Passengers aboard Adventure Associates’ “Wonders of the Ross Sea” expedition can add another first to their list when they landed atop the world’s largest iceberg, B15a.
The world record-holding* icebreaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov, forced a passage inside McMurdo Sound last week despite the dense pack ice corralled by the now-grounded B15a.
The huge iceberg, the size of Jamaica, was predicted to collide with the Drygalski Ice Tongue, but grounded just kilometres short, trapping the winter pack ice inside of McMurdo Sound.
“The Expedition Leader reported they’d landed by helicopter on top of B15a for a look around, “ said Adventure Associates CEO, Stewart Campbell, himself a veteran of numerous voyages to the Ross Sea region, ‘Of course the going is tougher than normal, but the Khlebnikov is a very powerful vessel.”
“Impromptu sightseeing is a feature of cruising in the deep south, “ continued Campbell, “ the weather and ice can be unpredictable, so you take advantage of whatever presents itself.”
The expedition continued on schedule to visit other highlights of the Ross Sea, including the historic huts of Shackleton and Scott as well as the penguin colonies at Cape Evans and Cape Royds.
* The Kapitan Khlebnikov holds the record of furthest south by any vessel, reaching 78 degrees 37 minutes in the Ross Sea in 2001.
Fun and interesting travel stories from Australia and The World
Luxury Travel Magazine
Friday, February 4, 2005
Fata Morgana and the Legend of Ultima Thule
Giant ice castles floating in mid-air, vast forests in the midst of ice floes and grotesque hairy dwarfs are among the many wonders to be found in the land of Ultima Thule – that is if you ask any of the 15th century explorers who returned with these fantastic tales.
Ultima Thule is, of course, a mythical land but the stories are real. Thule is located the northernmost region of Greenland and the sailors who witnessed these incredible sights were under the spell of another very real phenomenon, the Fata Morgana, named after the fabled medieval enchantress.
“Ancient mariners were literally spellbound by the landscapes they witnessed when searching for the allusive North-West Passage, hundreds of kilometres beyond the Arctic Circle,” says Stewart Campbell, Operations Manager with Sydney-based polar cruise operator, Adventure Associates, “what they didn’t realise was that these visions were actually complex optical illusions created by the unique qualities of the chilled arctic air.”
Even today, the mind-and light-bending effects of the Fata Morgana perplex the most experienced navigators and captains.
“The Fata Morgana mirage only occurs where alternating warm and cold layers of air exist near the ground or water surface, “ explains T. Neil Davis, a seismologist with the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, “Instead of travelling straight through these layers, light is bent towards the colder, hence denser, air. The resultant light path can produce a confusing image of a distant object.”
The exploration of Greenland is, as it was then, a wonderful, bewitching experience. Only today this once hazardous adventure can now be undertaken in the comfort of modern ice-strengthened cruise vessels with state-of-the-art navigation and safety equipment.
Adventure Associates, a pioneer in polar leisure cruising, offers four brand new and exclusive cruises to the already busy Arctic schedule with the addition of the modern M/V Orlova to the northern fleet.
The four contrasting journeys offer passengers rare access to the pristine arctic wilderness regions of Greenland, Iceland and Baffin Island as well as the renowned, wildlife-rich areas of Newfoundland and Labrador.
For more information, press-ready images and brochures, please contact Stewart Campbell at Adventure Associates on (02) 9389 7466 or 1800 222 141 or visit
www.adventureassociates.com
Ultima Thule is, of course, a mythical land but the stories are real. Thule is located the northernmost region of Greenland and the sailors who witnessed these incredible sights were under the spell of another very real phenomenon, the Fata Morgana, named after the fabled medieval enchantress.
“Ancient mariners were literally spellbound by the landscapes they witnessed when searching for the allusive North-West Passage, hundreds of kilometres beyond the Arctic Circle,” says Stewart Campbell, Operations Manager with Sydney-based polar cruise operator, Adventure Associates, “what they didn’t realise was that these visions were actually complex optical illusions created by the unique qualities of the chilled arctic air.”
Even today, the mind-and light-bending effects of the Fata Morgana perplex the most experienced navigators and captains.
“The Fata Morgana mirage only occurs where alternating warm and cold layers of air exist near the ground or water surface, “ explains T. Neil Davis, a seismologist with the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, “Instead of travelling straight through these layers, light is bent towards the colder, hence denser, air. The resultant light path can produce a confusing image of a distant object.”
The exploration of Greenland is, as it was then, a wonderful, bewitching experience. Only today this once hazardous adventure can now be undertaken in the comfort of modern ice-strengthened cruise vessels with state-of-the-art navigation and safety equipment.
Adventure Associates, a pioneer in polar leisure cruising, offers four brand new and exclusive cruises to the already busy Arctic schedule with the addition of the modern M/V Orlova to the northern fleet.
The four contrasting journeys offer passengers rare access to the pristine arctic wilderness regions of Greenland, Iceland and Baffin Island as well as the renowned, wildlife-rich areas of Newfoundland and Labrador.
For more information, press-ready images and brochures, please contact Stewart Campbell at Adventure Associates on (02) 9389 7466 or 1800 222 141 or visit
www.adventureassociates.com
Wrangel Island: Isolation, Desolation and Tragedy
- the latest 'must-see' polar travel destination.
this story currently offline
Grab Facts:
Location: N71 o W180o - approximately 500 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle above Siberia.
Sovereignty: Russia
Area: 4,507 km2 - about twice the size of the ACT
Nominal Capital: Ushakovskoye
Permanent Population: about 100
Major Wildlife: Polar bears, Pacific Walrus, Arctic Fox, Snow Geese, seals, lemmings.
Highest Point: Mt. Sovetskaya (1096m)
this story currently offline
Grab Facts:Location: N71 o W180o - approximately 500 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle above Siberia.
Sovereignty: Russia
Area: 4,507 km2 - about twice the size of the ACT
Nominal Capital: Ushakovskoye
Permanent Population: about 100
Major Wildlife: Polar bears, Pacific Walrus, Arctic Fox, Snow Geese, seals, lemmings.
Highest Point: Mt. Sovetskaya (1096m)
Outta The Way – It’s B15a!
Sounding more like a World War Two bomber than an age-old natural phenomenon, Iceberg B15a is nonetheless set on a course of destruction deep in the Antarctic.
Unlike their more creative meteorological colleagues, the (US) National Ice Center name bergs based on their geographical origin rather than use popular Christian names like, say, Gloria or Tracy. Anyway, what do you call an iceberg big enough to attract territorial claims? Goliath? Otto? Ymir? Or just Mr Big?
B15a’s story begins on the Ross Ice Shelf, a perpetually frozen sea the size of France that barricades a vast body of water all the way to within 600 kilometres of the South Pole. Favoured by polar explorers because of its pool-table flat terrain, the shelf allows even heavy vehicles to traverse its sturdy, ancient crust, which scientists know to be hundreds of metres thick.
In the Antarctic summer, between November and February, chunks of the shelf often “calve” off into the Southern Ocean thanks to the combined forces of melting when it reaches the marginally warmer waters and the numerous irrepressible glaciers shoving it brutally north. These chunks become icebergs that can float around the ocean for years along with the slabs of non-permanent ice that regularly bob about the Ross Sea during summer before melting away. Normally this icy debris is small, say the size of an apartment block or small suburb, but B15a sets a new benchmark; at 6,000 sq. km, it’s the size of Jamaica!
As a further mind-boggling twist, B15a gets its ‘a’ tag by virtue of the fact it was once part of an even larger floating mass; you guessed it, B15. At nearly 300 km long and ‘born’ in March 2000, B15 was probably the largest iceberg ever recorded, but has since disintegrated, leaving B15a as its largest remaining offspring.
Doomsayers are quick to jump on the global-warming issue as a cause for these floating behemoths, but in truth, the boffins are still scratching their heads.
“We don’t know why icebergs like B15 calve when they do. We don’t know whether there’s an environmental trigger,” said Doug MacAyeal, an iceberg researcher at the University of Chicago. “In the middle of the night something happens and you wake up the next morning and one of the cracks has connected through to make the piece come off.” Thanks Doug.
Viewed from space, B15a appears like a giant aircraft carrier making an awkward berth alongside an irregular dock. Part of this ‘dockside’ is the massive Drygalski Ice Tongue, a floating glacier jutting out almost 50 km into the Ross Sea. B15a’s clumsy manoeuvring had scientists literally on the edges of their lab stools, as it appeared certain the invisible skipper had set a course ‘dead ahead’ to collide with the giant ice tongue. Imminent impact was scheduled for about January 15.
As if lifted from a Hollywood action film script, the mega-berg came to a screeching halt just kilometres from the frozen mass. Apparently, the berg is now aground and stuck almost motionless within clear view of Drygalski’s giant ice pontoon. The world’s scientific community, no doubt, had trouble drawing breath again after such an astonishingly close call. So what now?
"This berg has wedged itself between two shallow areas. ... It really hasn't gotten any closer for a week now," said Antarctica New Zealand's science strategy manager, Dean Peterson, with a sigh "It's kind of shimmying back and forth now ... so I don't know whether it's ever going to get to the Drygalski or not." Thanks Dean.
Even though one significant geographic feature has been spared (for now), the stalled iceberg is not good news for the ecology or the self-exiled humans. McMurdo Sound is a tiny pocket on the hip of the Ross Ice Shelf, with the 3800m Mt Erebus looming large in the immediate scenery. The bottom end is sewn shut by the shelf and the US and NZ each keep a permanent base supplied with summer access by ship from the other. McMurdo Base (US), in turn, supplies by air the much more precariously located Amundsen-Scott Base over 1,000 km away at the South Pole itself. Problem is with an iceberg the size of a republic blockading the entrance, winter (non-permanent) ice can’t get out and ships can’t get in.
Forget for now the silly scientists cloistered away in their frozen bases and consider the plight of the two penguin species trying to raise their young in the midst of this upheaval. The world’s largest penguin, the Emperor, must navigate a hundred or more kilometres across the ice to reach their feeding grounds and then return with dinner for the young. That’s normal, but since B15a parked itself across the driveway, the trapped ice is doubling that distance. The smaller Adelie Penguins have a similar task, and the marathon distances are taking a toll.
Australian biologist, Jane Wilson, has just returned from the region aboard Adventure Associates' icebreaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov, and she reports vastly reduced numbers of Adelies and nests at Cape Royds due to the inaccessibility of the foraging grounds. It follows that the Emperors will be doing it tough too.
Global warming and ozone holes aside, the consensus amongst glaciologists (folks who study ice) is that the occasional whopper of an iceberg is normal for that part of the world. What would be of concern is if the permanent ice pack were actually receding, but for now, there appears no sign of that. Flippers crossed.
Unlike their more creative meteorological colleagues, the (US) National Ice Center name bergs based on their geographical origin rather than use popular Christian names like, say, Gloria or Tracy. Anyway, what do you call an iceberg big enough to attract territorial claims? Goliath? Otto? Ymir? Or just Mr Big?
B15a’s story begins on the Ross Ice Shelf, a perpetually frozen sea the size of France that barricades a vast body of water all the way to within 600 kilometres of the South Pole. Favoured by polar explorers because of its pool-table flat terrain, the shelf allows even heavy vehicles to traverse its sturdy, ancient crust, which scientists know to be hundreds of metres thick.
In the Antarctic summer, between November and February, chunks of the shelf often “calve” off into the Southern Ocean thanks to the combined forces of melting when it reaches the marginally warmer waters and the numerous irrepressible glaciers shoving it brutally north. These chunks become icebergs that can float around the ocean for years along with the slabs of non-permanent ice that regularly bob about the Ross Sea during summer before melting away. Normally this icy debris is small, say the size of an apartment block or small suburb, but B15a sets a new benchmark; at 6,000 sq. km, it’s the size of Jamaica!
As a further mind-boggling twist, B15a gets its ‘a’ tag by virtue of the fact it was once part of an even larger floating mass; you guessed it, B15. At nearly 300 km long and ‘born’ in March 2000, B15 was probably the largest iceberg ever recorded, but has since disintegrated, leaving B15a as its largest remaining offspring.
Doomsayers are quick to jump on the global-warming issue as a cause for these floating behemoths, but in truth, the boffins are still scratching their heads.
“We don’t know why icebergs like B15 calve when they do. We don’t know whether there’s an environmental trigger,” said Doug MacAyeal, an iceberg researcher at the University of Chicago. “In the middle of the night something happens and you wake up the next morning and one of the cracks has connected through to make the piece come off.” Thanks Doug.
Viewed from space, B15a appears like a giant aircraft carrier making an awkward berth alongside an irregular dock. Part of this ‘dockside’ is the massive Drygalski Ice Tongue, a floating glacier jutting out almost 50 km into the Ross Sea. B15a’s clumsy manoeuvring had scientists literally on the edges of their lab stools, as it appeared certain the invisible skipper had set a course ‘dead ahead’ to collide with the giant ice tongue. Imminent impact was scheduled for about January 15.
As if lifted from a Hollywood action film script, the mega-berg came to a screeching halt just kilometres from the frozen mass. Apparently, the berg is now aground and stuck almost motionless within clear view of Drygalski’s giant ice pontoon. The world’s scientific community, no doubt, had trouble drawing breath again after such an astonishingly close call. So what now?
"This berg has wedged itself between two shallow areas. ... It really hasn't gotten any closer for a week now," said Antarctica New Zealand's science strategy manager, Dean Peterson, with a sigh "It's kind of shimmying back and forth now ... so I don't know whether it's ever going to get to the Drygalski or not." Thanks Dean.
Even though one significant geographic feature has been spared (for now), the stalled iceberg is not good news for the ecology or the self-exiled humans. McMurdo Sound is a tiny pocket on the hip of the Ross Ice Shelf, with the 3800m Mt Erebus looming large in the immediate scenery. The bottom end is sewn shut by the shelf and the US and NZ each keep a permanent base supplied with summer access by ship from the other. McMurdo Base (US), in turn, supplies by air the much more precariously located Amundsen-Scott Base over 1,000 km away at the South Pole itself. Problem is with an iceberg the size of a republic blockading the entrance, winter (non-permanent) ice can’t get out and ships can’t get in.
Forget for now the silly scientists cloistered away in their frozen bases and consider the plight of the two penguin species trying to raise their young in the midst of this upheaval. The world’s largest penguin, the Emperor, must navigate a hundred or more kilometres across the ice to reach their feeding grounds and then return with dinner for the young. That’s normal, but since B15a parked itself across the driveway, the trapped ice is doubling that distance. The smaller Adelie Penguins have a similar task, and the marathon distances are taking a toll.
Australian biologist, Jane Wilson, has just returned from the region aboard Adventure Associates' icebreaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov, and she reports vastly reduced numbers of Adelies and nests at Cape Royds due to the inaccessibility of the foraging grounds. It follows that the Emperors will be doing it tough too.
Global warming and ozone holes aside, the consensus amongst glaciologists (folks who study ice) is that the occasional whopper of an iceberg is normal for that part of the world. What would be of concern is if the permanent ice pack were actually receding, but for now, there appears no sign of that. Flippers crossed.
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