bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Arctic wasteland: a perspective on Arctic pollution
Authors: Davis Norman 
Published: October 2009

ABSTRACTArctic pollution has become a focus of attention as a result of the admission byRussia of former indiscriminate dumping of radioactive waste in the Kara Sea; thus, radionuclides in the Arctic Basin have become a major cause for concern. Evidence for the bioaccumulation of toxic contaminants such as organochlorines, PCBs, and heavy metals in the Arctic food webwould seem to raise questions about this issue, there being little evidence of significant levels of radionuclide contamination in higher orders of the chain. However, there is growing evidence of a major influx of toxic material into the Arctic Basin, from riverine input and atmospheric deposition, which is transported to biologically active melt fronts. This suggests thatthe serious polluting of the Arctic Basin, combined with bioaccumulation processes, particularly for organochlorines and trace metals, is a major cause for concern. There is, then, a requirement for an overview of current information on Arctic pollutants, with a consideration of source, transport, and accumulation processes, in order to be able to apply some perspective to the situation, to quantify and qualify the problems, and to suggest appropriate actions.
The first wintering on Svalbard
Authors: Jørgensen Roger 
Published: October 2009

AbstractThe first recorded wintering on Svalbard occurred in 1630–1631. Eight English whalemen were accidentally left behind for the winter. Having no equipment with which to survive the harsh climate, they sailed and rowed their shallop to Bell Sownd (Bellsund), a fjord south of where they were stranded, to an English whaling station where they found a house in which they survived. The location of this whaling station has never previously been established, but, based on archaeological surveys, test excavations, and the story published by one of the winterers, it has now been located at Laegerneset, on the eastern side of Recherchefjorden.The eight men's most serious problem was obtaining sufficient food for the winter, and therefore food was rationed carefully. An analysis has been made based on the food stock they had when winter set in. Fresh supplies from hunting during late winter and spring were probably vital in keeping the men healthy. Although they undoubtedly would have been able to manage on the food they had collected during the autumn on a basis strictly of caloric intake, it is debatable whether they would have avoided scurvy without fresh meat during the long winter.
The Northern Sea Route, 1996
Authors: Brigham Lawson W. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractDuring 1996, Russia's Northern Sea Route (NSR) continued to attract international attention. While overall tonnage carried along the NSR declined to approximately two million tonnes, more operations in the Russian maritime Arctic involved foreign flag ships. Ships of Arctic Shipping Services, a Russian-Finnish joint venture company, delivered fuel supplies to ports along the length of the Russian Arctic coast. Twenty-four polar and sub-Arctic icebreakers remained in the Russian fleet as of 1 January 1996. Notable research results of the International NSR Programme, published in 1996during year three of this international effort, provided additional insights into the potential commercial aspects of the NSR as an international waterway. Demonstration projects were also conducted in the Russian Arctic during winter 1996, using satellite radar technology for sea-ice monitoring.
Jack London's Klondike speculation: capitalist critique and the sled as heterotopia in The call of the wild
Authors: Higginson Ian N. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractIn 1903 Jack London (1876–1916) wrote The call of the wild. This deceptively complex adventure novel concealed the author's vision and critique of a ‘Southland’ society ensnared in a system of capitalism. To reveal the limits of capitalist constructions of knowledge and power, London took his readers from the civilised Southland of California to the frozen uncivilised ‘Northland’ of the Klondike. In this primitive Northland setting, the legacy of a Southland society that valued an individual according to economic mastery was to impede a successful response to London's exacting call of the wild. To investigate London's premise, this paper draws upon the insights of the philosopher Michel Foucault. Foucault argued that knowledge and power can be analysed in terms of region, domain, territory, and field, and his work described how institutions ‘inscribe themselves both on a material soil and within forms of discourse.’ He reasoned that ‘one is able to capture the process by which knowledge functions as a form of power and disseminates the effects of power’ through the critical apparatus of the ‘heterotopia.’ Unlike the idealised space of the Utopia, the heterotopia is a ‘real’ social and cultural space that represents, contests, or inverts other sites found within a culture. Foucault recognised the ‘ship’ as the heterotopia par excellence: ‘a floating piece of space…that exists by itself, that is closed in on itself.’ This paper argues that in London's novel the central heterotopia is the Northland sled.
Are vegetation indices useful in the Arctic?
Authors: Rees W. G. , Golubeva E. I. , Williams M. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractThis paper describes a preliminary investigation of the extent to which the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), derived from satellite optical imagery, can indicate the extent of damage to upland tundra (fruticose lichen and dwarf shrub) vegetation. We combine the results of a previously reported classification of Landsat multispectral scanner imagery from Kol'skiy Poluostrov, Russia, with field measurements of the biomass and spectral reflectance of tundra vegetation. The results show that the NDVI is not strongly influenced by biomass, but that differences in species composition and ground cover are significant. Other workers have concluded that vegetation indices are not useful for boreal forests. It is therefore suggested that the use of the NDVI by itself as an indicator of the state of disturbed vegetation in Arctic regions is not recommended.
Migration of ions of chemical elements in freezing and frozen soils
Authors: Chuvilin E. M. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractThis paper examines the behaviour of ions of chemical elements in freezing and thawing soils and in ice, and analyzes the mechanisms and laws that govern the transfer of ions. Data are given on the ionic permeability of frozen soils and ice. The features characteristic of the interaction of frozen soils with salt solutions are described.
Japan's renunciation of territorial rights in Antarctica and Australian diplomacy
Authors: Scott Shirley V. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractBy Article 2(e) of the 1951 Treaty of Peace, Japan renounced ‘all claim to any right or title to or interest in connection with any part of the Antarctic area.’ This paper traces the process by which Australian diplomacy ensured the inclusion of such a provision in the Treaty and assesses the contemporary significance of the article. While in the unlikely event of the breakdown of the Antarctic Treaty System, Japan would be legally entitled to make a territorial claim on the basis of activities undertaken between the conclusion of the Peace Treaty and the coming into force of the Antarctic Treaty, such a claim would likely be weak. It is more probable that the Japanese government would assert that, just as Japan had had no rights to renounce in Antarctica, neither had any of the Antarctic claimants complied adequately with the provisions in international law for territorial acquisition.
Survey of marine birds and mammals of the South Sandwich Islands
Authors: Convey P. , Morton A. , Poncet J. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractDuring January and February 1997, two separate surveys of the birds and seals of the South Sandwich Islands archipelago were made, with further data obtained from the northern islands during February 1998. Together, these surveys provide the most recent and accurate estimates of breeding populations of most species, their distributions, and their habitat. Observations were made (1) from a small vessel operating close inshore, which surveyed approximately 92% of the archipelago's coastline, in addition to making shore counts at selected locations; (2) during a six-week shorebased field camp on Candlemas Island; and (3) opportunistically during helicopter-supported landings and airborne operations over all islands in the archipelago. The surveys recorded 16 species of breeding birds, including the first confirmation of breeding by black-bellied storm petrels (Fregetta tropica) and Antarctic terns (Sterna vittata), the second record of incubating king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus), and the location of many previously unrecorded seabird breeding sites. The population of chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica), at approximately 1.5 x 10 pairs is considerably less than the estimate of 5 x 10 pairs currently in use, and represents about 30% of the world population. Populations of chinstrap penguins, Antarctic fulmars (Fulmarus glacialoides), cape petrels (Daption capense), and snow petrels (Pagodroma nivea) in the South Sandwich Islands are of global significance. Five species of seals were recorded. At the time of the surveys, only Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) were confirmed to be breeding, and several new breeding sites were located. Pup numbers showed a small increase compared with the few earlier records, but the population has not undergone the large increases seen on South Georgia and at sites in the maritime Antarctic. The other four species recorded are considered highly likely to breed either within the archipelago or amongst pack ice that seasonally surrounds the islands.
New archaeological sites in the Scoresby Sund fjord complex, East Greenland
Authors: David Robert G. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractSurvey work by the British North East Greenland Project in the Scoresby Sund fjord complex between 70 and 72°N is documented. A number of sites are identified and described, as are two contemporary Inuit playhouses at a current fishing camp. It is indicated that there are opportunities for further archaeological recording within the Scoresby Sund fjord system, although sites within the inner fjord system do not appear to be numerous. Locating them will require determined fieldwork.
A ‘sort’ of self-denial: United States policy toward the Antarctic, 1950–59
Authors: Moore Jason Kendall 
Published: October 2009

AbstractUnited States policy toward the Antarctic in the 1950s culminated in the treaty that bears the continent's name — the same treaty that continues to govern relations in the far south. Washington succeeded in promoting the admirable objectives of scientific advancement and international cooperation. In doing so, it also forfeited what many officials believed to be the more important objective of formalizing a national sovereignty claim to halt further erosion of the rights associated with its mammoth expeditions. Trapped by having repeated their non-claimancy, nonrecognition policy, which Secretary of State Charles E. Hughes had announced in 1924, US officials scrambled for alternatives. They finally chose to formalize their policy-making paralysis, rather than a claim, by proposing a treaty that called for a political status quo moratorium, in accord with the Chilean Escudero Plan. That decision impressed some experts as unwise, but it was sufficiently expedient to win the signatures needed for ratification.
Beluga hunters in a mixed economy: managing the impacts of nature-based tourism in the Canadian western Arctic
Authors: Dressler Wolfram H. , Berkes Fikret , Mathias Jack 
Published: October 2009

AbstractThe Inuvialuit Region of the Canadian western Arctic continues to support a variety of land-based activities as part of the regional mixed economy. Tourism development, one of the newer elements of the mixed economy, has potential to conflict with beluga whale hunting, one of the traditional activities. The paper asks the question: can local employment be created through nature-based tourism development in Inuvik, Aklavik, and Tuktoyaktuk in the Inuvialuit Region in ways that support the local mixed economy and minimize conflict with the traditional sector? Results of interviews with Inuvialuit elders and tour operators indicate that both parties regard tourism as a desirable employment option and a creator of economic benefits, with relatively few economic drawbacks and relatively little environmental concern. The problem, however, is that tourism also brings with it social impacts and cultural drawbacks that are, in the Inuvialuit view, mostly related to (a) intrusiveness of tourists, especially in relation to the beluga hunt; (b) representation of the aboriginal hunt in a negative light; and (c) commodification of culture. On the balance, nature-based tourism development has the capability to support the local mixed economy, subject to resolving the conflict between beluga whaling activities and tourists. Fundamentally, however, the conflict is between Inuvialuit lifestyles and values versus the values and expectations of tourists.
Zodiac landings by tourist ships in the Antarctic Peninsula region, 1989–99
Authors: Naveen Ron , Forrest Steven C. , Dagit Rosemary G. , Blight Louise K. , Trivelpiece Wayne Z. , Trivelpiece Susan G. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractThis paper examines the location, intensity, and frequency of zodiac landings by passengers on tourist ships in the Antarctic Peninsula region during 10 seasons, 1989/90 through 1998/99. In this period, the number of passengers increased 307%, from 2460 to 10,013. Zodiac landings have occurred at 165 Peninsula region sites, concentrating in the South Shetland Islands and the northwestern part of the Peninsula. From 1989/90 to 1998/99, the number of zodiac landings in the Peninsula region increased 423%, from 164 to 858. The most visited sites are identified, as are sites experiencing increases in the second half of this 10-year period. The 10 and 20 sites experiencing the most zodiac landings each season consistently account for approximately 55% and 75% of that season's landings, respectively. Based on 1998/99 data, sites with high or medium species diversity or with high or moderate sensitivity to potential environmental disturbance account for a significant percentage of landings. Recommendations are presented for improving the assessment of potential environmental impacts at zodiac landing sites, and for improved methods of reporting site visits by the tour operators involved.
Contaminant migration through the permafrost active layer, Mackenzie Delta area, Northwest Territories, Canada
Authors: Dyke Larry D. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractBuried pits (sumps), used for the disposal of drilling muds in the Mackenzie Delta area of Arctic Canada, provide an opportunity for assessing the effectiveness of ice-bonded permafrost sediments as a containment for industrial wastes. Potassium chloride (KCI) added to drilling muds as a freezing-point depressant provides a suitable tracer, because it is easily identified and natural concentrations in sediment pore water are typically low (less than 0.02 g l−1; potassium). Muds with KCI concentrations of up to 10% by weight (100 g l−1) have been used. In the vicinity of sumps, potassium is found at elevated concentrations of up to several g l−1 in the seasonal thaw layer (active layer) at distances well beyond what would be expected from diffusive transport alone. Within the level alluvial silts of the modern Mackenzie Delta, KCI has moved up to 50 m laterally from sump edges. On surrounding tundra uplands, KCI has migrated several hundred metres downslope within the active layer.Although ice-rich permafrost sediments appear to form an effective barrier against downward movement of solutes, thawing ice lenses and veins within the active layer greatly increase the lateral hydraulic conductivity in this zone during the thaw season. Compared with unfrozen silty sediments, the large pores left by thawed ice fabric in the same sediment after a freeze–thaw cycle have been shown to increase the hydraulic conductivity up to four orders of magnitude. This phenomenon is probably common in thawing, ice-rich sediments and presumably favours accelerated downhill movement of solutes. On level ground, it is anticipated that KCI movement is promoted by fluid densities approaching that of sea water. Laboratory experiments with thawed sand and both unfrozen and thawing Mackenzie Delta silt confirm the existence of density-driven solute movement and the importance of thawing ice fabric in promoting solute movement. The thawed ice fabric of active-layer sediments and the presence of a frost table promote lateral movement of fluids when a density or elevation gradient is present. These tendencies widen the area potentially affected by contaminant migration from abandoned waste sites and they may also promote the movement of contaminants that escape from future containments.
Trace metals in suspended particulate matter and sediments from the Severnaya Dvina estuary, Russian Arctic
Authors: Koukina S.E. , Calafat-Frau A. , Hummel H. , Palerud R. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractA geochemical study of the Severnaya Dvina estuary was carried out during two oceanographic cruises to the White Sea. The amount and distribution of trace (Mn, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and major (Al and Fe) elements in suspended particulate matter and sediments were determined. The main source of most metals studied was river discharge. A metal speciation study showed that the prevailing form is in the estuarine sediments, the minerals of which incorporated 60–99% of the total metal contents. Two zones of metal accumulation were found in sediments that were considered as local geochemical barriers within the major river–sea barrier.
Remediation by artificial cooling of dilute clay suspensions contaminated by heavy metals
Authors: Gay G. , Azouni M.A. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractVertical freezing of clayey suspensions contaminated by heavy metals was conducted. A small unidirectional thermal gradient applied to a sample placed in a parallelopipedic cell led to the low-rate propagation of an upward freezing front. During this propagation, segregation of salts occurred and the non-solidified phase ahead of the freezing front became enriched with metallic salts. Moreover, some of the non-miscible particles in suspension were repelled by the freezing front. Therefore, the solidified phase became poorer with metallic pollutants bound to such nonmiscible particles as clayey colloids or complexes. Thus, artificial cooling was able to purify a suspension contaminated by heavy metals that exist in various chemical forms. This paper presents results for different experimental conditions and physico-chemical parameters such as the pH and the ratio between the concentrations of metallic cations and clay particles. The influence of these physico-chemical parameters on the speciations of lead and on the efficiency of this method is discussed. These freezing tests carried out on polluted soils should succeed in their remediation. This new method is called ‘cryoremediation’.
In-situ bioremediation of diesel-contaminated soil in Canada's Arctic territory: a case study at the Whitehorse International Airport, Yukon Territory
Authors: Soloway D.A. , Nahir M. , Billowits M.E. , Whyte L.G. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractEffective remediation of petroleum-contaminated soils in the Arctic is becoming increasingly important as the magnitude of environmental risks becomes better defined. Unfortunately, some of the solutions implemented in southern Canada are too costly to use in the Arctic. However, effective remediation is still necessary. Consequently, traditional techniques are employed, such as excavation and landfarming, which are disruptive to the immediate soils, permafrost, and the surrounding habitat. These remedial methods, however, are becoming unacceptable to First Nations people in some Canadian Arctic communities. This paper describes preliminary results from an in-situ biodegradation study of petroleum-contaminated soils. This technique has the potential to provide an easily applied effective solution to the problem of devising a low cost and uncontroversial method of remediation. Based on bench-scale laboratory feasibility studies, it has been determined that the zone of contaminated soil at the Whitehorse Airport is suitable for in-situ bioremediation application.
The role of the wind in the destruction of an historic hut at Cape Adare in Antarctica
Authors: Harrowfield David L. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractIn 1911 the Northern Party of Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic expedition (1910–1913), built a wooden hut at Cape Adare, a locality notorious for gusting, high-velocity winds. During the expedition, the hut suffered superficial damage from 18 storms estimated at force 11–12 on the Beaufort scale. Since then, storms during the intervening 84 years have virtually destroyed the hut. This paper outlines the wind and storm events recorded at Cape Adare and suggests that the topography of the Adare Peninsula forces the strong southeast wind to change to an eastsoutheast wind only on meeting high ground. By the time it reaches Ridley Beach, it assumes the character of a highvelocity katabatic wind. It is suggested that at Cape Adare topographically reinforced winds are largely responsible for the destruction of the historic hut. The reasons for this and a possible history of hut destruction is given.
Human influences on breeding of south polar skuas in the eastern Larsemann Hills, Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica
Authors: Wang Z. , Norman F.I. , Burgess J.S. , Ward S.J. , Spate A.P. , Carson C.J. 
Published: October 2009

AbstractBreeding activity of pairs of south polar skuas (Catharacta maccormicki) in the eastern Larsemann Hills, Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica, was recorded in five of six austral summers between 1988 and 1994. More detailed observations of breeding success were made in the 1989/90 and 1993/94 summers. Although relatively few skuas nest in the study area, data suggest that there was inter-annual variation in numbers and locations of territories and chicks fledged. This variation is discussed in relation to increased human activities in the area (development of a summer base and more permanent stations) and to an enhanced access to human-derived foods. It is concluded that there has been some human impact on this species in the Larsemann Hills.
Industrial archaeology at South Georgia: methods and results
Authors: Basberg Bjørn L. , Nævestad Dag , Rossnes Gustav 
Published: October 2009

AbstractThe former whaling stations at Grytviken, Husvik Harbour, and Stromness Harbour on South Georgia were surveyed during two expeditions by a Norwegian party investigating industrial archaeology. This paper decribes the survey methods, which included photographic documentation, measurements, and mapping. Maps of the entire stations were made from photogrammetric and theodolite surveys. Detailed plans of the individual buildings were made, with each room being identified and measured. A detailed photographic survey was also undertaken. The paper then presents the main results of the analysis of the survey so far, and suggests some possibilities for utilizing the results in future research. It also describes an ongoing project on the construction of a CD-ROM on the history of Husvik Harbour, of which the survey data are an important part.