The ecosystem-management approach laid down in the Arctic Council Marine Strategic Plan (AMSP) was not started on an empty purse. Some of the integrative (interdisciplinary) concepts of the International Northern Sea Route Programme developed during the period 1993–99 may prove useful in making the AMSP a document of operational utility and significance. The INSROP analysis was designed around two counterveiling variable: obstacles to and promoting factors of increasing navigation. These variables were applied for analysis to interactive relationships such as ice conditions and commerciality, ship design and depth conditions, sailing season and ice conditions, regional development and transit trade, environmental challenges and economic activities, military and economic activities, international ocean law and the NSR, insurance and navigation, and native cultures and navigation. The analysis of these relationships gave rise to integrative concepts like aggregated hot spots, issue-specific hot spots, cool spots, socio-biodiversity, single-value navigation, and multi-value navigation, all of which have a bearing on the realisation of the overarching aim of AMSP: to minimize the impact of navigation on the environment by integrative approaches across environmental, socio-economic, political, cultural, and other sectoral realms.

The German Antarctic Receiving Station (GARS) O’Higgins at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula is a dual purpose facility for earth observation and has existed for more than 20 years. It serves as a satellite ground station for payload data downlink and telecommanding of remote sensing satellites as well as a geodetic observatory for global reference systems and global change. Both applications use the same 9 m diameter radio antenna. Major outcomes of this usage are summarised in this paper.

The satellite ground station O’Higgins (OHG) is part of the global ground station network of the German Remote Sensing Data Centre (DFD) operated by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). It was established in 1991 to provide remote sensing data downlink support within the missions of the European Remote Sensing Satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2. These missions provided valuable insights into the changes of the Antarctic ice shield. Especially after the failure of the on-board data recorder, OHG became an essential downlink station for ERS-2 real-time data transmission. Since 2010, OHG is manned during the entire year, specifically to support the TanDEM-X mission. OHG is a main dump station for payload data, monitoring and telecommanding of the German TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites.

For space geodesy and astrometry the radio antenna O’Higgins significantly improves coverage over the southern hemisphere and plays an essential role within the global Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) network. In particular the determination of the Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) and the sky coverage of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) benefit from the location at a high southern latitude. Further, the resolution of VLBI images of active galactic nuclei (AGN), cosmic radio sources defining the ICRF, improves significantly when O’Higgins is included in the network. The various geodetic instrumentation and the long time series at O’Higgins allow a reliable determination of crustal motions. VLBI station velocities, continuous GNSS measurements and campaign-wise absolute gravity measurements consistently document a vertical rate of about 5 mm/a. This crustal uplift is interpreted as an elastic rebound due to ice loss as a consequence of the ice shelf disintegration in the Prince Gustav Channel in the late 1990s.

The outstanding location on the Antarctic continent and its year-around operation make GARS O’Higgins in future increasingly attractive for polar orbiting satellite missions and a vitally important station for the global VLBI network. Future plans call for the development of an observatory for environmentally relevant research. That means that the portfolio of the station will be expanded including the expansion of the infrastructure and the construction and operation of new scientific instruments suitable for long-term measurements and satellite ground truthing.

Each year, more and more of Canada's vast northern territories are being explored in the search for untapped mineral resources. But the area is covered with snow for seven to ten months a year, which hampers most activities connected with mineral exploration. Snow cover also affects changes in albedo and temperature and hydrologic forecasting. The surface hydrology in most areas is only active for two to five months a year. Historically, snow hydrologists have been limited to the use of ground source measurements for estimating the spatial and temporal variability of snow cover. In the Yukon and Northwest Territories hydrometeorological stations are few and tend to be clustered around settlements. Moreover, the ground source data are subject to error and do not necessarily provide a complete picture of current conditions. The synoptic view provided by satellite images presents an economical way to monitor the retreat and advance of the snow-line and of mapping snow cover in remote and sparsely populated areas. The information may eventually be useful for extrapolating conventional ground source data more effectively over the entire Yukon and Northwest Territories.

One of the minor misfortunes of the war has been the suspension of many lines of scientific investigation; while another has been the difficulty of receiving information concerning researches in lands in which, despite the war, it has been possible to pursue important original or collative work. The U.S.A. is a case in point, and it will be of interest to all students of ice and snow that there has appeared from the pen of Mr François E. Matthes, the well-known head of the Section of Glacial Geology of the U.S. Geological Survey, an important monograph entitled “Glaciers”. It is published as Chap. 5 in Hydrology (Physics of the Earth, Vol. 9, edited by Oscar E. Meinzer, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1942). This chapter of seventy pages reviews some of the work done and the advances made in recent years, more particularly in glaciology, as distinct from glacial geology. Incidentally, it is common knowledge that while there is in all a very large body of students of glacial geology, that is to say of the actual effects of ice masses upon the land surface, there are at work remarkably few glaciologists, whose particular study is the physical condition and constitution of those masses, even in countries where glaciers are a normal feature of the landscape.

The Dry Valleys of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, lying some 75 km west of McMurdo station, form an arid, ice-free area of roughly 2 500 km2. Since the late 1950s, this region has provided a remarkable opportunity for geoscientific studies of the exposed surface rocks, within easy reach of logistic support at McMurdo and Scott bases on Ross Island (Fig 1). As a result of a study of Lake Vanda in the Wright Valley, which began during the 1963–64 summer field season, scientists from the United States, New Zealand and Japan supported the view that further advances in our knowledge of the Dry Valleys would require an examination of the unconsolidated material, and the geothermal regime at lake sites, using direct shallow drilling techniques. As drilling techniques and interestin the geological history of the McMurdo region as a whole (encompassing the Transantarctic Mountains, Ross Island, McMurdo Sound and the Dry Valleys) developed, an international, multidisciplinary project—the Dry Valley Drilling Project (DVDP)—was conceived. By 1969 the US National Science Foundation (NSF) had decided to coordinate proposals from scientists wishing to drill the first intermediate and deep cores into the sediment and rock of Antarctica; the aim, a reconstruction of Antarctic geological history that traditional surface or near-surface studies alone could never achieve. Initially, the approach was to be a sub-surface physical, chemical and biological examination of theDry Valleys, but as the project developed it encompassed studies of the Ross Island volcanic complex and McMurdo Sound sediments.

Inspired by notions of interest of humankind and intergenerational equity, we explored Antarctic perceptions of a subset of future generations—university students. Students at three universities in Canada, the Netherlands, and the USA were surveyed to determine the relationships between nationality, academic major, opinions on values of Antarctica, and support for a range of human activities in Antarctica (n = 618). Logistic regression was used to model the relationship of these variables with support for designation of Antarctica as a wilderness reserve, construction of new research stations, and mining. Compared with business and economics majors, biological sciences and natural resources/conservation majors were more likely to support wilderness designation and less likely to support mineral resource development. Nationality was not significantly associated with support for construction of new research stations and mineral resource development. Opinions on the value of Antarctica and support for activities also exhibited significant influences on dependent variables. Consistent with earlier studies of Antarctic scientists, personnel, tourists, and other members of the general public, university students valued Antarctica as one of the world’s last great wildernesses (66%), an important component of the Earth’s climate system (66%), and a science laboratory for the benefit of mankind (62%).

Though presidential personality and preferences heavily influence US Arctic policy, climate change and the perceived threat to US interests posed by rising international engagement in the north among great powers such as Russia and China are increasingly impacting US policy in the region. Recognising that these trends are likely to persist into the future, it is important to understand the US Arctic policymaking apparatus, how geopolitical and environmental factors affect the creation and implementation of such policies through the presidency and how the resulting presidential policies may impact US leadership in the region for years to come. Consequently, this article examines how the distinct styles and preferences of Presidents Obama and Trump interact with growing climate change and defence challenges in the region within the US Arctic policymaking process. We illustrate this interaction through examples at both domestic and international policy levels and then place it in the larger context of the differing presidential approaches to institutionalisation when setting policy. Ultimately, we conclude that not only do presidential priorities regarding climate change, rising international engagement, and institutionalisation critically influence Arctic policymaking, but how a future president views these issues will heavily impact the direction of policies affecting the region.

This article argues that the concept of diligence provides a useful role in clarifying (and perhaps narrowing) the discretionary powers of the State with respect to the development of natural resources. The claim has two branches. First, the concept of due diligence plays an important role in bridging the normative gap between the harms caused by private actors and the international law of State responsibility. It is the vehicle by which States can be made to assume responsibility for private developments within their jurisdiction and control that cause harm to other States. Second, the concept of due diligence plays an important role (a “generative role”) in teasing out the detailed logical implications of more abstract primary norms such as the duty of prevention. These derivative duties include the duties to make a preliminary assessment of whether the proposed activity may cause a risk of significant transboundary harm: to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) if there is a risk of significant harm and, if the EIA confirms that risk, to notify and consult with respect to possible measures to prevent or mitigate that risk. The article demonstrates both of these claims through an examination of the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and arbitral awards. Finally, the article applies these claims in the context of possible resource developments in Alaska, British Columbia and Yukon that may have transboundary implications.

Edward Wilson's career plans were changed by a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. This diagnosis is reviewed as are the ‘allergies’, hypothermia, vitamin C deficiency and other medical conditions encountered by Wilson between 1901 and 1912. Edgar Evans’ death on the return from the South Pole and a possible infective cause, is discussed.

In the century since Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott led the first and second expeditions to reach the South Pole, commentators have frequently passed judgement on the different means of transport that the two explorers employed. In hindsight, and since he ‘won,’ they have consistently praised Amundsen for using dogs exclusively and criticised Scott for not doing the same. Surprisingly, however, almost no attention has been given to the experience of Amundsen's dogs, whose extreme suffering seems to have vanished into a collective blind spot. Here, with the aim of restoring balance to one part of the vexed historiography of the two explorers, that record is set straight. Amundsen's troubled and contradictory attitude towards his animals is also explored and common misconceptions about Scott's views on the use of dogs for transport are confuted.

Svalbard comprises the islands between longs 10 to 35° E and between lats 74 to 81° N. The largest of these islands is Vestpitsbergen, followed by Nordaustlandet, Edgeøya, Barentsøya and Bjørnøya. The archipelago lies in the northwestern part of the Barents-Kara shelf. To south and east the continental shelf is covered by the shallow waters of the Barents Sea, whilst to the north and west the shelf falls away rapidly into the Arctic Basin and the Greenland Sea.

Pollen- and non-pollen-palynomorphs (NPP) analytical studies of the northwestern part of Spitsbergen were conducted between 1988 and 1991. As well as pollen from local native flora and more dispersed species, some well preserved remains of tardigrada exuvia, buccal tubes and eggs were found. This study reviewed the remains of at least six tardigrade taxa reported: Dactylobiotus ambiguous, Paramacrobiotus richtersi group, Richtersius coronifer, Macrobiotus hufelandi group, Macrobiotus peterseni and Minibiotus cf. intermedius, which are reassessed and determined more accurately. These findings provide some new insights into the past environmental conditions and changes for Spitsbergen. Based on the present research it can be concluded that tardigrade remains are frequent NPP elements of pollen analyses from lake, peat bogs and detritus sub-fossil sediment cores, at least in polar regions. It can also be stated that tardigrades can be considered indicators in further palaeontological studies helping to reconstruct past environmental conditions (for example humidity) for some regions. However, the knowledge of tardigrades in these types of analyses is still rather poor.

A very clear mirage observed by Scoresby in the Greenland Sea shows an inverted ship floating above the horizon. This mirage can be mathematically reconstructed using a linear image diagram. Scoresby's description is here re-examined: anew set of essential assumptions is distilled from his report, and an ‘exact’ reproduction of the mirage is obtained to match these conditions.

Radiocarbon age determinations of 32 walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) remains show that the species has been a member of the Greenland fauna since at least the middle Holocene. The oldest date is 7280–7160 calendar years BP. However, most dated remains come from archaeological sites and are of late Holocene age

The landing of visitors in Antarctica presents wilderness managers with several challenges. Foremost among these is ensuring that visitors do not ‘love the wilderness to death.’ This article presents research gathered on Hannah Point, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands during the austral summer of 1993/94. First, an estimation of duration and type of use was conducted to identify where visitors spent the majority of their time, and second, what conditions, such as weather, physical layout, or on-site supervision, influenced this decision. The implications of these results are discussed vis-à-vis the current system of visitor landings, and suggestions are offered to help devise criteria for landing procedures. This paper stresses how the pattern of visitor landings can be altered, as a preventative strategy, to ensure low impact on visitor sites.

Over a period of 142 days of polar cruising, all visits and reasons for those visits to the on board ship doctor's surgery by 360 crew members and 497 passengers were recorded and analysed. Despite the difference in age structure (passengers were mostly 60 years of age or older, while the crew were predominantly 20–30 years old), typically geriatric problems were seen in only a few passengers. While common cold related complaints dominated in the crew members, the passengers suffered more frequently from sea- and motion sickness and had slightly more respiratory and orthopaedic complaints. Typically cold weather related problems like hypothermia and frostbite were hardly seen at all and total prostheses of hips and knees (which involved several passengers) stood up surprisingly well to the polar climate and terrain. The surprisingly good physical condition of the elderly passengers suggests that the clientele of polar cruises represents an overall ‘fitter’ and healthier sub-population of elderly people. The on board preparatory lectures, warning the passengers of possible risks ashore and on board, must also have helped to keep down incidences requiring medical attention. A doctor, serving as an on-board physician on a cruise ship in polar waters, needs to be aware that the majority of his/her potential patients will be elderly folk. Familiarisation with facilities, medical equipment and drugs on board prior to departure is essential. The cruise ship doctor in addition to emergency experience needs experience in treating dermal disorders and orthopaedic conditions. Skills in chiropractic measures and/or acupuncture are an advantage and a thorough knowledge of cold weather induced conditions is a must.