Reader's Letter Of The Day

From The Metro:

Last week, the Sutherland family were prosecuted for taking their children out of school for a week's holiday. Now, 16-year-old Lewis Clarke has reached the South Pole (Metro, Mon) and presumably missed several weeks of education.

His school, QEH in Bristol, is independent. I assume the Sutherlands' isn't, and there different rules apply.

But should the principles be the same? Should Clarke's parents also be prosecuted? Perhaps the school could if it chose to but has evidently given its approval.

Adham Fisher, Leicester.

"UK scientists to probe Pine Island Glacier"

From the BBC:

UK scientists are about to set out for Antarctica to interrogate the mighty Pine Island Glacier.

The PIG drains about 10% of all the ice sliding off the west of the continent, and has seen a marked thinning and a surge in velocity in recent decades. Its contribution to sea level rise is now greater than any other glacier on the planet.

The British Antarctic Survey-led team hopes its iStar project will provide new insights into the PIG's behaviour, which is spoiling things for everybody else.

The researchers will gather their information using a diverse set of techniques and technologies, including depriving the glacier of sleep, shining lights in its eyes and putting it into solitary confinement.

A team of psychologists will play "good cop" by gently asking the glacier about difficulties it might have faced in its childhood and offering small treats as a reward for cooperation. Those assigned to the "bad cop" role will be cradling ice picks in a threatening manner and threatening to bash chunks out of it "for research purposes".

"Ranulph Fiennes pulls out of Saharan challenge"

From The Daily Express:

The 68-year-old cousin of acting siblings Ralph and Joseph Fiennes has been preparing to embark on the 2,000-mile (3,219 kilometre) adventure, dubbed the Hottest Journey On Earth, for blindness charity Seeing Is Believing by sun bathing at a base camp.

Fiennes recently took a tumble while returning from the beach side bar and was forced to use his bare hands to fix a vodka Martini in temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit) - and now he has been ruled out of the six-month challenge, which he was due to start on 21 March.

An expedition spokesman is quoted by the Derbyshire Times publication as saying, "Ran has suffered a nasty sun burn to his head and chest which effectively makes his continued participation in the expedition more of a liability than an asset. He remains fully dedicated to the project and as soon as he can actually bear to have clothing touch his skin again, he will continue to support The Hottest Journey by fundraising and promoting awareness of Seeing is Believing."

A statement from the charity reads, "He has very reluctantly decided with the support of the team doctor and in the interests of the success of the expedition and its associated aims, to withdraw from the Sahara while the possibility to do so still exists, before the onset of the African summer.

"This decision has not been taken lightly and it is, naturally, a bitter blow to Fiennes and his colleagues."

However, the star's evacuation from the area is being delayed because of excellent weather. The charity's statement continues, "This plan is currently being hampered due the gorgeous sunshine at their present location which is discouranging participants from lifting themselves from their sun loungers. Until there is a let up in the weather conditions, Fiennes will be unwilling to leave."

Fiennes previously lost several square feet of skin to sun burn during an attempt to set a world sun-tanning record in the Australian outback in 2000.

It's not just cows killer whales...

Spotted by JuliaM in National Geographic News:

The death of a British marine biologist in Antarctica last month [July 22] is thought to be the first human fatality caused by a leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx). But scientists fear further seal attacks as the number of people working in the region continues to rise*.

Kirsty Brown was dragged underwater by the seal while snorkeling near Rothera research station on the Antarctic Peninsula. Horrified colleagues from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scrambled a rescue boat and managed to pull Brown from the water. Despite trying to resuscitate her for an hour, the station doctor was unable to save the 28-year-old...

See also Killer whale 'thrashed trainer to death'

* See also "Number of humans killed by Martians set to rise after Earth's Spacefleet invades Mars"

Global Warming causes Global Cooling

From the BBC:

A vast iceberg which broke off the Antarctic continent this month could disrupt the world's ocean currents and weather patterns, scientists warn.

Australian researchers say the iceberg - the size of Luxembourg - could block an area that produces a quarter of the world's dense and very cold seawater. They say a slowdown in the production of this water could result in colder winters in the north Atlantic...

BBC Watch

They did a potted summary of this shock-horror-catastrophic-climate-change-we're-all-doomed-story on Radio 4 this morning, in which they mentioned en passant that Antarctic Ice had increased in volume over the past thirty years, which appears to be true.

The BBC watered this down in the online article as follows:

The Antarctic Peninsula - the strip of land that points towards the southern tip of South America - has warmed by about 3C over the last 50 years, the fastest rise seen anywhere in the southern hemisphere, according to the report.

But the rest of the continent has remained largely immune from the global trend of rising temperatures. Indeed, the continent's largest portion, East Antarctica, appears to have cooled, bringing a 10% increase in the sea ice extent since 1980.

Ho hum.

"Antarctic glaciers surge to ocean"

This article is only mildly hysterical and moderately informative - especially the likely explanation that the ice is melting because of volcanic activity. Best of all are the closing sentences ...

"If the glacier does continue to surge and discharge most of it [sic] ice into the sea, say the researchers, the Pine Island Glacier alone could raise global sea level by 25cm. That might take decades or a century, but neighbouring glaciers are accelerating too and if the entire region were to lose its ice, the sea would rise by 1.5m worldwide."

Wot? A rise of five feet over a century? That's what we're supposed to be panicking about? That does it, you've cried wolf once too often now and I can sleep easily again.