bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Daytime aurora observed from Spitsbergen
Authors: Simmons D. A. R. , Henriksen K.
Published: October 2009

Daytime (or dayside cleft) aurora is almost a permanent feature of the midday skies over Spitsbergen during the continuous darkness of the polar night It was observed in one or other of its characteristic forms around geomagnetic noon on 58 of 59 clear day sduring the wintersof 1987/1988, 1990/1991, and 1992/1993. The three types of day time aurora were studied by visual, colour photographic, and interference-filter techniques to confirm the precise nature of the observed emissions. Prenoon aurora, which is characterised by diffuse, patchy, green aurora at 557.7 nm, was observed on 42 occasions. It is generated by low-energy electrons of less than 300 eV coming through the entry layer of the dayside cleft. Noontime aurora, which consists largely of pure red emissions at 630.0/636.4 nm, was observed on 50 occasions. It is generated by high-flux, very low-energy electrons of 10–50 eV flowing directly from the solar wind through the polar cusp. Postnoon aurora, which is characterised by discrete, green auroral arcs at 557.7 nm, was also observed on 42 occasions. Like prenoon aurora, it is generated by low-energy electrons of less than 300 eV derived from the entry layer of the cleft Occasionally, some background or diffuse aurora is also observed, generated by high fluxes of low-energy proton precipitation and characterised by the hydrogen lines Hα and Hβ. On the one exceptional day on which daytime aurora was not observed, magnetic activity was exceptionally low.

These ground-based observations complement satellite studies of analogous auroral events. In particular, the visual characteristics of the different types of daytime aurora may be explained in terms of the flux rates and energy profiles of the electrons that have been mapped in the different regions of the dayside cleft by satellite-borne detectors.
Antarctic tourism: an overview of 1992/1993 season activity, recent developments, and emerging issues
Authors: Enzenbacher Debra J.
Published: October 2009

Antarctic tourism is evolving at an ever-increasing pace. More than 7000 tourists, a record number, visited the Antarctic aboard cruise ships, yachts, and aircraft during the 1992/1993 season. As annual tourist, tour operator, cruise, and cruise ship totals increase, so do the number of landing sites used for tour visits. Although the Antarctic tourism industry was once characterized by small expedition-sized vessels, 50% of Antarctic cruise passengers travelled aboard ships with a capacity of 250 or more during the 1992/1993 season. These developments present challenges to Antarctic policy makers. There is growing awareness that environmental issues arising from Antarctic tourist activity are increasingly important, but, to date, comprehensive data on Antarctic tourism are not available from a central source. This study compiles data from numerous sources in order to develop a clearer picture of the nature and scale of Antarctic tourist activity. In an effort to present an overview of Antarctic tourism, data from the 1992/1993 season are considered along with important issues in the tourism debate, including significant trends and recent developments in the tourism industry, Antarctic tourism research, tourist landings in Antarctica, industrial self-regulation, emerging issues, Antarctic Treaty negotiations on tourism, and national initiatives to improve dialogue between the industry and Antarctic policy makers. Research is underway to understand better the nature of tourist visits and the effect they have on the Antarctic environment and related ecosystems. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) plays an important role in disseminating information to tour operators planning visits to the Antarctic, but more could be done by this organization and non-members of IAATO to comply with Treaty provisions. Improved compliance with Treaty provisions and tour operator and visitor guidelines is needed, at least until the environmental effects of tour visits are better understood and the more comprehensive regulation set out in the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is implemented.
Victor Campbell and Michael Barne in Svalbard: the 1914 voyage of Willem Barents
Authors: Erskine Angus B.
Published: October 2009

In 1914 the Northern Exploration Company of London employed Commander Victor Campbell (the leader of the Northern Party of Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition of 1910–1913) to voyage to Spitsbergen in charge of a mineral-prospecting team. Campbell sailed in the schooner Willem Barents, taking Michael Barne (the second lieutenant on the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1904) as mate. There was a mixed British and Norwegian crew. Between May and August, Campbell took the schooner to various sites between Recherchefjorden and Krossfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen, maintaining two-way contact with London through the Norwegian radio station at Grønfjorden. Hearing that war was about to break out, the expedition visited the German meteorological station at Ebeltofthamna, then sailed back to Norway, from where the British members returned to England.
August von Kotzebue's Count Benyowsky,1794
Authors: Stone Ian R.
Published: October 2009

As is well-known, Kotzebue Sound in Alaska is named after Otto von Kotzebue, who surveyed the area during his second circumnavigation of the globein 1815–1818. However, Otto was not the only member of his family worthy of attention. His father, August von Kotzebue, was the author of Count Benyowsky, one of the earliest plays the action of which is set in the north. The work was written in German in 1794 and was widely translated. In English, in B. Thompson's translation of 1800, it received the subtitle ‘The conspiracy of Kamtschatka.’
Evironmental threats to marine mammals in the Canadian Arctic
Authors: Stirling Ian , Calvert Wendy
Published: October 2009

The Arctic Ocean is the home of three major groups of mammals that depend on the sea for survival and show varying degrees of adaptation for maritime life. Most fully adapted are the whales (Cetacea), which never leave the water, and the seals and walruses (Pinnipedia) that feed entirely at sea but emerge onto land or ice for pupping and basking. Less exclusively marine are two species of the order Carnivora—Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus), that seldom live far from the sea because they feed almost entirely upon seals, and Arctic Foxes (Alopex lagopus), some of which move out onto the sea ice during the winter, mainly to scavenge on the remains of seals killed by Polar Bears.
Hostilities in the Falkland Islands Dependencies March–June 1982
Authors: Headland R. K.
Published: October 2009

My short note in an earlier issue of Polar Record [21(133): 394–95 (1983)] outlined events in the Falkland Islands Dependencies arising from the Argentinian attack and occupation of April 1982, with a brief summary of the political exchanges preceding the Argentinian action. This article chronicles some of the events that precipitated the dispute, and the military activities leading to the occupation and subsequent recovery of King Edward Point, the administrative centre and principal station of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) on South Georgia.
The Arctic portraits of Stephen Pearce
Authors: Stone Ian R.
Published: October 2009

Between 1851 and 1877 Stephen Pearce (1819–1904) painted, among many other subjects, portraits of most of the distinguished 19th century British Arctic explorers. This article outlines Pearce's life, presents his most celebrated painting ‘The Arctic Council discussing a plan ofsearch for John Franklin’, and catalogues the 25 Arctic portraits held by the National Portrait Gallery. A selection of four portraits spanning the artist's working life is illustrated.
Properties and history of the central eastern Arctic sea floor
Authors: Thiede J. , Altenbach A. , Bleil U. , Botz R. , Mudie P. , Pfirman S. , Sundvor E.
Published: October 2009

The deep eastern Arctic basin between the Lomonosov Ridge and the Eurasian continental margin differs from other ocean basins in the very slow spreading of its floor and unusual depositional environment under perennial sea-ice cover. The recent expedition ARK IV/3 of RV Polar stern for the first time made geoscientific investigations from the northern margin of the Barents Sea north to the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge. Much deeper than most other mid-ocean ridges, this ridge is poorly-surveyed, but has a central valley which in places is deeper than 5.5 km, 1–1.5 km below the basin floors on either side. Heat flow in the central part of the valley is very rapid; both basement rocks and overlying sediments showed unexpectedly the influence of intense and long-term hydrothermal activity. The sediments on the northern and southern flanks of the ridge are slightly calcareous pelagic mud layers alternating with carbonate-free horizons, where up to 40% of the sedimentary section is soft mud clasts. Similar mud aggregates were observed on the surface of the multi-year sea ice, appearing to represent a special type of sediment transport by sea ice in the Transpolar Drift. In contrast to the western Arctic, Fram Strait and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, gravel is rarely found in sediment cores. Recovered cores indicate that icebergs and sea ice carrying coarse sediment seldom rafted detritus to the study area during the last approximately 300,000 years.
The site of Fort Magnesia, Payer Harbour, Pirn Island, NWT
Authors: Barr W. , Blake W.
Published: October 2009

The site of Fort Magnesia, the base hut of a three-man expedition to Payer Harbour, Pirn Island, in the Canadian Arctic, has recently been rediscovered by a party from the Geological Survey of Canada. Erected by Robert Stein's party in summer 1899, and used by them for two years, the hut was almost certainly moved to another site by Robert E. Peary for his over-wintering in 1901–02. Only fragments of the hut now remain. Five graves, probably of Peary's Eskimo helpers, are located nearby.
Bowhead whale bones and Thule Eskimo subsistence–settlement patterns in the central Canadian Arctic
Authors: McCartney Allen P. , Savelle James M.
Published: October 2009

Bowhead whale bones in prehistoric Thule Eskimo contexts have been examined since 1975 in the central Canadian Arctic. Approximately 10,500 bones, representing almost 1000 animals, have been counted on the shores of six adjacent islands. Comparisons of Thule-derived bowhead samples with live Beaufort Sea samples and Early Holocene samples indicate that Thule Eskimo hunters selected yearlings and two- to three-year-old subadults, to the almost complete exclusion of calves and adults. Almost all bowheads found at Thule sites measure 7–10 m in length, estimated by regression analyses based on Alaskan bowhead skeletons of known size. Archaeological bowhead bones represent several stages of past hunting and processing behavior, including selective hunting, beach flensing and meal/blubber caching, winter house construction, and bone re-use from house ruins. The availability and abundance of bowheads were primary determinants of Thule subsistence-settlement patterns in this region. Archaeological whale bones arc a nonrenewable cultural resource of the New World Arctic that deserve study and protection.
A comparative analysis of the settlements of Novoye Chaplino and Gambell
Authors: Callaway Donald G. , Pilyasov Alexander
Published: October 2009

Geographically separated by only 64 km, the Siberian Yupik-speaking communities of Gambell and Novoye Chaplino have endured a politically mandated separation of 40 years. During this period these two small, native comm unities have experienced enormous changes, changes often engendered by the social and economic policies of their nation states. The abandonment of small, native communities in Chukotka under the Soviet policy of ‘settlements without prospects’, the forced resettlement of Chaplino to Novoye Chaplino, and the reorganization of cooperatives into state farms have all had serious detrimental consequences for the organization of subsistence activities in this community. Gambell—with very little economic infrastructure, high unemployment, increased social problems, and some federaland state-mandated management of their natural resources — has managed to maintain high levels of subsistence production. The native language is spoken by youngsters in Gambell but not in Novoye Chaplino. Other important cultural features such as sharing, bride service, and ivory carving have been maintained in Gambell but have been lost in Novoye Chaplino. Contacts between the two communities under the recent policy ofglasnost'may bring a revival of these practices back to Novoye Chaplino.
The constitutional context of aboriginal and colonial government in the Yukon Territory
Authors: Smyth Steven
Published: October 2009

The history of the struggle for aboriginal self-government in Canada is reviewed, leading to the signing of the Model Self-Government Agreement for aboriginal First Nations in the Yukon Territory. The contents and unique features of the Model Agreement are discussed, and some conclusions on its implications for future responsible government (provincial status) for the Yukon Territory are drawn.
The drift of ice islands from the Arctic Ocean into the channels of the Canadian Arctic archipelago: the history of Hobson's Choice Ice Island
Authors: Jeffries Martin O. , Shaw M. Amanda
Published: October 2009

The drift of Hobson's Choice Ice Island from the Arctic Ocean into the channels of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Northwest Territories, Canadian Arctic, between February 1988 and August 1992, was monitored by a Système Argos satellite-positioning buoy. During the period August 1991 to May 1992, the ice island was imaged by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) aboard the ERS-1 satellite. The buoy data show that Hobson's Choice entered Peary Channel (between Axel Heiberg Island and Ellef Ringnes Island) in October 1988. Subsequently, between mid-August 1991 and November 1991, it drifted rapidly south to Queens Channel (60 km north of Cornwallis Island). The SAR data corroborate the buoy data and also reveal that at least six other ice islands entered the Queen Elizabeth Islands' channels with Hobson's Choice. The SAR imagery also recorded the fragmentation of Hobson's Choice between mid-October and mid-November 1991. The buoy and SAR data are conclusive evidence that ice islands do leave the Arctic Ocean via the northwestern channels of the Canadian Arctic archipelago. The observed drift occurred when there was extensive break-up of fast ice in the inter-island channels caused by above average summer temperatures, in combination with favourable atmospheric circulation and surface winds that drove the ice islands into and through the channels.
Industrial pollution in the Kol'skiy Poluostrov, Russia
Authors: Rees W.G. , Kapitsa A.P.
Published: October 2009

This paper describes some of the very severe problems of pollution found in the industrialised regions of Kol'skiy Poluostrov (Kola Peninsula) in the European Russian Arctic. Information concerning this area, as is the case for other parts of the former Soviet Union, has tended in the past to be inaccessible, or highly fragmented. By assembling information from a variety of sources, including discussion with local experts, the authors have produced a coherent picture of the background to and current extent of industrial pollution in this area. The problems are shown to be quite as severe as western scientists have feared.
Effects of human trampling on the sub-Antarctic vegetation of Macquarie Island
Authors: Scott J. J. , Kirkpatrick J. B.
Published: October 2009

The effects of trampling on six types of vegetation and their underlying soils were investigated on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. One hundred and fifty foot-passes per year for at least the past 10 years have occurred on a typical 6-km stretch of walking track on the island's upland plateau. Trampling favours vascular plants including exotics, especiallyPoa annua, while bryophytes and lichens are more common in undisturbed vegetation. The abundance of 19 of the 39 most common species appears to be affected by trampling. Track width is positively correlated with exposure and wet soils, and trampling increases the soil bulk density of the track. The contrast between the soil bulk density of the trampled and untrampled soils increases with increasing exposure. While present environmental damage is within an acceptable range over the majority of the island, the extreme environments are likely to suffer unacceptable levels of damage if increased usage occurs with more tourism or expansion of scientific and related activities. This is demonstrated by the diversion of a short section of plateau track in an atypically heavily used area; the diversion sustained substantial damage after 890 foot-passes during a 15-month period.
A preliminary archaeological survey of Camp Wellman at Virgohamn, Danskøya, Svalbard
Authors: Capelotti P.J.
Published: October 2009

Between 1894 and 1909, Walter Wellman (1858–1934), a Chicago-based journalist and explorer, organized and led five expeditions to reach the North Pole. Wellman launched his most ambitious undertaking in 1906, constructing an extensive base camp complete with an airship hangar on the shoreline of Virgohamn, a small harbor on Danskøya in the Svalbard archipelago. In 1907 and 1909, Wellman's two flights in the dirigible airship America marked the first time a motorized airship had flown in the Arctic. In the summer of 1993, the author surveyed and mapped the extent of the remains of Wellman's camp to discover and document any surviving wreckage of America, and to observe the impact of tourist traffic on the site. This paper describes the 1993 survey of Wellman's base camp at Virgohamn and offers suggestions for its preservation.
The Northern Sea Route, 1997
Authors: Brigham Lawson W.
Published: October 2009

1997 was an important year for Russia's Northern Sea Route (NSR) in terms of foreign interest. The first full transits of the NSR by western merchant ships were made. The International Northern Sea Route Programme (INSROP) continued into phase 2 of its research projects, and planning proceeded for a European Union-sponsored demonstration voyage to the Ob' River. The nuclear icebreaker Arktika returned to Arctic operations, while two icebreakers were removed from polar service. Information about the NSR became more widely available with the distribution of an English translation of a navigation guide. Winter operations continued in the Kara Sea, albeit reduced, and a limited number of summer voyages to Russian Arctic ports originated from the Pacific rim. RADARS AT synthetic aperture radar images of sea ice along the NSR were used for the first time during several demonstration voyages.
Tube-fed pahoehoe lava-flow features of Azorella Peninsula, Heard Island, southern Indian Ocean
Authors: Kiernan Kevin , McConnell Anne , Yates Tony
Published: October 2009

Azorella Peninsula on Heard Island in the sub-Antarctic comprises basaltic scoria that is overlain by basalt flows. Typical tube-fed pahoehoe flows characteristic of some Hawaiian-type volcanoes occur. The volcanic landforms of the peninsula include highly degraded volcano remnants and undissected scoria cones, pahoehoe flows, lava rises, tumuli, open vertical volcanic conduits, and lava tubes. Features produced by lava inflation are widespread but are generally of low topographic relief. Many detailed lava-flow features are preserved in dramatically fresh condition within the protected environment of lava tubes. They highlight the efficacy of the lava tubes in maintaining high temperatures and low viscosity of the flowing lava. The lava tubes on Heard Island are the only features of their kind hitherto recorded from Antarctic and sub-Antarctic latitudes.
Dog sledging in the eighteenth century: North America and Siberia
Authors: Handford Jenny Mai
Published: October 2009

The different designs of sledges and dog harnesses, the methods of hitching used by the various peoples of the Arctic regions in the eighteenth century, and the influences they had on each other, are investigated. The development of dog sledging reflects not only the migrations of herding tribes of the steppe into southern Siberia — which progressively pushed some peoples farther and farther northeast — but the relationship between peoples whose culture was nomadic or more settled, whose way of life depended on reindeer herding or not, or who had earlier or later contact with the Russians or other Europeans. The Europeans in North America, it is argued, learned dog sledging from the Eskimos and taught it to the Indians. The Russians appear to have discovered dog sledging in Siberia, where their influence ultimately overcame many of the techniques of the native peoples. The Eskimos are found to have had the most-developed harnessing methods during the eighteenth century, and to have been the prevailing influence where they met with other sledging peoples.
Australian and Canadian initiatives in polar marine environmental protection: a comparative review
Authors: Rothwell Donald R.
Published: October 2009

Increasing attention has been given to the protection of the polar marine environment throughout the 1990s. In the case of the Antarctic Treaty System, in addition to a number of recommendations and measures adopted at Antarctic Treaty Meetings, the 1991 Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty contains a number of measures that will enhance marine environmental protection in the Southern Ocean. In the case of the Arctic, the 1991 Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy identified marine pollution as being one of the major environmental issues in the Arctic, and a number of initiatives have since been developed to encourage the Arctic states to deal with the problem collectively and individually. However, while the collective responses of the polar states have been helpful in giving prominence to the importance of marine environmental protection in polar waters, it is the coastal states of the polar regions that need to take responsibility to give effect to these initiatives. Australia and Canada are two of the most prominent polar states in Antarctica and the Arctic, respectively. Both have large maritime claims and have also developed a range of domestic legal and policy responses to enhance marine environmental protection in the polar regions. A review is undertaken of the respective global and regional marine environmental protection regimes that apply in the polar regions, followed by a comparative analysis of the Australian and Canadian initiatives.
An examination of rapid, centrifuge physical modeling studies of contaminant movement in freezing soil
Authors: Goodings Deborah J.
Published: October 2009

This paper reviews the complex factors interacting in the movement of contaminants in soil subject to seasonal freezing. This includes those relevant to the soil itself, the contaminant itself, and environmental factors, all of which must be understood for prediction and effective design of remediation. Numerical modelers, as well as laboratory researchers examining behavior of small elements of the soil system, require reliable information on the range of full-scale system responses, but it is not feasible to acquire this by full-scale tests. Even field workers benefit from this information in planning data collection. Small physical models of contaminants moving through soil have routinely been limited in their usefulness because of differences in model fluid pressures and soil stresses, compared to full-scale conditions. However, small-scale centrifuge modeling presents the opportunity to produce correct and rapid physical simulation of full-scale system response using field soil and real contaminants, under the range of different boundary conditions. This paper discusses the existing recent centrifuge modeling work that supports the thesis that the technique can be applied to understanding and analyzing this complex problem. Five studies are reviewed: one on simulation of soil freezing effects in the absence of contaminants; three on the simulation of contaminant movement through saturated and unsaturated unfrozen soil, and heat transport effects through the fluid phase of unfrozen soils; and one that simulates the combination of contaminant movement in freezing soil.
Plant enhancement of indigenous soil micro-organisms: a low-cost treatment of contaminated soils
Authors: Reynolds C. M. , Wolf D. C. , Gentry T. J. , Perry L. B. , Pidgeon C. S. , Koenen B. A. , Rogers H. B. , Beyrouty C. A.
Published: October 2009

The United States has more than 1000 individual areas of petroleum-contaminated soil at formerly used defense (FUD) sites located in cold regions. This paper investigates biotreatment systems based on exploiting naturally occurring phenomena in the rhizosphere — the soil adjacent to and influenced by plant roots. Rhizosphere-based remediation systems would be inexpensive to implement and maintain and would be applicable to remote or permafrost sites. Herein, this paper provides the rationale for using rhizosphere-based biotreatment systems and some initial results. In both laboratory and field studies, successful plant germination, plant growth, and root intrusion into and through contaminated soil are demonstrated.

Using a Captina silt loam in a 10-week laboratory study, the effects of vegetation and contamination on microbial numbers were compared. The vegetation treatments included an unvegetated control and a vegetated treatment seeded with bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum). The contamination treatments included an uncontaminated control and a treatment with 2000 mg pyrene kg-1 soil added. Microbial numbers at 10 weeks were not significantly influenced by the contaminant level of 2000 mg pyrene kg-1 soil compared to the control. However, microbial numbers were greater in the rhizosphere of the bahiagrass-vegetated soil compared to the unvegetated soil.

In a 34-week field study, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations of a diesel-contaminated soil decreased significantly more in the rhizosphere+nutrient treatment compared to the control that was not vegetated or fertilized. Bacterial numbers in the field study were 287 times greater in the rhizosphere+nutrient treated soils than in the control treatments. Measurable TPH compounds in the plant tissue were insignificant. The data demonstrated that rhizosphereenhanced treatment of organic-contaminated soils can be effective in reducing soil petroleum concentrations and may be a cost-effective strategy particularly suited for treating cold-region sites where remediation options are limited by cost, remoteness of the site, and/or brevity of the treatment season.
Norwegian use of the polar oceans as occupational arenas and exploration routes
Authors: Barr Susan
Published: October 2009

The Norwegian polar heroes Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen, and to a lesser extent Otto Sverdrup, have been profiled and their deeds described in countless publications. They were, however, not the only Norwegians to travel on and use the polar seas. A significant section of the Norwegian population used to make its living in Arctic and/or Antarctic waters, and such activities led both to new discoveries of land and knowledge of natural conditions, and to an extra occupation as support for polar scientists and explorers. Some of these lesser-known individuals and their deeds are described here in an attempt to put the expeditions of the great heroes into a broader context and to give more substance to some names that may perhaps have been noted only ‘in passing.’
The influence of L.R. Blake, pioneering sub-Antarctic geographer and geologist, on the topographic mapping of Macquarie Island
Authors: Dartnall H.J.G. , Ward N. , Selkirk P.M. , Adamson D.A. , Pharaoh M.
Published: October 2009

New biographical information is given about L.R. Blake, surveyor and geologist at Macquarie Island during the 1911–14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Blake's survey of the island yielded maps that in significant respects are more accurate than the current topographic map of 1971, which, with one exception, adopted his height measurements for the 23 named peaks. The more recent height estimates for these peaks are assessed, and it is concluded that, while some of Blake's measurements were significantly in error, his values still stand as the best current estimates for one-third of the peaks. Blake's death five weeks before the end of the First World War consigned his achievements on Macquarie Island to obscurity.
Ferdinand von Wrangell: white spots on the northeast coast of Siberia disappear
Authors: Tammiksaar Erki
Published: October 2009

Ferdinand von Wrangell (1796–1870) was one of the most successful explorers of the Russian Arctic. After participating in V.M. Golovnin's circumnavigation in 1817–19, he was appointed the commander of the Kolyma group of the northeast Siberian expedition of 1820–24. Wrangell later became a hugely significant figure in the Russian Empire, serving as governor-general in Alaska, director of the Russian-American Company, and the head of the hydrographic department of the Russian Admiralty, before being made a baron and promoted to admiral. Later still he was the minister of the naval department and a member of the State Council, during which time he continued to support geographical and scientific exploration.
Remediation of Arctic tundra following petroleum or salt water spills
Authors: Conn Jeffery S. , Behr-Andres Christina , Wiegers Janice , Meggert Ed , Glover Nick
Published: October 2009

Oil exploration and production in the Arctic regions has resulted in spills of petroleum and salt water in tundra ecosystems. The transportation and use of refined petroleum in Arctic regions has also led to spills, and the cleanup and ecosystem restoration in these systems can often be complicated by the existence of ice-rich soil permafrost. Compaction, removal, or tearing of the protective vegetation and organic soil can result in thermokarsting and associated changes in plant communities, which may persist for decades. Such problems led the State of Alaska to establish recovery-based clean-up regulations for spills to tundra.

A review was conducted of published literature, government agency spill files, and industry reports concerning spills of petroleum and saline water in tundra regions. A tundra spill database was created, which allows the determination of the spill frequency of refined petroleum, crude oil, and saline water. Refined-petroleum spills are more common and smaller than crude-oil and saline-water spills. Most spills are to wet tundra during winter, and winter spills are more effectively cleaned up than those in summer. In winter, snow contains most spills, frozen soil and frozen water bodies prevent much soil penetration, plants are dormant, and operation of heavy equipment is feasible on frozen ground. The use of fire to reduce the volume of petroleum spills in winter is not recommended. Heat from burning petroleum can melt snow, thaw soil, and allow the penetration of petroleum into soil.
Geomagnetic storm and substorm aurora observed from Spitsbergen
Authors: Simmons D.A.R. , Sigernes F. , Henriksen K.
Published: October 2009

The present study confirms that the auroras of the nightside oval population consist of two main types, namely storm and substorm aurora. Storm-type aurora, which is relatively infrequent, results from bombardment of the upper ionosphere by fast particle streams generated in the solar wind by cataclysmic solar events related to coronal mass ejections. The associated turbulent plasma that is injected into the magnetosphere produces great magnetic storms of world-wide dimensions that may last for days. In contrast, substorm aurora is a frequent (almost daily) occurrence that lasts for an hour or two around geomagnetic midnight. It is generated by the impulsive release of stored magnetospheric energy from the substorm onset region in the Earth's magnetotail and is associated with localised negative magnetic bays in the H (horizontal)-component of the Earth's magnetic field in the vicinity of the auroral oval.
Glacial Crooked Lake, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica
Authors: Gore D.B. , Pickard J. , Baird A.S. , Webb J.A.
Published: October 2009

Glacial Crooked Lake was an ice-dammed impoundment in Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, that had a volume of (250 ± 45) × 10 m. The impoundment is inferred to have existed during deglaciation following the Late Holocene Chelnok Advance of Sørsdal Glacier. The dam released water incrementally, allowing the formation of four major series of shorelines with a maximum height of 24 m above the current lake level of 22 m asl. Water from Glacial Crooked Lake overflowed into Watts Lake downstream, allowing saltwater there to mix, dilute, and be transported to the sea via Ellis Rapids. In this way water in Watts Lake became fresh, and alluvial fans consisting of cobbles and boulders formed below Crooked Lake and Ellis Rapids.
South Africa and the Antarctic, 1920–1960
Authors: Dodds Klaus J.
Published: October 2009

The South African state has never made a formal claim to the Antarctic continent. In the inter-war period, the South African government prepared a number of memorandums and discussion papers on the subject of a ‘South African sector in the Antarctic.’ This paper not only critically interprets those government papers, but, more importantly, assesses the reasons why South Africa never made a formal claim. It is suggested that relations with Britain and the Empire, as well as the activities of Norway and the United States, were crucial determining factors. Finally, the implications for later South African involvement in the South Atlantic and the Antarctic Treaty System are briefly considered.
The 1991 UN session: the environmental protocol fails to satisfy the Antarctic Treaty System's critics
Authors: Beck Peter J.
Published: October 2009

1991 saw the ninth successive United Nations (UN) discussion on the ‘Question of Antarctica.’ The adoption of two more resolutions critical of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), including South African participation therein, reaffirmed the unchanging nature of the UN episode and the lack of consensus on the management of Antarctica. Key developments affecting Antarctica continue to occur away from New York: during 1990—91 the negotiations conducted at Vifia del Mar and Madrid for the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (PREP) and the measures agreed at the Bonn Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting proved the point. The critics of the ATS were appeased by neither PREP and its mining prohibition nor the recent dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa.Two UN reports were published on the state of the Antarctic environment as well as the proposed establishment of a UNsponsored research station in Antarctica. One resolution adopted in December 1991 called for annual UN reports on the Antarctic environment, although fiscal and other considerations meant that the research station proposal was effectively shelved. Another resolution urged South African exclusion from ATS meetings. The tenth annual UN discussion on Antarctica is scheduled for the close of 1992. There exists growing evidence that the critical campaign is losing momentum, although it seems premature to anticipate Antarctica's imminent demise as an UN agenda topic.
The management of sledge dogs in the Antarctic
Authors: Bostelmann R. W.
Published: October 2009

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has relied on sledge dogs as the main form of transport for field parties since its predecessor, the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), imported them in 1945, when it created a permanent presence on the continent. Over the years dogs have been used for extensive work over a very wide area. In 1975 BAS changed its policy with respect to work in the southern Antarctic Peninsula. In future seasons scientists will not winter in this area but will be flown to Adelaide Island and then into the field. They will carry out more detailed scientific work in particular areas of interest. This means that it is no longer practical to maintain huskies on base as they could not be kept fit and well disciplined during the winter for a short summer season. The scientists, similarly, could not be expected to learn to work the dogs efficiently in the time available, and the change in the nature of their work means that they will not move camp so frequently. The dogs, since they must be fed even if they are resting, would be uneconomic in such a situation. Finally, most of the work will be in areas that are thought to be safe so the dogs will not be needed to probe for crevasses. In future seasons BAS will rely on skidoos for field work (Figs 1 and 2).
Changes in the Mrdalsjkull ice cap, south Iceland: possible uses of satellite imagery
Authors: Crabtree R. D.
Published: October 2009

The Mrdalsjkull ice cap, in southern Iceland, was visited in July and August 1975 by a party of seven, operating from a base camp on its western side, at the head of the Prsmrk valley. The objectives of the expedition were to record evidence of changes in the extent of the ice cap since its last re-advance (about 1850?) with a view to correlation with climatic data, and to examine the role of imagery from the Earth Resources Technology Satellite-1 (ERTS-1) in this context.
British Universities East Greenland Expedition, 1974
Authors: Matthews D. W.
Published: October 2009

This expedition to the Blosseville Kyst area of east Greenland was wholly geological, comprising several groups brought together under the leadership of Professor P. E. Brown of Aberdeen University. It aimed to follow up geological discoveries which had been made in 1971 by expeditions from Cambridge and Sheffield, and also to pursue several new lines of research directed primarily at relating the sediments and volcanic rocks in east Greenland to the birth of the North Atlantic Ocean. The expedition chartered mv Signalhorn from Martin Karlsen AS of Brandal, Norway, for a period of 52 days; after some delay, due to a mechanical emergency in the North Sea, she sailed from Aberdeen on 20 July. The journey was slow and rough and featured an abortive attempt to take the shorter route round north-east Iceland. On 26 July the east Greenland coast was sighted at lat 68 N in fine weather. Aputitq and the Kangerdlugssuaq area were beset by heavy pack ice, but good progress was made northwards along Blosseville Kyst through moderately open water about five miles offshore.
The Second Polar Year, 1932–33
Authors: Simpson G. C.
Published: October 2009

In the last number of The Polar Record I gave a short account of the plans for a Second Polar Year. A great deal of organizing work has been put into the scheme and Dr la Cour, the President of the International Commission for the Polar Year 1932–33, has devoted practically the whole of his time to the project.
The Work of the William Scoresby, 1930–32
Authors: Gunther E. R.
Published: October 2009

The Royal Research Ship William Scoresby left England in November 1930 and returned to Falmouth on June 1, 1932. On this, her third commission, she carried out successfully three items of work on the Discovery Committee's programme: surveys of the southern whaling grounds, of the Humboldt Current, and of the Falkland Islands fishery grounds. Her total complement of twenty-one included two scientific and five other officers and on recent cruises she has worked 351 stations. Mr E. R. Gunther was in charge of the scientific work, with Commander T. A. Jolliffe, R.N. (Ret.), in executive command.
The Polar Medal
Authors: Wordie J. M.
Published: October 2009

The Polar medal, which has just been awarded to the members of Mr Watkins' British Arctic Air Route Expedition (London Gazette, November 4, 1932), has a long history behind it, and is perhaps the most interesting of British medals. A medal is now given for either Arctic or Antarctic service, but originally Arctic service only was rewarded. There were two Arctic medals granted last century; the more general Polar medal dates from 1904.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Authors: Kemp V. A. M.
Published: October 2009

The Force was founded in 1873 as the North-West Mounted Police, by an Act of the Canadian Government introduced by the first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald. Since that time there have been many changes, even the name of the Force has been altered twice, and the uniform worn nowadays by a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is very different from that of the old North-West Mounted Police. The nature of the work, too, has undergone many changes since the Force first took over the establishment of law and order in the north. But, one feature, the nature of its frontier work, still links it with the hectic days of '73.
The mammoth “cemeteries” of north-east Siberia
Authors: Vereshchagin N. K.
Published: October 2009

The north of Yakutia has long been known to be an immense storehouse of frozen disjointed bones of many hundreds of thousands of large Pleistocene mammals—mammoths, horses, woolly rhinoceroses, bison, musk-oxen— “horned cattle”, as the first Russian travellers called them. Such knowledge had a commercial value, of whichmore will be said below, for the quarrying of mammoth ivory has gone on for many centuries. In quality these tusks, which have lain in frozen ground for tens of millennia, are as good as those of modern African and Indian elephants and are sometimes two or three times larger. For naturalists, the greatest interest lies in the discovery of whole frozen bodies or of skulls and complete skeletons. Study of the position of these bodiesand their morphology and of the contents of their stomachs and intestines may answer the age-old question of why the mammoth (or woolly elephant), together with this rich assemblage of large herbivores, died out. Would even a partial restoration of such previously abundant life be possible there today?
The history of musk-ox domestication
Authors: Wilkinson Paul F.
Published: October 2009

If one is sufficiently bold or foolish to ask why the musk-ox Ovibos moschatus was domesticated, even a superficial review of the available evidence suggests that several answers may be given, depending upon the viewpoint from which the question is posed. I have argued elsewhere (Wilkinson, 1972a; 1973) that the domestication of the musk-ox was inevitable if the exploitation of musk-oxen was to continue in the present century. Because of certain biological and behavioural characteristics, musk-oxen can be exploited in only two ways without endangering their survival or exceeding their capacity to regenerate their numbers: they may be hunted as what I have called a critical resource, by which I mean a resource that is not exploited regularly (including seasonally) or intensively, but without which human survival is difficult or impossible incertain areas and periods; alternatively, musk-oxen may be exploited on a sustained basis for a combination of meat, milk, robes, or qiviur through domestication. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that, as a general rule, musk-oxen were hunted as a critical resource before the arrival of Europeans in the Canadian Arctic.
Controversies over hydroelectric developments in sub-Arctic Canada
Authors: Gill Don , Cooke Alan D.
Published: October 2009

Several engineering schemes are now planned or are in various stages of completion to dam, divert, regulate, or otherwise control the flow of several major waterways in the Canadian sub-Arctic. This region, which contains many large river systems (Map 1), is viewed by a number of federal and provincial government departments as a source of reliable and relatively inexpensive electricity to satisfy the energy-deficient markets of southern Canada and northern United States. However, opposition to these hydroelectric schemes is being voiced across Canada by critics who view them as having or likely to have negative effects on the environment and on the native peoples who inhabit the region. This review examines some of the alleged benefits and costs of four of the most controversial and best publicized of these projects. The information has come from a variety of sources: published literature and press reports, unpublished government documents and consultants' reports, notes taken at public hearings in 1972 and 1973, discussions with government officials, consultants, and other investigators between 1969 and 1974, and research by the senior author between 1968 and 1973 on the effects of hydroelectric developments on the northern environment (Gill, 1971; 1972a, 1972b; 1973a, 1973b, 1973c, 1973d; 1974; Kellerhals and Gill, 1973).
The glacial history of the ice-free area, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica
Authors: Calkin Parker E. , Bull Colin
Published: October 2009

The Victoria Valley system, Wright Valley and Taylor Valley, often referred to colloquially as the dry-valley area, together cover about 4 000 km2 in the Transantarctic Mountains west of McMurdo Sound (Fig 1) and constitute the core of the largest ice-free area in Antarctica. It is a cold desert area, with high winds, low temperatures, low precipitation, and a strong positive radiation balance (Bull, 1966).
Dr W. H. B. Webster, 1793–1875: Antarctic Scientist
Authors: Jones A. G. E.
Published: October 2009

In October 1834, The Suffolk Chronicle announced that “Mr. Webster of the Chanticleer is now practising surgery in this town” Earlier that year, he had achieved a little fame by publishing Narrative of a voyage to the Southern Atlantic Ocean in the years 1828, 29, 30, performed in H.M. Sloop Chanticleer, . . . from the private journal of W. H. B. Webster, surgeon of the sloop (London, Richard Bentley, 1834). This two-volume work sold fairly widely, and the Ipswich Public Library bought a copy at the time.
Off-shore oil and gas developments in Alaska: impacts and conflicts
Authors: Rogers George
Published: October 2009

After three years' delay, work started early in 1974 on the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic coast of Alaska 1 270 km to Valdez on the Gulf of Alaska (Ronhovde. 1974). Within three years, the line should be delivering 1.2 million barrels per day, a volume that will be increased eventually to a daily flow of 2 million barrels. Gas production on the North Slope of Alaska will probably be exported through Canada to the United States through a 4 184-km pipeline that will cost an estimated $5.7 billion and, if built, will be one of the largest construction projects ever undertaken; the system will also carry Canadian Arctic gas to southern markets. The size of these projects is in themselves impressive, and they have been spawned and are being launched in an atmosphere of controversy and confusion that, in its different way, is equally impressive.
Instant myth: the case of the west Greenland salmon
Authors: Dunbar M. J.
Published: October 2009

It has been said that scientific truths begin as heresies and end as myths, enjoying a period of orthodox acceptance in between. It must be rare, if this is so, for a myth to be imposed upon the public as a “truth”, to be accepted immediately as such, and then to suffer excommunication as heresy. Such a case is at hand in the matter of the sea-life area of the Atlantic Salmon in Davis Strait and of the start of a new pelagic fishery.