bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Greenland's future development: a historical and political perspective
Authors: Taagholt Jørgen
Published: October 2009

Throughout their history Greenlanders have struggled not against invaders but against a hard and merciless environment. This intimate association with the environment is reflected in a well-developed descriptive language, richer in many respects than Danish. But Greenlanders have a less developed capacity for abstract thought and as a result they find discussion of such national problems as security far removed from the daily debate. In diis article Greenland's development is traced and her strategic position in the North Atlantic is discussed in terms of national interests and international cooperation.
James Cook's scientific programme in the Southern Ocean, 1772–75
Authors: Rubin Morton J.
Published: October 2009

Until long after all other regions of the world had been explored and populated by man, the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere remained unknownand inviolate. Although a great southern continent had been postulated by theancient Greeks, and its existence firmly believed in during the 16th century and by some 18th century geographers, no real evidence for its presence had been forthcoming. However, the great voyages of discovery by James Cook in Endeavour, 1768–71 and Resolution, 1772–75 laid that belief to rest. During his second voyage Cook circumnavigated the globe in high latitudes and made three crossings of the Antarctic Circle but failed to find the supposed continental land mass. Cook came to the conclusion that if a continent existed in still higher latitudes, as we know that it does, it would be perpetually frozen. Nevertheless, the scientific aims of the voyage were achieved. Considerable light was shed on the atmospheric and oceanographic phenomena of the region, based on factual data collected by the, scientists on board Resolution, and Adventure which accompanied it for partof the timeduring 1772–73.
Mikula: a Canadian icebreaker repatriated
Authors: Barr William , Appleton Thomas E.
Published: October 2009

On the afternoon of 13 March 1931 a massively-built icebreaker could be seen smashing her way through the ice in the shipping channel off Pointe-aux-Trembles at the east end of Montreal Island. The name on her bows was Mikula (Montreal Gazette, 1931a, p 23). The following afternoon, accompanied by the smaller icebreaker Saurel, she pulled alongside at the Imperial Oil Company's wharf in Montreal East, to be met by a large crowd, led by the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, the Honourable Albert Duranleau (Montreal Gazette, 1931b, p 21). Captain John Hearn welcomed the minister on board, then took him and his party out among the river ice to show off Mikula's paces. The cause of all the excitement was that Mikula had reached Montreal 15 days earlier than the previous record, set by the icebreaker Lady Grey in 1921. Hence Montreal had come a significant step closer to her present situation of being a year-round port.
The use and abuse of polar environmental resources
Authors: Holdgate Martin W.
Published: October 2009

Living resources of polar zones (areas limited by the 10°C isotherm for the warmest month) have in the past been developed exploitively: examples range from 17th century Arctic whales to musk oxen, caribou, and most recently fin fish stocks from Antarctic waters. Mineral resources as yet remain under-developed, particularly in the Antarctic. This is due to a combination of technological problems imposed by the harsh environment, and marketing problems accentuated by remoteness. Recent scientific and technological advances make further mineral exploitation feasible, though markets do not as yet justify the high costs of development in the Antarctic, where there remain unsolved technical and transportation problems. Future exploitation of living resources is likely to be more conservative than hitherto, especially in the Antarctic where the Treaty System provides potential safeguards. Management plans based on rational decision-making, and incorporating environmental safety measures, are needed to ensure that all further development of renewable natural resources, at either end of the earth, is conducted on a sustainable basis, and that all development proceeds with minimal environmental disturbance.
Zoological observations, Royal Bay, South Georgia 1882–1883. Part 1
Authors: von den Steinen Karl , Barr William
Published: October 2009

As part of its commitment to the programme of the First International Polar Year (1882–83) the Deutsche Polarkomission dispatched an expedition to South Georgia (Schrader 1891; Baker 1982). The team consisted of seven scientists and observers, led by Dr K. Schrader and accompanied by a support group of four men. As with the other 13 expeditions of the International Polar Year, the major emphases were on studies of meteorology, magnetism and aurora, although the South Georgia station also had a secondary major task, that of observing the transit of Venus. Fortunately the Deutsche Polarkomission had the foresight to include a trained zoologist on the expedition, in the person of the medical officer, Dr Karl von den Steinen.
Drilling in eastern Taylor Valley, Antarctica, 1982–83: some preliminary results
Authors: Robinson P.H. , Elston D. P. , Rieck H. J.
Published: October 2009

Initial results from a programme of drilling in eastern Taylor Valley, Ross Dependency, Antarctica, in 1982–83 show lithological correlations with earlier drilling work in the same area. A preliminary interpretation suggests that drift deposits represent at least two glacial episodes, probably Ross I and pre-Ross I, separated by periods of proglacial sandur development and lake sedimentation. Further drilling is planned for 1983–84.
Zoological observations, Royal Bay, South Georgia 1882–1883. Part 2.
Authors: von den Steinen Karl , Barr William
Published: October 2009

There was no animal on South Georgia that we took into our hearts so much as these comical ‘Johnnies’, as the whalers call them. Not one of us, I am convinced, will recall our isolated existence in later years without simultaneously thinking with inner pleasure of these wonderful creatures. In their droll caricaturing of human gait and movements they provided an inexhautible source of humorous observations; further, in that their eggs allowed our chef to rise to unexpected achievements, they provided an equally pleasant resource.
Beauchêne Island: a historical account
Authors: Smith R. I. Lewis
Published: October 2009

Southernmost of the Falkland Islands, Beauchêne Island (52° 54' S, 59° 09' W, area 3 km2) is a wildlife reserve with large colonies of Black-browed albatrosses and Rockhopper penguins. Discovered and named in 1701 by the French explorer Jacques Gouin de Beauchesne, it was noted by many early navigators and visited frequently by fur sealers in the 19th century. This article draws attention to early reports and outlines what is known of its history.
The fate of Rusanov's Gerkules expedition in the Kara Sea, 1913; Some Further details and recent developments
Authors: Barr William
Published: October 2009

The Russian explorer V. A. Rusanov's geological expeditions to Novaya Zemlya (1908–11) gained him the experience that, in 1912, secured his appointment as leader of a government expedition to Svalbard. In the sealing ship Gerkules Rusanov and 14 others left Aleksandrovsk on 26 June, spending most of July and August staking claims, collecting specimens and inspecting coalmining operation around the islands. In late August Gerkules headed east for Novaya Zemlya and an attempt at the Northeast Passage. Neither ship nor crew were seen again, but relics of the expedition have since been found on islands in the Kara Sea; in 1978 a plaque commemorating the expedition was erected on Mys Primetnyy, where a campsite and many relics were identified.
The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 1902–04
Authors: Bernstein Ralph E.
Published: October 2009

On 21 July 1904, just over 80 years ago, the barque-rigged, Norwegian-built auxiliary steamshipScotiasailed home up the Clyde with members of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE), concluding one of the most successful expeditions of the heroic period of Antarctic exploration. Contemporaneous with the more spectacular British Antarctic Expedition (1901–03) commanded by Robert Falcon Scott, theScotiaparty under William Spiers Bruce had overwintered on Laurie Island (60° 44ʹ S, 44° 50ʹ W) in the South Orkney Islands, explored for the first time the oceanography of the Weddell Sea, assembled an important collection of scientific material, and discovered Coats Land, an icebound stretch of the East Antarctica coast.

While Scott'sDiscoveryexpedition had emphasized geographical exploration inland from the Ross Sea sector of Antarctica, Bruce in theScotiahad concentrated more on scientific discovery in the Weddell Sea sector. On 12 November 1904 in Edinburgh, members of theScotiaandDiscoveryexpeditions were guests at the 20th anniversary dinner of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Bruce and Scott together responding to a presidential toast that honoured the success of both.
Prospects for the northern Canadian native economy
Authors: Cox Bruce A.
Published: October 2009

Much ink has been spilled over the future prospects of a Northern native economy based on a mix of hunting, trapping and wage work. Information on the mixed economy appeared during debates over Northern pipeline development which raged during the 1970s; though the native lifestyle came under close scrutiny during that period, sceptics remain unconvinced of the very existence, let alone the viability, of a native mixed economy. In their view a way of life based on harvesting ‘country foods’ is moribund and should give place as soon as possible to a full-fledged wage economy; those who think otherwise, including the authors of pipeline inquiries, are misguided romantics. This paper re-examines the debates over the prospects for a native hunting economy, and comes down on the side of its proponents. The author concludes that, given proper institutional support, a mixed economy should persist into the next century, and shows that the critics of the bush economy have underestimated its contribution to the welfare of Northern natives.
Thirty-Sixth annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission, June 1984
Authors: Donovan G. P.
Published: October 2009

The thirty-sixth annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18–22 June 1984, at the invitation of the Government of Argentina, under the chairmanship of E.H. Iglesias (Argentina). This was the first time since 1977 that the meeting had been held outside the United Kingdom, where the Secretariat has its headquarters. Thirty-seven of the Commission's 40 member nations attended. Observers were present from two non-member governments, five intergovernmental organisations (including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the United Nations Environmental Programme) and 37 non-governmental conservation, animal welfare and trade organisations.
The King's Mirror [Konung's Skuggsjá] and northern research
Authors: Whitaker Ian
Published: October 2009

The old Norwegian text known as Konungs skuggsjá (The King's Mirror), hereafter abbreviated KS, is I believe the most significant early European vernacular document for northern research. This opinion was explicitly stated by Nansen, (1911, 2: 242):
North Atlantic sea-creatures in the King's Mirror (Konungs Skuggsjá)
Authors: Whitaker Ian
Published: October 2009

The 12th century Norwegian text Konungs Skuggsjá (King's Mirror), a didactic work prepared by one or several authors, probably for the education of a king's sons, provides some of the earliest known descriptions of sea-creatures (legendary and real) inhabiting northern Atlantic waters. Most of the descriptions give sufficient detail to allow identification with species common in the area today. This article (the second of two articles on Konungs Skuggsjá; see Polar Record, (1985), 23(141): 615–27), presents translated sections of the original text, and possible identifications of 26 species with discussion, notes and comments.
The Dutch in the Arctic in the late 19th century
Authors: Bruyns Willem F. J. Mörzer
Published: October 2009

Following the founding of the Aardrijkskundig Genootschap [Dutch Geographical Society] in 1873 there was a brief revival of Dutch interest and participation in the Arctic. The schooner Willem Barents, specially built for the purpose, made annual voyages into the European Arctic from 1878 to 1884, placing memorial stones at sites where the Dutch had operated in earlier centuries and collecting scientific data. During the International Polar Year, 1882–83 the Dutch expedition was caught in pack ice and its ship Varna was lost. Thereafter Dutch interest in the Arctic waned, and Willem Barents was sold in 1886.
The meaning of political development in the north
Authors: Morehouse Thomas A.
Published: October 2009

Political development in the north (and elsewhere) often occurs in a context of confrontation and conflict between values of community and stability on one hand and economic growth and change on the other. Indigenous peoples of the north may not be able to resist strong tides of social and economic change—‘development’ toward forms of the dominant social, economic and political institutions—but they can substantially affect the terms of their integration into dominant societies. Alaska Natives seek both autonomy through tribal governments and access to the benefits of dominant institutions. Their ability to achieve and reconcile these purposes is a basic measure of their political development.
John Ross and Bellot Strait: personality versus discovery
Authors: Savelle James M. , Holland Clive
Published: October 2009

During his voyage to the North American Arctic in 1829–933 John Ross was twice on the verge of discovering Bellot Strait, once in August 1829 and again in June 1832. The discovery would have done much to redeem his reputation, shattered in his earlier Arctic voyage of 1818, and might have helped him to delineate, or even sail through, a northwest passage. Using previously unpublished material, this article examines the circumstances in which Ross failed to recognize the strait, and suggests that, for reasons of personal rather than physical constraint, he did not take advantage of the two opportunities presented
Charles Bénard's first expedition to Novaya Zemlya, 1908
Authors: Barr William
Published: October 2009

In the summer of 1908 the Mission Océanographique Arctique Française sailed from Dunkirk aboard the ketchJacques Cartier. Sponsored by the Société d'Océanographie du Golfe de Gascogne and led by Charles Bénard, its major aims were to study the fisheries potential of the Barents Sea, to explore Gusinaya Zemlya on the south island of Novaya Zemlya, to chart and sound the bays and straits of that area, to carry out geological investigations, and to make a traverse of Matochkin Shar, which bisects Novaya Zemlya. The expedition established itself at Belush'ya Guba, from where Bénard and his companions explored much of Gusinaya Zemlya and surveyed, sounded and charted the adjacent waters. An attempt at crossing the south island, made by the medical officer Candiotti, was unsuccessful. Later, accompanied by the Russian geologist Vladimir Aleksandrovich Rusanov, Candiotti sailed through Matochkin Shar and made the first crossing of the north island, from Neznayemyy Zaliv to Krestovaya Guba. The expedition ended on rather a sour note: Bénard abandoned his ship and crew at Arkhangel'sk, leaving the organizing committee with the problems of unravelling the mess and repatriating the crew.
The growth, structure and disintegration of Arctic ice shelves
Authors: Jeffries Martin O.
Published: October 2009

The north coast of Ellesmere Island is the location of the only known ice shelves in the northern hemisphere. Present Arctic ice shelves are as much as 40–50 m thick and occupy sheltered fiords and embayments. These thick floating ice masses are remnants of the once-extensive Ellesmere Ice Shelf that has disintegrated since 1876–1906, when Aldrich and Peary respectively travelled along the coast. Reasons for the disintegration are not clear, but it has created many ice islands that have been known to circulate in the Arctic Ocean for 35 years or more. Both ice islands and ice shelves are readily distinguished from their surroundings by an undulating surface topography of parallel ridges and troughs up to 300 m apart. The undulations probably owe their origin to the effects of wind and meltwater. Since 1952 these large ice masses have been the subject of considerable research. Ice shelf growth began about 4000 BP, when glaciers flowed off the land and remained afloat in fiords and inlets, and sea ice grew thick and remained fast to the coast. The glacier and sea ice acted as platforms for further thickening both by surface accumulation of snow and ice and by undersurface accretion of fresh, brackish and saline ice. Although much has been learned about the growth, structure and behaviour of arctic ice shelves, questions still remain concerning ice island calving mechanisms, bottom freezing, thick sea ice growth and origins of the ridges and troughs.
The United Nations and Antarctica 1986
Authors: Beck P.J.
Published: October 2009

In November 1986 the United Nations considered again the ‘Question of Antarctica’ and published a further study, up-dating and developing that produced in 1984 and guiding UN First Committee discussions of 18–19 November 1986. Three resolutions were adopted concerning availability of information to the UN on Antarctica, a moratorium on the Antarctic minerals regime negotiations, and the exclusion of South Africa as a Consulative Party. Most Antarctic Treaty parties did not vote; the consensus that characterized UN debates on Antarctica in 1983 and 1984 has yet to be restored. The 1986 session suggested more questions rather than providing answers; a key question is whether the Antarctic Treaty System will preserve its unity in view of the problem of continuing South African membership.
The ARA Islas Orcadas marine geology coring program: a research bibliography
Authors: Cassidy Dennis S.
Published: October 2009

The final phase of operation of the US National Science Foundation research vessel, USNS Eltanin, was under the terms of an agreement between agencies of the governments of the US and the Republic of Argentina. Renamed ARA Islas Orcadas and operated by the Argentine Naval Hydrographic Service, the ship collected more than 2100 m of sediment cores and other specimens from the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean over a five-year period. These materials were shipped to Florida State University for processing and description, and from them have been distributed more than 27,000 samples to investigators worldwide. This article incorporates a bibliography covering all publications we have identified referring to results of analyses or other research based on samples from sediments collected by the Islas Orcadas programme.
First scientific expedition to Ile des Pingouins, Archipel Crozet
Authors: Dreux Ph. , Frenot Y. , Jouventin P. , Massé L. , Verdier O.
Published: October 2009

From 14 November to 12 December 1986 a five-man team surveyed Ile des Pingouins, an islandin the lies Crozet archipelago only once previously visited by scientists. Supported by Terres Australes et Antarctiques Francaises (TAAF), the team investigated the geology, climate, botany, invertebrate zoology and ornithology of the island.
A continent surrounded by advice: recent reports on Antarctica
Authors: Beck Peter J.
Published: October 2009

The enhanced international significance of Antarctica during the 1980s is shown by a proliferation of studies analysing current and future possibilities. The year 1987 proved no exception to this trend; reports issued under the auspices of the European Parliament, the United Nations and the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Affairs reinforced the impression that Antarctica has become a continent surrounded by advice, even if it proves difficult to evaluate how far such reports will influence the policy-makers. Conservation proved a common feature, while the reports, discussed in this article, raise interesting questions about the future of the Antarctic Treaty system.
Remote health care for Antarctica: the BAS medical unit
Authors: Norman J. N. , Laws R. M.
Published: October 2009

An occupational health unit has been established by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) which utilises the philosophy and principles employed to provide health care for offshore workers on the UK continental shelf. The central problem is the distance and time which separates the remote worker from the sophisticated diagnostic and specialist services which other sections of the community enjoy. BAS has resolved this by the establishment of a coordinating medical unit and by setting up special training programmes for the population at risk, together with the provision of increasingly effective systems of communication. The ultimate aim is the provision of full diagnostic and specialist services at the remote work-site in the Antarctic through the medium of the resident doctor or health care worker and through increasingly sophisticated communications. A retrospective study of Antarctic morbidity has been undertaken to provide a base-line, and a prospective database has now been set up to provide ongoing surveillance of the system and an evaluation of the effectiveness of this approach to the health care of remote communities.
The introduced muskoxen of Poluostrov Taymyr
Authors: Yakushkin G.D. , Barr W.
Published: October 2009

In 1974–75 30 muskoxen Ovibos moschatus were introduced to the tundra of Poluostrov Taymyr, ten from Banks Island NWT, Canada and 20 from Nunivak Island, Alaska. Originally enclosed in large corrals near a special research station in the Bikada valley, at the east end of Ozero Taymyr, the animals were released in 1980/82. The first calf to survive infancy was born in 1978; since then the death rate has been extremely low. By July 1987 the population had risen to 230, running in 10–12 herds. Most of the animals still range close to the Bikada valley, but one herd of 40 animals has moved noth across the main range of Byrranga Gory. Bachelor bulls wander even farther afield, up to 300 km from the release site. In August 195 two bulls appeard at Mys Chelyuskina, the northernmost tip of the continent.
Investigating variations in the gravitational constant
Authors: Cooper A. P. R. , Gorman M. R.
Published: October 2009

In August–September 1987 a group of geophysicists, led by M. Ander of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and M. Zumberge of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, performed a geophysical experiment to determine the value of the gravitational constant, G. Using the DYE-3 borehole on the Greenland ice cap, the experiment was intended to provide evidence concerning possible scale variations in G, and thus for non-Newtonian gravity. This report describes the background to the experiment and the radio echo-sounding survey carried out to provide terrain corrections for the gravity model. The experiment showed values of G differing from laboratory determinations by margins which considerably exceed experimental error.
Reindeer herders of northern Yakutia: a report from the field
Authors: Vitebsky Piers
Published: October 2009

The Eveny of northeastern Siberia live mainly by reindeer herding. Though this is highly economical, since collectivization it has progressively separated the nomadic herders from their families in the centralized villages. This leads to a low birth-rate and the estrangement of children from herding. Under percstroika, labour is being reorganized into a system of contracts. Though the aim is to increase efficiency, this may also allow families to live and work together again. However, logistic problems, such as schooling, remain. These developments are taking place against a background of increasing ethnic consciousness and open public debate on policy.
Across the ice curtain: Alaska–Siberia visits, 1988
Authors: Sheldon Jerome F.
Published: October 2009

On 13 June 1988 a US party including Alaskan Natives and business, political and media representatives flew from Nome, Alaska to Provideniya, Siberia, on a ‘friendship flight’ arranged by the State of Alaska and Soviet authorities. In August of the same year MV Society Explorer, a US-operated cruise ship, made a 20-hour port call in Provideniya. On 7 September the Soviet research vessel Dmitri Laptev paid a return visit from Provideniyato Nome with a party of Yupik natives and Soviet officials. These visits represent the first formal contacts between neighbouring communities across Bering Strait for over 40 years.
British polar expeditions 1919–39
Authors: Wright John
Published: October 2009

Twenty years of British polar expeditions are described, covering nearly 60 expeditions and over 260 members, virtually all emanating from the universities. Expeditions are catalogued with the official name (if any), dates, areas visited, leader's name, number of members, and mentioning any special features. Backgrounds and principal characteristics of the expeditions are described, particularly scientific objectives and details of members, including distinctions in their later careers. The record includes four deaths, all in the summer and three from drowning, and a single rescue operation of an aircraft by a motor boat. Scientific results are outlined, with main emphasis on the author's speciality (surveying and mapping); hope is expressed that others will describe the other scientific results in future articles. Most expeditions were characterized by absence of publicity, and the virtual impossibility of rescue operations due to isolation and lack of field radio transmitters and aircraft.
Emperor penguin colony at Cape Washington, Antarctica
Authors: Kooyman Gerald L. , Croll Donald , Stone Sheridan , Smith Steven
Published: October 2009

This article describes the natural history of a large colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes for steri, its size, dispersal pattern of chicks, and associations with other bird and mammal species. A mid-season count of 19,364 chicks indicated that about 20–25,000 breeding pairs had been present in June and July. The colony was fragmented into several sub-groups which showed different mean sizes of chicks and survival to fledging. Other species observed included leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx, the only major predators, which preyed heavily on both adults and fledging chicks. Fledgelings left the colony over a period of about 10 days; departure was an active process in which the chicks walked to the ice edge and dispersed in groups, swimming consistently southward. At this time they were still in about 60% down and weighed about 10 kg, having lost some 30% of the heaviest mass achieved during parental feeding.
Australia and the Convention for the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA)
Authors: Blay S. K. N. , Tsamenyi B. M.
Published: October 2009

Australia, a leading Antarctic state that played a key role in negotiating the Convention for the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities, in May 1989 announced its opposition to the Convention and adoption instead of a World Park or Wilderness Reserve concept for Antarctica. This article examines possible environmental and economic reasons for Australia's attitude, which is likely to have significant implications for the future of the Convention and for the Antarctic Treaty System as a whole.
Henry Grinnell and the American Franklin searches
Authors: Cruwys Liz
Published: October 2009

Henry Grinnell (1799–1874), a retired New York shipping magnate, maintained for 20 years a correspondence with Jane Franklin, wife of the British explorer Sir John Franklin whose ships Erebus and Terror were lost in the Arctic some time after 1845. Grinnell financed two United States expeditions and two searches by Charles Francis Hall to the Arctic to collect information on the fate of the Franklin expedition. Grinnell's letters, now held in the archives of the Scott Polar Research Institute, form the basis of this article.
Profile: Herbert G. Ponting
Authors: Lynch Dennis
Published: October 2009

Herbert Ponting, Robert Falcon Scott's photographer and cinematographer on the Terra Nova expedition, was the first specialized, professional photographer to accompany a polar expedition. Born in 1870, he had already acquired an international reputation as a travel writer and photographer before joining Scott in 1910. His personality did not mesh readily with those of other expedition members, but in his film 90° North Ponting produced what is arguably the finest travel documentary before Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North. His work compares favourably with professional film records of much later exploration, for example those of Hillary and Tenzing on Everest in 1953. After his year in Antarctica he produced various versions of the film, and undertook a number of unsuccessful enterprises. He died in 1935. We can still learn from the work of this pompous British photographic artist from the early years of the century.
Archaeological techniques and technology on Ross Island, Antarctica
Authors: Ritchie Neville A.
Published: October 2009

Major archaeological excavations have been conducted at Scott's 1910–13 expedition hut site on Cape Evans, Ross Island, Ross Dependency, Antarctica over the past three years. The work has involved experimentation and the use of a wide range of equipment for excavating in ice and permafrosted ground and to deal with specific problems encountered during archaeological fieldwork in a frozen environment such as Antarctica. The equipment, its operations, and advantages and disadvantages are described.
Bird and mammal life recorded during the Antarctic drift of SY Aurora, 1915–16
Authors: Shaughnessy P. D.
Published: October 2009

After landing the Ross Sea shore party of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition at Cape Evans, McMurdo Sound, SY Aurora drifted for 313 days between May 1915 and March 1916 in the pack iceof the Ross Sea and Southern Ocean. During the drift A. H. Ninnis maintained observations of the fauna. He was out hunting on the pack ice on at least 86 days to augment the ship's slender provisions, taking 289 penguins, 10 other sea birds and 20 seals. He sighted whales on at least 15 days, including killer whales in July and August and four large whales, possibly blue whales, in November. He also noted birds returning south for the breeding season in spring, progress of moult in emperor penguins, pupping of crabeater and leopard seals, and food items of several seals and seabirds. Most of his report is presented here, edited to improve its readability and remove abbreviations; the text is preceded by a brief summary of the fauna seen and followed by footnotes on some of his observations.
Radio weather transmissions in the Antarctic
Authors: Villela Rubens J.
Published: October 2009

During seven summer Brazilian expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula area the author used radio weather transmissions to collect data for synoptic analysis and operational weather forecasting. A particularly intensive effort aboard Barão de Teffé in 1989–90 yielded detailed information on frequencies, schedules, procedures and contents, which should be useful to radio-operators, meteorologists, and other Antarctic workers since official publications listing Antarctic radio transmissions are out-dated or incomplete. Radiotelegraph broadcasts particularly valuable to mariners, which may replace or complement facsimile transmissions, are made by Valparaiso, Punta Arenas, and Buenos Aires. Because of unreliable reception of regular fax and teletype broadcasts, synoptic reports were copied directly by monitoring voice and Morse point-to-point circuits, gaining time crucial to operational decisions. Especially useful sources of reports were the Frei, Marambio, and Faraday collections, and the USSR radiotelegraph communications carrying land and ship reports for all sectors of Antarctica and southern hemisphere oceans. Other signals, eg from Chilean lighthouses, ships of opportunity, and aircraft have become useful sources of meteorological information, especially for Drake Passage since Chile has suspended broadcasts, adversely affecting weather forecasting in the area. An insight into weather conditions on the Antarctic Plateau, as well as a sense of history in the making, were gained by monitoring Adventure Network International's radio frequencies.
Profile: Henry Grinnell
Authors: Cruwys Liz
Published: October 2009

Henry Grinnell (1799–1874), a wealthy American businessman, was a leading protagonist of 19th century American Arctic exploration. Despite his considerable influence, little has been written about his life. He never visited the Arctic, but sponsored important expeditions of the Franklin search, financing expeditions under Edwin De Haven 1850–51, Elisha Kent Kane 1853–55 and Charles Francis Hall 1860–62 and 1865–69. He supported also American attempts on the North Pole by Isaac Israel Hayes in 1860–61 and Hall in 1871–73. This article deals mainly with Grinnell's influence on polar affairs other than Franklin search expeditions, which were discussed in an earlier article.
Italian engagement in Antarctica
Authors: Manzoni M. , Zucchelli M.
Published: October 2009

Following Italy's accession to the Antarctic Treaty in 1981, the Italian Parliament made provision for a six-year programme of Antarctic research, to be administered by the Ministry for University and Scientific and Technical Research. The programme, Progetto Antartide, centres on a permanent scientific station at Gerlache Inlet, installed in 1986–87 for a staff of up to 60. Chartered ships, helicopters, snow vehicles and heavy transport aircraft provide logistic support for a substantial scientific and field programme, ranging widely from the base, the scope and extent of which is likely to increase.
Antarctica, Viña del Mar and the 1990 UN debate
Authors: Beck Peter J.
Published: October 2009

The Xlth Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting in Viña del Mar, Chile (19 November to 6 December 1990) aired the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties' views on conservation, following the collapse of support for the minerals convention. Almost simultaneously at the United Nations Assembly in New York, the eighth successive annual discussion on Antarctica included the usual critique of the Treaty System's political and legal framework. The conservationist emphasis apparent in 1989 continued in 1990, accompanied by an attack on Antarctic science. Particular emphasis was placed on adverse environmental impacts from the crowding together of scientific stations. Treaty parties countered with their long-standing opposition to UN interference in Treaty matters. Resolutions on Antarctica sought to exclude South Africa from ATS activities and to consider the establishment of a UN international research station. The 1990 discussions showed that the Treaty System at its 30th anniversary fails to enjoy universal support, and contributed to an emerging debate on the merits of Antarctic science.
Sharing and the ideology of subsistence in a Greenlandic sealing community
Authors: Nuttall Mark
Published: October 2009

Seal hunting remains of vital importance to Inuit culture, but the value of seal meat extends beyond nutritional and dietary requirements. This article focuses on the contemporary ideology of subsistence in a Greenlandic scaling community, with particular reference to the sharing of seal meat. Seal hunting is not cash-oriented and therefore seal meat is not regarded as a commodity. When it is shared or given away as a gift it expresses the relationships people share with each other. Sharing cements bonds of kinship and close social association and remains a distinctive statement of community.
Jules Verne and the conquest of the polar regions
Authors: Riffenburgh Beau
Published: October 2009

Like many of his contemporaries, the popular novelist Jules Verne (1828–1905) was deeply influenced by the geographical explorations of the mid 19th century. Of more than 60 novels published from 1855 onward in his seriesLes voyages extraordinaires, which involved tales of adventure, travel, geographical discovery or scientific or technological innovation, 11 included scenes or themes of polar travel. Verne clearly relied for his material and inspiration on current or recently-published polar expedition narratives of the Victorian era.
Alaska's North Slope Borough revisited
Authors: Knapp Gunnar , Morehouse Thomas A.
Published: October 2009

Alaska's North Slope Borough, established in 1972, is a unique institution of Native-controlled local government in the north. Providing a case study of Native self-determination under favourable conditions of indigenous, local control of resource wealth and political power, it has been the instrument by which local Inupiat capturedand used oil wealth, with clear economic and political benefits. They have gained high levels of local public services, jobs, and incomes; and effective representation in negotiations with external corporate and government authorities; the borough has also preserved and adapted critical elements of traditional culture. Costs of development and changeunder borough leadership have included waste and inefficiency, crime and corruption. Centralized power in borough headquarters has reduced the independence of borough villages and encouraged borough citizens to act like clients and consumers. Borough economy remains dependent on uncertain tax revenues from oil, with uncertain future employment opportunities for a rapidly growing Native population. North Slope Borough government has provided the Inupiat with means to greater political self-sufficiency, and the borough has responded effectively, under great pressure, to the opportunities and problems that petroleum development has brought to the region.
Marine scientific research and the Soviet Arctic
Authors: Franckx Erik
Published: October 2009

Scientific cooperation in the Arctic has gained momentum during the last two years. The changing attitude of the Soviet Union, the most advanced Arctic state in this respect, has played a crucial role in this evolution. This article, which focusses on non-Soviet research efforts in Soviet Arctic waters, concludes that the Soviet Union has lately given a clear signal by allowing foreigners, after many years of repeated refusal, to conduct marine scientific research close to its own coasts. In doing so the Soviets have further clarified the legal status of their northern waters.
Geological evidence for changes in the East Antarctica ice sheet (60°–120°E) during the last glaciation
Authors: Colhoun Eric A.
Published: October 2009

The East Antarctica ice sheet advanced onto the continental shelf during the last glaciation but appears to have been thinner (<300 m) than previously hypothesised and probably did not everywhere extend to the edge of the continental shelf. Where the shelf is wide, the ice probably terminated against shallow banks on its outer edge. There may not have been time for the sheet to develop the maximum profile form and thickness predicted by Hollin (1962) and Hughes and others (1981) of about 1000–500 moverthe shelf. Large outlet glaciers occupied deep troughs that conveyed most of the ice towards the edge of the shelf: intervening areas were less intensely glaciated. Much of Prince Charles Mountains and Amery Oasis were not ice-covered: Vestfold, Bunger and Casey oases were glaciated. Vestfold and Bunger oases became ice-free after 10 ka BP under the influence of the Holocene marine transgression, which was complete by about 6 ka BP. During at least the last 5–6 ka these oases have been approximately their present size. Since then the margins of the Antarctic continental ice sheet have maintained almost steady state conditions against the landward edges of the hill masses.
Observations on seabirds in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean
Authors: Ramaiah N. , Vijayakumar R. , Parulekar A. H.
Published: October 2009

Seabirds were observed during the southward (December 1989) and homeward (March 1990) voyage of the Ninth Indian Expedition to Antarctica. Twenty-four species were observed, with high diversity between 40° and 60° S. A smaller variety of species, but greater numbers, were observed between latitudes 60° and 70° S. The number of species increased in the zone of high primary and secondary production. Many species showed seasonal shifts in distribution.
Major elements, nutrients, and plankton biomass in the ice edge and an offshore region of the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean
Authors: Shirodkar P. V. , Goes J. I. , Alagarsamy R. , Fondekar S. P.
Published: October 2009

Physico-chemical and biological studies during the austral summer of 1986–87 in the ice-edge and a region offshore of Antarctica indicated significant spatial differences in concentrations of nutrients, dissolved oxygen (DO), Ca, Mg, and chlorophyll a, and in the rates of primary production. The waters within the ice-edge region were richer in nutrients and DO and showed a four-fold increase in chlorophyll a(1.98 mg m-3) and a 10-fold increase in primary productivity (0.74 mg C m-3 h-1) as compared with offshore waters. In the ice-edge region, Mg was high (1319 mg kg-1), whereas values of Ca (421.7 mg kg-1) were within the normal range. Offshore Ca (423.8 mg kg-1) and Mg (1297 mg kg-1) were within the expected limits. In the ice-edge region, Ca/Cl varied from 0.0202 to 0.0229, with a mean of 0.0220, and Mg/Cl varied from 0.0637 to 0.0737, with a mean of 0.0687. These figures were slightly higher than those offshore (Ca/Cl: 0.0205 to 0.0224, mean 0.0214; Mg/Cl: 0.0630 to 0.0693, mean 0.0657), indicating the addition of Mg to the waters in the ice-edge region. Nutrients in the ice-edge region showed increasing concentrations at deeper levels irrespective of their relationship with DO, indicating large amounts of preformed nutrients, a characteristic of Antarctic waters attributable to intense upwelling. Chlorophyll a showed a direct relation with primary productivity and an inverse relation with Mg, suggesting the release of Mg from biogenic matter. Offshore, phosphate-phosphorus (PO4-P) was significantly correlated with nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) and inversely correlated with primary productivity and chlorophyll a, indicating the utilization of PO4-P during high production. Significantly elevated concentrations of chlorophyll a, primary productivity and Mg, marked by a considerable decrease in nutrients, were observed at a frontal zone between 64° and 62°S.
Accident and risk evaluation on Finnish Antarctic expeditions
Authors: Pekkarinen Anneli , Soini Sinikka , Hassi Juhani , Laapio Heikki
Published: October 2009

The first Finnish expedition to the Antarctic, made in 1988–89, included five men. The second, a year later, included 57, mostly researchers. Accidents that occurred during the expeditions were recorded by a medical doctor and their incidence rate and severity were estimated. The few accidents that occurred did not cause disability. Some 20 risk factors were evaluated from two questionnaires filled out during the journeys to and from Antarctica, using a scale from extremely safe to extremely unsafe. Working conditions were judged safer than had been expected, as were weather factors (wind, temperature, ice and snow circumstances). The most dangerous items identified, in order of importance, were moving along unmarked routes, weariness, unexpected dangers, hurry and tight schedules, and snow and ice. During the homeward journey, equipment for communication and for moving as well as personal equipment were judged more dangerous than had been expected in advance. Preparations for future expeditions should give more attention to these factors.
Development of a sea-ice workstation for the automated monitoring of sea ice
Authors: Boardman Diane , Darwin David , Martin Jolyon , Mclntyre Neil , Sullivan Ken
Published: October 2009

UK-based operations that range from ship routing and resource exploration to weather forecasting and glaciology have direct and growing interests in the oceans of the polar regions. Typically, information describing sea-ice conditions in localised regions is required on short time scales. To explore this market, the UK's Defence Research Agency, as part of a programme of the British National Space Centre, has commissioned the development of a prototype sea-ice workstation by a consortium led by Earth Observation Sciences Ltd.

The sea-ice workstation (SIWS) uses data from several current earth observation sensors, thereby combining the advantages of regional survey, all-weather capability, and high-resolution imagery. The workstation has been designed to run with a minimum of operator intervention in order to optimise speed of operation and ensure consistency of results. The geophysical processing chains generate charts of the ice edge, ice type, ice concentration, ice-motion vectors, and sea-surface temperatures.

Although taking full advantage of developments made elsewhere, the project has also made significant progress in research into the automated mapping of ice types. Existing ice-motion algorithms have been significantly enhanced as well. Considerable emphasis is being placed on the validation of the results from the system in order to assess their quality, this being one of the major concerns of potential users. The sea-ice workstation was completed in July 1994 and will form the basis for a series of evaluations that are intended to assess the value of the system for mapping and monitoring sea ice.
Atmospheric temperature variability in the Arctic as revealed in a TOVS data record
Authors: Khalsa Siri Jodha Singh , Key Jeffrey R.
Published: October 2009

The Earth's high-latitude regions are of critical importance in many climate-change scenarios, but a time continuous, spatially complete, and well-calibrated record of tropospheric temperatures is needed in order to assess past and future climate changes. Studies of recently compiled upper-air data sets show no evidence of CO2-induced warming, but the spatial pattern of tropospheric temperature variability in the Arctic has not been thoroughly examined. This study analyzes a 108-month segment of the data record from the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) aboard NOAA polar-orbiting satellites to examine both the spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric temperature in the Arctic.

Temperature retrievals based on clear-column radiances archived at NOAA/NESDIS were done using algorithms tuned to Arctic conditions. The retrieved temperatures compared well with Arctic rawinsonde data, and include lowlevel inversions that are often problematic for satellite retrievals. The amplitude of the seasonal cycle in 500 mbar temperatures from the TOVS, NMC, and rawinsonde data generally agreed, whereas the phase comparisons produced mixed results. Principal component analyses of the TOVS and NMC temperatures revealed both monopole and dipole spatial patterns in the component loadings. Spatial patterns of the correlation between the upper-air data and the TOVS retrievals were similar to the principal component loading patterns. Whereas no significant trends were found in the station data for the same period as the TOVS record, a significant negative trend could be seen in the first principal component scores of the TOVS retrievals.