FAKE PHOTOS? FAKE JOURNEY?
In my continuing monitering of the Swiss Polar Institute's [SPI] "Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition" [ACE], I've noted that their internet information output is rather thin. Nowhere is this more notable than on their twitter feed. There is no hard data-- only "soft porn" dealing with people-pictures, some scenery and plants and animals.
https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/ACEexpedition?src=hash
It's a bit tricky to figure out which posts are the latest posts on this twitter feed. If you scroll down a bit, you get to the posts that are hours old. This latest photo APPEARS TO ME TO BE PHOTOSHOPPED and in a very very SLOPPY manner. WHAT are we looking at here??
Why is the foreground light blue as seen above? It appears to be a photoshopped cartoon. In the background, the top of the glacier is a similar light blue. They're claiming that this is Mertz Glacier. How would anyone have obtained this photo even IF it were Mertz Glacier? It appears to be taken from ON TOP of the ice in the foreground. Do they have a helicopter?
Is the Treshnikov actually out where they say they are? I checked with an independent ship tracking program on the internet... marinetraffic.com
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:348863/mmsi:273359440/imo:9548536/vessel:AKADEMIK_TRYOSHNIKOV
They are tracked as having been at 46S on Jan. 23 2017 in the Tasman Sea-- ?
Now, 46S is well north of Antarctica-- actually that's Hobart, south of Australia as well as South Africa. Both are 46S. Tasman Sea is between Australia and New Zealand.
http://www.tasmanseasalt.com/
The route from South Africa to Hobart actually is not very far south at all-- certainly not part of a circumnavigation of Antarctica in my opinion.... unless we call all that other shipping activity a partial circumnavigation too.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/p/satellite-ais
According to shipspotting.com, they're still in South Africa. Why does this site not update the location of the ship?
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2524802
LATEST FACEBOOK PHOTOS
https://www.facebook.com/ACEexpedition/photos/ms.c.eJw9ztENxDAMAtCNTobYGO~_~;WJVe0t8nBCDsJjhg1VL~;sAGGNshxIBbBUiovUD1cWNowgVnVHpJ9QcwqWwcYgZ2AcDsSbwc~;oP8rPiBkD1l5gFGTZXefY4S5QdkPXWQpKw~-~-.bps.a.1088710224589807.1073741835.941192069341624/1088710321256464/?type=3&theater
Here's a previous Tweet photo that looks odd to me... What the hell are we looking at here?
https://mobile.twitter.com/HofSwitzerland/status/822402325381685248?p=v
Why is the bottom right blurry?
What is the black line? Why is it blurry and dark in the middle? Seeing photos like this is discouraging to say the least. It's anomalous at very best.
I read somewhere they had two helicopters on board. Here's one being loaded apparently in Southampton UK back in November
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/ACE_Expedition/status/801098702672818176
The pilot is called Bob, apparently...
https://twitter.com/j1mbojw/status/813368603143798784
There's an amusing account here of the 'scientific work' so far.
https://phys.org/news/2017-01-antarctica-ace-leg.html
I'm surprised that ""The first leg of the expedition met all our expectations!" said Danièle Rod, the ACE program manager. "
I thought it had been hampered by bad weather and rough seas..
It was indeed amusing.
ReplyDeletequote
The ship also sailed close to Heard Island. Despite their scientific motives, the researchers on the Akademik Treshnikov were not authorized to set foot on this crucial nature reserve, which belongs to Australia
unquote
My comment-- So much for international cooperation.
"The first leg of the expedition met all our expectations!" said Danièle Rod, the ACE program manager. "Some of the research teams, including the one working on plastics in the ocean and atmosphere, have already logged surprising measurements and data, which they'll keep doing and verifying over the next two legs of the trip."
My comment-- So what was the surprise? Plastic milk jugs floating on the water?
Plastic molecules are 1 part in 1 billion? They don't say.
quote
The ship's only port of call on Antarctica proper – a visit to the Mertz Glacier
unquote
My comment-- But I thought the various research stations on Antarctica were RESEARCH stations just like this RESEARCH team from SWI-ACE! Why didn't Paulsen arrange to dock at the various RESEARCH stations so they could exchange RESEARCH? Not a SINGLE "research station" in Antarctica invited SWI-ACE to visit their own team? What's wrong? Why not?
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-01-antarctica-ace-leg.html#jCp