The 17th-century German traveller and writer Adam Olearius is best known for his account of travels in Russia and Persia, first published in 1656. Parts of this work have been translated into English under the title ‘The travels of Olearius in seventeenth-century Russia’. Among hitherto untranslated sections is the chapter ‘Von den Grünländern’, an early and well-researched account of Greenland and its inhabitants, prompted by his examination of a party of three Greenlanders in Gottorp, Schleswig, in 1656. This article is a translation of the chapter, with an introduction to Olearius and his background.

The British Arctic Expedition sailed from Portsmouth on 29 May 1875. It left amid considerable public enthusiasm and with a telegram from the Queen. A contemporary journal had this to say: As we hope, so we believe that they will end their northward advance only at the northernmost meeting of the meridians; that they will return in safety to receive well-won applause and reward for their achievements; and that they will have very much to tell of the circum-polar region, as well as of their hoisting the Union Jack upon the Pole, (The Navy, 1875). The tone of the same journal was very different when reporting the return of the expedition in 1876, one year earlier than expected. One of the milder statements in a highly derogatory article read: Verily the expedition of 18756 has but little of which to boast. It went out like a rocket, and has come back like the stick. The validity of such a judgement needs careful examination against the aims and logistics of the expedition, the attitudes of the officers and men, and, most importantly, the actual achievementsand shortcomingsof the voyage.

Very high precision satellite altimeter measurements from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System onboard NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) have allowed a method of feature tracking to be developed for floating ice which relies on recording the movement of large surface undulations. This method is applied to a section of the Ross Ice Shelf downstream of the grounding line of the Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica. The altimetry method has benefits over established optical and interferometric remote sensing techniques due to high pointing accuracy for geo-location, ability to deal with tidal fluctuations and to measure velocity where visible surface features are absent. Initial processing of a single sequence of ICESat tracks gives encouraging results for unidirectional ice flow with correlations between surface profiles in consecutive years exceeding 90% and producing high internal consistency in velocity between independent tracks. Velocities of 331 ± 28 m a−1 near to the grounding line are also consistent with available ground measurements for the area.

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, British Arctic whaling enjoyed a prolonged period of expansion and prosperity. The industry began to grow rapidly after about 1812, and between 1814 and 1817 engaged the largest fleet in its history, an average of nearly 150 ships each year. After 1816, the whalemen embarked on an adventurous programme of geographical expansion, which brought extensive new whaling-grounds within their reach. This enterprise proved highly successful at first, but later brought the industry to the threshold of financial ruin.

Samples from 73 pieces of non-structural driftwood on Heard Island (53°06′S, 73°30′E) were identified to genus or species. Thirty-one belonged to South American species of Nothofagus. The remainder, consisting mostly of conifers especially Picea and Larix, probably came from ships' cargoes. The assemblage is similar to those reported, from smaller samples, on other southern islands. Other items of flotsam, including fishing buoys and drift-cards, are also reported from Heard Island. The significance of driftwood transport from South America to the island in accounting for long-distance dispersal of terrestrial and intertidal organisms is discussed.

British-Russian rivalry along the North Pacific littoral after 1815 was at once an extension of 18th century ambitions, commercial and geopolitical, and an enlargement of the interests of both nations in the existence of a Northwest Passage. John Barrow in Britain and Adam John von Krusenstern in Russia exhibited the opposing yet complementary interests of the two powers. British Admiralty activities resulted partly from a fear of Russian pre-emption, partly from ambitions for territorial and commercial aggrandizement. The Russian government supported the Russian American Company, and consolidated its overseas empire in Alaska. This paper describes die maritime activities and plans of both nations concerning the North Pacific and Northwest Passage, explaining political and territorial ambitions of the two powers that underlay the exploration, and their expansion of territorial empire and commerce in this area.

In 1958, at the close of the International Geophysical Year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States initiated long-term plans for the support of Antarctic biological research. These plans included the erection and outfitting of a modest, but modern, biological laboratory at the United States station at “McMurdo” on Ross Island in the late summer and early winter 1959. With the increasingly diversified biological research programmes, and with the active construction and supply programmes in subsequent years, the biological laboratory has now become one of the largest Antarctic research facilities for a single scientific discipline.

During the so-called ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration (c.1897–1922), various parties of men invented songs to aid the act of sledging and to provide a mental diversion from the monotony of the task and the physical demands it made on the human body. Songs composed in this uniquely polar musical genre typically included rhyming lyrics that were highly motivational and expressed a united identity. The lyrics were usually set to the melodies of popular songs of the day. When voiced in unison by men out ‘on the march,’ sledging songs could help to promote team synchronisation and cohesion, and give the act of sledging (as well as the expeditions as a whole) a stronger sense of purpose and meaning. The singing of such songs, therefore, contributed in a very practical way to the overall success of many Antarctic expeditions of the ‘heroic age’. This article examines three sledging songs dating from this period of Antarctic exploration and investigates the historical context in which they were created and performed. It also considers what these songs reveal about the experiences of the men who participated in the sledging journeys and their earliest perceptions of the Antarctic environment.

This paper addresses the transformation that has occurred in livelihoods in the Nordic Arctic, showing how it affects gender equality among the region's older people. The region's population includes the Sámi, an indigenous people, who have traditionally relied for their livelihood on activities such as reindeer herding, making handicrafts, farming, fishing, hunting, trapping and gathering. In recent years these have faced enormous challenges because of the rapid transformation of the region in the wake of climate change and globalisation. Overall, these and other processes have precipitated socio-economic, cultural, environmental and infrastructural changes that are transforming the local economies and severely impacting older people in particular. The main research question examined in this article is whether gender inequality has arisen among older people because of the ongoing transformation of livelihoods. To this end, the paper provides an empirical analysis based on experiences gathered from field studies conducted by the author in Finnish and Swedish Lapland. The research also presents the experiences of older persons in light of the standard set by General Recommendation 27 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which oversees the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Recommendation sets out the right of older women to equality and non-discrimination. The findings of the present research contribute to filling a gap in the literature on the topic.

In coastal north Norway the Saami people have lived in a close relationship with Norwegians or Norse people for a thousand years or more. This relationship has been articulated in various ways over the centuries, and this article argues that in parts of the region it took a rather intimate form based on the shared exploitation of the dominant marine and terrestrial niches, a common class position as tenant farmers, a varying practice of inter-ethnic marital relations and the effects of a bilateral kinship system. Various forms of inter-ethnic contact and exchange may thus have served to reduce the relevance of ethnic difference in daily life, as suggested by Barth's argument about the integrative effect of transactions, but contrary to his argument about the transactional reinforcement of ethnic boundaries. Contrary to the intention, governmental assimilatory efforts served to reproduce the boundary as the basis for a ranked society and left coastal Saami individuals in some confusion as to how to define themselves, often opting for a mixed category of Norwegian and Saami, labelled ‘Northerner’. Ethno-political emancipation in recent years has tended to put pressure on this identity construction and promoted a dichotomised identity as either Saami or Norwegian.

In 1978 the Younger Stone Age (6500–1800 BP) site of Nyelv Nedre Vest in Varangerfjord, northeastern Norway, was partly excavated before road widening, allowing reassessment of Younger Stone Age settlement patterns in die area. Early settlement in Varanger was formerly thought to involve regular seasonal movements between sites. Analysis of faunal refuse from Nyelv Nedre Vest now indicates year- round occupation, and re-examination of data from other inner fjord sites suggests diat they too might have housed sedentary or semi- sedentary populations. Special-purpose satellite' camps seem also to have been associated with these settlements. This settlement pattern has implications for other aspects of the social group, and the results of the analysis are relevant to other settlement studies in northern maritime regions.

The article describes investigations that highlight snow-avalanche events that have not been reported in historical records. While historical sources are most often the basis for all natural hazard and risk research, alternative methods based on geomorphic investigations are often neglected. Here, we emphasise the use of geomorphic evidence to improve our knowledge of the maximum runout distance reached by snow avalanches as well as the frequency of the events. Investigations were carried out in remote, avalanche-prone areas, where the geomorphic evidence has not been disturbed or removed. Dendrogeomorphic investigations supply annual resolved records of avalanche winters up to the age of the investigated tree stand: over 120 years in northern Iceland. The study of snow-avalanche transported debris may be used to map the extent of the potential snow-avalanche deposition zone, and offer relative dating on a secular scale; stratigraphic profiles do provide results on long timescales, but only provide relative dating. The article discusses the relevance of each method, and concludes that the combination of the three methods can improve the common risk-mitigation approach based on historical records.

This article examines the evolution of Canadian Arctic policy during Sir Wilfrid Laurier's years as prime minister (1896–1911). Explorer Joseph Elzéar Bernier, who commanded three government expeditions in this period, vigorously promoted the idea that he himself had roused the sluggish government to action. He also alleged that Laurier had promised to sponsor a Canadian voyage to the North Pole, a promise that was later broken. However, archival documents show that neither of these claims is true. Instead, Laurier and other members of his government first showed their determination to assert Canada's northern sovereignty in 1897, a year before Bernier came on the scene. Although Bernier hoped that his first northern voyage might be turned towards the pole, there was no promise from Laurier. Subsequent policy developments were often haphazard due to interdepartmental conflicts and personality clashes, but by the end of the Laurier years a reasonably effective Arctic programme had been created. Though Bernier played an important part in carrying out the government's agenda, many of his actions (most notably his famous July 1909 sector claim) were aimed more at enhancing his own fame than at securing Canada's title to the Arctic. The article places Bernier's Arctic career in its proper context, and at the same time highlights the contributions of other men who lacked his flair for publicity. It thus provides a more accurate factual basis for future work on the period.

The twelfth successive UN session on the ‘Question of Antarctica,’ held at the close of 1994, saw a major change of direction. One brief session of the First Committee, followed by the General Assembly's adoption of resolution A49/80 without a vote, signified the restoration of a consensus approach towards the ‘Question of Antarctica’ for the first time since 1985. Resolution A49/80 stressed the need for Antarctic Treaty Parties (ATPs) to meet commitments undertaken at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and particularly to continue providing the wider international community with information about Antarctic developments. The ‘Question of Antarctica’ will not be placed on the UN agenda again until 1996, thereby breaking the sequence of annual UN discussions started in 1983. On the surface, consensus was restored, but it is debatable how far the outcome represented merely a papering over of the cracks rather than the basis for an enduring solution to the problems dividing ATPs and their critics. The key point at issue remains the nature and extent of the UN's future role in Antarctic affairs, particularly as ATPs will only accept a limited UN role performed within the context of the Antarctic Treaty System.

Summary:In a recent study (Weeks and Campbell, in press), we made a rather complete examination of the idea that icebergs could advantageously be used as a source of fresh water. The origin of the general idea of transporting icebergs is obscure; it may date from the 1850's when ice was transported from Alaska to California as a commercial venture. The current revival of the idea, in particular as applied to the water problems of southern California, can be credited to John Issacs of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (Burt, 1956). However no critical evaluation was ever published. We initially undertook the present study because our intuition “told” us that the idea was untenable and we thought that we could easily prove that this was the case, thereby laying the idea to rest. Our intuition proved to be wrong and we now believe that the idea is, indeed, highly attractive when applied to certain locations in the Southern Hemisphere. This note briefly outlines our approach to analyzing the problem and our results

The Antarctic Treaty, which entered into force on 23 June 1961, has been widely welcomed. It marked the beginning of a new era in Antarctic politics and provided a basis for the further development of scientific co-operation. Article IX provides for the holding of meetings (generally known as “Consultative Meetings”) for the purposes of exchanging information, of consultation and of formulating measures in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the Treaty, including the “preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica”. The four Consultative Meetings held since the entry into force of the Treaty have adopted over twenty Recommendations on the conservation of wildlife, and in the short space of six years the Antarctic has been made subject to conservation measures which are more comprehensive than those in any other major region in the world. The seed sown in the Treaty has borne fruit in a remarkably short time. It is the purpose of this article to describe and comment, from the legal standpoint, upon these internationally agreed conservation measures.