The 1959 Antarctic Treaty made Antarctica the world’s first and only demilitarised continent, the world’s first denuclearised zone, and pioneered a comprehensive inspections system. This article explores Antarctic arms control as past precedent. It finds that the United States, which spearheaded the Antarctic Treaty negotiations, initially rationalised arms control in Antarctica as an isolated endeavour. Yet its potential elsewhere quickly appealed to various officials involved in the treaty negotiations and aligned with public perception. Subsequent initiatives for arms control took broad inspiration from the Antarctic Treaty, but regional differences limited specific adaptations.

Of 52 Antarctic sites and monuments of historic interest currently listed under Antarctic Treaty recommendations, 26 occur in the Ross Dependency, associated mostly with the expeditions of Scott and Shackleton. Many have recently been visited and a number of further sites, including several dating from Byrd expeditions, have been identified by New Zealand field parties. This article catalogues all Ross Dependency sites recorded to the end of 1987, and the current state of preservation of their artefacts, which are in the care of Antarctic Division, New Zealand DSIR.

In recent years, radical changes such as rapid warming and ice retreat have become evident in the Arctic region, as recognised by the scientific community, as well as Arctic and non-Arctic states. Against this background, where the Arctic is accumulating economic importance and geopolitical significance for Arctic states and international stakeholders, the main regional actors have engaged in increased cooperation efforts, which is in contrast to the often invoked talk about an imminent conflict or ‘race for resources in the region’. At the same time, modernisation and expansion of military activities and capabilities have been pursued by several Arctic states. While these measures cannot be exclusively attributed to a militarisation of the Arctic and require further discussion, a misperception of such actions may result in the destabilisation of regional cooperation efforts. Furthermore, when considered in a broader context, possible threats to peaceful coexistence in the Arctic are more likely to arise from the present global situation. For example, the invasion of Ukraine has provoked a partial shift in regional cooperation and an uncontrolled spillover effect of the conflict between Russia and Western countries could disrupt regional stability. Drawing on the perspective of International Relations (IR) literature, and considering the absence of a regional institution devoted to security issues, this article highlights the importance of adopting confidence- and security-building measures among all relevant actors in order to create a forum for the discussion of ‘hard’ security topics, to prevent any destabilising effect on Arctic cooperation and security. Such measures may be promoted within existing fora, primarily the Arctic Council.

The origins of the contemporary Newfoundland Harp and Hooded Seal fisheries can be traced back to the 16th and 17th centuries when ‘Biscainers’ (Spanish Basques) hunted whales, walrus and seals in the Gulf of St Lawrence and along the southern coast of Labrador (Prowse, 1895, p 43; Barkham, 1978). Throughout the next 400 years, as the seal fishery developed—both the landsmen and vessel operations—it became a major influence on the spread and character of settlement over a large area of Newfoundland and Labrador. By the middle of the 19th century, the large off-shore vessel operation had assumed the dominant role, and its contribution to the overall economic growth was second only to the cod fishery.

The Khibiny Educational and Scientific Station (KESS) of the Faculty of Geography, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), was founded in 1948. It is one of the oldest stations of the MSU Faculty of Geography and the only one located north of the Arctic Circle. It is also one of the oldest continuously operating arctic field stations in the world. For more than 70 years, the research station has fostered scientific and international collaboration. Science and education carried out at the station have always gone hand in hand and the research results have been both theoretical and practical. Many generations of Russian geographers owe their successful careers to the research activities at the Khibiny station. Nowadays, it is one of the two major student training bases for the Faculty of Geography as well as a focal point of many national and international research projects, including the International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (INTERACT) network.

This paper illustrates the manner in which inceased political and community interest in Antarctica is shifting the focus of Australian Antarctic research towards environmental management, creating tensions amongst bureaucrats and scientists as to programme priorities and funding allocations, and argues the existence of three distinct eras, each with particular chacteristics and orientation, but all reflecting political and scientific perspectives about Antarctic at the relevant time: (a) idosyncratic individualism in the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration 1890–1945; (b) hydra-headed science programmes within the Antarctic Treaty system 1945–1959–1990; and (c) prospective maturity management of the Antarctic environment in the post-CRAMRA era, 1990 onwards.

The present study was conducted to determine the elemental concentration and bacterial presence in the ocean on the two sides of Brøggerhalvøya, a peninsula in Svalbard. Sediments from 25 different locations were collected and subjected to elemental analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). In total, 21 elements were analysed. The elements in their decreasing order of concentrations on the Kongsfjorden side of Brøggerhalvøya were Fe> Mn> Ba > V > Zn > Sr > Rb > Cr > Li > Ni > As > Pb > Cu > Co > Cs >Ag > Be > U> Bi >Tl > Cd while that for Forlandsendet side of Brøggerhalvøya they were Fe > Ba >Mn > V> Sr > Zn > Rb > Cr > Li > Ni > Pb > Cu > As > Co > Cs > Be > U> Tl > Bi > Cd. On the other hand, at a coastal outcrop, elements in their decreasing order of concentration were Fe > Mn > Cr > Sr > Ba > Rb > Cr > Zn > V > Rb > Ni > Li > Co > Cu > As > Pb > Cs > Be > Cd > Tl > U > Bi. AMS dates confirmed the age of outcrop sediment to be 12,496 to 42,500 BP. The crustal enrichment factor calculated for all the elements with reference to Fe values, demonstrates that the elements have derived from a crustal source. Total bacterial counts ranged from 3.30 × 105 to 3.02 × 106 per gm soil sediment. Culturable bacterial counts in these sediments were between 2.00 × 102 to 2.09 × 105 CFU's per gm. Overall comparison showed high Fe and Mn concentrations around Brøggerhalvøya, due to the presence of specific bacteria which play key roles in metal cycling and carry out biogeochemical transformations.

Prior to the summer of 1932 only three ships had succeeded in traversing the Northern Sea Route: Nordenskiöld's Vega in 1878–79 from Atlantic to Pacific (Nordenskiold, 1881) and the Imperial Navy icebreakers Taymyr and Vaygach from Pacific to Atlantic in 1914–15 (Starokadomskiy, 1976, p 180–262). Both of these expeditions were unable to complete the passage in one season, but were forced by ice conditions to winter in the Arctic.

Documents are presented adding further insights into a survey of gravesite memorials on Beechey Island, as well as locating the additional sites of the Franklin expedition noted in the Franklin search literature. These are augmented with current photographs.

Polar Educators International (PEI) is a volunteer-based organization designed to build collaborative relationships between educators and polar researchers. Founded in 2012, PEI was created out of the networks formed during the International Polar Year 2007–2008. This paper explores PEI’s first five years (2012–17) of successes, challenges and opportunities that have led to the creation of an organization with over 1,500 members. Using a ‘level of participation’ framework for communities of practice, we examine the evolution of this educator-researcher network and focus on two key questions: 1) who has PEI reached and served over this time?, and 2) what are barriers to participation? Barriers include sustained engagement with researchers and establishing value within institutional frameworks that generally undervalue activities referred to as ‘education and outreach’ (EOC). EOC activities continue to be perceived as extra-curricular in both educator and researcher communities. Working to deepen collaboration with polar researchers and targeting a greater diversity of PEI’s membership to fill core leadership functions should be future areas of focus for PEI as it looks to continue to shape polar EOC. Advancing and enhancing polar EOC extends well beyond PEI and should be a priority for the broader polar science and education communities.

Disease in the Canadian Arctic has, until quite recently, been of minor concern to the world. The Eskimo and northern Indian lived in a climate which was antagonistic to contact diseases and very little attention was paid to indigenous infections. During the past decade, more and more white men have gone to the Arctic to survey and mine its abundant natural resources, and to work on such projects as the DEW Line. This influx of personnel introduced bacteria and European viruses to a native population which had no resistance or immunity to the diseases of civilization, and consequently even such mild viruses as those producing colds have caused serious illnesses and mild epidemics; the introduction of tuberculosis has had tragic results.

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 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.

Since the early nineteen-twenties whaling in the Antarctic has dominated the world's whaling industry. In recent years, however, there have been increasing signs that the Antarctic industry is approaching an important crisis. There is no doubt that too many whaling expeditions are pursuing too few whales. This article attempts to review the present position of the industry, first dealing very briefly with the biology of the commercially important whales and the history of whaling generally and then discussing the development of Antarctic whaling and the events which have led to the present situation.

Politics has been a lively part of the Alaskan way of life since the Territory was created by the Organic Act of 1912 (a half-loaf of self-government), and assumed new dimensions with the Statehood Act of 1958. But with the exception of Indians resident in the south-east region Alaskan politics was a game that the Eskimos and Aleuts of the western and northern coastal regions and the interior Indians (approximately 78 per cent of the total 1960 Native population) did not join in although they could participate automatically after 1924, and by application between 1915 and 1924. After World War II, these people began to exercise their right to vote, but they did not yet constitute an important political force.

The eleventh successive annual United Nations discussion on the ‘Question of Antarctica’ took place at the close of 1993. In November the UN First Committee, guided by two reports from the UN Secretary-General, adopted a further resolution, which was adopted in December by the General Assembly as resolution A48/80. As usual, UN members, although displaying evidence of a wider international recognition of the regime's merits, proved critical of the Antarctic Treaty System. By contrast, Antarctic Treaty Parties (ATPs) remained reluctant to allow the UN the type of role in Antarctica advocated by their critics. ATPs, following the course adopted in 1985, still refused either to participate in the UN discussions or to vote. As a result, it proved impossible yet again to secure a consensus about either the ‘Question of Antarctica’ in general or the UN's role in Antarctica in particular. One significant advance in 1993 concerned the end of demands advanced since 1985 for South Africa's exclusion from Antarctic meetings, a change prompted by the dismantlement of the apartheid regime. The ‘Question of Antarctica’ is scheduled to be placed on the UN agenda in 1994.

During Charles Francis Hall's second Arctic expedition (1864–1869) to find survivors and/or documents of Sir John Franklin's 1845 Northwest Passage expedition, two separate Inuit testimonies were recorded of a potential burial vault of a high-ranking officer. The first testimony was provided by a Boothia Inuk named Su-pung-er. The second testimony was documented by Captain Peter Bayne who, at the time, was employed by Hall. To date the vault has not been found. Recently, both the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror have been located. The discovery of these vessels was made possible, in part, by Inuit testimony of encounters with and observations of the Franklin expedition. The findings of the Erebus and Terror have significantly bolstered the view that the Inuit accurately reported their observations and interactions with the Franklin crew. The purpose of this paper is to publish in their entirety Hall's notes from conversations with Su-pung-er focused on the vaults and to compare these observations to those reported in the Bayne testimony. It is our hope that in so doing the final major archaeological site of the Franklin expedition may be located.