Thinning Ice May Have Caused Deaths Of 2 Dutch Climate Researchers In Canadian Arctic - RCMP

[hatrack]

In a voicemail on Tuesday, Dutch researcher Marc Cornelissen, founder of Cold Facts, an organization supporting scientific research in polar regions, laughed at his predicament. He explained that unexpectedly warm weather had forced him and fellow explorer Philip de Roo to complete that afternoon’s skiing in the Canadian Arctic in their underwear. “I’m glad you guys don’t have pictures of us on the ice,” he said with a chuckle. “But it was the only way to deal with the heat.”

The same heat had also contributed to melting the sea ice near Bathurst Island, the researchers’ ultimate destination. In his voicemail, Cornelissen said the pair might have to take a detour to the north as there seemed to be thin ice ahead of them.

That message turned out to be tragically prescient. The next day, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Resolute Bay received an emergency distress message from the team, approximately 200 km south of Bathurst Island. A pilot flying over the area spotted the pair’s equipment in an area with poor ice conditions and open water. Their sled dog was found sitting on the ice nearby. No further traces of the explorers were found. On Friday, police called off the search.

Collaborating with other scientists working in the region, the police are attempting to use any available information about the area, as well as recent satellite images from Nasa and the European Space Agency, to try to recover the bodies. So far, the mission has been hindered by the same poor ice conditions that apparently proved fatal for the Dutch explorers. Cornelissen and de Roo departed Resolute Bay for Bathurst Island on 6 April as part of the Last Ice Survey expedition, with the goal of exploring and researching an area known as the Last Ice Area. Both were experienced polar explorers and researchers.

EDIT

http://www.theguardian.com/vital-signs/2015/may/01/deaths-arctic-researchers-ice-climate-change-cornelissen

[mackdaddy]

1. Many Natives in both Alaska and Greenland Have drowned in the last few years.

I watched a video of a Climate change conference and a Native Alaska woman was distraught telling of how many of her cousins and family members had died in the last few years trying to hunt on the ice sheets as they have for thousands of years.

The ice is so thin and broken up, than people who have lived on it for their entire life are no longer safe.

A very similar story was told of hunters in Greenland going out and never coming back for similar reasons. This was detailed in the article "Rotten Ice" that was in an earlier excellent E&E post here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/112783158

[AuntPatsy]

2. Incredibly sad