Record Antarctic Ice Cover

It's summer down in the Antarctic. But global warming researchers and eco-tourists trapped in a Russian research vessel down under, in the frozen ice pack, were evacuated by air when a Chinese ice breaker on a rescue mission itself became entombed in ice. The ships are not victims of a localized anomaly, for the Antarctic sea ice extent is at a record high, obliterating the previous mark for this date. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard has deployed an ice breaker to attempt to clean up the mess.

The Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star left Australia Sunday and is steaming toward Antarctica to rescue crew members from the scientists’ Russian ship – and a Chinese vessel that came to its aid and also got stuck. 

The drama began Christmas Eve when the Russian MV Akademik Shokalskiy – carrying scientists and eco-tourists on a mission to study global warming – got trapped in sea ice. 

A Chinese icebreaker – the Xue Long or Snow Dragon – came to the Russian ship’s aid, sending its helicopter to ferry 52 of the scientists and passengers to the Aurora Australis, an Australian icebreaker.

 God bless everyone and good luck to all.