Holiday In Ice
Since Christmas Australian researchers have been stuck in pack ice in the Antarctic. The way things are going they may be there for some time.
The researchers are aboard the Russian research ship, Academic Shokalskiy, which was designed for polar exploration, so they are in no immediate danger, but the first attempt at a rescue by the Chinese icebreaker, Snow Dragon, failed as the ice was too thick for the vessel to clear a path.
The BBC reports that:
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue, confirmed that a French vessel had also failed to penetrate the ice.
The agency said another boat, the Aurora Australis, was on its way to the Russian vessel and expected to arrive on Sunday.
It is high summer in the Antarctic, so the temperatures are relatively benign, but massive blocks of ice break off from the ice pack and are blown by the wind to form the structures that have entrapped the research vessel.
