The International Conferences on Contaminants in Freezing Ground are organised under the auspices of an International Steering Committee to promote a better understanding of the unique characteristics and problems posed by contaminants in freezing ground. The first meeting was held in Cambridge in 1997 and was attended by 33 participants from nine countries. Results from the meeting were reported in Polar Record in 1998 (volume 35). The themes covered at the first meeting reflected a broad range of interests, including a synthesis of the Arctic environmental strategy as it stood in 1997; the fundamental physical, chemical, and biological properties of contaminated frozen soils; experimental approaches to determining contaminant movement; and possibilities for in situ bioremediation of petroleum spills.