Greenpeace denied governmental weather reports

Press, 12 January 1987, Page 6

Greenpeace denied governmental weather reports

PA Wellington The American Antarctic base, McMurdo Station, has refused to give weather information to the crew of the Greenpeace, says Mr Stephen Knight, a journalist aboard the vessel in Antarctica. This was in line with the long-stated American policy that it will not provide information to non-governmental expeditions to the Ice.

However, the director of the Antarctic Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Mr Bob Thomson, said Greenpeace had been told the frequency of an international radio network that they could listen to for weather information.

Both the Americans and the New Zealanders in the Antarctic made use of the network to form their own forecasts, he said.

The forecast was a “general systems forecast,” giving synoptic information, which would

enable the crew to make their own forecast Greenpeace maintains that American weather information should be available in the spirit of traditional' Antarctic co-opera-tion and exchange of information, and on safety grounds. Under the Antarctic Treaty, to which the United States is a signatory, scientific information is to be made freshly available where practicable, including supplying information to “other international organisations having a scientific or technical interest in Antarctica.” Mr Thomson said he could not speak for Americans, but said it was probably unlikely. either they or the New Zealanders would give out weather information, as that meant they would then be providing a service. In addition, the information they gave out might not be right for the crew, he said.

The Greenpeace crew had radio equipment on

board, so they should be able to tune into the frequency they were told to tune into, he said. “We also told them (Greenpeace) .to give us information on the location of their ship, so that if at any time we felt they were in any danger, we could let them know, but we cannot give them a daily forecast” As the boat was only five or six days out of New Zealand and not yet in Antarctic waters, the crew should still be able to tune into the Wellington weather information radio network, said Mr Thomson. • The Greenpeace expects to reach Ross Island in about five days and the crew are particularly interested in local ice conditions. The international environmental organisation hopes to build the first permanent non-govern-mental scientific research base in the Antarctic on Ross Island, about 30km from the American McMurdo base.