As you may have heard, an explorer ship has been trapped in ice in the Antarctic since December 24. Everyone on board, scientists, tourists and crew, is fine at this point.

In addition to commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the expedition to the Antarctic led by Australian explorer Douglas Mawson, one of the goals of this expedition was “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.” In fact, on the expedition’s website, the leader of the expedition, Chris Turney, states explicitly

there is an increasing body of evidence, including by the AAE members, that have identified parts of the East Antarctic which are highly susceptible to melting and collapse from ocean warming

[H/T The New Nostradamus of the North blog.]

Accordingly, one of the things that they almost certainly expected to encounter was a passable, at least semi-ice free ocean path for their ship, which they could point to as evidence of man’s guilt in (no longer???) warming the globe. They have found – and been trapped by – exactly the reverse.

Not one but two ice breakers tried to rescue them but (I swear, I’m not laughing) the ice was so thick, neither one could cut through.

A third ice breaker and the biggest of the bunch, the Aurora Australis, is expected to arrive late tonight Australian time, where its task will hopefully be rendered slightly easier by new reports of ice around the vessel cracking.

If this one fails to free the vessel trapped by ice (a global warming expedition trapped by ice! hahahaha! … coughcoughcough – sorry), the fall-back plan is to airlift everyone off.

We certainly hope that everyone is rescued and brought home safely. Meanwhile, it is difficult not to be struck by the considerable irony of the contrast between one of the missions of the trip and the actual conditions encountered.

UPDATE, Monday mid-morning Eastern time

Climate Depot points to a Media Release [PDF] from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The Australian icebreaker, Aurora Australis, arrived on the scene last night Eastern time but cannot commence rescue efforts due to weather conditions.

These weather conditions have resulted in poor visibility and made it difficult and unsafe for the Aurora Australis to continue today’s attempt to assist the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.

Further attempts may be made by the vessel in due course to undertake the rescue once weather conditions improve. The Aurora Australis made it within 10 nautical miles of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy but is now located in open waters about 18 nautical miles east of the Russian vessel.

An airlift denouement seems all the more likely this morning: the Telegraph (UK) is reporting that passengers on the MV Akademik Shokalskiy are preparing a make-shift helipad on the ice near their trapped vessel.