bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Volcano-Glaciological Investigations in Iceland During the Last Decade
Authors: Thorarinsson Sigurdur , Singurðsson Steinþór
Published: October 2009

The Grímsvötn area in the Western part of Vatnajökull and the Katla area in the south-eastern part of Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland are of special interest because of active subglacial vulcanism. In recent times eruptions have occured periodically in Grímsvötn at intervals of about ten years, the latest taking place in 1922 and 1934. In Mýrdalsjökull, Katla has etupted twice every century since 1580, the latest eruption occurring in 1918. Simultaneously, with the first phase of the eruptions, great quantities of water, in amounts approaching 10 cu.km., are liberated from the glaciers. This phenomenon is named jökulhlaup in Iceland. In the period between eruptions the craters are covered by the glacier, and little evidence of vulcanism can be seen. Since 1934 a continuous observation of the Grimsvotn area has been carried out, and since 1943 the Katla area has been included in the programme. Below is given a much abbreviated historical summary of what observations have been made and by whom:
Aviation in Arctic North America and Greenland
Authors: Lloyd Trevor
Published: October 2009

Writing as long ago as 1922, Dr Vilhjalmur Stefansson commented: “There are few nowadays who do not agree that the world is round, but there are almost equally few who apply the principle of the world's roundness consistently when they think about going from place to place.” Twenty-three years later, he returned to the same question, with a statement that, far from sounding prophetic, was all too obvious. “If you shoot robot bombs (as Heaven preserve us from ever doing), they will cross the Arctic on their way from London to Seattle, from Peiping to New York, from San Francisco to. Moscow. That is the way the bombers will fly, if we ever permit them to.”
Tom Crean: an Appreciation
Authors: Debenham F.
Published: October 2009

With the passing of Tom Crean, who died in August 1938, there goes another of a fast dwindling band of stalwarts, the naval Petty Officers of the Scott expeditions to the Antarctic.

When Captain Scott was selected to take command of the Discovery on the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901–4, he followed the example of the 1875 expedition under Nares and took with him an almost entirely naval personnel. Amongst these was a tall Irish A.B., Thomas Crean, who even then was celebrated amongst his fellows for a merry tongue and a facility for getting into tight places. He accompanied Lieut. Barne on his journey over the Barrier and fell into more crevasses than any other member of the party. He also went through some rotten ice just before the relief of the Discovery, and would certainly have been drowned had he not kept his head and stayed calmly in the mess of brash-ice until help and a rope were brought.
Great Soviet Atlas of the World. Moscow, 1937
Authors: F.D.
Published: October 2009

This Atlas is of interest to polar travellers since Soviet territory covers such a large section of the Arctic regions. We accordingly find that nearly every map of the territory goes well into the Arctic Circle. The two special pages of circumpolar maps are well printed and follow the usual convention for showing routes of expeditions. Insets on the Arctic sheet give a valuable map of Severnaya Zemlya with relief and soundings; there are also insets of parts of Novaya Zemlya, while weather charts and ice-drift charts complete the page.
The Work of the Discovery Committee
Authors: Mackintosh N. A.
Published: October 2009

It is of course impracticable for the Discovery Committee to continue any further work at present with the Discovery II and William Scoresby, but although part of the scientific staff is now seconded to various forms of National Service, it has fortunately been found possible for those remaining to continue the scientific work in this country. While the ships were at work, the data and collections inevitably accumulated more quickly than they could be analysed and reported upon in full. There is, therefore, a very large body of material which would in any case require some years to be adequately dealt with. In the meantime the Committee's organisation is being kept intact, and it is expected that publication of the Discovery Reports will continue. Log books and other original records were removed from London at the outbreak of war and placed in safety in the cellars of the Scott Polar Research Institute.
Note on Antarctic History
Authors: G. C. L. B.
Published: October 2009

To the student of Antarctic history the details of its discovery, and of the early voyages along its shores, are matters of great interest and are now coming under critical review. The area over which there is most difference of opinion is that part of Antarctica which projects as a great peninsula, Graham Land, to the south of South America. It is this sector which forms the subject of a recent memoir by Professor William Herbert Hobbs of Ann Arbor, Michigan, followed by a detailed review of that work by A. R. H. Professor Hobbs's memoir is entitled “The Discoveries of Antarctica within the American Sector as revealed by Maps and Documents” (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. Philadelphia, New Series, xxxi, 1939, pp. 1–71), while A. R. H.'s review appears under the heading “On Some Misrepresentations of Antarctic History” (Geographical Journal, xciv, 1939, pp. 309–30). For complete understanding of the disputed facts concentrated effort is required in the reading of both authors. That A. R. H. in his review should find it necessary to state that the author of the memoir “denounces as forgeries what are most evidently genuine documents, with no further proof than his own falsification of the photograph he obtained from Cornwall House”, shows the need for the student of Antarctic history not to limit his reading to one only of the two writers.
Antarctic Whaling, 1938–39
Authors: Roberts Brian
Published: October 2009

The most striking feature of the pelagic operations in the season 1938–39 was the great decline in the catch in spite of the employment of three factory ships and twenty-six catchers more than in the previous season.
The Prevention and Treatment of Frostbite
Authors: Greene Raymond
Published: October 2009

Frostbite and the kindred conditions, trench foot, immersion foot and shelter foot, are almost unknown in England in time of peace. In time of war they suddenly acquire significance. In the war of 1914–18, 84, 670 cases of the first two occurred in the British Army alone; the other two had not then been recognised. Yet in many units cases were few, and in the North Russian campaign between September 1918 and September 1919, only forty-eight men were attacked. They are largely preventable conditions.
Place-Names in the Polar Regions
Authors: Debenham Frank
Published: October 2009

To many people looking for the first time at maps of the polar regions it seems astonishing how lacking in originality many of the names appear to be. Yet, before they become too trenchant in their criticism they should themselves try the experiment of finding names for the natural features which they see round them. It is not as easy as it sounds, and however firmly one lays down rules for place-names they will be broken over and over again with good reasons.
The Natural History of Whales
Authors: Mackintosh N. A.
Published: October 2009

The purpose of this article is to give a general indication of the present state of our knowledge of whales, regarded as an element of the oceanic fauna, and to indicate some of the more important problems which still await solution. The term “whales” is used here to include only the largest of the Cetacea, which are the Right whales, the Rorquals and the Sperm whale; and the subject has to do with these whales in the collective sense, that is to say their habits as a community, and their breeding, growth and distribution, especially in the southern hemisphere, rather than with such matters as comparative anatomy and physiology.
The Study of Man's Reaction to a Polar Climate
Authors: Roberts Brian
Published: October 2009

Studies of the avenues by which heat is lost from the human body are of basic importance in the understanding of man's reaction to a polar climate. The following notes aim to draw attention to some of the more important physiological work that has recently been published in this field.
The Preparation of Skins and Clothing in the Eastern Canadian Arctic
Authors: T. H.  , Manning E. W.
Published: October 2009

During the eight years I spent in the Arctic, I have experimented with a variety of clothing, but in neither winter nor summer have I found any more suitable than that worn by the present-day Eskimos in districts where caribou are still plentiful. From 1938 to 1941 we prepared all our own skins, and my wife made all the skin clothing excepting the seal-skin boots. The descriptions are primarily intended to give practical information on clothing to travellers in Arctic regions. For this reason we have made no attempt to discuss women's clothing. My wife adopted men's clothing because of its superior convenience, and because it requires less material. Women's clothing is made with a view both of being different from the men's and of accommodating the baby, always carried on the back. Except as otherwise indicated, both the clothing and the methods of preparation here described are those of the Eskimos of Baffin Island, Melville Peninsula, Southampton Island, and the coastal region from Repulse Bay to Chesterfield Inlet; and where mention is made of “the Eskimos”, the reference is to those of these regions only.
Recent Glaciological Work—a Review
Authors: Odell N. E.
Published: October 2009

One of the minor misfortunes of the war has been the suspension of many lines of scientific investigation; while another has been the difficulty of receiving information concerning researches in lands in which, despite the war, it has been possible to pursue important original or collative work. The U.S.A. is a case in point, and it will be of interest to all students of ice and snow that there has appeared from the pen of Mr François E. Matthes, the well-known head of the Section of Glacial Geology of the U.S. Geological Survey, an important monograph entitled “Glaciers”. It is published as Chap. 5 in Hydrology (Physics of the Earth, Vol. 9, edited by Oscar E. Meinzer, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1942). This chapter of seventy pages reviews some of the work done and the advances made in recent years, more particularly in glaciology, as distinct from glacial geology. Incidentally, it is common knowledge that while there is in all a very large body of students of glacial geology, that is to say of the actual effects of ice masses upon the land surface, there are at work remarkably few glaciologists, whose particular study is the physical condition and constitution of those masses, even in countries where glaciers are a normal feature of the landscape.
Movements of Arctic Fox populations in the region of Baffin Bay and Smith Sound
Authors: Elton Charles
Published: October 2009

The Arctic Fox(Alopex lagopusand allied forms) is not only the chief furbearing animal in circumboreal regions, but also offers some fascinating ecological problems in its strong fluctuations in numbers, its extensive migrations, the diseases that appear periodically in its populations, and in the existence of two well-marked colour phases—the white and the “blue”—the relative abundance of which varies geographically in an extraordinary manner. Except in the U.S.S.R., comparatively little systematic study in the field has been made of this species by biologists, although it has been the object of several enquiries conducted through fur-trading and other organisations (of which the Canadian Arctic Wild Life Enquiry (Chitty and Chitty, 1941, 1945) is an example), and it has been observed in a scattered fashion by innumerable polarexpeditions.
Meteorological stations in Greenland
Authors: Elbo J. G.
Published: October 2009

During the war Gronlands Styrelse in Copenhagen was completely cut off from Greenland. Some preparations were made to deal with the situation which would arise when contact was re-established, but there were several unforeseen developments. Thus in 1945 the Danish administration was suddenly confronted with the problem of maintaining a meteorological service which had grown beyond all recognition. In 1939 regular reports had been broadcast by nine stations: five permanent Danish stations, at Julianehaab (control), Godthaab, Godhavn, Angmagssalik and Scoresbysund, two temporary Danish stations at Ella 0 and Morkef jord, and two permanent Norwegian stations, administered by Norges Svalbard- og Ishavs-undersekelser, at Myggbukta and Torgilsbu. In addition, there were some twenty other wireless stations distributed amongst the larger settlements, these being generally low-powered and obsolescent, although a few of them sent in reports to Julianehaab at irregular intervals.
“Scott of the Antarctic” A Personal Opinion
Authors: Debenham Frank
Published: October 2009

Early in 1945 a rumour was spreading round that a film was to be made of Scott's Last Expedition, and the reaction among the “survivors”—as the press chooses to call us—was interesting. It was, almost universally, one of dismay and even antagonism. The arguments against it were varied. The story was already sufficiently told; it was out-of-date; to film it would be an invasion of privacy, and so on and so forth.
Air navigation in high latitudes
Authors: Hagger A. J.
Published: October 2009

Near the Poles, the geographical system of reference by meridians and parallels approaches limiting conditions, and the apparent motion of heavenly bodies is unfamiliar. Accepted routines of navigation break down, and it is therefore necessary to devise new methods for the use of aircraft in polar regions. In addition, the weakness of the magnetic field in these regions forces us to modify or supplement the ordinary method of steering by magnetic compass. It cannot be too much emphasised, however, that the overriding criteria by which any technique must be examined are those which are common to navigation in all latitudes, and which are imposed by the nature of the aircraft itself. They arise chiefly owing to the speed and instability of the machine, and to the conditions of physical and mental strain in which the aerial navigator must work. Techniques and instruments must survive the three-fold test, applicable to any latitude: “Is the manipulative process handy enough to be done accurately by a navigator, tired or under nervous tension?”, “Is it simple enough for him to avoid errors under conditions of stress or mild anoxia?”, and “Is it fast enough?”
The Voyage of H.M.S. Cove, Captain James Clark Ross, 1835–36
Authors: Jones A. G. E.
Published: October 2009

On 4 December 1885, thirty-four Hull shipowners sent to the Admiralty a Memorial stating that, on 11 October, eleven whaling ships had been left by the Alfred, Hull, closely beset in Davis Strait between lats. 69° N. and 70° N., and longs. 60° W. and 65° W., frozen in by the early approach of winter. It was stated that there was little prospect of their speedy liberation. The crews numbered upwards of 600 souls. The value of the vessels was estimated at no less than £59,000 excluding the value of oil and whalebone worth £13,500. The ships were as follows:
Establishment of the South African meteorological station on Marion Island, 1947–48
Authors: Crawford A. B.
Published: October 2009

Between 1939 and 1945, plans were afoot in the Union of South Africa for the establishment of meteorological stations on Gough Island in the South Atlantic, and on one of the Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Shortage of shipping and staff caused these plans to be shelved in 1945. In 1947, Field-Marshal Smuts, who was then Prime Minister of the Union, decided to annex the Prince Edward Islands without delay. These islands, which consist of Marion Island and the smaller Prince Edward Island, are situated in approximately lat. 47° S., long. 38° E., half-way between South Africa and Antarctica, and have always been regarded as British, although no records of any sort of annexation ceremony can be traced.

In December 1947, therefore, the frigate H.M.S.A.S. Transvaal recalled her crew from Christmas leave and sailed south. Bad weather delayed a landing for several days, but eventually, on 29 December 1947, the commanding officer of the Transvaal landed on a rocky beach on the eastern side of Marion Island and hoisted the South African flag.
Frozen Words
Authors: Wilson Edward M. , Rickard P.
Published: October 2009

Can words freeze as soon as uttered, and thus become inaudible? Polar research does not confirm it, and even the layman may well suspect that there are serious scientific objections to such a notion, and to its corollary, which is that congealed words should become audible on thawing. Yet this idea, through the ages, has given rise to a series of literary anecdotes and allusions, all of them humorous or satirical in intention. It is interesting to speculate how the idea arose in the first place. Hyperbole, including deliberately facetious hyperbole, is always present in the popular imagination, which tends to seek vivid, graphic, and sometimes wildly improbable comparisons in order to make its point. The heat of hell, and the coldness of charity, are equally undemonstrable from the strictly scientific point of view, while the goodness of gold must be regarded as ethically unverifiable, however effective as alliteration. We must imagine that some early wit once said: “It's so cold in X that when you try to say something, your words freeze and fall to the ground.” As a matter of fact, something very similar was attributed by Plutarch to one Antiphanes. In a chapter of the Moralia entitled “How a man may become aware of his progress in virtue” we find this anecdote:

Antiphanes said humorously that in a certain city words congealed with the cold the moment they were spoken, and later, as they thawed out, people heard in the summer what they had said to one another in the winter; it was the same way, he asserted, with what was said by Plato to men still in their youth; not until long afterwards, if ever, did most of them come to perceive the meaning, when they had become old men.
Snowdrifts around buildings and stores
Authors: Roots E. F. , Swithinbank C. W. M.
Published: October 2009

The spade, or snow shovel, is an item of equipment required by any community living in the snow, particularly in the accumulation area of an ice sheet, where any object placed on the snow is eventually buried beneath a continually rising surface. Roald Amundsen, Alfred Wegener, R. E. Byrd, A. R. Glen and others have described the hours and sometimes days spent by members of their expeditions moving snow by hand. The Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1949–52 was no exception. Some shovelling is unavoidable, being a consequence of natural accumulation, but much results from the burial of stores and equipment under snowdrifts caused either by the objects themselves or by their neighbours.
Danish Pearyland Expedition, 1947–50
Authors: Troelsen Johannes C.
Published: October 2009

Peary Land, the northernmost part of Greenland, was until recently among the least known regions of the globe. The coasts are barred by a broad belt of virtually impenetrable pack ice, and the only means of reaching the area in, former times was by dog sledge. The development of air transport in recent years has, however, made possible a more thorough investigation of this remote land.
The war in Jan Mayen, 1940–45
Authors: Elbo J. G.
Published: October 2009

At the time of the invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940 the Norwegian meteorological station at Jamesonbukta, which had been established in 1921, was manned by four men. Work went on as usual and transmissions in international code continued.
The Physiology of Sledge Dogs
Authors: Taylor R. J. F.
Published: October 2009

In 1954 and 1955 the author was stationed at Hope Bay in Graham Land, as one of the twelve men at Base D of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. During this time an investigation was carried out into the physiology of sledge dogs. This investigation was divided into two main parts: the first was a study of the sledging diet, and the second of the factors affecting the work output of sledge dogs.
Use of sound-recording equipment by small expeditions
Authors: Mullock P. J.
Published: October 2009

This issue contains an account of the Gough Island Scientific Survey which spent the southern summer of 1955–56 exploring this previously little known island in the South Atlantic. One of the tasks the expedition set itself was the making of sound recordings of the birds and seals to be found there—especially those of the rarer species. As the expedition spent, rather unexpectedly, a good deal of time on Tristan da Cunha in transit to Gough Island, it was possible to make a great many valuable recordings there also.
Instituto Antártico Argentino
Authors: Panzabini Rodolfo N.
Published: October 2009

The Instituto Antártico Argentino was created in 1951 and began its activities by establishing a permanent base in Marguerite Bay, which was named “Base General San Martin”. In January 1955 it built a second base, called “Base General Belgrano”, on the Filchner Ice Shelf (lat. 77° 58′ S., long. 38° 50′ W.). Since the southern summer of 1952–53 the Institute has regularly sent a party of about twenty-five scientists to carry out field work with the annual Argentine navy Antarctic expedition. On 26 January 1956 the Institute was transferred to the Ministerio de Marina as an autonomous scientific and technical organization, not a component of the navy, and with the object of studying the nature of the Antarctic. Shortly after, it established itself in an old residential building owned by the government, at calle Cerrito 1248, Buenos Aires.
Housing in northern Canada: some recent developments
Authors: Dickens H. B. , Platts R. E.
Published: October 2009

The northern part of Canada is probably the most isolated, sparsely populated, and inaccessible land mass in the northern hemisphere. The Yukon and Northwest Territories comprise an area of 1½ million sq. miles and contain only 34,000 people, 8,300 of whom are Eskimo. Into this vast area only one navigable river penetrates, and the sea lanes around its perimeter are open for only three months in the year. This isolation and scarcity of people are reflected in the following comments of the Royal Commission on Canada's Economic Prospects: “In the whole of the Northwest Territories…the military bases, mining camps, trading posts and administrative centres are hardly more than pin-pricks in the surrounding bush and muskeg and barrens. There will be important economic development in this area in the years to come. But it would take the ruthlessness of a Peter the Great to plant any large centres of population there.”
Forest Resources of the Mackenzie River Basin, Northwest Territories
Authors: Robinson J. M.
Published: October 2009

The Mackenzie River is the seventh longest river in the world and with its tributaries drains a million sq. miles of northern Canada. Its drainage basin includes almost all of that portion of the District of Mackenzie lying south of the so-called “tree line”, two large sections of Yukon Territory and portions of the provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. When flying from Fort Smith, lat. 60° N., to Inuvik near the Arctic Ocean it seems to be an endless expanse of swamp and tundra with almost no possibilities for logging, either now or in the future. Closer inspection, however, shows that there are forested areas capable of supplying timbers suitable for lumber and heavy construction, as well as poles for piling and mining timbers. It is with these forests that this article is primarily concerned.
Experiments in the use of explosives in sea ice
Authors: Lyon Waldo K.
Published: October 2009

An icebreaker is beset. Motion is impossible because of lateral pressure and packing in the surrounding ice. During the long hours of patient waiting for the pressure to subside, discussion on board often turns to the use of explosives as a means to break the ship free.
The palaeomagnetism of some igneous rocks from Antarctica
Authors: Blundell D. J.
Published: October 2009

A century ago geologists first began to consider the possibility of large lateral shifts of the continents. Reconstructions of the ancient positions of the continents have been proposed at various times since to try to explain past climatic zones, faunal distributions, similar orogenic sequences and structural trends on adjacent continents, and many other detailed geological events. Prominent amongst the hypotheses is that generally known as the Continental Drift Hypothesis, developed independently by F. B. Taylor and A. Wegener fifty years ago and later modified by A. L. du Toit andothers. In this hypothesis two primeval continents, Laurasia and Gondwanaland, are supposed to have formed at the north and south poles, to have broken up and possibly to have grown, and the pieces to have drifted to the positions of the present continents. The continents are moved around by forces of unknown origin and their interaction with each other and with the substratum gives rise to orogenesis. Due in large part to the lack of any known forces capable of producing these movements the hypothesis is nowadays less favoured than others requiring no drift. Recently, however, the study of palaeomagnetism has provided an independent line of evidence. From it the ancient latitudes and orientations of the continents can be worked out and relative displacements may possibly be revealed.
Logistic problems in the Canadian Arctic
Authors: Harwood T. A.
Published: October 2009

In 1946 the United States Weather Bureau and the Canadian Meteorological Service installed the first of the Joint Arctic Weather Stations at Resolute Bay. The network of satellite stations was extended into the Arctic archipelago in the following years on roughly a 275-mile spacing to Mould Bay, Isachsen, Eureka and Alert.
Illustrated ice glossary. Part 2
Authors: Armstrong Terence , Roberts Brian
Published: October 2009

This glossary is mainly concerned with land ice and associated terms, and is therefore complementary to the glossary of predominantly sea ice terms published in the Polar Record, Vol. 8, No. 52, 1956, p. 4–12. It is hoped that the two, taken together and incorporating any necessary amendments, will form the basis of a Special Publication which the Institute hopes to issue when funds allow.
The treelessness of the tundra
Authors: Tikhomirov B. A.
Published: October 2009

Russian scientists have long been interested in the tundra. M. B. Lomonosov, in 1763, referred to “the places overgrown with mosses, which cover most parts of the Northern Ocean shores, excluding bogs and forests” as tundras. This early definition emphasized, therefore, the proximity of the tundra zone to the Arctic Ocean coast, the predominance of mosses in its vegetational cover (Lomonosov probably included lichens as “mosses”), and the absence of trees. The treelessness of the tundra, its outstanding characteristic, is a fundamental feature in its geography.
The population of the north of the USSR
Authors: Armstrong Terence
Published: October 2009

With the release of somewhat fuller information on the results of the Soviet census of January 1959 it is now possible to gain a more complete picture of the population of the northern parts of the USSR. Figures are available for major administrative areas down to the level of oblast' and natsional'nyy okrug, for all towns of over 50,000 inhabitants and for certain smaller ones. There is, however, no generally agreed definition on the extent of “the north”, and, furthermore, none of the definitions which are used for specific cases (e.g. labour law, building regulations) follow the boundaries of major administrative areas. It is possible, therefore, to obtain an accurate figure only for an arbitrary definition of the north, in the case when its southern limit coincides with major administrative boundaries. But rough approximations are now available for certain areas defined as “the north”, and it is also possible to make a more accurate guess than before of the population within the boundaries of some of the other defined areas.
Ocean waves and pack ice
Authors: Robin G. de Q.
Published: October 2009

The general effect of pack ice in calming down waves and swell is well known. In the section on ice navigation in the Arctic Pilot, the abrupt smoothing of the sea and the gradual lessening of ordinary ocean swell are noted as good indications of pack ice to windward. In discussing the formation of slush, the Arctic Pilot says “The formation of slush damps down any swell…”, while in discussing the method of entry of a ship into pack ice, the following warning is given: “If the wind is blowing, or a current setting from the open water on to the ice edge, this will be more compact, with a more or less clear-cut outline. On the other hand, if the wind is blowing off the ice, or a current is setting from it towards the open water, the ice edge will be more or less broken and indistinct. It is therefore better to enter the ice from up wind, if possible. When it is necessary to enter the ice down wind, very great care must be exercised on account of the compactness of the edge and the movement of the ice due to waves, which may cause heavy blows against the hull. A combination of these two factors may render the entry difficult, the surge of the ice being especially dangerous if considerable.”
Radio techniques for the measurement of ice thickness
Authors: Evans S.
Published: October 2009

In recent years, phenomena observed in two quite separate fields of study have led to the suggestion that radio waves may propagate through cold ice masses with sufficiently small loss by absorption to permit the thickness to be measured, and some information about the nature of the bottom surface to be derived by radar. This article describes first some work by the United States Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory arising out of spurious echoes noticed on radio altimeters (ground clearance indicators) carried by aircraft flying in the polar regions. Afterwards it reviews work at the Scott Polar Research Institute where unexpected phenomena on some IGY ionosondes operated in the Antarctic have led to the development of a radio instrument specifically to measure ice thickness.
HMS Owen's hydrographic surveys in South Georgia, 1960–61
Authors: Hall G. P. D.
Published: October 2009

In response to pressure from the Colonial Office and whaling interests for improvement of the Admiralty charts of South Georgia, the Hydrographer of the Navy despatched a surveying ship to operate there during the 1960–61 summer season. Priority was given to a thorough survey of the waters surrounding the western extremities of the island in order to facilitate the shortest passage between the whaling grounds in the west and the whaling stations on the north-east coast. Other commitments were the landing of scientists in co-operation with the Administration and, as opportunity offered, general improvement of the existing charts with particular reference to the coastal shipping routes.
The Canadian Eskimo co-operative movement
Authors: Godt P.
Published: October 2009

Prior to World War II, little contact was made with the Eskimo of northern Canada, other than by early explorers, missionaries, Hudson Bay traders and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. With the war, a new importance was attached to the Canadian Arctic, and it became a strategic area. Men and equipment moved in, airstrips were constructed, large buildings were erected to house the men and machines, and almost overnight the twentieth century had arrived.
Techniques used in measuring diving capacities of Weddell Seals
Authors: Kooyman Gerald L.
Published: October 2009

During the austral summer of 1963–64 an investigation was started near “Mc-Murdo” on the diving habits of the Weddell Seal (Leptonychotes weddelli). The Weddell Seal was selected for this investigation because of some unique characteristics of its behaviour and because of the environment in which it occurs at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. For eight to ten months of each year the sea ice provides a solid cover except for tidal cracks along the coast, pressure cracks between old and new ice, and scattered holes cut for oceanographic work. This gives the seals rather specific areas where they may surface in order to breathe. When they visit these breathing holes, instruments may be attached to them with a high probability that they will revisit the same hole and allow the investigator to remove the instrument. With this knowledge of the Weddell Seal' diving behaviour, it was my intention not only to gain some idea of the maximum diving epths and submergence times, but also to obtain information on such things as rates of descent and ascent, cruising depths and submarine orientation patterns. To determine these various parameters two types of instrument were needed, a depth-time device for recording dive profiles and a smaller, more easily attached unit that could be used to measure maximum depth of dives of a large number of seals.
The submarine and the Arctic Ocean
Authors: Lyon Waldo
Published: October 2009

Seventy years ago Fridtjof Nansen and thirteen companions drifted across the Arctic Ocean in the specially designed ship, Fram. The drift took three years because the sea ice cover governs movements of a surface ship, allowing a ship's commanding officer only an occasional freedom of choice of direction in which to move his ship. In contrast, during August 1958, the nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, under the command of Captain W. R. Anderson, crossed the Arctic Ocean in ninety-six hours, using the open sea that lies beneath the ice. In further demonstration of the capability of submarines to sail the Arctic Ocean, the USS Skate departed from New London, Connecticut, and the USS Seadragon from Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, proceeded to the Arctic Ocean, and on 31 July 1962 met each other at a prearranged point and time underneath the sea ice.
The conservation of wildlife under the Antarctic Treaty
Authors: Anderson David
Published: October 2009

The Antarctic Treaty, which entered into force on 23 June 1961, has been widely welcomed. It marked the beginning of a new era in Antarctic politics and provided a basis for the further development of scientific co-operation. Article IX provides for the holding of meetings (generally known as “Consultative Meetings”) for the purposes of exchanging information, of consultation and of formulating measures in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the Treaty, including the “preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica”. The four Consultative Meetings held since the entry into force of the Treaty have adopted over twenty Recommendations on the conservation of wildlife, and in the short space of six years the Antarctic has been made subject to conservation measures which are more comprehensive than those in any other major region in the world. The seed sown in the Treaty has borne fruit in a remarkably short time. It is the purpose of this article to describe and comment, from the legal standpoint, upon these internationally agreed conservation measures.
Soviet sea fisheries since the Second World War
Authors: Armstrong Terence
Published: October 2009

A number of recent publications in English (Borgstrom, 1961; Herman, 1964; Helin, 1964; Kravanja, 1964; Shparlinskiy, 1964) have dealt with aspects of the growth of Soviet fisheries since the Second World War. Some of these publications are written from inside the Soviet fishing industry, others by western fisheries specialists. There would be no advantage in covering the same ground again in detail. The object of this paper is to draw attention to certain features of the Soviet industry not very fully considered in the accounts just mentioned. Before this can be done, however, it will be necessary to sketch in, as background, enough indication of the growth to make the rest of the paper comprehensible.
Space Disturbance Monitoring Station, Environmental Science Services Administration, Alaska
Authors: Chivers H. J. A.
Published: October 2009

The Space Disturbance Monitoring Station of the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy is located on Elmendorf Air Force Base, near Anchorage, Alaska. The station was formerly the North Pacific Radio Warning Service of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, and as such served the government and civilian agencies which operated high frequency communication circuits in the North Pacific area. It was first opened in 1950, and since the military were prime users of the services, the location on Elmendorf Air Force Base was a natural selection.
The use of turbine helicopters in United States Antarctic operations, 1961–66
Authors: Rutford Robert H. , Smith Philip M.
Published: October 2009

Advance in science in Antarctica has been paralleled, and in many cases made possible, by the development of logistic support facilities. As early as 1959 the use of turbine-powered helicopters had been suggested for a United States programme in the Ellsworth Mountains, where the altitude and cold weather made the use of conventional piston-powered helicopters impractical. Turbine-powered helicopters were not available from the US Navy, and the use of civilian machines was turned down at the time. However, an investigation of machines suitable for polar work was conducted by the US Naval Support Force, Antarctica, and the development of the LC-130 air delivery system necessary to support helicopters in the continental interior of Antarctica continued.
US Office of Naval Research Arctic Research Laboratory, Point Barrow, Alaska
Authors: Britton M. E.
Published: October 2009

The Arctic Research Laboratory (ARL) is a year-round, continuing, basic research facility, funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), US Department of Navy, and located in lat 71° 21'N, long 156° 46'W, near Point Barrow, on the Arctic coast of Alaska. It was established in 1947 not, as could be reasonably expected, only to further investigations of immediate and practical use to the Navy, but also to support work of purely general scientific interest. Scientists from other countries were also invited to make use of its facilities. ARL represents a laudable co-operation between government support and private scientific enterprise.
Occurrence and effects of open water in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, during winter and early spring
Authors: Stonehouse B.
Published: October 2009

McMurdo Sound is well known as an area comparatively free from fast ice during the middle and late summer. Although closed to its discoverer in February 1841 by contrary winds, pack ice and new ice (Ross, 1847), the sound provided easy access to high latitudes in January and February on at least ten occasions between 1902 and 1916. Since 1955, icebreakers have assisted shipping movements in November and December, and possibly helped in dispersing the winter fast ice by cutting wide channels from Cape Bird southward. However, northerly swells and south-easterly gales are sufficient in most years to disperse fast ice from the southern end of the sound by mid or late February (Heine, 1963).
Exploitation and conservation of Harp and Hood Seals
Authors: Sergeant D. E.
Published: October 2009

Great improvements have taken place in the last few years in the dressing of hair seal pelts for furs and the market for these furs has diversified and expanded.
Consequently, the catching of hair seals of all species has intensified and the stocks of Harp Seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus)and Hood Seals (Cystophora cristata) of the North Atlantic, particularly, are under heavy pressure
Biological research by the British Antarctic Survey
Authors: Holdgate M. W.
Published: October 2009

The Antarctic Peninsula, the islands rising from the Scotia Ridge, and the Falkland Islands are a key area for biologists interested in the origin, relationships, and adaptations of the Antarctic flora and fauna. Of all Antarctic regions, furthermore, this has perhaps been the most intensively studied. The pioneer observations of J. R. and J. G. Forster during Cook's circumnavigation in 1772–75, and of James Eights in 1833 (Caiman, 1937), supplemented by the less systematic accounts of those engaged in early nineteenth-century sealing and whaling voyages (Weddell, 1825; Allen, 1899) paved the way for the thorough scientific programmes of more modern expeditions. The first of these, theBelgicaexpedition under de Gerlache, 1897–99, yielded much general information and brought back an apterous fly{Belgica antarctica),the first higher insect to be discovered in the true Antarctic. Soon afterwards, the Swedish South Polar Expedition led by Nordenskjold, 1901–04, brought to the Antarctic an outstanding botanist, the late C. J. F. Skottsberg, whose botanical researches on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic themes were to last for over half a century (Skottsberg, 1963). During the following decade the two French expeditions led by Charcot, 1903–05 and 1908–10, contributed important microbiological and ornithological information, and in 1902–04 the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition under Bruce made the first study of the South Orkney Islands and provided a general evaluation of botanical and biogeographical problems (Rudmose Brown, 1912). All these expeditions made general collections of flora and fauna which revealed that the Antarctic Peninsula and its adjacent islands were the richest area, biologically speaking, of the whole Antarctic region. Farther north, the Swedish Magellanic Expedition, led by Skottsberg in 1907–09, provided what is still the only published account of the vegetation of the Falkland Islands and information vital to the evaluation of biogeographical relationships between the Scotia Ridge, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Magellanic region of South America. Skottsberg (1912) also described the vegetation of South Georgia, where pioneer work had been done by Will during the German International Polar Year expedition, 1882–83. The botanical work on this island, up to 1964, has recently been comprehensively reviewed by Greene (1964a).
The Greenland fur industry
Authors: Christiansen Hans C.
Published: October 2009

In recent years Den Kongelige Grenlandske Handel (Royal Greenland Trade Department, or RGTD) has sold about 60000 seal skins, about 4000 fox skins, and 20 to 30 Polar Bear skins annually for native hunters on the west and east coasts of Greenland. As seals predominate in the Greenland crop of skins, this paper will deal mainly with the history and conditions of the seal skin industry, and its significance for the Greenland community.
Satellite photographs of the Antarctic Peninsula Area
Authors: Swithinbank Charles
Published: October 2009

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has been receiving regular satellite photo coverage of the Antarctic Peninsula area since 1967. Supplied by courtesy of the United States Environmental Science Services Administration from their National Environmental Satellite Center, the photographs have been used principally to observe the distribution of pack ice to facilitate the passage of the Survey's ships to Antarctic stations. While they are proving of immense importance in sea ice studies, they have also been used to plot the changing position of ice fronts. In the long term the series will provide an unparalleled source of data for climatology, since cloud patterns continually reveal weather systems that cannot be identified from observations coming only from the sparse network of meteorological stations in Antarctica.
The Scott Polar Research Institute, 1920–70
Authors: Robin G. de Q.
Published: October 2009

By a Grace, dated 26 November 1920, the Senate of the University of Cambridge approved an earlier recommendation of the Council of the Senate “That the University would welcome the establishment of the proposed Polar Research Institute at Cambridge.…” Frank Debenham's “Retrospect”, written to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of this date, told of the circumstances that led to the formation of the Institute, and of its aims and facilities. Now, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of that date, a brief note seems appropriate.
Wildlife and oil: a survey of critical issues in Alaska
Authors: Weeden Robert B. , Klein David R.
Published: October 2009

The world's oil magnates have recently turned their eyes to Siberia, Alaska, Arctic Canada, and the Chukchi and North seas and have invested huge sums in exploration for petroleum in lands scarcely touched by modern technology a decade ago.

Throughout the Arctic, serious questions have arisen regarding environmental and cultural by-products of petroleum exploration and development. Perhaps nowhere has there been greater public concern than in Alaska, which has experienced commercial oil production since 1958 near Cook Inlet and which is now working out plans for development of the Prudhoe Bay pool.
Anton and Dmitriy: two Russian members of Scott's last expedition
Authors: Dunbar Moira
Published: October 2009

In the popular science journal Nauka i Zhizn' [Science and Life], No 10,1969, there is an article by N. Bolotnikov on the two Russians who took part in Scott's last expedition, Anton Omel'chenko, stable-man, and Dmitriy “Geroff”, dog-driver, giving information on their lives before and after the expedition. Both these men are spoken of very warmly in Scott's journal. They appear to have been excellent fellows, who not only worked hard and devotedly with their respective charges, but also got along very well with their British messmates, and it is interesting to know a little more about them.
Franklin's first expedition as seen by the fur traders
Authors: MacLeod Margaret Arnett , Glover Richard
Published: October 2009

[Some months ago one of our staff, leafing through theProceedingsof the Fourth National Northern Development Conference held in Edmonton in November 1967, stumbled on a reference to an unknown skit on the First Franklin Expedition in a paper that Richard Glover read to the Conference (Glover, 1967, p 27). Further enquiries produced the manuscript we print here.
The Moravians in Labrador, 1771–1805
Authors: Hiller J. K.
Published: October 2009

In July 1971, the Moravian mission will have been working in northern Labrador for two hundred years. Theirs was the first mission to North American Eskimos and, as such, it has considerable historical interest. However it is not the purpose of this paper either to give a summary of the whole period—this can be found elsewhere (Anon, 1871; Davey, 1905; Kleivan, 1966)—or to attempt a general assessment of the mission's work. For good or ill, the mission has made its contribution, and the historian leaves consideration of its legacy to the social scientist (Kleivan, 1966; Ben-Dor, 1966). I shall concentrate here upon the foundation and early years of the mission, and try to explain how it gained its foothold.
Some thoughts on the national minorities of the European north of the USSR
Authors: Vászolyi E. G.
Published: October 2009

The European north of the USSR can be roughly defined as the area between lats 60° and 70°N and longs 30° and 70°E. It covers some 1 500 000 km2; from the Finnish-Soviet frontier to the Urals is about 1 400 km, and from the Barents Sea to Vologda, about 1120 km. The area is intersected by the river systems of Dvina (750 km), Mezen (910 km), Vychegda (1 130 km) and Pechora (1 790 km). The inhabitants in 1960 numbered approximately 4 648 000.