Tough Times for Expedition Cruise Operators

I just recently discovered www.cybercruises.com and they seem to have reported quite consistently on the cruise market, covering also expedition cruise products and operators. Just now they have summed up the recent developments for a number of exp cruise companies, and unfortunately it is mostly bad news:

We have seen plenty of offers from the main cruise lines to attract business. But the small ship and expedition business seems to have been having an even worse time of heading into this recession. Recently, we have seen $2,000 air credits, free flights to Antarctica, 40% reductions and two for one offers from several small ship or expedition companies.

The article goes on to mention that Quark Expeditions has cancelled the entire Arctic season for its iconic "flag ship" the conventional icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. Also, there was a cancellation of the final 2009 Arctic voyage on the ice-strenghtened vessel Akademik Sergey Vavilov as well as the first departure from Murmansk to the North Pole on the nuclear icebreaker 50 Years of Victory.

Quark Expeditions has been operating the 112-berth Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov in the Canadian Arctic, traversing the Northwest Passage and other waters every summer for the last fifteen years, while the 50 Years of Victory has just recently replaced its better-known sister ship, Yamal which has done these icebreaking voyages to the North Pole in previous years.

Although there has been a large amount of consolidation in the expedition voyage business, with TUI Travel taking over Quark Expeditions, Peregrine Adventures and Clipper Cruise Line's non-US flag operations, this industry has had a particularly hard time of it. While cruise lines have been happy to get targeted volumes, admittedly at much lower fares and yields, expedition companies have been desperately seeking to attract enough business.

Other companies have recently undertaken huge investments to acquire and convert new vessels for their purpose of expedition cruising, and are now exposed to both the current downturn in bookings as well as serious delays in their conversion schedules:

GAP's new ship, the 120-berth Expedition, now being converted from a Scandinavian ferry, will commence operations in the Azores this April and will then go on charter to Spitsbergen Travel for the summer. After having lost the Explorer in November 2007, the Expedition, as her replacement, was to have been ready for the 2008/09 Antarctic season, so this will now mean two seasons for GAP without their own ship in the Antarctic.

And GAP Adventures - whose last vessel was the "Little Red Ship" which I covered extensively when she sank in Antarctic waters in November 2007, are not the only ones to suffer such setbacks:

As with GAP, Oceanwide's latest ship, the 112-berth Plancius, has also been delayed. Initially due to have entered service in June 2009 in Spitsbergen waters, she will now not be ready until the 2009/10 Antarctic season in November. In the meantime Oceanwide is offering reductions of up to 30% on some February and March 2009 Antarctic departures and 25% on certain 2009/10 departures by the 49-berth Professor Molchanov, including some 12- to 21-night itineraries that are not set to depart until much later this year. One of these, the 21-night departure, was a full charter that was cancelled.

Also, not mentioned in this article but also slightly delayed was the latest addition to the National Geographic fleet, the National Geographic Explorer which was supposed to be ready in Spring 2008 but was delayed by several months and could only commence operations at the end of the Arctic season 2008.



There was some consolation in these desperate times, but only for some:

One operator that was able to take advantage of the present softness in the Antarctic market was Antarpply Expeditions of Ushuaia, whose 84-berth Ushuaia ran aground in early December. While out of commission for repairs for several weeks, her operators were able to find substitute space on other ships to protect their clients' holidays. In an ordinary season, this would have been difficult, if nor impossible, as most ships would have been sold out.

The article ends with a sobering statement:

In summary, it seems that destinations such as Alaska, the Antarctic and the High Arctic are often considered as "once in a lifetime" trips and many people are just saying "not this year."

It should be added that this market has traditionally been booked well in advance, and tour operators and travel agencies which could in earlier years be confident that they would sell them, had regularly reserved large allotments or even made down payments for whole charters. As these companies now get cold feet, they release or cancel their allotments or charters, and this is probably responsible for a large part of this sudden appearance of so many unsold berths.

Welcome to my new blog - port of longyear

Since I start in my new job as port agent in a few days, I thought it might be cool to set up a little topical blog for this.

So here it is: Port of Longyear.

Check it out, I will try to post some nicer pics than the PortCam can provide them, and also some news and info on the boats we are currently handling.

Update on Minerva aka Explorer II aka A.v.Humboldt

Fellow blogger and cruise ship expert Doug Newman is keeping tabs on virtually every vessel on the market and has managed to research their entire owner histories. I like to cross-post these things simply for the fact that I can pepper them with links... ;-)

UPDATE: Minerva is back in route as of May 31.

Swan Hellenic has been forced to cancel its first cruise with its once and future ship, Minerva, due to unexpected generator difficulties. The eight-night Norwegian Fjords cruise was scheduled to depart from Dover on Friday 23 May, returning on Saturday, 31 May and was scheduled to call at Bergen, Flam, Ulvik, Stavanger and Kristiansand. The ship is scheduled to arrive in Hamburg tomorrow, 22 May, concluding her charter to Phoenix Reisen. According to a statement from Swan Hellenic, “[The problem] in no way affects the safety of the passengers on board and the ship will finish its current cruise on schedule this Thursday at Hamburg, where a thorough assessment can be undertaken. Once this is completed a further announcement will be made.”

The 12,331 GT, 350-berth Minerva was originally built in for Swan Hellenic in 1996 off the hull of an unfinished Russian research ship. The ship operated for Swan — then part of P&O, and later its cruise spin-off P&O Princess Cruises plc, which became Carnival plc in a merger with Carnival Corporation in 2003 — until replaced in 2003 by the larger, 30,277 GT, 710-berth Minerva II, built in 2001 as Renaissance Cruises’ R Eight. In 2006, Carnival took the decision to transfer Minerva II to Princess Cruises as Royal Princess in April 2007, and sell the now-dormant Swan Hellenic brand. While many Swan loyalists feared this unique cruise line would disappear, former P&O and P&O Princess chairman Lord Sterling came to the rescue in 2007. He quickly forged a partnership with All Leisure Group plc, parent of Voyages of Discovery, which had already arranged a charter of the former Minerva beginning in 2008. Thus the ship, which had bounced around between Saga Cruises as Saga Pearl", Abercrombie & Kent as Explorer II (with additional sub-charters to Regent Seven Seas Cruises) and Phoenix Reisen as Alexander von Humboldt, would come full circle and re-join the revived Swan Hellenic, rather than Voyages of Discovery as originally planned. Now it appears that her long-awaited re-entry into service will be slightly postponed, but that is unlikely to put much of a damper on the enthusiasm of Swan regulars, many of whom found Minerva II too large and anticipated returning to “their” ship once again.

Hooded Seals get SatNav, too

Southern Elephant seals have been known for a while to be perfect "vessels of opportunity" for oceanographic as well as biological research. More recently, narwhals were also discovered as suitable carriers of oceanographic data loggers, which communicate their collected data through the ARGOS satellite system, and were aptly titled oceanographic unicorns.

Now hooded seals join the club, as they now also get to carry loggers and sat transponders on their heads:



According to the researchers in charge, these SRDLs (Satellite-Relay Data Loggers) weigh about 400 g, and have negligible impact on the seals. They represent a maximum of 2% of the body weight of the animal carrying them, which range in size from 30 kg – 1.5 tonnes.

Historical whaling tools retrieved and dated

As I blogged already last autumn, some whaling tools recently retrieved from bowhead whales witness both historical hunting techniques and the amazing life spans of these whales. Now an arcticle of the scientific journal "Polar Biology" has appeared with detailed information on the dating of these harpoon and lance fragments. See the article online here:

"The age of bowhead whales captured by Native Alaskan hunters in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas has been estimated via chemical analyses of the eye lenses, and other techniques. The racemization-age estimates indicate that bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) have a lifespan of more than a century. Stone and ivory weapon fragments recovered from bowhead whales hunted in Wainwright and Barrow (Alaska) in 1981, 1992, 1993 and 1997, provided rough but independent assessments of the whales’ longevity; however, their date of manufacture was unknown. Adding further confirmation of these age estimates, this note describes bomb lance fragments recovered recently (2007) and about 30 years ago (1980) from bowhead whales harvested by Eskimo hunters that were “dateable” and likely manufactured between 1879 and 1885. (Source: Polar Biology's website).

This is the new "Alexander v. Humboldt II"

In November I blogged about the recent ship changes and sometimes only name changes in the expedition cruise industry. Now it's time for a follow-up:

remember the "Alexander von Humboldt" aka Explorer II?



Now Phoenix Reisen is ending their contract with this vessel (which btw is reversing its name back to "Minerva") and instead they got another ship as of this August, and they will call her - hold on - "Alexander von Humboldt II"!



Cross-posting from fellow blogger Doug Newman:

"The ship, built in 1990 as Crown Monarch for Crown Cruise Line, spent 1994 to 2006 as a gambling ship, first as Nautican in Singapore and then as Walrus (later marketed as Neptune) from Hong Kong. In 2006 Sea Containers, the successor of the ship’s original owner, sold the ship to Club Cruise and from 2007 she was chartered to the newly-formed Spanish cruise line Vision Cruises for cruises from Valencia. It is unclear what will happen to Vision Cruises when it loses its ship in 2008.

Although not an expedition vessel, the relatively small size and maneuverability of Alexander von Humboldt II should help make her a success in her new role."

What really sank the Titanic (apart from the iceberg...)

"Crime Scene Investigations" and "Forensic Evidence" seem to be ubiquitous and irresistible these days, and some people have decided to apply these techniques to another irresistibe and iconic desaster topic: the "Titanic".

So what good can come from applying modern-day material science to an old wreck? It turns out that the rivets might be part of the explanation. For those of us not familiar with historical ship-building, riveting was to early 20th century metal workers what welding is today, i.e. the most common technique to join pieces of metal together.




Apparently, there were approximately three million rivets used to in the Titanic's hull to connect all its metal plates. According to the authors of "What Really Sank the Titanic: New Forensic Discoveries", Jennifer Hooper McCarty and Tim Foecke, substandard rivet material and possibly also "riveter" craftsmanship may be to blame for the Titanic's fate.



Indeed, when inspecting the wreck, these researchers claim to have found several narrow slits rather than a huge gash, pointing to multiple hull breaches (due to failing rivets) instead of the big hole assumedly ripped open by the contact with the iceberg.

So although this is of course highly speculative, let's venture back into the past and have a look how "riveting" actually was done:

"At a central location near the areas being riveted, a furnace was set up. Rivets were placed in the furnace and heated to a glowing hot temperature, at which time the furnace operator would use tongs to individually remove and throw them to catchers stationed near the joints to be riveted. The catcher would place the glowing hot rivet into the hole to be riveted, and quickly turn around to await the next rivet. One worker would then hold a heavy rivet set against the round head of the rivet, while the hammerer would apply a pneumatic rivet hammer to the unformed head, causing it to mushroom tightly against the joint in its final domed shape. Upon cooling, the rivet would contract and exert further force tightening the joint. This process was repeated for each rivet." (from Wikipedia's post on rivets).

So for all of us making a living on ice-filled oceans: get decent welders to put your ship together!

Of course, you could also try to avoid hitting icebergs...

National Geographic Explorer (ex. Lyngen) takes shape

As mentioned in an earlier post, Lindblad Expeditions, the pioneer in polar expedition cruising, is currently finishing a major conversion of the former "Hurtigruten" vessel Lyngen.



You can follow the progress of their work on their website, just follow this link.

They are already planning their season, spanning from the Baltic, Norway, Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland all the way down to Patagonia. You can see their itineraries here.

This should be the most up-to-date expedition cruise vessel on the market!

Maybe I should apply for a job there some time...

Polar Bear Knut - the sibling sequel (cont.)

In November I predicted a sequel to the marketing success story of Polar Bear ""Knut" - here it is: Polar Bear "Flocke" of the Nuremberg Zoo!

-------------------------------------------

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A fluffy white polar bear cub that has captured German hearts is making her first public appearance Tuesday at the Nuremberg City Zoo.

Flocke (FLOCK-uh), whose name means "snowflake" in German, was born at the zoo in December. She gained international attention in January after zookeepers said they had taken Flocke away from her mother because of concerns she would eat her.

The zoo's other female polar bear had recently eaten her two offspring, and the zoo was concerned that Flocke's mother would do the same.

Zookeepers bottle-fed Flocke and kept her warm with blankets and heatlamps.

Sweet pictures of the young bear being cuddled by her keepers or sleeping with her tongue sticking out boosted Flocke's popularity, and she quickly eclipsed Knut (knoot), the polar bear at the Berlin Zoo.

Knut was a sensation when he was born in December 2006, but at 16 months old he's no longer considered as cute as his Nuremberg counterpart.

Flocke has grown into a bouncy young cub who is learning how to use her large paws. The zoo's latest pictures of Flocke, from early last week, show her frolicking in her enclosure and paddling in a pool of shallow water.

The first chance to see Flocke up close is Tuesday, when the zoo is holding a media event with about 50 members of the public. Starting Wednesday, people visiting the zoo will be able to see Flocke in her enclosure from 9-11 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. daily -- "if Flocke plays along" and decides to step outside, the zoo said.

End of Season - homeward bound

This will be my last post for this Antarctic season, as my vessel has just come into port and I will be flying home tomorrow. It has been a long and intense season, and I will definitely need a few days to recover and get back into normality again. I will post again as soon as "shore acclimatization" is accomplished again ;-)

Hurtigruten vessel "Fram" loses power, hits iceberg

It seems that the string of news about Antarctic shipping accidents is far from over:

A few days ago, Hurtigruten's newest vessel in the fleet, the FRAM has had an incident where it lost engine power for a period of 30 minutes during which the vessel drifted just past a skerry and scratched along an iceberg. The ship is currently sitting at anchorage off Ushuaia and has cancelled the trip they should have been commencing on January 02.

On-site comments on the UN Climate Change Conference

A friend of mine found this journalistic gem in the Jakarta Post:

"France, which appears to be the only country displaying non-English language posters, is directly next to Germany. Both stands were unmanned during the two hours that I was walking the hallways.
Someone cheekily remarked that they were having lunch together. If so, it was a long one. Vivre Amitie Franco-Allemande!

But my award for the most useless stand must surely go to the United States whose representative told me that she was not authorized to discuss the issue of climate change. So much for freedom of speech."

Statements following the "Explorer" sinking

Fellow blogger and cruise ship specialist Doug Newman has been following the "Explorer" shipping disaster closely, and has also gathered statements from both GAP Adventures, the operating company of the ship at the time of the sinking, as well as from Lindblad Expeditions, the original operator of the ship, which put her into service in 1969.

Doug puts the prominent place of the "Explorer" into perspective like this:

"The “little red ship” was one of the most important cruise ships in history; the seminal expedition cruise ship, she was to expedition cruising what Royal Caribbean’s Song of Norway was to the rest of the cruising world, or maybe even more."

Sven-Olof Lindblad, the son of company founder Lars-Erik Lindblad, has posted an article titled Remembering the 'Little Red Ship' which recounts some of the dramatic history of the ship while it was still in operation for Lindblad Expeditions. You can download the full article here.

GAP Adventures’ CEO Bruce Poon Tip also issued a statement regarding the loss of the ship, finishing with the words:

"The Explorer left us in very dramatic fashion. She couldn't just go quietly in the night but instead, was hanging on and danced her way out of commission. She made everyone watch for just a minute to remember her history as she hung on long enough to allow all of her passengers to disembark to safety. I would expect nothing less from her. The Explorer has been a big part of our history as a company and represented the true spirit of what makes our company special. We thank everyone who has been part of making it happen over the years."

WWF Says Warming Puts Amazon Region at Risk

BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- The impact of climate change plus deforestation could wipe out or severely damage nearly 60 percent of the Amazon forest by 2030 - making it impossible to keep global temperatures from reaching catastrophic levels, an environmental group said Thursday.

Several recent studies have suggested similar findings, but scientists say the size and complexity of the Amazon leaves many questions about the rain forest's future open to debate. Brazil's Environment Ministry did not respond this week to a request for comment.

"The importance of the Amazon forest for the globe's climate cannot be underplayed," said Daniel Nepstad, author of a new report by the World Wide Fund For Nature released at the U.N. climate change conference in Bali.

"It's not only essential for cooling the world's temperature, but also such a large source of fresh water that it may be enough to influence some of the great ocean currents, and on top of that, it's a massive store of carbon."

Sprawling over 1.6 million square miles, the Amazon covers nearly 60 percent of Brazil. Largely unexplored, it contains one-fifth of the world's fresh water and about 30 percent of the world's plant and animal species - many still undiscovered.



According to the WWF, deforestation in the Amazon could result in 55.5 billion to 96.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide being released into the environment by 2030, representing as much as two years of global carbon emissions.

(By Michael Casey, AP Environmental Writer, shortened for this bog)

Compulsory Pilots for Svalbard Cruise Operators?

As the local newspaper Svalbardposten reports, "Kystverket"/The Norwegian Coastal Administration has proposed to introduce compulsory pilot services for cruise ships operating in Svalbard waters, effective from next summer. This article is unfortunately only available in Norwegian.

Click here to access the Kystverket post about it or click here to download the full report. For the moment, these two items are also available in Nowegian only.

International Polar Tourism Research Network now online

As polar tourism increases, so does the body of research that studies it. This newly launched website offers a comprehensive overview of literature on the subject of polar tourism (though mostly from a geographic viewpoint, as it seems) and is according to the website's own statement meant to "...foster increased connections between the many researchers studying polar tourism. In addition, the International Polar Tourism Research Network welcomes not only researchers, but also polar tourism operators, consultants, students and community leaders shaping the industry and phenomenon of polar tourism."



The creation of the International Polar Tourism Research Network is the idea of a group of polar tourism researchers who met in 2006 at the Annual conference of the Canadian Association of Geographer held that year at Lakehead University, in Thunder Bay.



The International Polar Tourism Research Network website is supported by the Université du Québec A Montréal (UQAM) and the Centre international de formation et de recherche en tourisme (CIFORT).

Unfortunately, that makes it a bit cumbersome to search, as this function is currently only available in French.

Explorer II = Minerva; Alexander von Humboldt II = Jules Verne

It used to be so simple:

"Explorer" was the former "Lindblad Explorer" that turned into "Society Explorer" and finally "GAP Explorer" or simply "Explorer".

Then there was "Explorer II", which was at times also "Alexander von Humboldt" when it was operated by Phoenix Reisen. Otherwise Abercrombie & Kent would call her "Explorer II", simply because they used to charter the original "Explorer" before.

But now Phoenix Reisen does not charter the same vessel any more, so one would think that A & K have it all to themselves.

But wait: while Phoenix Reisen is now chartering the "Jules Verne" - calling her "Alexander von Humboldt II" - the new owners of the vessel, Swan Hellenic have come up with an idea: why not rename "Explorer II" into "Minerva" (again)?

Meanwhile, the original "Explorer" is assumed to have sunk, while the expedition cruiser "Alexander von Humboldt" simply ceased to exist...

And did I mention that the previous operator of the "Explorer", Lindblad Expeditions, is now refitting a former Hurtigruten ship, the former Lyngen, and they will call her National Geographic Explorer.

As usual, Wikipedia helps solve these and other riddles. Here is a list of cruise ships, replete with dates and previous names!

Stricter regulations on Svalbard cruise traffic

Quote from the Governor of Svalbard's website:

"The Governor of Svalbard hereby notifies that changes are being proposed to ”The Regulations concerning the establishment of bird reserves and large nature conservation areas in Svalbard” of 1st July 1973, last amended on 1st June 2007. The process will follow the standard case procedure regulations as determined in the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act §13.

In short, the topics for the revisions mentioned above are:

1) For North-west Spitsbergen, Forlandet and South Spitsbergen national parks, it has been proposed to amend the conservation regulations such that fuel quality carried and brought on board ships and other vessels sailing within the boundaries of the above named national parks will be subject to regulation. We refer to the introduction of the regulations from 1st June 2007 for vessels sailing within North-east Svalbard and South-east Svalbard nature reserves.

2) Introduction of travel restrictions at three automatically protected cultural heritage sites in North-west Spitsbergen and one automatically protected cultural heritage site in South-Spitsbergen national park is being considered.

3) For North-east Svalbard and South-east Svalbard nature reserves, amendments may be proposed to the conservation regulations so that going ashore from cruise ships/cruise vessels will be allowed on specific locations or in specific areas only
(fixed disembarkation areas/locations).








4) It is being considered to introduce travel restrictions at Midterhuken, Bellsund, an automatically protected cultural heritage site. Such regulations will be made pursuant to the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act §42 and Public Administration Act §37.

The deadline for receipt of comments and observations relative to the above proposals is decemver 20th 2007.

On the basis of comments received and the subsequent process, the Governor will draft formal discussion documents. The discussion documents will be presented at a hearing in the spring of 2008.

Svalbard Feltlogg - Field log

Beginning this November, the Svalbard Feltlogg (Field Log) will publish new warnings, messages etc. in both Norwegian and English. This log is a service supported by the Governor of Svalbard and Svalbard Reiseliv a/s (Svalbard Tourism), with contributions from local tour operators and the University Center in Svalbard, UNIS.

You can log in, subscribe and receive notification emails.

Official IAATO statement on sinking of Explorer

The International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) has issued an official statement summing up the reported events of the M/V Explorer incident, indicating that there is still some uncertainty as to whether or not that ship has actually sunk. Apparently, there were no direct eye witnesses of the sinking, and so it might still be floating - upside down - and thus pose a serious navigational hazard.

All member vessels are requested to keep a keen lookout around the position of 62° 23' 32" S, 57° 16' 09" W, the position from which the distress call was issued. Also, any flotsam or debris on beaches in the area should be reported.

All the passengers and ship's crew have been put ashore on King George Island, where they were received in several scientific stations there and subsequently flown out by chartered plane to Punta Arenas, Chile.

One day after the evacuation and rescue of Explorer's crew and passengers, the Oceanwide Expeditions vessel M/V Professor Molchanov patrolled the area and reported an oil spill of approximately 1 square nm around 62° 24' S 57° 12' W.

The M/V Explorer was stated to burn marine gas oil (MGO) as fuel oil and it is hoped and expected that this fuel will disperse quickly without serious adverse effects to the environment.

Polar Bear Knut - the sibling sequel?

Knut, the Berlin Zoo's well-known polar bear, may soon have as many as three little siblings before Christmas, the zoo's veterinarian said Friday.

Knut's mother, Tosca, and the zoo's two other female polar bears, Katjuscha and Nancy, may all be pregnant after mating earlier this year with Knut's father, Lars, and could give birth before the end of December, according to veterinarian Andre Schuele.

But polar bear pregnancies are hard to detect and to track. Tests like those humans use do not work, and polar bear embryos are so small the mothers do not grow big tummies.

The zoo is hopeful enough, however, to have built three special caves for the female polar bears to use to give birth.

Little Red Ship has sunk

According to Chilean Navy reports, the M/V Explorer has disappeared from view and is assumed to have sunk.

Following reports of the maritime distress call and subsequent rescue by the Norwegian M/S Nordnorge, the media picked up reports related to inspections this May by the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) at Greenock, Scotland, as well as by Chilean port authorities in Puerto Natales in March.



The MCA found that the MS Explorer had five deficiencies, including missing search and rescue plans and lifeboat maintenance problems. However, according to MCA spokesman Mark Clarke, they had all been rectified by the time the ship set sail again. Earlier this year, Chilean port state control inspectors had found six deficiencies during an inspection of the ship. These included two related to safety of navigation matters. However, since this inspection preceded the MCA inspection, one can assume that they had been dealt with by the time the ship commenced its 2007 Antarctic season. Classification society Det Norske Veritas issued a passenger safety certificate for the vessel on October 21.



Although the vessel had older, open-type lifeboats rather than the more modern closed lifeboats, this was not in violation of any current maritime regulation and as this event showed, even open inflatables were used successfully in this abandon ship operation.

"Little Red Ship" Explorer abandoned after collision

The cruise ship "Explorer", formerly known and famous as "Lindblad Explorer" or affectionately called "the little red ship" has today issued a maritime distress call after what appears to have been an iceberg collision near King George Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica. All passengers and crew have abandoned ship and have been transferred to the Norwegian Hurtigruten vessel M/S Nordnorge, which also serves as an Antarctic cruise ship during austral summer months.



The "Explorer" was built 1969 in Nystad, Finland for a Norwegian company, K/S A/S Explorer & Co, Oslo, Norway. It had been especially designed as ice-strengthened cruise ship and is one of the pioneering vessels of polar expedition cruising.

In 1972 the ship was already involved in a shipping desaster in the very same area in Antarctica, namely King George Island, when it ran aground at Punta la Plaza/Plaza Point (62°05'S 58°22'W). It was abandoned by its crew and could be salvaged only about two weeks later, by the German tug boat "Arctic". Following that incident, it was sold to new owners, United Cruising Co Ltd (also known as "Svenska Amerika Linien") who repaired her and put her back into traffic.



The vessel changed owners, names, flags and homeports repeatedly during the 80's and received a major overhaul in 1985 in Singapore as well as another overhaul in 1993. In 1989 it was also in the headlines as it assisted in the "Bahia Paradiso" shipping disaster where the Argentine supply vessel sank near the USAP base Palmer Station on Anvers Island.

It became quite famous as "Lindblad Explorer", named after the Swedish polar tourism pioneer Lars Eric Lindblad who together with his son Sven Olof Lindblad pioneered in expedition travel, both shipborne and overland. Their company has since developed into a partnership with National Geographic and currently operates a fleet of 6 National Geographic vessels. Ironically, the newest addition to their fleet, the National Geographic Explorer, is going to be a refitted Hurtigruten ship, the former Lyngen.

In 2004, the original Explorer/Lindblad Explorer was purchased by GAP Adventures, Toronto and received yet another major overhaul in Genoa, Italy. Already the 2004/05 Antarctic season it was back in traffic again. Since then it has resumed cruising the Antarctic Peninsula, the Amazonas, the European and Canadian Arctic.



It seems as if this vessel has finally been forced to end its long and adventurous career.

P.S.: Another ironic coincidence about the role of the Hurtigruten ships in Antarctic expedition cruising: in February this year (2007) the sister ship of M/S Nordnorge, the M/S Nordkapp, ran aground near Deception Island and had to transfer her passengers to M/S Nordnorge.

P.P.S.: During the initial rescue and relief effort for the "Explorer", she also received assistance by her replacement of Lindblad Expeditions, the National Geographic Endeavour.

UPDATE: Explorer has sunk

First allocation of fundings from Svalbard's environmental protection fund

(republished after Svalbard Science Forum homepage - news)

At 1 October 2007, the deadline for the first announcement of Svalbard's environmental protection fund, 26 different applicants had submitted 42 proposals for diverse projects and initiatives related to environmental protection in Svalbard. The total sum applied for was 11.2 Mio NOK and 46.4 % of the applications were research related.

The board of the fund has now allocated in total 1.7 Mio NOK to 15 projects and initiatives. Of these 15 projects 38% were research projects with a total sum of 640.000 NOK.

The Svalbard's environmental protection fund is pursuant to the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act. The fund's resources are used for projects and initiatives with the purpose of protecting the environment. The fund is financed by dues and funding allocation is dependant upon the income. The sources of income are the environment fee, fees fro hunting and fishing cards, the value of the flora and fauna which is handled in violation of the Svalbard environmental law and environmental compensations and enforced penalties set by The Governor of Svalbard.

The fund announces twice a year a call of proposals.

Click here to download the full list of accepted and denied proposals, with the respective sums applied for and granted. You can also find the file on my download pages.

Is funding of polar bear research by Exxon questionable?

In a world where scientists and university officials are discussing "profitability" of their departments, technology transfers and industry cooperations, industry-funded research has increasingly been subject of ethical debates. Now it even seems to have sparked a political debate as well. The US House Committee on Science and Technology is currently investigating ExxonMobil's motives for funding research by an astrophysicist into the impact of climate change on the polar bear population of western Hudson Bay in Canada.

Now anyone familiar with the matter at hand will pause for a moment and raise an eyebrow over the fact that Exxon has chosen an astrophysicist to study the potential fate of a polar marine mammal population, but we will let that one pass for now.

These Exxon-paid researchers, including Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, published their findings as a "viewpoint", which is not peer-reviewed. They conclude that the polar bears are not threatened by climate change (link).

Here is an excerpt of their abstract:

"We found that spring air temperatures around the Hudson Bay basin for the past 70 years (1932–2002) show no significant warming trend and are more likely identified with the large-amplitude, natural climatic variability that is characteristic of the Arctic. Any role of external forcing by anthropogenic greenhouse gases remains difficult to identify. We argue, therefore, that the extrapolation of polar bear disappearance is highly premature. Climate models are simply not skilful for the projection of regional sea-ice changes in Hudson Bay or the whole Arctic."

Now two things about that publication raise some more eyebrows: first of all, it is published as a "viewpoint" and thereby excempt from the usual procedure of peer review. It is noting "no significant warming trend...around Hudson Bay", a finding that stands in stark contrast to other studies published in peer-reviewed journals, p.e.

• Comiso, J. C. 2002a. Correlation and trend studies of the sea-ice cover and surface temperatures in the Arctic. Ann. Glaciol, 34:420-428. (link)

• Comiso, J. C. 2002b. A rapidly declining perennial sea ice cover in the Arctic. Geophys. Res. Lett. 29:1956 (link)

• Comiso, J. C. 2003. Warming trends in the Arctic from clear-sky satellite observations. J. Clim, 16:3498-3510. (link)

Also, the abstract ends with the following statement:

"Both scientific papers and public discussion that continue to fail to recognize the inherent complexity in the adaptive interaction of polar bears with both human and nature will not likely offer any useful, science-based, preservation and management strategies for the species."

This sounds more like a political statement (read: scientists have an agenda, and so do the media) than the conclusions of a scientific study that - especially in peere-reviewed publications - would try to be as concise and focussed on the data as possible, while avoiding opining and bold statements at all costs.

"It's hard to see this article as rigorous, sound science," writes chair Brad Miller (D) of the subcommittee on investigations and oversight in an open letter to the oil giant.

Coast Guard to establish Arctic Base

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A Coast Guard reconnaissance team is heading to the far north this week to scope out a new frontier that the warming Arctic climate is opening to ship traffic.

The Coast Guard could set up an operations base in Barrow as early as next spring to monitor waters that are now free of ice for longer periods of the year. Weather permitting, a scouting crew will fly 1,183 miles Thursday from Barrow, the northernmost U.S. town, to the North Pole.




"This is a new area for us to do surveillance," said Rear Adm. Arthur E. Brooks, commander of the Coast Guard's Alaska district. "We're going primarily to see what's there, what ships, if any, are up there."

Thinning ice has made travel along the northern coast increasingly attractive, said Brooks, who plans to accompany the crew in the C-130 flight. Tankers and even cruise ships are beginning to venture into the domain once traveled only by indigenous hunters and research vessels, such as the Coast Guard ice-cutter Healy.



The ice cap is believed to be warming faster than the rest of the world, and recent studies suggest shipping routes could open in the Arctic in as little as a decade. Just a few years ago, scientists predicted it would take a century for the ice to melt.

The melting could also open up oil and gas exploration - a prospect that has nations in the circumpolar north racing to declare their sovereignty in the region.

"This all points to increased traffic," Brooks said. "I've got to get ready for this increased traffic."

Brooks hopes to start with a seasonal base that would rely on existing infrastructure in Barrow, a town of 4,000. Plans are "totally in the beginning stages," but Brooks said the Coast Guard could use a helicopter, small response boats and possibly a fixed-wing plane to assist ships in distress, conduct surveillance, and run search and rescue missions.

By RACHEL D'ORO
Associated Press Writer

September 07: Arctic sea ice shrinks to record low

Arctic sea ice shrank this year to its smallest area of coverage since satellite measurements began some 30 years ago. The record low is a result of long-term climate change combined with particular weather conditions during 2007, say US scientists.

The remarkable decline made international headlines in September when European and US space agencies announced that the ice-clogged North-West Passage had completely opened for the first time, allowing vessels to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Scientists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) have revealed satellite measurements showing the full extent of summer melt during 2007. Ice is now starting to reform in the Arctic as winter approaches.



"We've got the final numbers now for this September, and it's a really dramatic record low," says Walt Meier, a member of the team studying the ice. "It didn't just break the record, it shattered the record. This year just obliterated everything else."

The average sea-ice coverage for September, when it was lowest, slipped to 4.28 million square kilometres. This is 23% less than the previous record low, set in 2005, and 39% less than the annual average between 1979 and 2000.

For the full article, click this link by Catherine Brahic and Reuters, hosted by the The New Scientist.

Just joined Facebook

housekeeping update: new site and feed addresses

I have been forced to change the website and feed addresses, due to changes at my host server address krapp.org.

This is the new blog address and here is the new atom feed.

There is now also a new RSS feed here.

finally home again

Finally home again!

Bowhead Whale contained 1890's projectile

Another news item that I missed while at sea (from msnbc.com):

"A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago.

Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3½-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale’s age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.



The whale had a bomb lance fragment lodged a bone between its neck and shoulder blade. The fragment was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.

It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890. The small metal cylinder was filled with explosives fitted with a time-delay fuse so it would explode seconds after it was shot into the whale. The bomb lance was meant to kill the whale immediately and prevent it from escaping.



“It probably hurt the whale, or annoyed him, but it hit him in a non-lethal place,” he said. “He couldn’t have been that bothered if he lived for another 100 years.”

The 49-foot male whale died when it was shot with a similar projectile last month, and the older device was found buried beneath its blubber as hunters carved it with a chain saw for harvesting.

UPDATE: an arcticle of the scientific journal "Polar Biology" has now appeared with detailed information on the dating of these harpoon and lance fragments. See the article online here.

DNA detective work unveils Korean "bycatch whaling"

Another news bite from New Scientist (by Peter Aldhous):

"DNA detective work has revealed that fishermen in South Korea are snaring far more whales in their nets than they admit. The "bycatch" is so large that some observers believe whales are being netted deliberately, breaking the moratorium on commercial whaling set by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Whale meat can be sold legally in South Korea if the animals are caught by accident in fishing nets, but such deaths must be reported to the government. Between 1999 and 2003, fishermen reported snaring 458 minke whales. Now a team led by Scott Baker of Oregon State University in Newport says the true catch was nearly twice that number and threatens the survival of minke whales in the Sea of Japan.

Baker had South Korean colleagues buy minke meat from local markets and used DNA fingerprinting to determine how many individual whales the meat had come from. That alone did not reveal the total number of whales caught; the researchers calculated that figure by borrowing a technique called "mark and recapture". Ecologists estimate the size of an animal population by trapping, marking and releasing animals, and then seeing how many marked and unmarked animals turn up in subsequent trapping efforts. Using the DNA signatures of individual whales as markers, successive surveys revealed population data for the dead whales whose meat was being sold in the Korean markets.

With the aid of a mathematical model developed by Justin Cooke of the Center for Ecosystem Management Studies in Gutach, Germany, Baker's team estimated that South Korean fishermen caught 827 minke between 1999 and 2003 (Molecular Ecology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03317.x). "This is a very exciting study because it finally provides a tool to establish the magnitude of the bycatch problem," says Phil Clapham of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

"We suspect this is really a form of unregulated commercial whaling," says Baker. Given that a single minke whale can fetch up to $100,000, there is a strong financial incentive for fishermen to entangle whales in their nets.

Baker's team was also able to show that the average "half-life" of meat from an individual whale in South Korean markets is 1.82 months, suggesting that surveys to monitor for illegal meat should be conducted about every two months. Baker's project was backed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and Greenpeace International.

The South Korean government has shown little enthusiasm for launching a monitoring programme of its own. Japan, meanwhile, has rebuffed attempts to discuss meat surveys at previous IWC meetings. The IWC meets later this month in Anchorage, Alaska.

Minke whales in the Sea of Japan are the subject of an ongoing IWC review. "This population is clearly in trouble," says Clapham, who is a member of the US delegation to the IWC. "It is being hit from Japan and Korea by bycatch, and probably by deliberate take."

From issue 2603 of New Scientist magazine, 10 May 2007, page 10

Trafficking Ganja Scuba Tanks

From X-Ray Mag Blog (posted by Willy Volk):

"Jamaican diver Joseph Campbell told his family that he was heading to Kingston to visit his sick father. Instead, the so-called “ganja diver” was discovered dead in Kingston Harbor.

Wearing a wetsuit and a tank, police located a second tank nearby — along with an adjustable wrench, a hacksaw, a screwdriver, and various nuts and bolts. The police claim Campbell was in the process of attaching the second canister, containing more than 100 pounds of compressed ganja, to the hull of a ship when he was struck in the head by the ship’s propeller and killed.

In Jamaica, certified divers — like Campbell — are offered up to $5,000 for each canister they affix to commercial vessels heading for the US or the UK."

Trafficking Sperm Whale Teeth

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The former director of a whaling museum and an antiques dealer pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally importing hundreds of sperm whale teeth from England and selling them to U.S. merchants.

Lewis Eisenberg, 60, the former director of The Whalers Village Museum in Lahaina, Hawaii, bought many of the teeth and resold them to collectors of scrimshaw, an art form in which designs are etched into whale bone. Eisenberg, of Oak Harbor, Wash., sold teeth he got from antiques trader Martin Schneider for more than $45,000.

Schneider, 59, of Blue Bell, Pa., got the teeth of the endangered whale in Britain and smuggled them into the country by hiding them among other goods he was importing. Prosecutors said he sold a total of $500,000 worth of teeth from 1995 to 2005.

Both pleaded guilty to violations of the Endangered Species Act, the Mammal Protection Act and the Lacey Act, which forbids the import or export of wildlife that is illegally transported or sold.

For the full story, visit the Daily Freeman

Argentine Icebreaker Irizar salvaged and back in harbour

Recently I reported on the fire aboard the Almirante Irizar. Some of my colleagues had their scientific cargo on the vessel, but fortunately they were not onboard at the time of the desaster. The fire has now been put out and the vessel has been brought into port by the Argentine navy.

From Wikipedia:

"On April 10, 2007, 22.00 Argentine time the icebreaker run an alarm by fire in the secondary electricity generators. By 23.30 the captain had ordered the evacuation. Argentine Navy and Argentine Coast Guard aircraft operated to keep track of the 24 lifeboats. The 296 persons inside the icebreaker (that includes civilians of the antarctic bases) were helped by the nearest ships: a Panamanian tanker and by a Uruguayan and Argentine fishing vessels.
The icebreaker was returning from its annual Antarctic summer campaign, and the incident took place 140 miles east from Puerto Madryn.

The fire caused the loss of the two stationed H-3 Sea King helicopters located into its hangar.
The crew arrived safely to Puerto Madryn on April 12. There were no casualties.

Irizar 's Captain Guillermo Nelson Tarapow had stood alone almost 24 hours after seeing his crew safely abandon ship. Starting April 11, destroyer ARA Almirante Brown, corvettes ARA Granville and ARA Robinson, Auxiliary Ships ARA Gurruchaga and ARA Suboficial Castillo and Coast Guard PNA Thompson surrounded the Icebreaker and began rescue operations. Buzos Tacticos (Argent. special forces, combat divers) and members of the Rescue Team (Servicio de Salvamento) of the Argentine Navy board the ship and extinguished the fire. On April 15, preparations to tow the ship to Puerto Belgrano naval base began. Irizar finally arrived to Puerto Belgrano on April 20. "

Watch out for the Walrus Webcam!

Norwegian and international researchers of the Norwegian Polar Institute have been studying walrus and other seals at their haul-out sites for many years, typically using ice-going research vessels, zodiacs, and aircraft as their means of transport and observation platforms.

Now that they have been re-visiting the most populated walrus haul-out sites for years, they decided to deploy more advanced and at the same time more efficient recording methods in their seasonal studies: webcams.



In recent years, the use of GSM- or iridium based webcams and automatic weather stations has been spreading and by now, researchers of the University Center on Svalbard are able to view online weather data as well as webcam footage of their field station in Rijpfjorden on the north coast of Northeast Land. This is vital, especially for the evaluation of flight and landing conditions for helicopters.

At least they had been able to, until their weather and camera mast blew down... ;-(



So the walrus researchers were eager to employ that same technology to keep track of walrus beaches, with iridium-uplinked webcams on four or five remote but well-established walrus haul-out sites. Here is a link to their project proposal.



Well-established among walrus, but also among walrus-watchers, which typically come there as individual expeditioners or as tourists aboard an expedition cruise.

So the walrus researchers thought that this might be a great bonus for their proposal: let's monitor walrus online, and if tourists step into the picture, let's monitor them as well!

In a rather amusing development of this story, this prompted the local newspaper, notorious for its mix of small-town news ("who is currently on the day-care waiting list?") and self-absorbed leaders about everything from Global Change to Norwegian-Russian diplomacy since the Cold War, to launch a fierce counter-attack article as well as an online poll titled "Do you mind being watched by the Polar Institute when you are out on field trips?"

Not surprisingly, the poll currently favors the protesters (62%) against those who do not mind appearing in a webcam image (35%). The total number of voters so far: 399 ;-)

If you are interested, join the Svalbard Pages Forum for a discussion of this topic.

The oceanographic unicorn

About a year ago I blogged about elephant seals which had been turned into "oceanographic vessels of opportunity" - researchers interested in the South Atlantic circulation were taking advantage of elephant seals' impressive range and diving behaviour by attaching oceanographic sensors to their heads.

Now their Arctic colleagues follow this approach by attaching similar sensor systems to narwhals, a small Arctic tooth whale species mostly known for their long tusks, which had in earlier times inspired unicorn myths.

"We've converted these animals into oceanographers," says Kristin Laidre of the Polar Science Center at the University of Washington.



The whales, which dive up to one mile deep to feed on bottom fish, already have provided the first winter temperature measurements in Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland.



The region is part of the global "conveyor belt" of currents that brings warmer waters north, moderating the weather in northern Europe. An international science panel recently predicted global warming will slow those currents.

"Any weakening of the Gulf Stream because of climate change will immediately show up in this area," says Laidre's collaborator, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.



Global climate models have basically been "faking it" when it comes to the ocean west of Greenland, said Michael Steele, a senior oceanographer at the Polar Science Center.

"There's just a huge data hole in this part of the world ocean in the winter," he said.

More about the narwhal project here on the NOAA pages.

"Climate crisis" motivates high-speed train connection

Norwegian public media channel NRK released yesterday a news flash mentioning "the current climate crisis" as motivation for a high-speed train connection between two of its major cities, Oslo and Trondheim.

Norway's geography is largely dominated by mountains and fjords, and stretches over 1750 km, or almost 1100 miles. Therefore, commuter flights are the norm in most cases for both business and leisure travellers, with up to 25 daily departures from all city airports to the main hub, Oslo Gardermoen.

Norway is also one of Europe's major producers and exporters of crude oil, while its domestic energy consumption is largely covered by hydrostatic power plants.

For more info on Norway's rail systems, currently including one high-speed connection between downtown Oslo and its airport Gardermoen (56 km, 19 minutes), see Wikipedia.

Argentine Icebreaker Irizar abandoned at sea after fire

A raging fire aboard an Argentine navy vessel Almirante Irizar, South America's only icebreaker, forced all 296 crew and passengers to abandon ship in the South Atlantic, where they spent hours in lifeboats awaiting rescue.

The fire broke out in the Almirante Irizar's auxiliary generator compartment late Tuesday, and Capt. Guillermo Tarapow ordered all aboard to abandon ship in 24 lifeboats when the flames became uncontrollable.

The Panamanian-flagged tanker Scarlet Ibis and an Uruguayan fishing vessel were the first to arrive in the area, some 140 miles (225 kilometers) east of Puerto Madryn, and managed to pluck people from most of the lifeboats drifting off the remote Patagonian city of Puerto Madryn, 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) south of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.

The Almirante Irizar was built in Finland and acquired by the Argentine navy in 1978. Measuring 390 feet (119 meters) in length, it has played key roles in Argentina's annual supply runs to Antarctica in the warmer Southern Hemisphere summer that begins each December.

The ship had restocked more than a dozen Argentine bases and research stations, and was returning to Buenos Aires with armed forces personnel who had concluded stints in Antarctica, when the fire broke out just after 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Passengers aboard the Irizar included civilian employees of Argentina's Antarctic National Command operation as well as army, air force and navy personnel.

Tugboats are now heading to the Irizar in order to assist her.

March of the Tourists

DEVIL ISLAND, Antarctica (CNN) -- Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest place in the world but during the high summer, it can feel decidedly mild.

From the top of Devil Island, off the eastern edge of the Antarctic Peninsula, the watery sun reflects off the vast tabular icebergs drifting around the Weddell Sea. At the base of the island, as many as 20,000 pairs of Adélie penguins make their home.

Moored offshore is the MS Explorer, a 75 meter cruise ship which can take up to 105 passengers. Four inflatable Zodiacs dart back and forth from the vessel, bringing tourists to shore to see the penguins up close.

Mary Brogan, 55, from Dublin, has been planning this trip for over a year with her husband and five friends. But now she's here, she says she worries about the impact of tourism.

"We definitely disturb the wildlife by coming here," Brogan says. "There are crowds of us on the beaches, sticking cameras in the poor penguins' faces."

Tourist numbers are rising to Antarctica even though this is a high-priced vacation. A 10-day cruise trip costs upward of $4,000 but the number of visitors has doubled in the last three years to nearly 30,000.

Dr Shannon Fowler, 32, from California, is a marine mammal biologist and lectures to the passengers on board Explorer.

"I do face a personal dilemma about bringing tourists here but if people can't see something, will they really want to protect it? If you blocked tourism, how many people would say, 'no, you can't mine here' or 'let's protect this place'?"

More tourism will raise public awareness about Antarctica's unique ecosystem but there are also fears about higher traffic to the region. Cruise ship accidents remain one of the biggest threats to the environment.

Last month, the MS Nordkapp cruise ship hit rocks near Deception Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula, spilling diesel oil into the bay.

Stephen Ansfee is Explorer's Expedition Leader. "We are getting close to capacity in Antarctica and as the ships get bigger, so do the environmental risks. We will need stricter controls as tourism grows."

Most travel companies in the region subscribe to IAATO, the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, which sets guidelines to manage tourism here. The problem is IAATO is a voluntary self-regulated organization and anyone can opt out of the system.

Because no one owns Antarctica, no one is responsible for the continent's safeguard. For better or worse, the future of Antarctica may depend on how many people choose to save up and make the once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Mary Brogan agrees. "Of course I am going to tell my friends about Antarctica when I get home. But am I doing any good encouraging them to come here? It's hard to know."

By Michelle Jana Chan, CNN

Interim homepage online on .mac

Justa quick update:

my rebuilt homepage with new images, downloadable trip logs a new design is online!

Due to some technical stuff, it is not yet on my rupert.krapp.org domain, but "parked" on my .mac pages instead.

Some kinks and typos remain, but will be smoothed out asap.

Welcome to my new pages!

Alps experience warmest period in 1300 years

From the AP news feed:

"We are currently experiencing the warmest period in the Alpine region in 1,300 years," Reinhard Boehm, a climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics said.

...

Boehm said the current warm period in the Alpine region began in the 1980s, noting that a similar warming occurred in the 10th and 12th centuries. However, the temperatures during those phases were "slightly under the temperatures we've experienced over the past 20 years."

...

The unseasonably warm weather this autumn has caused concern in Austria's ski resorts, where slopes are still largely covered in green grass instead of snow. Many, such as St. Anton am Arlberg, have had to postpone the start of their skiing season and some have tried attracting tourists with alternative programs, such as hiking.

_______________________

And now for the highlight of the article, a comment from a person with the unlikely - and thus very Austrian - name of Himmelfreundpointner:
_______________________

Wilma Himmelfreundpointner, deputy director of the St. Anton Tourist Office, said the resort has the capability to cover 80 percent of its slopes with fake snow. But the current mild temperatures and sunshine make that an impossible option at the moment, she said.

"What can you do? One can't change the weather," Himmelfreundpointer said.

New blog feature: labels!

Check it out, from now on blog entries can be labelled as they get posted. I also just re-edited all my previous posts and labelled them. Ideally, you should be able to get an overview of all entries with the same label by clicking on the label link.

scary polar bear attack pictures

So here it is, the nightmare come true:

A guy sets up his tent and goes to sleep. Next thing he knows, a f****ing polar bear jumps and crashes through the tent!



Somehow, the guy survived and somebody (apparently not the victim of the attack) managed to kill the bear before he could do any more damage.



Follow the link to read the full story, as well as some more truly stomach-turning pictures (the guy apparently got scalped halfway).



UPDATE:

an anonymous comment has pointed me to another report about this incident, here. There seems to have been some confusion on the legal aspects of whether guides are allowed carrying guns, but although the story is titled "Polar Bear Attack Legend - the true story" I cannot see how this adds any more substantial insight into the events: bear jumps on a guy, guy gets badly scratched and halfway scalped, (and somehow shot through the ankle, but that is not explained further here either), guy ends up in hospital, bear ends up dead.

So any other anonymous sources out ther who wish to contribute with more details are welcome to add to this story.

on my way again...

Finally it is time to pack the bags, find the travel toothbrush and head for some underwater action again!

It is now more than half a year ago that I left my boots, flotation suit, guide jacket, spare dry suit, BCD and fins on the "Grigoriy Mikheev" while she was still cruising around the Arctic waters of Svalbard.




If all goes well, I will unpack all of it this Saturday about this time as I rendezvous with the ship in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

So while I was busy in my little office doing little office tasks, my gear had been moved from one end of the world to the other ;-)

The idea is usually to leave enough stuff behind on the boat to be able to "travel light" next time you return and have to endure multiple airport check-ins, baggage excess arguments, taxi drivers who freeze into a solid block behind the wheel once they see you approach... but it never quite seems to work out that way.

True, I have "only" one dry suit to pack, and "only" three regulator systems (two are mandatory, one is backup for screw-ups and forgetful customers) and my clothes bag contains no working clothes, just some light "dining room wear" and underwear, but somehow the seams and zippers seem close to burst as always.

Alas, I will try to leave even more stuff behind onboard the good ship this time, as I count on needing it the next time in the Arctic again, so getting it all carted there by the company (even though I will work for 'science' this summer again and not for them) is quite convenient.

So look forward to some fresh reports on the state of the Drake Passage, the extent of sea ice along the Peninsula and the quality of the home-made vodka at Vernadsky Station as soon as I return. If some fellow customers or colleagues are willing to let me have some of their digital pics, I might also post some around here (or finally get in gear with JAlbum for my all-too-static website?) since I am again cursing my indecisiveness - and packing my rolls of film again instead.

website updates coming

I finally found the time to post some new content to my website during this weekend. I realized that I could backlink several posts to pages of my site, so that the site can also serve as a more user-friendly archive of previous posts (while I still have to figure out the whole 'blog-into-categories' thing), but I also have some new stuff as well.

BTW: I have added a licence statement and a link to Creative Commons to all of my pages as well as to my blog. In case you wondered (or frowned?):

I decided to do this not so much because I am so concerned about the intellectual value of my work (...is there anybody out there actually reading this ;-? ) but because I wanted to support the CC idea.

So I figured, if "nobody" reads this, I might as well write in a license that imposes on any reader to religiously follow my beliefs; but if "some folks here and there" happen to browse over my site, skip-read the stuff on top and then stumble over 'that licence thing' and find out about the CC, so be it ;-)

P.S.: You are hereby admonished to read this blog every morning, lunch and evening and repeat the headlines of the ten most recent items while your browser reloads. By clicking 'close this window' you have automatically agreed to these terms until they are being revoked by this blog's author. AMEN.

new book review at PolarLitBlog

I have finally managed to post a new review on PolarLitBlog, and this time it is about the great book about McMurdo Station by Nicholas Johnson a.k.a. F. Scott Robert, the man behind BigDeadPlace.com. Check it out, I gave it my best shot. Also, Nicholas seems to have taken renewed interest in his website, although I doubt that he has managed to return (or will ever manage to be hired again) to the US Antarctic. So check out the site, too.

Initially, I also had scheduled Gretchen Legler's "On the Ice" for review (you can find it at Amazon.com) but after reading it, I decided to give it the benefit of some through editorial review since I had gotten an advanced reading copy, and this being an unedited manuscript, I was not to quote it without publisher's consent.

But now it turns out, the publisher has in the meantime released the book and if you are still curious you can find it at Amazon or other (online) bookstores.

As I was incredulously reading the summary of the published version as well as associated reviews from professional as well as individual reviewers, I realized that the book was still as bad as in its earlier version, and instead of correcting its major flaw - being an incredibly self-centered, self-infatuated report of a confused woman's soul searching - the publisher was now advertising this as its major feature.

The fact that the author finds not only her true self, but also her tue love, Ruth the Electrician, does not help much either, but it proves the point of a good Antarctic proverb: "Down here, the odds are good. But the goods are odd."

finally back online

It seems that my blogging has been bogging, as coming home from NZ and SoCal, christmas, a severe influenza, my gilrfriend's new apartment, new year's and - oh well - another serious harware malfunction in my 1998 Powerbook has kept me from posting stuff.

I would have expected that christmas and the days following it would have given me time to do some writing, especially since I got several books which are now itching to get their entries on PolarLitBlog, among them:

"On the Ice":
the story of a unhappy lesbian finding her true self and rebuilding her entire personality while reciting Thoreau all the while dutifully writing praise for the NSF on a writer's grant at McMurdo;

"BigDeadPlace - The Book" (I mentioned the website earlier in this post as well as some more stuff...

Interested? Check out PolarLitBlog over the next days then.

But now to something serious. I also noticed over the holidays that although I proclaimed this blog to be about diving stuff and stories and what not, I had yet to deliver some content on that. So I have been digging around on the net and found some cool stuff that could fill that gap, until I can post in some of my own stuff again (going back to the Coldest Continent for some diving trips in just a few weeks!).

So in the following posts I will present some of that, ranging from unbelievable to hilarious, from scientifically sound to absolutely stunningly weird, and hope you will have as much with it as I did.

the advantages of living online

I am enjoying the last days of my trip to the other side of the world and since I decided to bring my powerbook, I have been able to not only keep track of my email but also my newsfeeds, as well as my blog reading and even research into where to go, what to do for my various excursions.

As I was just checking alternative online retailers for christmas presents and calculated their respective prices with online currency converters and shipping calculator tools, I just realized (again) how commonplace and even determining of the every day the online access has become, at least for me.

The last time I realized that I was in fact becoming a second- to third-stage online addict was about a year ago, when I was cruising in the Weddel Sea on the research vessel "Polarstern" and the ship's intranet page displaying the successful last satellite uplink (and email transfer) became the most popular thing, in fact my browser starting page, on my laptop.

The daily to twice daily email fix was pure luxury, of course, and while we were paying for it by the kilobyte, the speculation whether or not the radio mate would get another fix and sat uplink done that same day or not was not uncommon during breaks or at mealtimes. When bad weather prevented us from getting any data in or out for as long as two and a half days, you just had to walk by the computer room to see how bad the symptoms had become for some of our colleagues...

On this trip, I got a taste of a different component of the worldwide web traveller: while on the Antarctic cruise the time zone factor was taken out of the equation both by UTC ship time - which made sense considering how many degrees of longitude we were crossing - and by the irregular satellite contact, this time I had access pretty much 24/7, if I wanted to.

So while I was in New Zealand, I could do a relatively easy calculation, since NZ is currently 12 hours ahead of Germany, Denmark and Norway, which are GMT-1, while NZ has daylight saving time.

But now in California I am suddenly nine hours behind. But that is alright, because I can catch my girlfriend on iChat before I go to sleep as she is then just coming into the office, and I can call home on Skype in the afternoon or evening, when their office day is over.

Also, when I get home after a day's excursion into LA, Hollywood, Venice Beach etc. I can catch the first headlines of the day in the German and European press.

But the best part is still when I get out my 1998 powerbook and start up and get unbelieving stares from people around me when they realize it runs the latest OS X ;-)

Getting from 12 hours ahead to nine hours behind resulted in an interesting "time travel" aspect of the trip too: I started in Dunedin on a monday morning, spent the monday afternoon in Auckland Int. Airport, then the Air New Zealand 747 left for LAX in the evening - and I arrived in the US again in the morning of monday the 12. of December, slightly before I had entered the first plane from Dunedin on the South Island to Auckland on the North Is.

Travelling with me were a couple of red-necked base personnel from McMurdo, easily recognizable by their matching Raytheon t-shirts and Antarctic sun tans, who just had come off some Air National Guard supply flight from "The Ice" to Christchurch, where the US Ant. Program have their headquarters.

And since the total time difference was 21 hours and the flight went mostly during the night, there was not even any obvious jet-lag involved, although an evening and a night spent in Economy Class (Air New Zealand calls it "Pacific Class" for some reason) are obviously not as relaxing as it could be.

I fear that the next and final leg of my flight, the transatlantic trip from LAX to Heathrow, is probably going to be more exhausting, especially because I learnt already on the outgoing flight that a few hours break at Heathrow are neither relaxing nor entertaining, as this must certainly be one of the busiest and loudest but also most expensive airports one could get into.

On top of that, I will have a 1:40h long busride back from Hamburg, where my last commuter flight will touch down, to my hometown of Kiel, so I will be there late on Sunday night and probably reasonably battered.

But hey, I should not complain, after all I managed to see the other side of the world while running around mostly in t-shirts in December, as well as visiting my little nephew and his family here in California, and all of this was a 'business trip', after all! ;-)

Website reconstruction going on

I am currently testing different tools to edit my 'static' website which indeed has become all too static. Visit me at rupert.krapp.org and see how it develops. If you have any comments, free software, or constructive criticism, you can post it here or find my email address on the index page.

first impressions from Stavanger

Here are some first phonecam snaps and impressions from Stavanger where I spent a few weeks recently to study the stress level (really!) in small critters living under the ice (click this link to a previous post if you want to know how they look like). It turned out my stress level was a lot higher than theirs, but then I could not blame them. They had been stored on liquid nitrogen first and later at about -80°C so they were pretty cool about the whole procedure *cheesy sitcom laugh* while I was working up a sweat jumping around between the different analysers, homogenisers, autosamplers, microplate readers, multipipette robots etc.

I first thought of showing some pics of these wonders of scientific high-tech but decided against it for now. (I first have to figure out how I can in uplink some mpeg movies that I shot of the robot systems in action).

Instead, here is a view from our lab's window on an oil rig dismantling unit.



Moored to it for some time was SAIPEM 7000, apparently the world's biggest, largest, heaviest-lifting floating crane rig, sporting twin cranes capable of 7000 tons each (hence the lyrical name) as well as a number of smaller "feeder" cranes to shuffle smaller things around on deck. It moved in and out of the fjord at astonishing speed (I guess some 6-8 knots) and "swerved" sharply to lay to the pier without any tug assistance, which makes sense if you have to move in close to large offshore constructions to take them down. And then it started to unload parts of a platform it had been taking apart some place out in the oil fields onto the large pier in front of the lab. Like a giant "grown-up boy's dream toy" come true!

Here is another shot:



If you piched your eyes, you could see small ant-like creatures crawling around on it, the deck crew. The cranes swung around more or less simultaneously to avoid too much veering on the deck, since they were "riding high" i.e. had not flooded the huge tanks in their legs as they would do once they were stationary and anchored "in the fields". With empty tanks the rig has a lot more freeboard i.e. a lot less bulk to push through the water when "sailing".

So even though Stavanger really is just a sleepy little town loosely strewn over a few islands and along the fjord and sounds, which reportedly have some of the oldest (known) human settlements of Scandinavia, it also happened to be situated closest to the largest (known) oil reserves of western Europe.

And by the way: parts of that pier the SAIPEM 7000 was moored to originate from the BRENT SPAR (ring a bell?), i.e. its concrete legs were modified into a pier extension while the metal superstructure was cut into scrap iron on the flat expanse between the lab and the fjord. I would love to dig up pictures of the thing, apparently the rig was tugged around in "Byfjorden" for some time while the authorities were still contemplating to sink it some place convenient to avoid the costly deconstruction.

And now to something completely different

Okay, I realize looking back on the list of previous posts, that my bold 'blog statement' of "Polar travels" and "pack ice" is dramatically underrepresented, while "cult of mac" and to some extend "cult of volvo" have taken up most of the space.

But don't you worry, it is just "low season" for that sort of thing. I will be back in the Southern Ocean as early as February, as scuba guide for two trips to the Peninsula (yeah, that's what we call it, or the AntPen ;-) or "first rocks after the Drake..."

I was looking forward to blogging from Antarctica already in January from the US base in McMurdo, but some "higher-ups" decided otherwise, so this will have to wait.

So what about "having a normal life in between all that"?

Well, er, there is none, really. Because you see, working as a PhD student and being with another PhD student does not allow for that sort of thing. You don't believe me? Just visit my girlfriend's blog for once, a site that was meant and initiated to be running commentary on her PhD finishing phase.

Let's just say that while being a commentary, it was not running too far - rather, it was beamed right out of time and space (probably into a parallel universe or something) just to be - ZAPP!! - back all of a sudden again...

So if you still wonder why PhD students do not seem to live like "real people" I recommend to register with the nearest university and start a PhD yourself (don't go for Biology or Geology, though, there is neither money nor any future in it...;-(

finally the tiger roars...

...on my good old Powerbook G3 Wallstreet (1.edition) ;-)

Yesterday, my crusty but trusty Wallstreet (1998 ed.) was finally upgraded from Panther to Tiger and from 20GB to 80GB in one go!

After I had dodged this step for months now, although it was inevitable to enable me to sync with my desktop (iMac G5) in every respect, I decided to give it a go, and here we are (that is, me and my BOOK ;-)



Admittedly this was achieved after some (cheap!) upgrades had already been installed earlier to make Panther run smoother on the 6-year-old hardware, i.e. new G4 processor card and more RAM. I also bought a few peripherals to get if not up to date so at least on the level that I need to use on a daily basis.

So I got a USB CardBus card, a FW and a Wireless (802.11b) card, a BT dongle, and finally a DVD drive to finish things. All for the total investment of ca. 250 (okay, maybe a few more) bucks.

My brother (yo, pete!) just invested in a brand-new Pb 12" as he got tired to tinker with his slightly newer Lombard powerbook that started to get old (well, REALLY old as in "several years" not like "last year's rev.)

And what does Apple do immediately afterwards: announce the next generation (duh...)

I must say that I will await this "one more thing" event (get a new line, Steve!) with a wide grin and a t-shirt:

"hardware from 1998 (500$). upgrades for 250$(ebay). Runs Tiger. Any questions?"

re-elections? NO - remix, mash, sample, hack it!

Many Germans seem to feel indecisive these days as to what to expect from their government, who to elect, or why to even care.

But look here, somebody has made it a lot easier for those of us who thought that these names and faces were all interchangeable:

make your own (remix) chancellor, right here, right now