Argentina’s Antarctica flagship ‘Almirante Irizar’ remains ‘grounded’ in controversy

Six years ago this week Argentina’s icebreaker ‘Almirante Irizar’ and symbol of the country’s presence in Antarctica caught fire and was an almost loss. The government pledged to have the vessel back sailing in a couple of years but now it has surfaced that only 50% of repairs have been completed and the whole enterprise is involved in deep controversy.

Argentine Defence minister Arturo Puricelli has promised that next year the emblematic icebreaker will begin sea trials, but according to congressional reports it is hard to see this happening given claims of operational errors, administrative irregularities and even probably acts of corruption.

Opposition lawmakers have stated that with all the money invested so far in the repairs, over a hundred million dollars, a new icebreaker could have been purchased and all the problems facing the Argentine Antarctic campaign since the fire back in 2007 could have been overcome.

The lawmakers claim that this month the technical advisor of the Tandanor shipyard where the Irizar is under repairs was removed following complaints about the disarray of the whole operation.

Likewise at the end of December Minister Puricelli rescinded the contract with Swiss ABB arguing the work budget was excessive. However it was also revealed that the ABB budget had to cover initial errors committed when repair works started. Anyhow ABB is considering demanding the Argentine state for breach of contract.

Under the original contract sea trials should have taken place 17 October 2011 with Cristina Fernandez and Nestor Kirchner on board, but the death of Kirchner and a cabinet reshuffle forced a suspension of the whole ceremony.

Opposition lawmakers anticipated they would be asking the Argentine ministry of defence an urgent appraisal of the situation, the real state or repairs, budget management and who are ultimately responsible for the delay and over expenditure.

Argentina strongly protests UK’s naming Queen Elizabeth land in Antarctica

Argentina strongly protested on Friday Britain's decision to name a vast swath of Antarctica as Queen Elizabeth Land. The Foreign ministry handed a formal protest note to British Ambassador John Freeman in Buenos Aires.

The naming is contrary to the spirit of peace and cooperation of the Antarctic Treaty argues Argentina

In the note the Argentine government recalls the country’s categorical rejection to all British territorial pretension in Antarctica and reaffirms its rights over what it describes the Argentine Antarctic Sector.

The note rejects London's claim since 1908 to a chunk of Antarctic known as the British Antarctic Territory, and it criticizes what Argentina calls Britain's “imperialistic ambitions going back to ancient practices” and contrary to the spirit of peace and cooperation of the Antarctic Treaty.

Argentina has long claimed as its own the land named after the British monarch this week. That area is about a third of the British Antarctic Territory.

The protest note reiterates Argentina’s commitment to the values and principles of the Antarctic Treaty System based on peace, science, international cooperation and the protection of the environment, and underlined that Article IV of the treaty safeguards the positions of the parties in affairs referring to sovereignty claims in Antarctica.

UK names southern part of British Antarctic Territory “Queen Elizabeth Land”

The Foreign Secretary announced on Tuesday that the southern part of British Antarctic Territory has been named Queen Elizabeth Land.

The Queen visited the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for the second time on Tuesday, as the last official engagement of her Diamond Jubilee year. The previous visit was in 1982 to mark the department’s bicentenary.

Following a tour of the building, Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that the southern part of the British Antarctic Territory had been named ‘Queen Elizabeth Land’ in honor of The Queen’s sixtieth year on the throne.

“As a mark of this country’s gratitude to the Queen for her service, we are naming a part of the British Antarctic Territory in her honor as ‘Queen Elizabeth Land’.

“This is a fitting tribute at the end of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee year, and I am very proud to be able to announce it as she visits the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

“The British Antarctic Territory is a unique and important member of the network of fourteen UK Overseas Territories. To be able to recognize the UK’s commitment to Antarctica with a permanent association with Her Majesty is a great honor”, said Foreign Secretary Hague.

The area now to be known as Queen Elizabeth Land, which was previously unnamed, is around 169.000 square miles (437.000 sq km), making up just under a third of the whole land mass of the British Antarctic Territory. This is almost twice the size of the UK, which stands at 94.000 square miles (244.000 sq km).

Queen Elizabeth Land is bounded on the North side by the Ronne and Filchner ice shelves, to the North East by Coats Land, on the East by Dronning Maud Land and extending on the West side to a line between the South Pole and Rutford Ice Stream, east of Constellation Inlet.

Her Majesty The Queen has been on the throne for 60 of the 104 years since the UK claimed territory in Antarctica in 1908. This includes the entire time it has been known as the British Antarctic Territory.

• The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) extends from 20o to 80oWest. It was claimed by the UK in 1908 and was the first official claim in Antarctica. It was designated officially as a separate Overseas Territory in 1962.

• All claims to territory within Antarctica are held in abeyance under Article IV of the Antarctic Treaty, 1959, which neither confirms nor denies competing claims, but prevents new claims being made.

• The name Queen Elizabeth Land will now be used on all British maps. Because of the unique status of Antarctica, which is covered by an international Treaty that suspends territorial sovereignty, it is for other countries to decide whether or not they will officially recognize this name.

• Place naming in BAT is undertaken on the basis that a currently unnamed area requires a name for scientific or logistical purposes. This approach is fully in line with the Antarctic Treaty.

• Decisions on names are made by the Commissioner of the British Antarctic Territory, who is based in London. The Commissioner takes advice on new names from the Antarctic Place Names Committee, which meets twice a year.

• The BAT has no permanent population. British presence is maintained via three research stations operated by the British Antarctic Survey. The Territory itself is self-financing, investing modest receipts from stamp sales and the income tax from over wintering British scientists in environmental projects

• This is not the first time that land in Antarctica has been named after The Queen. Princess Elizabeth Land in East Antarctica, which was discovered in 1931 by the Australian Sir Douglas Mawson, was named by him after Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth (now Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II). And in 2006, an unnamed mountain range in the Antarctic Peninsula was named The Princess Royal Range, in recognition of Her Royal Highness’s work to support environmental and heritage protection work in Antarctica.

Polar ice sheets melting have added 11mm to global sea levels since 1992

Nearly two dozen research teams collaborated to study polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica and discovered definitively that they have added 11mm to global sea levels since 1992, melting ever more quickly.

Professor Shepherd of Leeds University says East Antarctica has acquired more mass because of increased snowfall

This polar melting added about one-fifth of the overall global sea level rise in this period, contributing 11.1mm overall but with a “give or take” uncertainty of 3.8mm, such that the figure could be anywhere between 7.3mm and 14.9mm. All the ice sheets’ combined rate of melting has grown since 1992, with Greenland losing five times as much ice now and Antarctica showing about a 50 per cent increase ice loss rate for the last decade.

The results, which bring to an end 20 years of conflicting results, were published in Science. Researchers used data from satellites measuring the surface altitude, glacier flow and the ice mass’s gravitational effect. Erik Ivins of California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the 11.1mm are significant.

“When you have 11mm of increased sea level, if you compute the amount of mass that's capable of coming on shore during storm surge, it's a lot of mass,” he said, according to The Canadian Press. “Small changes in sea levels in certain places mean very big changes in the kind of protection of infrastructure you need to have in place.”

Lead author of the research, Professor Andrew Shepherd of Leeds University, explained that East Antarctica ice sheet, which is the largest, has acquired more mass due to increased snowfall. Still, the study determined that Greenland, West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula were all losing mass, more than offsetting East Antarctica's gain.

“We can now say for sure that Antarctica is losing ice and we can see how the rate of loss from Greenland is going up over the same period as well,” he said. “We've brought everybody together to produce a single estimate and it turns out that estimate is two to three times more reliable than the last one.”

He noted that the figure is in line with climate change predictions.

“We would expect Greenland to melt more rapidly because the temperatures have risen,” he commented. “We would expect West Antarctica to flow more quickly because the ocean is warmer. And we would also expect East Antarctica to grow because there's more snowfall as a consequence of climate warming.”

The findings are in line with various forecasts by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 assessment, and will be considered for the next report due in September 2013.

“The next big challenge - now that we've got quite a good understanding of what's happened over the last 20 years - is to predict what will happen over the next century,” said Dr Hamish Pritchard of the British Antarctic Survey. ”And that is going to be a tough challenge with difficult processes going on in inside the glaciers and ice sheets.”

HMS Protector inspecting Antarctic Treaty sites; first visit to Brazil’s Comandante Ferraz station

Royal Navy Ice patrol HMS Protector has arrived in Antarctica for the first time this season after her long sail south from Portsmouth. She will spend this, the first of her four work periods in the ice this Austral Summer, supporting an international team conducting formal Antarctic Treaty inspections of sites across the Peninsula.

The Ice patrol inspection is undertaken jointly by the UK, Spain and the Netherlands  

Led by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and with the support of the British Antarctic Survey and observers from HMS Protector, the international team will inspect a number of scientific stations, historic sites, cruise vessels and yachts.

HMS Protector’s designated Antarctic Treaty Observers, who are tasked to provide specialist advice and support to the inspection team, include the Executive Officer, Medical Officer, photographer and a small team of engineers.

With a flotilla of small boats, including: the state-of-the-art survey motor boat, ‘James Caird IV’; an 8.5m ramped Work Boat, ‘Terra Nova’, and; two Pacific 22 rigid inflatable boats (‘Aurora and ‘Nimrod’), the 5,000 tons Ice Patrol Ship and her highly trained crew are well equipped to deploy personnel ashore or afloat in order to conduct these types of operations.

Undertaken jointly by the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands, the inspection program will be conducted in accordance with the Antarctic Treaty.

Under the Treaty, parties are able to conduct on-site, unannounced inspections of all installations and facilities in the region, in order to ensure observance of all of the Treaty's provisions.

Commencing the program of inspections the team deployed from HMS Protector to the Brazilian research station Comandante Ferraz.

Named after the Brazillian Navy Commander Luís Antônio de Carvalho Ferraz, a hydrographer and oceanographer, Ferraz is located in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, which is near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in the South Shetland Islands.

The inspection of Ferraz Base was particularly poignant for HMS Protector; sailors from the ship helped tackle a fire which broke out and tragically killed two Brazilians at the research station in February, during the last season in the ice.

On completion of the inspection at Ferraz, the team transited to Henryk Arctowski the Polish Antarctic Station in order to commence the second of many planned base inspections. The program of inspections will continue until mid-December.

HMS Protector’s Executive Officer, Commander Don Mackinnon said: “HMS Protector is in the Antarctic representing both the United Kingdom and the Royal Navy in order to promote peace and security in region, and to help the international inspection team determine whether parties to the Antarctic Treaty are meeting their obligations.

“The unique, signature capability of the Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship, and the significant and very positive contribution it makes to regional co-operation and engagement, has never been more in important. We look forward to a long and productive season in Antarctica.”

HMS Protector will also conduct survey tasks in the South Atlantic over Christmas and New Year before returning to Antarctic waters in January – April 2013.
 

NASA IceBridge on its fourth edition to study Antarctica’s polar ice changes

Scientists and flight crew members with Operation IceBridge, NASA's airborne mission to study Earth's changing polar ice have started another campaign over Antarctica. Now in its fourth year, IceBridge's return to the Antarctic comes almost a year after the discovery of a large rift in the continent's Pine Island Glacier.

The flights scheduled until mid November take off from Punta Arenas (Photo: Nasa.org)

The first science flight of the campaign began October 12 when NASA's DC-8 research aircraft left Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, for an 11-hour flight that took it over the Thwaites Glacier in west Antarctica.

This year, IceBridge will survey previously unmeasured areas of land and sea ice and gather further data on rapidly changing areas like Pine Island Glacier. The IceBridge Antarctic campaign will operate out of Punta Arenas through mid-November.

Several of IceBridge's planned flights focus on previously unmeasured ice streams feeding into the Weddell Sea. These flights will gather data on what lies beneath these ice streams, something vital for understanding how changing conditions might affect the flow of ice into the ocean and sea-level rise.

NASA’s Operation IceBridge images Earth's polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system.

IceBridge utilizes a highly specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled to characterize annual changes in thickness of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets.

In addition, IceBridge collects critical data used to predict the response of earth’s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea-level rise. IceBridge also helps bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's ICESat satellite missions.

HMS Protector on route to the Antarctic previous surveying in St Helena

The Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol ship HMS Protector is on her way for an eight-month deployment surveying and patrolling Antarctica. She left Portsmouth late September and is currently visiting St Helena to conduct surveys of the harbour in preparation for the building of a new jetty.

 The Ice Patrol during her last foray in Antarctica

HMS Protector is scheduled to call in the Falkland Islands and will arrive in Antarctica for the austral summer and has plans to make four forays into the ice. During this time she will utilize her multi beam echo sounder and deploy her survey motor boat to ensure the UK provides cutting-edge, hydrographic imagery of the Antarctic region.

Around 80% of the world’s charts are provided by the Royal Navy’s hydrographic department.

The ship will also assist with the re-supply of British Antarctic Survey stations in the region.

Protector’s Commanding Officer, Captain Peter Sparkes, said: “Building upon the success - and the lessons identified - from HMS Protector’s inaugural deployment to Antarctica, the ship and her company is ready in all respects to face again the challenges of the southern ocean. HMS Protector exemplifies the Royal Navy’s global reach and the UK government’s commitment to British interests in the South Atlantic.”

The 5.000 ton ice patrol is equipped with a flotilla of small boats, including: the state-of-the-art survey motor boat, ‘James Caird IV’; a. 8.5m ramped Work Boat, ‘Terra Nova’, and; two Pacific 22 rigid inflatable boats (‘Aurora and ‘Nimrod’). Three BV206 all-terrain vehicles and four quad bikes, complete with trailers, will also be carried and craned directly onto the ice to assist with the re-supply of British Antarctic Survey scientific stations.

HMS Protector has a historic connection with Britain's Antarctic commitment: it was the name of the ship, which preceded the former Endurance (1968-91) in the South Atlantic role.

She will carry out all the functions of an Antarctic patrol ship such as deployed to patrol and survey the Antarctic and South Atlantic, maintaining a UK presence and supporting the international community in the region. This involves close links with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the UK Hydrographic Office and the British Antarctic Survey.

Preparing to re-enact Shackleton’s epic on a replica of ‘James Caird’ next January

A pair of Royal Navy and Royal Marines adventurers has completed a summer of sea trials as they prepare to take an authentic replica of Sir Ernest Shackleton's famous lifeboat back to the icy wastes of the South Pole.

Royal Navy and Royal Marines adventurers complete a summer of sea trials with the replica of “James Caird”

 Expedition Gear

With only four months to go before the 'Shackleton Epic' adventure gets underway, a significant milestone has been reached and the expedition's naval element is eager to get going on the trip of a lifetime.

The 'Shackleton Epic' has been in development since 2008 when The Honourable Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of Sir Ernest, had the idea of an expedition to honour one of the greatest leadership and survival stories of all time.

Now, a crew of six British and Australian adventurers will attempt to become the first to authentically re-enact Sir Ernest Shackleton's treacherous boat voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia, followed by the difficult crossing of its mountainous interior.

To this day, no-one has successfully recreated Shackleton's complete 'double' journey across sea and land using traditional gear. British/Australian adventurer Tim Jarvis, a veteran of multiple polar expeditions, believes it will be the most challenging expedition of his life.

The only concessions to the use of period equipment will be the storage of modern emergency equipment and radios on board the 'Alexandra Shackleton', and the presence of a support vessel, TS Pelican, in the Southern Ocean.

Both modern emergency equipment and Pelican's assistance will only be used in the event that the 'Alexandra Shackleton' gets into serious trouble.

Petty Officer Seb Coulthard from the Lynx Wildcat Maritime Force and Warrant Officer Class 2 Barry Gray from 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group Royal Marines are at the end of a long summer trialling the 'Alexandra Shackleton', the replica of the 'James Caird' - Shackleton's lifeboat which stood him in good order on his epic rescue 100 years ago.

With the diligence of a master shipbuilder Petty Officer Coulthard has overseen his creation, and tested and adjusted it for the journey south. The boat has now been packed up and shipped off to Antarctica to await the expedition team's arrival early next year.

“We've made minor alterations and replaced some of the ballast,” said Petty Officer Coulthard. “It's remarkable that Shackleton got his stability calculations correct even though he was working on the edge of what was technically possible.

”We replaced some of the rigging, manila ropes and Flax canvas sails - they had worn through; it's all made of natural fibres and they wear very quickly.

“We've come from being a reasonably small expedition, 'six men in a boat with a website', into a global adventure with sponsors and backers - it's grown out of all recognition.”

Come January 2013, the team will be in Punta Arenas in Chile ahead of their attempt beginning around 17 January to emulate Shackleton's voyage across 800 nautical miles (1,480km) of the most challenging and treacherous seas on the planet - the Southern Ocean, sailing from Elephant Island to South Georgia aboard their replica boat.

On arrival at South Georgia three of the team will traverse its mountainous interior to reach the former whaling station at Stromness. The expedition will culminate in a pilgrimage to Shackleton's grave at Grytviken.

The skipper of the boat, professional offshore sailor Nick Bubb, had his doubts when he first set eyes on the 'Alexandra Shackleton': “It looked like a survival capsule, which is exactly what it is.

”As an adventure there can't be many that's been analysed to such an extent; this analysis has provided a lot of answers to questions as they come up.

“It's not just us doing what we think is the best thing; we're all the time looking back to see how Shackleton did it.”

The training and team building continues right up until they depart next year. Royal Marines Mountain Leader Barry Gray has arranged courses in Scotland, Wales and Switzerland so the team can get to know each other and work on their winter mountain skills ready for the crossing of South Georgia.

Brigadier Bill Dunham, Deputy Commandant General Royal Marines, was at the global launch of the expedition and chatted with the naval members of the team:

“I envy them the challenge,” he said. ”I don't necessarily envy them the reality of what they're about to attempt. This adventure will call upon courage, determination, unselfishness and cheerfulness in the face of adversity - all what we call in the Royal Marines 'The Commando Spirit'; values that other Service people can appreciate and translate.

Brazil begins rebuilding Antarctic base destroyed by deadly fire last February

Three navy supply ships will head for Antarctica next month to begin rebuilding a Brazilian naval base destroyed by a deadly fire in February, Defence Minister Celso Amorim said Monday.

Defence minister Celso Amorim made the announcement

“Next month, with the end of the winter on the continent, our ships will set off to begin dismantling parts of the base affected by the fire,” he said during a meeting of Latin American officials managing Antarctic programs.

The fire destroyed 70% of the Comandante Ferraz base, which was established in 1984 in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The navy vessels will ferry temporary installations, which will be dropped on the heliport of King George Island, to be used by some Brazilian researchers, a defence ministry statement said.

Other Brazilian researchers will be stationed at Antarctic bases run by Argentina and Chile.

Amorim said the aim was to begin work on the new Brazilian base in November 2013.

He said President Dilma Rousseff was firmly committed to the reconstruction of the base and thanked South American countries for their assistance during the February emergency.

Malfunctioning electrical generators were believed to have caused the blaze. This at the same time prevented the water pumps from working thus impeding fire workers to control the blaze.

Staff and equipments from bases belonging to other countries were brought to Comandante Ferraz to help contain the disaster.

Scientists working under the Brazilian Antarctic Program use the navy base to study global warming, as well as coastal and marine ecosystems.