cold, windy

Our Polar class breakers are designed to break through 6.5 foot thick ice at a steady 3 knots or by using the 60,000 horsepower gas turbines break up to 21 foot thick ice by ramming. I have no idea of the capability of the breakers that are on scene. However it is hard to ram when you are stuck fast......

[99-Am.Star]

And all this was a scientific group trying to prove global warming.......Wonder what they learned from this?

[MattC]

Originally Posted by 99-Am.Star

And all this was a scientific group trying to prove global warming.......Wonder what they learned from this?

Careful, some would call that political.... http://www.irv2.com/forums/images/smilies/mad.gif

Matt C.

[DonavonP]

http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documen...romtasking.pdf

Aurora Australis has been released and going to Casey to resume unloading equipment to some really po'd researchers at the Casey research station.

There wasn't a weather forecaster on the Russian ship and they actually reached out to a US weather company for assistance.

I don't know what the climate tourists discovered but the penguins found the humans to be a peculiar lot with undesirable idiosyncrasies.

[palehorse89]

Check out this behemoth rig.....Ice up to 9' thick!

Russian Nuclear Icebreakers - YouTube

[DonavonP]

http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documen..._PolarStar.pdf

[Hooligan]

Semper Paratus