At Cape Adare, there are three wooden historic huts in varying condition. Two are the first permanent structures erected in Antarctica for human habitation and were occupied in 1899 by the British Antarctic Expedition (1898–1900) led by C.E. Borchgrevink. The third hut was built in 1911 by the northern party of R.F. Scott's British Antarctic Expedition (1910–13) led by V.L.A. Campbell. Previous research has focused on the unusual wind regime at Ridley Beach, Cape Adare, with the use of an environmental wind tunnel to support field observations, and on the sequence of destruction by wind of the 1911 hut. The present paper focuses on the weathering of timber at some historic huts in Antarctica and presents observations and data collected on three visits to Cape Adare spanning 21 years. The results indicate that over 23% of the timber has been eroded from exposed board ends on one corner of Borchgrevink's ‘stores hut’ and further damage to the huts is being caused by wind blown sand and pebbles which, at two meters above the ground surface, can attain a velocity of 29–203 km/hr−1. This has in places, resulted in severe degradation of the timber.

The introduction of the ‘western diet’ marked a decline in omega–3 fatty acids rich foods and a concurrent increase in saturated and omega–6 fatty acids that persists today. Historically, circumpolar people have had a low incidence of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease and this has been largely attributed to polyphenolic compounds and omega–3 fatty acids offered from subsistence foods. In this report, we studied sled dogs as an Arctic sentinel species for monitoring the effect of a changing diet on lipid profiles along the Yukon River. Subsistence fed village sled dogs along the Yukon River, maintained largely on salmon were compared with a control kennel maintained on commercial food. Profiles showed higher levels for long chain omega–3 fatty acids in village subsistence fed dogs compared to control dogs and an opposite trend for omega–6 fatty acids, establishing baseline levels for follow up studies. A comparison with data for previously published mercury levels from the same cohort of dogs revealed a positive correlation with alpha–linolenic fatty acid and a negative correlation with linoleic fatty acid. Food and nutritional security is a concern in the Arctic as the impacts of climate change and transport of contaminants become obvious. This study supports not only the nutritional value of a subsistence diet but also the utility of sled dogs as a sentinel for human dietary change.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott has been attacked in recent decades because his Terra Nova expedition (1910–1913) had to rely on substandard Siberian ponies. Certain commentators have argued that this was Scott's fault, but the available evidence indicates that blame should rest with the buyer Cecil Meares. Additionally, archive evidence indicates that Scott specifically requested Captain Lawrence Oates to travel to Siberia to assist Meares in 1910, and that Oates refused Scott's request.

This article investigates recent reforms of the Greenland coastal fisheries in order to contribute to the general lessons on reform and policy networks in the context of a changing Arctic stakeholdership. It analyses participation in fisheries governance decision-making by examining the emergence of discourses and policy networks that come to define the very need for reform. A policy network is identified across state ministries, powerful officials, banks and large scale industry that defined the need for fisheries reform within a ‘grand reform’ discourse. But inertia characterised the actual decision-making process as reform according to this ‘grand reform’ discourse was blocked by a combination of small-scale fishers’ informal networks and the power of the parliamentary majority. After a parliamentary shift in power the new government implemented the ‘grand reform’ gradually whilst new patterns of participation and exclusion emerged. In this process, the identities of the participating participants were reinterpreted to fit the new patterns of influence and participation. The article argues that fishery reform does not necessarily start with the collective recognition of a problem in marine resource use and a power-neutral process of institutional learning. Instead, it argues that fishery reform is likely to be the ‘reform of somebody’ and that this ‘somebody’ is itself a changing identity.

The range of the barren-ground caribou in Canada includes approximately 700 000 square miles [1 812 993 sq km]: north from the forests of Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the Arctic Ocean and west from Hudson Bay to Alaska. Much of that vast expanse of stunted forests and tundra remained virtually unmapped until the ingress of the aeroplane in the 1930's.

In January 2007, MS Golden Princess, carrying 2425 passengers and a crew of approximately 1100, became the largest ship to sail Antarctic waters within the northern limit of pack ice. This note describes the ship and its itinerary, discusses aspects of the cruise, and comments on the use of large cruise liners in Antarctic waters.

There is a long record of medical research and observation in the Antarctic, almost as long as the record of exploration. The early expeditions usually had a medical officer who described the medical hazards of the Antarctic. In this article, an account will be given of the research undertaken by medical officers of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) and, subsequently, of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). A more detailed report will be found in the chapter entitled “Man and the environment” in Antarctic research (Priestley et al. eds, 1964).

Many indigenous minorities throughout the Arctic are presently enduring severe social and economic adversity. Although residents of the Arctic are fewer in number than most other minority ethnic groups, their difficulties are not. This article is a review of one aspect of those difficulties, in one sector of the north: education among the native residents of rural Alaska.

Lloyd's Register of Shipping has published losses of all ocean-going merchant ships over 100 tonnes since 1890, including those resulting from encounters with ice. The list presented here gives details of where and how a loss due to ice occurred and provides the nationality of the ship and, where known, its route and cargo. Some place-names have changed since the ship loss, and where these have been found the present-day names follow in square brackets; place-names which have not been located are given in quotes. Changes have also occurred with respect to countries and flags, but in order to avoid confusion the entries in the flag column have been left as recorded at the time of the loss.

Earlier research (Lloyd-Jones 2004, 2005) based on Admiralty records in the National Archives (TNA) at Kew revealed much previously undiscovered history of the marines and ratings who sailed with Sir John Franklin on his disastrous 1845 northwest passage expedition. These records, mostly derived from muster and pay books, can often be followed up using other contemporary documents such as parish registers. Now that much more, notably 19th century census information, is available online, further interesting details of many of those men's lives have come to light.

Archaeological investigations formed part of the conservation work of Project Blizzard in 1985–86 at the site of Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) huts, Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay. The extent and nature of the archaeological resources are described, and the results of excavations inside the main hut in 1985 are summarized. Excavation stratigraphy is interpreted in the light of the documented post-abandonment history of the site, and used to measure the extent to which human activity inside the hut may be contributing to its deterioration.

This paper attempts to describe Consultative Parties’ (CPs) patterns of participation at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCM) during the 1998–2011 period. The results of this work show that a subset of the original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty exert the greatest political influence on ATCMs, and can therefore be seen as the main ‘propellers’ of the ATCM system. Although the performance of some of the non-original signatories is becoming increasingly consistent, the system still offers the appearance of being rather asymmetric and endogamic. In addition, a number of factors that might explain the patterns of participation observed are presented and discussed, as a contribution that may allow for achieving a more comprehensive picture of how the work of the ATCMs unfolds through time. The article concludes by presenting likely directions towards which future research on behavioural aspects of Antarctic policy making can be orientated.

In 1953–55 the Canadian government experimentally relocated Inuit (Eskimo) families from the region of Port Harrison (Inukjuak), on Quebec's Ungava peninsula, to Ellesmere and Cornwallis Islands in the Arctic Archipelago. Today Inuit relocatees allege that they were deceived by the government and suffered greatly as a result of the experiment. The government asserts that the relocation was undertaken for humanitarian reasons. The controversy has recently resulted in hearings before a Canadian parliamentary committee on aboriginal affairs and the Human Rights Commission. A study of the relocation issue prepared for the government, known as the ‘Hickling Report’, rejects Inuit claims of mistreatment. In this paper the Hickling report's findings are assessed. Contrary to the report's conclusions, documentation suggests that one of the government's motives for undertaking the relocation pertained to Canadian sovereignty and exercising ‘effective occupation’ of the islands.

This article concludes an account of the Prince AIbert expedition of 1850, which began in Polar Record 29 (169): 127–142 (1993); see Part 1 formaps. In 1850 Lady Franklin sent out the first other private expeditions in search of her husband and the crews of HMS Erebus and Terror, lost in the islands of the Canadian Arctic. The expedition sailed in Prince Albert, a vessel Lady Franklin acquired for the purpose. Its aim was to winter in Prince Regent Inlet and explore the area to the west, using two separate boat parties. These parties were to be under Commander Charles Codrington Forsyth, RN, the captain of the ship, and William Parker Snow. After passage to Prince Regent Inlet, Forsyth turned back because he was prevented from penetrating the inlet further than Fury Beach by what was regarded as unbreachable ice. Prince Albert then passed near Cape Riley, where Snow obtained information concerning relics that had been found by another expedition and that indicated that Franklin had wintered in that vicinity. News of this and further relics were brought back to Britain by Forsyth. The return caused much disappointment to Lady Franklin. She determined to send Prince Albert out again with a different commander. Snow wished to have that post, but it was allocated to William Kennedy.

This study is an analysis of the events surrounding the expedition, with reference to the light they throw on the personalities involved. It is suggested that the main reason for the failure was that the preparation was mismanaged. No efforts were made to secure the appointment of people who had sufficient similarity of interests or background to be an effective team. Forsyth found the situation on board such that he decided to conclude the voyage as soon as a reasonable excuse for returning presented itself.

Svalbard’s geographical positioning, environmental characteristics and multinational population make it conducive for considering informality and multinational cooperation in disaster risk reduction and response. Most research examining disaster risks and disasters for Svalbard has focused on Norwegian efforts in and for the main settlement of Longyearbyen, with none covering Svalbard’s second-largest settlement of Barentsburg. This paper addresses this gap by analysing how 21 Barentsburg residents deal with disasters. We conducted semi-structured interviews, visually aided by the revised PRISM (Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure) tool, to examine interviewees’ disaster perceptions, sources for disaster-related information and learning, and formal and informal sources for dealing with disaster risks and disasters. Our findings suggest that, despite being risk-aware, Barentsburg interviewees consider the settlement, and Svalbard as a whole, to be safe. The explanation is their faith in the existing disaster-related mechanisms, made up of both local Russian entities and the Norwegian rescue services, especially Svalbard’s governor (Sysselmesteren). Interviewees rely significantly on Russian and Norwegian informal actors and relationships for disaster-related information. These findings suggest that alongside formal approaches, informality may play a significant role in dealing with disasters in Barentsburg, which itself might serve as a platform for international cooperation.