Operation Eisberg & Opération Iceberg

ARTE recently aired slightly cut versions of Operation Iceberg on French and German TV.
These version are now available on youtube here (Une longue odyssée vers la mort) and here (Tod eines Giganten).

the other end of the world

Just to give a quick update:

I (Till) have moved to San Diego, CA to work as a postdoc at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in an office with ocean view (so I've finally made it). My advisor here is Prof. Ian Eisenman and we'll be working on the question of whether the Arctic climate is stable or whether we are running the risk of suddenly losing all the sea ice that is left? For now this will be done from the safe confines of our offices, so I don't know when I'll be posting exciting stuff about Arctic adventures again.

I also have a new website: www.tillwagner.com  where you can find more about my work and research  etc. if you're interested.

t

Operation Iceberg has been aired. And (in all modesty) I think it's a great program. The producers managed to get just the right balance between entertainment and scientific content. It's on iplayer for a bit more and it'll be shown again on BBC 2 on Sunday Nov 11 and Nov 18.
Here's the link to the website (with lots of clips and features): www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tvcnx and here for the iplayer www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nqc90/Operation_Iceberg_Life_and_Death_of_a_Berg/

Enjoy!

t

No More Ice?

Big report on no arctic sea ice on Newsnight last night. Really good piece featuring an interview with Prof Peter Wadhams -- and me hopping around on an iceberg.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19496674

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mmx7q  (from 35:30)

The report was followed by a discussion with a badly misinformed (and rather agressive) conservative MP. He kept (somewhat hilariously) referring to the IPCC report as reliably scientific in contrast to the 'alarmist' views held by PW.

Somebody should have told him that PW was one of the authors on the IPCC...

Fast Forward (The End (again (for now)))

I do apologize for the rapid decrease in online activity over the last 2 weeks. There was a number of factors that contributed to my premature blogging-demise - the main one was definitely the lack of internet over the last week on the MV Neptune. We then had a horrendous journey back home, with what's probably the worst flight time to waiting time ratio ever (6h:21h), and it took me a good few days to settle back in.

And then I also didn't want to take all the excitement away from Operation Iceberg (I also had the impression that the makers of the show would appreciate if I didn't shout out all our incredible adventures into the bloggosphere before they've shown their film).

But if you're really keen to know how the story went on (and don't want to wait until mid-September when the show is aired on BBC 2), then I'd be very excited to receive your emails, or give me a call (my details can be found on my website, click here) - or leave a comment and I promise I'll answer any questions in full detail.

One thing that I will give away though is that we managed to record (for the first time) the breakup of an iceberg. I think that's pretty cool.

Thanks for all your help and support and messages. I'll post some more photos and the time and date of the airing of the show asap.

See you all (be)for the next trip!
Till

Just as a quick update, all is good on the MV Neptune, we're all safe and healthy.

The last few days have been incredible - adventure and adrenaline fantastico - and we have some great data. Finally.

I hope to have some time tomorrow for a proper post and leave you with a teaser photo:

Iceberg ahead! And yet again: Bears

I have seen large tabular icebergs before, but this morning's sight was spectacular. The berg emerged from the fog, towering over the ship, extending beyond the horizons - and anxious excitement spread instantly around deck. It is clear that most people desperately just want to get onto the ice. At the same time the signs of advanced decay of the berg are hard to miss - it is surrounded by ice ranging from slush to grand pianos to several football fields in size, all pieces that have recently broken off its edge - and it is simply impossible to tell which part will go next. There are waterfalls of meltwater thundering down its face, a face that rises up to 20m at points. Who would voluntarily want to spend a night on an island that is literally rotting beneath your feet? (i do, oh yeah!)

Oh yes! and I was the first one to touch the iceberg with my fingertips when the captain put the bow of the ship briefly against the berg's face.

And then even the most experienced polar explorers* were proven wrong - not just a little, but altogether wrong: they had pretty confidently announced that there would be no bears around the berg - or maybe a lost lonely one somewhere. By early afternoon we had seen 8! - sleeping on the berg edge, bathing in the water, strolling alongside us. Small bears, big bears - bears everywhere!

It really looks like this slab of ice might make for some pretty exciting TV.


We're planning on going ashore tomorrow morning** - and the anxious excitement on the ship is greater than at the start of the day.
 
*We have some of the most experienced polar scientists and travellers in the world on board: Doug Allan (look him up!) has spent over 8 years in Antarctica and won lots of BAFTAs and Emmys for his films. Peter Wadhams is on his 44th Arctic Cruise (or thereabouts), etc.

**By 'we' I mean the extreme climber and diver Andy Torbent with his team - to secure a safe landing site.