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

This paper concerns affective relations and unexpected interruptions as the planned expansion of an extractive open-pit mining site gathers momentum. The site is a mountain in Varanger, North Norway, criss-crossed by a sand-coloured meshwork of roads that are part of the current infrastructure of a quartzite quarry. Recently purchased by Chinese investors, the mining company Elkem plans a massive expansion of the operations, which will interrupt a wide range of practices and projects, including the migratory movement of reindeer, as well as their grazing patterns. Known as Giemaš amongst Sámi speakers, the mountain is also alluded to as a site of other powers, manifesting as unexpected accidents. In this article, I explore how the planned expansion evokes this contested site as more than a singular mountain, and how divergent epistemic formations interrupt the making of extractive resources in multiple ways.

Under the influence of a rapidly warming climate, abrupt changes have been observed along the coast of Greenland. This commentary is based on a Japanese research project initiated in 2012, in which we examined the recent changes in the coastal environment and their impacts on human society in Qaanaaq, a village in northwestern Greenland. Initially, our research sought to quantify the mass loss of glaciers and its interaction with the ocean in the Qaanaaq region. Over the course of the project in collaboration with local communities, we soon realised that the changes in glaciers and the ocean directly impacted the ~600 residents of Qaanaaq. We observed natural disasters triggered by climate change. Environmental changes are also important for local economy and industry because loss of sea ice may lead to growth in transportation, tourism and mineral resource exploration. In order to share the results of our study with the Qaanaaq community, and to gain understanding of local and traditional knowledge, we organised an annual meeting in the village every summer since 2016. Our experience demonstrates the critical importance of performing a long-term multidisciplinary study, including participation of the local communities to understand the changing environment, and to contribute to a sustainable future in Qaanaaq.

The aim of this study was to determine the differences in cellulolytic activity of soils around the coastal lowlands of the southwestern part of Wedel Jarlsberg Land (west Spitsbergen). Two positions (Calypso and Skilvika) representing typical soil types in this area were chosen for investigation. Within the area of Calypso, arctic brown soils formed from loamy sands with a significant addition of coarser gravel and pebble fractions occur. The Skilvika position represents the arctic gley soils of a loamy texture, with significant content of silt, associated with the occurrence of cell grounds created under the strong influence of cryogenic processes. Cellulolytic activity of the soils was determined by a gravimetric method involving estimation of a weight loss of cellulosic material buried in the surface soil horizons. The investigation showed significant differences in the cellulose decomposition rate between the two research locations. The cellulolytic activity of arctic brown soils –0,412–0,656 g*g−1*year−1 during the vegetation season (Olson's k = 0,231–0,563), was twice higher than the activity in the case of Skilvika gley soils –0,185–0,310g*g−1*year−1 during vegetation season (k = 0,089–0,131). This should be attributed, among other factors, to the grain size distribution, thereby determining more favourable water-air conditions of soils within the area of Calypso.

The number of patents and patent applications related to inventions based on biological material from the Antarctic is increasing. Bioprospecting in the Antarctic is happening with no explicit regulation of property rights or benefit sharing requirements. This leaves patent law as the only legal system to establish exclusive rights to genes, bacteria, and other biological material found in the Antarctic. Patent law is general in form and is applied to all areas of invention with very few adaptations to single fields of innovation. Therefore, it is interesting to identify the issues in patent law in cases in which the biological material from the Antarctic is likely to create challenges or loopholes. The aim of this article is to couple the understanding of this particular legal regime and of biological circumstances in the Antarctic with knowledge of the international patent system for the purpose of contributing to the work of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCMs) regarding bioprospecting in the Antarctic.

Between the austral summers of 1975–76 and 1979–80 the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) carried out field programmes in geology, geophysics, surveying and mapping, biology and glaciology in Enderby and Kemp lands, Antarctica (Fig 1). The glaciological research consisted of three closely related major projects: the determination of the mass flux across a section of the ice sheet, approximately along the 2 000 m elevation contour between 53°E and 62°E; an investigation of the dynamics and mass balance of the fast flowing outlet glacier streams between longitudes 48°E and 62°E; and a regional survey of the ice thickness and ice surface elevation over the same sector and up to about 250 km inland from the coast.

Following an initiative taken by the Russian Ministry of Natural resources and Ecology and by the Federal Agency of Mineral Resources (Rosnedra) in 2003 international cooperation on compiling a new generation of circum-Arctic geological and geophysical maps (in scale 1: 5 000 000) was undertaken by a consortium of national agencies from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA. The polar stereographic maps include onshore and offshore geological coverage to 60° N. The bedrock map and database was first published in 2008, the geophysical maps were completed in 2010, while a tectonic map is currently in press. The new circum-Arctic maps are formally published under the Comission for the Geological Map of the World (CGMW/CCGM). A metallogenic map and database of the main occurrences of onshore and offshore metal deposits is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

In 1949 the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) began a long-term ecological study of the Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina) at HeardIsland. The biologists devised a method of branding seals for individual recognition (Chittleborough and Ealey, 1953) which has been modified only in detail since then (Carrick and Ingham, 1962a). At Heard Island, pups were branded every year until 1953, but the study here came to an end with the closing of the ANARE station in 1955. At Macquarie Island, pups have been branded every year from 1951 to 1965, giving a sample of individuals of known age and known history.

The Falkland Islands Dependencies are divided into two main groups; the one consisting of South Georgia with its important whaling stations together with the South Orkneys and the South Sandwich Islands, and the other of the South Shetlands and the Graham Land peninsula. Coats Land and other large land areas in the Antarctic continent itself are also included. The Dependencies were the first part of Antarctica to be brought under British control, and are defined in Letters Patent of 1908 and 1917.

This article attempts to locate and briefly describe all the main mining operations that are currently active within the Arctic. In addition, many smaller mining operations, where grouped into recognizable mining districts, are included, as well as some mines which are no longer active. It is beyond the scope of this work to review the potential mineral resources of the Arctic, but where deposits are large, and figure prominently in the literature or have been investigated in detail with a view to future exploitation, they have been included and located on the various maps.

Wollar is a small village located in the Mid-Western Region in New South Wales, Australia. Geographically removed, climatically different and culturally distinct from the Arctic, it might seem as a distant case for the exploration of Arctic Uchranotopias and resource extraction; the topic of this Special Issue. Yet, the affective and temporal dimensions of mining are not necessarily restricted to distinct regions, and there are theoretical opportunities for cooperative analysis across diverse regions. By bringing forward this case study, I aim to illustrate how the concepts of mining emotions and Uchranotopia have applicability beyond the polar region and how a broader theory of mining emotions may be advanced. Through the notion of “mining voids,” I investigate how discourses of extraction as prosperity clash with lived experiences at the coal face. Mining voids—both present and future—have become markers for physical and social landscapes and, as a metaphor, it embeds the contradiction between utopian narratives of a coal-sponsored future and dystopian imaginings at the coal face. Through analysis of the discourses of mining voids and how, as the voids materialise, emotions are mined, I will tie this case study to the debate of Arctic resource extraction and community making, affect and temporality.

The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is a pelagic species that breeds on sub-Antarctic islands relatively close to the Antarctic polar front. After a significant decline at the beginning of the twentieth century because of widespread exploitation by sealers, the species’ numbers are currently increasing, with observed local fluctuations. There has also been an increase in the number of sightings in the Antarctic, and recorded breeding attempts in this area. Here we present the history of observations of king penguins from 1977 to 2017 in two Antarctic Specially Protected Areas: ASPA No. 128 Western Shore of Admiralty Bay, and No. 151 Lions Rump, King George Island, South Shetland Islands (Western Antarctic). Additionally, we report on a new breeding site at Lions Rump, the third known breeding site for this species in the South Shetland Islands. Together with observations from other parts of the archipelago, the information in this study supports earlier suggestions of a southerly expansion of this species and of attempts to colonise the Antarctic Peninsula region.

When the United States dispatched icebreakers to Proliv Vil'kitskogo [Vil'kitskii Strait] in 1967, the Soviet Union did not allow the vessels to accomplish the passage, basing their refusal on a requirement, provided for in municipal legislation, that warships seek prior authorization. During the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973–82) the USSR reversed this policy: innocent passage was granted in principle to merchant and war vessels alike. This article analyzes whether this fundamental policy change, together with some other novelties in Soviet legislation, substantially influenced the regime applicable to Vil'kitskii Strait. Theoretical considerations would apparently answer this question positively. Actual state practice, though still open to conjecture, points rather in the opposite direction.

In June 2008, the community of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Canada experienced a rainstorm that caused structural damage to the community's bridge and extensive permafrost erosion along the Duval River. The local government characterised the event as ‘severe’ and focused their attention on the bridge collapse, in contrast to the residents, who described this particular consequence as inconvenient at worst and at best, exciting. Instead residents expressed greater concern for the permafrost erosion and the uncertainty this posed for community well-being. This article follows an 11 week anthropological field trip to Pangnirtung in the summer of 2009 and is based on 31 semi-structured interviews, two focus group discussions, and participant observation. We explore how social processes influence subjective constructions of what constitutes ‘severe’ weather in the community, and attempt to explain how such constructions lead to differing perceptions of vulnerability to ‘severe’ weather events. Contributing factors including the normalisation of threat, local beliefs regarding change and uncertainty, as well as the communication of risk information are discussed along with the different coping strategies used by government and residents in managing their perceived levels of vulnerability. The research shows the importance of understanding the role social processes play in shaping local conceptions of ‘severe’ and perceptions of vulnerability to ‘severe’ weather events. This study enhances understandings of difference within populations and adds to the growing body of literature that demonstrates the need to incorporate locally relevant indices when conducting vulnerability assessment.

In 2002 and 2003, studies were made of the breeding phenology, nesting success, nesting density, and rates of nest predation of ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres) at East Bay, Southampton Island, Nunavut, Canada. Previous data from East Bay were used to compare nesting chronology and nest success across years. Bird banding data were used to examine migration routes and rates of return. In all years, ruddy turnstones initiated nests within 7 days of arrival at the study area. The median date of incubation onset was the same in 2002 and 2003, despite different spring snow conditions. Snow remained later in the season in 2003 and the overall range of incubation onset was greater than in 2002. Ruddy turnstones at East Bay nested at high densities and in semi-colonial groups with a significantly aggregated distribution. In both years, nest success was low, predation was high, and lemmings were scarce. These data (and data from earlier East Bay studies) support the ‘alternative prey hypothesis’. Resighting rates of breeding adults between 2002 and 2003 were also low. Individuals banded at East Bay were resighted at Delaware Bay on the Atlantic coast of the United States, the Caribbean Islands, and in southern Brazil. This study increases our knowledge of this understudied species about which there is conservation concern.

For centuries the Arctic has served as a stage of imagination and has inspired countless artists in different ways. Also the music genre of heavy metal frequently utilises the ‘north’ and the Arctic. This paper briefly explores how two heavy metal subgenres, black metal and Viking metal, approach and utilise narratives associated with the ‘north’. By using lyrics of black and Viking metal bands, different forms of utilisation come to the fore, ranging from narratives of death to the raging Northman. Also polar exploration finds musical expression and is a source for generating extreme conceptual settings.

After a brief outline of how mirages are formed in polar regions, this paper discusses several kinds of mirages noted in the literature of polar exploration—those creating illusory land, the Novaya Zemlya effect, longrange visibility and magnification, and multiple images and the Fata Morgana.

The United States National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) initiated an outreach project to enhance the visibility of and interest in cryospheric images. Methods were utilised to convert cryospheric data into a projection and image format compatible with Google Earth™. The word ‘image’ should be emphasised since raster data in a native polar projection and format cannot be overlaid on the Earth without prior data conversions. The project focused on reaching out to a diverse audience by integrating images from key components of the cryosphere into a single compressed Keyhole Markup Language (KMZ) file. As a result, users can visualise glacier photographs, permafrost type and extent, sea ice concentration and extent, and snow extent superimposed on the Earth. Those interested in browsing the NSIDC collection of over 3,000 glacier photographs have the option of zooming into Alaska for a majority of the images and accessing both the photograph and the associated metadata. For a current perspective of global snow and ice coverage, one could look at satellite imagery derived from passive microwave Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) data. Another option is to select the permafrost layer and observe the various types and extent of permafrost. This paper explores the project by describing the data, methodologies and results and concludes with future implications on how to improve the processing and functionality of polar data in Google Earth.