Support the Arctic Sea Ice Forum and Blog

Author Topic: The Voyage of the Snow Dragon  (Read 8666 times)

Jim Hunt

  • First-year ice
  • Posts: 6264
  • Don't Vote NatC or PopCon, Save Lives!
    • View Profile
    • The Arctic sea ice Great White Con
  • Liked: 891
  • Likes Given: 86
The Voyage of the Snow Dragon
« on: March 16, 2013, 02:38:15 PM »
Over lunch at the recent Arctic Summit in Oslo, I found myself seated at the same table as Dr. Huigen Yang and some of his colleagues from the Polar Research Institute of China. I learned a bit about Chinese interest in the Arctic then, and rather more from Dr. Yang's presentation later that afternoon.

To summarise briefly, the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon in English) spent last summer on a research voyage of 18,500 nautical miles, 5,370 of which were in the Arctic Ocean. This voyage was the fifth Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition, and data from these expeditions is downloadable from the CHINARE web site.

On top of all that there is also an open access English language journal entitled "Advances in Polar Science", and the latest paper therein is of great interest to me on my current quest for a better Arctic sea ice model!

What does the team make of all these new (to me at least!) goodies?
"The most revolutionary thing one can do always is to proclaim loudly what is happening" - Rosa Luxemburg

Neven

  • Administrator
  • First-year ice
  • Posts: 9434
    • View Profile
    • Arctic Sea Ice Blog
  • Liked: 1333
  • Likes Given: 617
Re: The Voyage of the Snow Dragon
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2013, 02:45:39 PM »
All I know, is that the Chinese can't wait for the ice pack to retreat far enough so they can ignore the Northern Sea Route (where they would have to pay the Russians) and go straight over the Arctic Ocean via the Central Route, also see this article from three days ago on China Daily.
The enemy is within
Don't confuse me with him

E. Smith

Jim Hunt

  • First-year ice
  • Posts: 6264
  • Don't Vote NatC or PopCon, Save Lives!
    • View Profile
    • The Arctic sea ice Great White Con
  • Liked: 891
  • Likes Given: 86
Re: The Voyage of the Snow Dragon
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2013, 03:11:08 PM »
That was indeed the gist of Dr. Yang's presentation.

As luck would have it, Zhou Siyu was next in the queue behind me to speak to Stefan Rahmstorf, and I gave him my card too. I never managed to get his in return though.

The Chinese delegation were quite vociferous in stating their case to be given "observer" status on the Arctic Council. Do you suppose Russia will allow them in?
"The most revolutionary thing one can do always is to proclaim loudly what is happening" - Rosa Luxemburg

lanevn

  • New ice
  • Posts: 91
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 0
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: The Voyage of the Snow Dragon
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2013, 09:36:51 PM »
All I know, is that the Chinese can't wait for the ice pack to retreat far enough so they can ignore the Northern Sea Route (where they would have to pay the Russians) and go straight over the Arctic Ocean via the Central Route, also see this article from three days ago on China Daily.

There is no payment for sailing in Northern Sea Route, only if you need icebreakers and other assistance.  http://www.nsra.ru/files/fileslist/20130425185806en-Rules_unof.pdf

Lewis C

  • New ice
  • Posts: 62
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 0
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: The Voyage of the Snow Dragon
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2013, 04:28:32 AM »
Neven - if we consider how Cheney set up a 'Brinkmanship of Inaction' with China over AGW - effectively a game of mega-chicken about who can ignore climate destabilization the longest - then it can be observed from the records that China's policy shifted radically in response.

Before 2,000, the US had been a relatively constructive partner in global negotiations and had got as far as agreeing and signing Kyoto. Since 2,000, whatever could be done to obstruct and undermine negotiations has been done, while at home both Bush and his successor have massively encouraged fossil fuel extraction not least by direct taxpayers' subsidy.

While China has no such record of obstructing or undermining the negotiations, the curve of its coal emissions turned steeply uphill from 2000 onwards. In rejecting the US 'deal' at Copenhagen, (whereby each American would have had about three times the emissions rights of each Chinese in 2050) it was adamantly refusing to cry uncle. It plays the game that the US instigated as best it can, but it also shows serious interest both in an equitable and efficient binding climate treaty, as well as in regulatory measures such as trialling carbon pricing before a national roll-out, as well as in non-fossil energy production technology.

The stakes of the brinkmanship are nothing less than which nation will secure global economic dominance - which has of course been the paramount bipartisan policy priority of the US establishment since WW2.  If the looming crop failures in China generate shortages leading to civil unrest and regime change, then America will celebrate a 'win', potentially without a shot fired, as happened in Moscow. OTOH, Cheney's policy was founded on the conventional wisdom of the day, which held that developing nations, like China, would be hit so much harder by climate impacts than developed nations, like America, and being wealthy the latter would be far better able to afford the damage costs. Both of these assumptions have proven 180 degrees wrong, just 13 years later. The outcome is thus far from clear, and the dangers are not simply climatic, but also of geopolitical destabilisation.

As has been said quite often, diplomacy is merely war pursued by other means.

From this perspective, China's public declaration of interest in using the direct polar route is merely hardball as usual - while US diplomats are in Bonn demanding that the 2015 deal should consist of only those cuts that nations feel are appropriate for them - i.e. no reflection of cumulative emissions, no global carbon budget, no framework for allocating national emission rights, just the guesswork of a fig-leaf Kyoto 2. Given that many nations wouldn't accept such a farce, in 2016 the republican presidential candidate would then have the pleasure of repeating Bush's stump line: "It ain't global and it won't work!", knowing that whether he wins or loses, the brinkmanship of inaction would continue.

Finding the means to persuade either party to step beyond their mutual disablement is something people have been working on for 13 years. Personally I think that its exposure to the general public is long overdue, as the sense of public outrage from recognizing that climate is being worsened merely for national dominance games is liable to be of highly potent effect in both countries.

Normal programming will resume shortly, when some poor gull will doubtless strike up the chorus that "Poor Obama can't do nothing 'cos of that nasty ol' fosul fule lobby" - that raises just 8% of US GDP. . . .

All the best,

Lewis

ccgwebmaster

  • Nilas ice
  • Posts: 1085
  • Civilisation collapse - what are you doing?
    • View Profile
    • CCG Website
  • Liked: 2
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: The Voyage of the Snow Dragon
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2013, 04:35:41 AM »
If the looming crop failures in China generate shortages leading to civil unrest and regime change, then America will celebrate a 'win', potentially without a shot fired, as happened in Moscow.
Except that America has very significant trade linkages with China, unlike Soviet Russia.

China is a nuclear power - violent regime change or disintegration would raise... interesting questions. Anyway, I suspect China would go to war to try to avoid collapse.

Lewis C

  • New ice
  • Posts: 62
    • View Profile
  • Liked: 0
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: The Voyage of the Snow Dragon
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2013, 04:56:55 AM »
And those trade linkages, which could be seen as 'pushing china up a growth curve until it goes bust'
are doing nothing yet to halt the US slide into losing global economic dominance and the massively advantageous terms of trade this confers, on which the profitability of the majority of its corporations depend.

It was IIRC Reagan who was fond of declaring that "There's no such thing as coming second."

Regards,

Lewis