Hot climate news from the Bali bloggers

The Ice Report: Out of Petermann, into the Basin

2009-07-17T13:13:32Z

The Ice Report: Out of Petermann, into the Basin
The Arctic Sunrise has departed Petermann Glacier. I'm writing this blog from tranquil Kane Basin, 80 nautical miles (148 km) south of the fjord where we spent the last two weeks. Texas, the Radio Operator, just looked out at the near mirror world surrounding the ship, exclaiming, "well, that's pretty freakin' close to spectacular!"

We hightailed it south on Wednesday, to evade getting closed in by a wave of tough, thick, sea ice coming down from the Lincoln Sea.

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when we made it up to through Robeson Channel, and stopped at the ice edge, 445 nautical miles (824 km) from the North Pole? That's where our friend, the polar bear happened by.

After inexplicably remaining intact for 16 months, this ice has now broken up and is drifting south, five or six weeks earlier than would annually happen in a normal season. While this is odd behaviour, so is the fact that ice in the Nares Strait did not consolidate last winter. This is a first in 32 years of official records, and doesn't seem to be matched by the intermittent historical accounts from two hundred years of expeditions to this area. While it appears to be evidence of a changing climate, we can't be sure what the cause is, but something funny is going on.

Earlier, I was looking over Arne and Melanie's shoulders at yesterday's MODIS satellite pictures– you can see the ice has now drawn level with the mouth of Petermann Fjord. It was these images that gave us the early warning to get out yesterday morning, just in time, but not before Jason, Alun and Martin spotted four pods of Narwhals from the helicopter. Narwhals – the marine unicorns of old, are those strange smallish whales, famous for their distinctive spiraling tusk. Only the males have the tusk, which is actually an overgrown left tooth.

"But what about the ice", I hear you ask. "Aren't you folks floating about in an icebreaker? Should you be able to cut through sea ice like a hot knife through butter?"

Yes, the Arctic Sunrise is an icebreaker, but having a ship like this doesn't give us a free licence to go ploughing through any bit of sea ice we fancy. We can't just slide through the ice – the ship has to push and crack its way through. Even a skilled ice navigator like Arne tells me "that's it's my job to keep us out of the ice, to stop us getting stuck. Getting through lots of multi-year, several-metre-thick sea ice like the stuff coming down from the Lincoln Sea would take a lot of time to get through – maybe even a week, and would use a lot of fuel".

Last night we hit some one-year fast ice in Kane Basin; Arne was in his element, on the bridge, wiggling the Arctic Sunrise through the difficult. In the distance, an amorphous brown lump on the ice ahead gradually turned into four walrus; they took one look at us, before tumbling into the water and vanishing.

Kane Basin came at the end of a beautiful day's sail down the Nares Strait, passing Hans, Franklin and Crozier Islands. The heat of the day – up to 7 degrees Celcius - created heat inversions, so we could see mirages distorting the coastlines of Greenland and Ellesmere Island. About 8pm, after turning east into the basin, we passed through a mindboggling gallery of icebergs on our starboard side. To port was a haunting coastal landscape, of limestone cliffs and landslides looking like a mixture between Monument Valley and a gravel quarry.

We're now anchored near the mouth of Cass Fjord, below the Tailenguak Cliffs in Nygaard Bay. The ship is beside a small iceberg that looks, when doubled by its mirror images, like an ancient axehead. Off to our south east lies the 100km wide Humboldt Glacier.

Now that we're here, we'll be continuing to monitor Petermann Glacier through our "early warning" GPS and by regular cross-country helicopter flights to check on the time-lapse cameras. Petermann Glacier flows from southeast to northwest – so to reach the glacier interior From Kane Basin is a much shorter cross-country flight than it is a sea voyage.

This ensures we'll be prepared to get close to the 100 sq km ice island as it actually starts to break off. That area of ice would contain about enough ice to keep New York in fresh water for two whole years. Already this week, a three-square kilometre chunk broke off Peterman, splitting into fragments before edging out towards the mouth of the fjord. But this is still small fry compared to the big break up we expect.

- Dave

Some Notes:
Ice Bridge: In this context, an ‘ice bridge' is a curved line of sea ice that holds back the ice pack from open water. Due to support from the combined pressure of the surrounding ice pack, it maintains its structure. When viewed from above, it is reminiscent of the keystones of a bridge.

The Arctic Sunrise was at Petermann Glacier at approx 81 deg 11' north, 61 deg 50' west since early July

The Arctic Sunrise's position is 80 degrees 02' North, 65 degrees 50' west, in Nygaard Bay, below the Tailenguak Cliffs, near Cass Fjord in Kane Basin, Greenland

Farthest north reached by Arctic Sunrise on June 29th 2009: Latitude 82 deg 34' north, longitude 61 deg 13' west.

Posted via email from Dave's posterous

Something afoot in the Arctic

2009-07-15T12:25:23Z

By Eric Philips, Australian polar explorer, currently acting safety guide on board the Arctic Sunrise. This entry also appeared on CNN.com

I'm writing this blog from Peterman Glacier in northwest Greenland, where a cold katabatic wind is blowing off the ice onto the deck of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. The ship is here on a scientific research mission and to document the effects of climate warming on the world’s largest island and second largest icecap. I’m on board as the expedition safety guide, which means making sure that everyone venturing off the ship is well-equipped and well-informed for dealing with conditions in the harsh and remote Arctic wilderness.
While it's exciting to work beside world-class scientists such as ice-sheet climatologist Jason Box, glaciologist Alun Hubbard and geophysicist Richard Bates, it's equally disheartening to be here bearing witness to the catastrophic events they record.

Blue River

2009-07-15T07:06:01Z

[Nick Cobbing is the photographer on board the Arctic Sunrise, here at Petermann Glacier. You may be used to seeing his name underneath Greenpeace photographs, but here he adds some words to his photographs, to describe the audacious challenge taken by some of our colleagues – to kayak 25km down a meltwater river glacier. Perhaps it's not as crazy at seems – the floating ice of Petermann Glacier is horizontal enough that lazy blue rivers can meander along it, eventually ending in raucous whirlpools as described in earlier blogs. The kayakers' pullout zone was well before the maelstrom.

Of course, the scientists Jason, Alun and Richard, along with polar explorer Eric and ship's Radio Operator Texas did this mini paddling expedition in the name of science – connecting all four kayaks was the long antennae of an elaborate ice-penetrating radar system. It's Alun's baby, and he wanted to use it to survey a long section of the glacier, to gain knowledge on the ice thickness, melt-rates and the eventual breakup of Petermann Glacier. The trip was a success, and they're planning on repeating it on a different river, to get further data. Now let's see what Nick has to say - Dave]

The day before, I must admit that I did think it was a crackpot scheme, concocted so that the guys could get out there on that water - and looking at those deep ultra-blue channels winding their way through the glacier ice, who wouldn't want to, well... Kayak in them! These ravines had it all: sweeping bends, majestic mountains towering one-kilometre high and Petermann Glacier itself, seemingly infinite to the eye. To say this landscape is vast and other-worldly, doesn't even begin to describe it; I would have to refer you to the photographs which accompany this blog entry and perhaps the many more that I have had the pleasure to make during two weeks spent in this captivating place.

Battling Climate Change from the Pacific

2009-07-13T09:23:10Z

Seni, from our Pacific team, sends this blog entry from the Esperanza. The Espy is currently on tour in the Cook Islands to document climate impacts.

© Greenpeace / Alcock

I left Pukapuka yesterday with a tinge of sadness, fond memories and a personal resolve in my commitment to do what I can to raise the tempo on climate change so that lives, like those in Pukapuka and other Pacific communities can fulfill their potential and take control of their destinies.

The end to an intense three days

2009-07-10T16:47:49Z

All our activists are safely down from the smokestacks and coal conveyor belts now. Here's a final entry from Julien - our trusty climate campaigner/ blogger.

Here at the top of Brindisi coal-fired power plant, we're gathering our things together to come down. By the time we get to ground, we'll have occupied this power station for more than 60 hours. As the G8 wraps up, we're not going to be left behind. As the so-called "leaders" of the G8 and MEF meetings travel the world, we'll be there
to make sure the pressure doesn't drop for a moment.

The G8 leaders have just held their final press conference, and Greenpeace is doing the same to make sure the so-called leaders don't get away with making themselves look heroic. We've said throughout this G8 summit that politicians talk but leaders act.
We've called for real climate leadership from the G8, but instead they've shown us what a typical bunch of politicians they are.

4 million dollars of CO2 saved!

2009-07-10T12:35:37Z

Update written last night from on top of chimney in Brindisi, by Julien.

I'm writing from the top of the chimney stack at Brindisi coal-fired power station, which we have been occupying for more than 41 hours now. We've been up here throughout the G8 meeting, which so far has shown the G8 to be little more than a bunch of politicians, certainly not the leaders we desperately need on climate change.

Rather that deliver that leadership, the G8 has continued to dance around the idea of real action and continued the blame game with developing countries as to who has to move first. Words are what we have been given, combined with targets so far into the future that they would provide no imperative whatsoever to act now.

Can “high-tec” offer simple solutions?

2009-07-10T14:50:17Z

Today, The Times reports on page 54: “Simple Local Solutions to a Complex Global Issue”. Amongst other case studies the article picks out the work of Practical Action in Zimbabwe. Here we have reached 11,000 people with knowledge which is enhancing their livelihoods. These people live in an area that has no access to electricity, radio, or mobile [...]

Russian Communists demand return to the 1980s

2009-07-10T11:57:25Z

At least, that might be the explanation for this news that just reached my inbox.

"Russian communists launched a campaign against CFL's!
Traditionally incandescent lamps called in Russia "Ilich-bulbs" in honor of Vladimir Ilich Lenin's reforms. The Communists set up a social movement in defense of incandescent lamps "Ilyich Bulb". Their website includes the pledge "We will hide incandescent bulbs and pass them on from generation to generation" - In our opinion, this is a reaction to the recent statement by the President of Russia Medvedev about the importance of energy efficiency for Russia. He also mentioned that "Ban the bulb" law should be passed in Russia."

Our Russian team are still trying to work out if this is a joke or not. Either way we're keeping an (amused) eye on the situation.

The Whirlpool

2009-07-09T23:38:49Z

Swirling vortices, bright blue rivers, earthquakes, icequakes and 24-hour sunshine. Welcome to the weird world of the Arctic Sunrise, at Petermann Glacier, 81 degrees 11.272 minutes north, 61 degrees 50.892 west. To be exact.
For over week now, the Arctic Sunrise has been at Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland, where, according to my morning Google Alerts we had a 6.1 earthquake yesterday, at 17:11 local time. No one on board admits to noticing it, despite the epicentre occurring just a few hundred kilometres south of us in Baffin Bay. The three glacier scientists on board are checking their data for the period, to see if the glacier reacted in any way.

Petermann Glacier the largest floating glacier in the northern hemisphere is starting to showing wear and tear, even though we've only been monitoring it for a little while. There's four 'ice islands' that we expect to break off within the next year or so. The most likely, the gargantuan 100 square kilometre piece "A" contains, according to calculations by Jason and myself, around 5 billion tonnes of ice. Since we arrived, some of the cracks between these sections of ice have started to widen.

We don't know when the break will happen, but we're planning on being on location for some weeks.

Ben up a chimney

2009-07-09T17:41:16Z

Greenpeace climate campaigner Ben Stewart talks about why he's living on a coal smokestack during the G8 Summit.

Activists paint a coal ship near Venice

2009-07-09T17:11:10Z

In Marghera, near Venice, the occupation continues, with activists on the coal conveyor and the chimney painting 'G8: LEAD OR LOSE. More activists are also occupying the cranes on the wharf, stopping a coal ship – the Bulk Brasil – from unloading its cargo from South Africa.

Italian spirit

2009-07-09T16:58:45Z

Abi, our solar generation coordinator writes from the coal plant in Vado Ligure.

My 7hour trip to Vado Ligure was like gazing at a postcard from the train window -- blue sky and rocky cliffs dropping to the blue green Mediterranean sea. What saddened me though is the view of 2 looming smoke stacks of the 3rd dirtiest fossil-fueled power plant in Italy, owned by Tirreno Power.

Like any trip to a coal-fired power station, I get anxious on how locals engage with Greenpeace. But like all of the communities I have visited, I was amazed at the spirit of Vado Ligure.

While keeping watch of Greenpeace activists taking direct action on the smoke stacks at a playground 200 steps from the facility, residents offered cold drinks and shared their personal stories with us. They have endured failed promises of the company and the impacts to the environment and local tourism industry for 40 years. I was told that this was why the community and the regional government opposed the planned expansion of the facility.

We all want the G8 leaders to veer away from the politics and listen to the anti-coal sentiment that is sweeping the globe. Do they want to be remembered as the idiots who failed to take climate action?

The waiting game...

2009-07-09T13:11:27Z

Here's another update from Julien, our non-stop blogging climate campaigner up a coal chimney in Italy!

In every sustained action, there are many times when you have to down tools. Here at Brindisi coal-fired power plant, Italy's most polluting, we have been occupying the smoke stacks and coal conveyor for 33 hours now.

The wind hasn't been helpful - I don't speak the language but suspect that Brindisi is Italian for "blows a gale". This morning, the wind calmed down long enough for out climbers to paint "STU...", the first part of the word "stupid". I have to respect those painters, dangling more than 100 metres above ground, maneouvreing themselves to make the most efficient brush strokes. Anyway, the wind started to pick up and they came back up. We'll have another go later.

Breezy in Brindisi!

2009-07-09T10:11:17Z

Here's a blog from Julien, one of our climate campaigners - currently occupying a coal smokestack in Italy. He wrote this last night but due to technical difficulties - we're only able to post this now

It's about 7 pm here at the Brindisi power station, which means we've now been occupying this power plant for over 16 hours. The wind has really picked up as well this afternoon. Really gusty and supposed to intensify tonight. Ulk! But, we've settled into our "new home" pretty well - it even seems that we've developed our own spaces for eating, transmitting footage and even a lavatory (but you probably don't want to know too much about that!).

One of our team went up the last few metres to the top of the turrets, the point where the 15 million tonnes of co2 annually is emitted. He described it as "looking into the mouth of hell". It reminded me of how the chief climate scientist of NASA, Dr. James Hansen, recently described coal-fired power stations as "death factories" (just in case
you don't understand the technical, scientific speak typical of boffins).

G8 climate action updates

2009-07-10T08:30:28Z

We're at the G8 and taking action against coal - the world's worst climate polluter - across Italy. Follow it all here...

We're on the map!

2009-07-07T00:21:01Z

(Posted by Melanie, campaigner on board the Arctic Sunrise:)

I spend waaaaay too much time in the office of this ship chained to my
laptop, but sometimes sitting here in the office of the Arctic Sunrise has its benefits.

Take two minutes ago when Arne Sorensen, our ice pilot, came into the office. Arne's job is to maneuver the ship through ice, which may sound simple, but trust me, it's not. It takes an intimate knowledge of and experience with wind, weather, the ship's abilities and the many states and behavior of the ice itself to chart a safe course from point A to point B. Just as importantly, Arne can use his decades long experience piloting ships in polar conditions to predict in advance and avoid any hazards that could trap, slow or jeopardize the well being of the ship.

Find sand, bury head

2009-07-06T12:01:12Z

E.ON's CEO Paul Golby just participated in a live chat on the Guardian's environmental section (how he ended up in that section is anyone's guess). It begged a bit of trap questions, and I sent three of my own. He unfortunately avoided the topic, but a few other answers are quite telling.

Generating power on the graveyard shift

2009-07-06T09:44:55Z

NPR reports that in Spain, even the dead are helping the fight against climate change.

If you're worried your efforts to fight global warming are being overshadowed by those of dead people, join our campaign here. We promise to keep you busy.

Arctic Sunrise At Petermann Glacier

2009-07-06T02:55:05Z

So a Polar Inuit hunter is said to have told South Greenlander John Sacheuse, official interpreter on 1818 expedition to Greenland led by Captain John Ross. Or so the story goes – some have questioned the accuracy of Sacheuse’s translation of the man’s statement, so different were their dialects. The most northern society in the world had been cut off from everyone south of them for hundreds, or thousands of years, so they could be forgiven for feeling "alone".

Whatever the truth behind that quote, the crew of the Arctic Sunrise can empathise with its essence. If it wasn’t for our dripfeed of emails and the occasional phone call on our Iridium satellite phone, the rest of the world’s population might as well not exist.

Remember those old movies, pre-Jurassic Park, about lands that time forgot, or valleys of dinosaurs, or however many years BC? For every movie based on the works of Jules Verne or HG Wells, then a dozen B-Movies shamelessly ransacked them and the hired actor Doug McClure as the 'hero'.

Polar Bear!

2009-07-01T09:57:01Z

From Melanie, campaigner on board the Arctic Sunrise:
A few hours after arriving at 82.31 degrees north latitude, a polar bear was sighted wandering not too far off the ship’s port beam. As you can imagine when someone shouts out “polar bear!” a fair bit of mayhem ensues, we drop what we are doing, grab our cameras and run out on deck. My cabin mate, Faye, is on watch from 12-4 so she was asleep, but she’d given me explicit instructions to wake her if a polar bear was sighted. I crossed my fingers and hoped the polar bear would remain in sight for at least a few minutes more while I ran down below to wake Faye.