Tuesday, December 10
2013
Great God. This is an
awful place.
I found myself upon the forecastle,
the terrible, gale-force wind, surely over 50 mph, mercilessly tore through my
raiment freezing me to the very core.
That’s the last time I leave my cabin without my coat on.
We are here in Antarctica ,
walking in the footprints of Douglas Mawson; our sacred mission to collect more
evidence, to prove once and for all, that Antarctic ice is melting at a
frightening rate. We will soon reach Commonwealth Bay
Our climate change models all continue to tell us, nay, they
continue to shout at us: that the
Antarctic ice is receding at an alarming rate! Soon we will be able to see our computer models validated. We will see for ourselves vast expanses of
open water. Where ice used to be.
Wednesday, December
11 2013
Faith is
sometimes the only thing we have when everything seems to have turned against
us. Douglas Mawson’s shipmates were men
of great faith. They needed that faith
to stay strong, to believe in what they knew to be true despite what their
senses told them. That unshakable faith
was the one thing that kept them going, that gave them strength when they needed it,
when it seemed impossible to take another step.
Well, let me say something right now. Everyone on this
expedition, every single person, has every bit as much faith as anyone on
Mawson’s team!
And all of that faith is surely being put to the test
because, quite simply, the impossible has happened. The unimaginable.
We are actually stuck in ice. We are surrounded by miles and
miles of six foot deep ice. Our ship
can’t move an inch. It’s impossible for
ice to be here. It wasn’t here 100 years
ago. And after 100 years of man made
global warming there’s no way ice can be here now. It just can’t. Every single computer model says the same
thing. The ice has melted.
Faith.
Like Mawson, my faith is unshakable. My faith in our computer models is based on
science. Science! And 97% of climate
scientists will say the same thing. There
can’t be ice here. The models can’t all
be wrong.
I believe it’s only a matter of time until all this ice melts
and we’re back in open water. Probably a
couple of days at the most. Maybe a
week. We’ll wait here as long as we have to. Mark my words. Our faith will be
vindicated. The ice will melt.
Sunday, December 15
2013
The ice hasn’t melted.
We remain stuck.
But in the midst of such incredible bad fortune every single
person on this ship has shown incredible resilience and remarkable strength of
will. Despite our predicament we have
all kept busy and used our time as productively as possible. Morale is high.
Since this is a scientific expedition I have been giving
daily lectures. My 1:00 pm talk today on
“Surface Meltwater” was sparsely attended, however. Most on board have wisely used our
unfortunate circumstances to catch up on much needed sleep. Taking note of this, starting tomorrow, I’ll
move the lecture start time to 3:00 pm..
Hicksby, in truth, was the only attendee today and after initially enthusiastically
engaging with me, he, too, succumbed to the too-early start and was unable to
remain awake.
Myers, Shelton ,
Rigolsby, Turner and some others showing tremendous initiative and
resourcefulness spent many hours outside today constructing igloos and also an
ice-slide! I can only shake my head in amazement at their skill. Luckily I was able to dash outside and have a
video taken of me on the ingenious ice slide and I quickly posted the video on
Facebook and was elated to quickly garner several “likes”.
But, on the darker side, today also provided a sobering test
of my leadership position. Smedley and
Crothers led a very angry group of eight and forced their way into my
cabin. These people were not very happy
and they loudly demanded that the 6:00 opening time for the bar be eliminated
and that the bar be kept open all day.
Outrageous! In no uncertain
terms, I firmly advised the group that this was certainly not going to happen and that the earliest, the absolutely earliest,
that I would permit the bar to open would be noon.
Tuesday, December 17 2013
The gods have truly smiled upon us. After days of lifeless desolation we have
been visited by a magnificent rookery of curious Adelie penguins! Oh joy.
We were all instantly off the ship and began taking picture
after picture. It’s intensely gratifying
to imagine the important contribution these photographs will make to the
scientific record. Adelie penguins in
their natural habitat! Hastings beat all of us and was the first to
tweet one of these priceless photographic records! Seeing an Adelie penguin in a zoo is one
thing. But for someone to see a picture
of an actual Adelie penguin while actually still in Antarctica ??
Words fail me.
It was amazing to see how these noble Monarchs of the Antarctic
would come right up to us as if to welcome us to their kingdom! Humbling to
imagine that we are the first humans these majestic creatures have ever
encountered.
And then it was the turn of the marine biologists to go to
work.
First it was feather samples. Skin samples.
And even blubber samples. Who
knows what vital contributions to science these samples would one day
provide? The penguins seemed only too
happy to give us whatever we needed.
It took a while but Hopkins
was able to attach a tag and transmitter to dozens of our new friends. And a few were even outfitted with cameras on
both their front and back. It was an
amazing sight to see a penguin bravely waddle off whilst laden down with all
this new gear attached to him. He has no
idea what an important little fellow he is!!
Something must have spooked the penguins. I wonder what it was.
Saturday, December 21
2013
There have already been so many parallels on this trip with
the challenges faced by the early explorers such as Shackleton and, of course,
Mawson. But nothing could have prepared
us for the sheer emotional intensity many of us felt today. Some couldn’t help
but break down in paroxysms of sobbing.
I knew this expedition would affect all of us in unknown ways but it
definitely restores your faith in your fellow man - and woman - to experience
real emotions at the sheer power wrought by this continent! Will explain shortly.
Today was the day we walked in the very footprints of Mawson
and his doomed companions.
As we all got onto our amphibious all terrain vehicles, we
carefully double checked the gear. Antarctica is the most unforgiving place on the
planet. Forgetting to pack some essential
supply could mean death. The trip to
Mawson’s hut could take as long as three hours.
If our Argos
broke down we would not have the option of eating sled dog’s like Mawson was
able to do. We had to rely only on what
we could carry. Ice coring equipment,
satellite phones, GPS, penguin survey equipment, medical supplies, sleeping
bags, thermal blankets, pillow, propane heater, food, Dutch oven, emergency
kit, flares, tent, porta-potty, bottled water, recycling containers, hand
wipes. The Argo was fully loaded but I
was still able to climb aboard,
It was a frigid minus six degrees Celsius when we finally
made it to Mawson’s cabin. Hard to
believe he was able to survive so long here! I couldn’t help but think he
should have made the place bigger.
We took pictures in front of the hut, quickly tweeted
them, and began our journey back. We
were all starting to get a little cold and a little hungry. Tonight the kitchen staff was planning
roasted lamb with mint jelly topped off with a Lamington. We wanted to get back before it was all gone.
But our day held one
more incredible, albeit heartbreaking, surprise for us.
Shortly after passing the exact spot where one of Mawson’s
men had tragically fell into a crevasse to his death we were startled by loud
cracking sounds! Astounding! Directly in
front of us we were observing huge chunks of ice calving off of a glacier. We moved in closer. Oh no.
The glacier was directly adjacent to a penguin nesting ground! Hundreds.
Thousands of penguins. And even
worse. Penguin eggs! penguin eggs were being threatened by the huge chunks of
ice. Penguins frantically waddled away
to safety. But the eggs! The eggs.
We had to save the eggs. Smathers
heroically dove in front of a falling chunk of ice and absorbed the full impact
but managed to protect several of the precious eggs. I quickly tweeted a picture.
Ice chunks continued to fall but, thank Providence !, out of the hundreds of penguin
eggs, perhaps only twenty or thirty fell victim to Mother Natures fury. Some of us became overcome with emotion as we
collected the broken shells. It was so
unfair. Why should these innocent
penguin eggs perish because we as a species have not yet done everything
possible to stop global warming? Melting glaciers destroying penguin eggs! The
guilt, and yes, even rage overwhelmed us.
Smathers was inconsolable. His
cries of agony could be heard for miles.
Tonight’s summer solstice ceremony that we were all looking
forward to has just taken on an even deeper meaning. These penguin eggs, these unborn chicks, will
never be forgotten!
Wednesday, December
25 2013
Drat and confound it! The bad luck we have encountered
staggers the mind!
My studies have finally revealed the reasons for this
completely inexplicable presence of sea ice. We are all quite right and have been right all
along: the ice should not be here. No
doubt about that. But due to the unanticipated confluence of several factors –
the pervasive deep low pressure systems, 50 mph winds, the funnelling effect
from the ice sheet – we are experiencing a once in a century reconfiguration of
thick multi-year sea ice! No one could
have guessed this could happen.
I have just received vital satellite images that confirms
what I have been suspecting all along. A
large iceberg known as B09B, calved from the continent and collided in
spectacular fashion with the extended tongue of the Mertz Glacier (of all the
confounded luck!). The resulting
knock-on effect has filled Commonwealth
Bay and completely surrounded us
Can you believe the luck?
The very time we come to Antarctica
totally expecting open waters and what goes and happens? The loss of the Mertz Glacier tongue causes a
massive reconfiguration of sea ice! Mother
Gaia has played quite a trick on us. We
are completely and hopelessly stuck.
I have, therefore, sent out an SOS.
Friday, December 27
2013
Three different ice breakers are slowly but surely making
their ways toward us.
Despite the incredibly adverse conditions, morale remains incredibly high.
But as conditions deteriorate will we be able to cope?
Wednesday, January 1
2014
The situation is very bleak indeed. Half of us are too weak to even get out of
bed, Peacock doing the best he can with the meagre supplies at his
disposal. Oates unable even to open his
eyes. Bowers continues to vomit
uncontrollably. Wilson
lies completely motionless, the slightest sound causing him unspeakable
pain. I found Evans unconscious outside
his cabin, he unable to summon the strength even to reach shelter. Dear Lord.
Had I only known that such wide spread suffering could have been
prevented! By God! Mark my words! Next year’s New Years Eve party will have
strict limits on alcohol consumption.
Friday, January 3
2014
I am trying to see the silver lining. But it’s difficult.
Helicopters are on the way and we will soon be airlifted
to safety. The immediate danger is
over. The helicopter ride should be fun.
And I hope I can get a picture of me in
the helicopter for my Facebook page.
But I can’t deny that some real damage has occurred. The plight of our expedition has become well
known to the entire world and right on cue all of the denialist bloggers out
there are having great sport with our predicament.
And no matter how many times I try to explain that we are
not trapped in new ice, that we are trapped in OLD ICE, they refuse to listen. The satellite images prove it beyond a
doubt. And I have ice cores galore to
show them. In fact, one ice core is eight feet
long. What more proof do you need? I just hope I can get it on the helicopter.
This is always the problem dealing with climate change deniers. No matter how much you explain. No matter how much proof you provide. IT’S NEVER ENOUGH!!
We are not trapped in NEW ice! None of this is our fault. The computer models are all perfectly correct.
Why can’t they understand about the iceberg
colliding with the Mertz glacier tongue? Don’t they know that sometimes old ice can
reconfigure?
This is what I’m always faced with. I’m sick of it. The planet continues to get warmer. End of story. So we got stuck in the ice. Big deal. If anything, our expedition is even more proof that the Earth is getting warmer. Why won't the denialists listen? I've done all I can. I can’t deal with these idiots anymore.
