IPY - News

Request to IPY Project Coordinators

2006-12-05T14:48:01+00:00

Posted by Nicola Munro

To ensure the preservation of and broad, interdisciplinary, and non- expert access to IPY and related data, the IPY Data Policy and Management Subcommittee is charged with developing an overall data management strategy. To develop this strategy, including the general organizational data flow structure, we request that Project Coordinators fill out a short survey on their data management requirements and plans on the IPYDIS Registration Page.

If you have any questions or comments or require any further information, please email

Finnish research blog from Aboa, Antarctica

2006-11-30T10:55:01+00:00

Posted by Stefan Geens, Aboa, Antarctica

Three researchers from the University of Lapland's Arctic Centre are in Antarctica and are blogging their research and life there: Glaciologist-paleoclimatologist John Moore, geophysicist Aslak Grinsted and chemist Kristiina Virkkunen. Their blog is here.

They are doing research on a blue ice area about 200 km from Aboa, the Finnish research station. The main goal of the expedition is to collect an approximately 500-meter long horizontal ice core for climate history studies. The ice samples will later be analyzed in Finland for ions. Other experiments will look at the dust content and electric conductivity of the ice using different methods, including lasers.

IPY and Polar Science Sessions at AGU

2006-11-23T15:25:00+00:00

Posted by David Carlson, San Francisco

The International Polar Year 2007-2008, and a wide array of polar sciences, will have a strong presence during the Fall AGU Meetings in San Francisco in December 2006. More than ten oral and poster sessions carry the IPY label or the label of an IPY-endorsed project. More than 30 additonal sessions address polar themes, from ice core science to biogeochemistry of northern watersheds. The IPY IPO has assembled a list of all these polar sessions on a single sheet for your use; here it is, as a PDF. IPY IPO will also operate a display booth, cooperatively with the US NSF Office of Polar Programs. We will share many international materials promoting IPY and operate a polar message center. Please visit us at booths 825 and 823.

Polar Cigarette Cards

2006-11-16T18:11:00+00:00

Posted by Glenn Stein

The Arctic and Antarctic have popped up in some of the most unusual places in popular culture, not the least of which is the cigarette card.

The cigarette card sprang into existence in the mid to late nineteenth century, and was originally nothing more than a blank card inserted as a stiffener for a paper pack of cigarettes. By the 1880s, American and British companies started putting pictures of products on one side of a card, and later, information related to the picture was added to the other side. People started collecting the cards, thus the hobby of cartophily was born.As a lure to buy more cigarettes, cards were based on a common topic and organized into sets (usually 50 in number). Topics were as diverse as fire fighting equipment, British birds and...polar exploration. With the success of cigarette cards, other product manufacturers caught onto the idea and began producing similar cards. These were called trade cards.

Cigarette and trade cards might reflect the times in which they were produced, so there were several series of cards featuring weapons, uniforms and the like during the First and Second World Wars. They also reached back into history, but were not always accurate in their depictions. For instance, one card purports to show a British sailor from 1602 in 'Arctic Kit' — complete with a penguin at his feet.

While the Arctic was still considered a mysterious place by many people in the late 19th century, the Antarctic was altogether a geographic puzzle. In July 1895, the International Geographical Congress met in London, and it was decided that Antarctica would be the primary focus of new exploration. Up until this time, nobody had explored the hinterland of the frozen continent, and even the vast majority of its coastline was still unknown. The meeting touched off a flurry of activity, and soon thereafter, national expeditions from Britain, Germany and Sweden, as well as private ventures, started organizing.

The sampling of cigarette cards illustrated here were issued by John Player & Sons in 1915 and titled the Polar Exploration A Series. The explanatory notes are taken from the backs of the cards and reflect the attitudes and knowledge during the times in which they were produced; my notations follow in brackets.

1) The Aurora Borealis.

The phenomena known as the Northern Lights appear to be caused by electro-magnetic disturbances, and are closely connected with solar storms. The displays usually take place at a height of 100 to 300 miles [160 to 480 km.]. It seems uncertain whether they are or are not accompanied by sound, for while the Lapps claim that the Northern Lights give sounds like the "creaking of the joints of running reindeer," some eminent explorers assert that there is no sound.

[Electric particles put out by the Sun dart through space and are caught by the Earth's magnetic field. These particles then race toward the North and South Magnetic Poles, and in doing so, they agitate the ionized gases that form the upper layers of the atmosphere. Aurorae range in height from 45 to 620 miles (72 to 992 km.) above the Earth, averaging 62 miles (99 km.) in height. Attempts to record audible sounds during the Aurora have been made, using sophisticated microphones, but no measurements have been recorded. To settle the sound question, one would have to make on-the-ground instrumental observations of sound, light and the electrical field all at once.]

2) The Aurora Australis.

[An explantory note similar to number one, the Aurora Australis being found in Antarctica.]

3) How Icebergs are Formed.

On the N.W. of Greenland are great ranges of glaciers. These glaciers are rivers of snow compacted into ice, and in constant motion from the upper Arctic regions of perpetual snow, to the sea. Here the bergs break off by their own weight and float down to warmer latitudes. By far the larger part of an iceberg is invisible, since ice, in order to float must have nine-tenths of its bulk below the water-line.

[West Greenland glaciers produce about 10,000 icebergs a year and an average of 375 flow south of Newfoundland into the North Atlantic shipping lanes, where they become hazardous to navigation. Antarctic icebergs are far greater in number and size than their Arctic counterparts; 90% of the world's mass of icebergs surround Antarctica.]

4) Greenland Eskimo with their Toupiks or Summer Tents.

During summer and autumn the necessity of fishing and hunting makes it important for the Eskimo to have a movable dwelling. Light skin-tents then take the place of the snow-huts of winter. The women sew seal-skin coverings with bone needles, and with narwhal-sinews for thread. The entrance is closed by a curtain of seal-gut, sufficiently translucent to admit light.

[Once called Eskimo, the aboriginal people of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Siberia, North America and Greenland, are today called Inuit — the name they use for themselves, meaning "real people" or simply "people".]

5) The Discovery of Greenland in 983.

King Eric the Red is one of the heroes of the early Icelandic sagas. Having been banished from Iceland, he set sail in search of a strange land sighted by the Norse viking Gunnbjörn over 100 years previously. There he discovered the country which he called Grönland, and lived there three years. He returned to Iceland, but in 985 came back to Greenland and founded a permanent colony.

[Norse Chieftan Eiríkr Thorvaldsson (Erik the Red) was banished from Iceland for three years after being convicted of manslaughter/murder (accounts vary in this regard). Many years prior to this, his father was kicked out of Norway under similar circumstances. According to legend, Erik deliberately selected the name "Greenland" so as to get others to follow him. It was one of the biggest real estate scams in history. In fact, about 85% of the island's area is covered with an ice cap, extending 1,553 miles (2,484 km.) from north to south and up to 650 miles (1,040 km.) east to west.]

6) Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, GCVO, FRGS.

Dr. Nansen was born near Christiania [Norway], Oct. 10th, 1861. He was educated at the University of Christiania, and was a naturalist by training. He first visited Greenland in 1882, and in 1888-9 crossed S. Greenland in snow shoes. In June 1893, Nansen sailed from Christiania in the Fram, a vessel of 402 tons, intending to drift across the North Pole to Greenland. He reached the highest latitude then attained---86º 14'.

[Nansen returned to the Arctic several more times before his death in 1930. The Fram was used by Otto Sverdrup in his 1898-1902 Norwegian exploring expedition, during which time a group of large islands — now known collectively as the Sverdrup Islands — were discovered and explored west of Ellesmere Island. Additionally, most of the west coast of Ellesmere was explored. Amundsen borrowed Fram in a successful bid to discover the South Pole during his 1910-12 expedition. Today, the well known Fram is a museum and is housed in a special structure in Bygdøy, outside Oslo.]

7) Andrée's Polar Balloon.

In 1895 Herr Salomon Andrée announced his project to travel to the North Pole by balloon. The required sum of £8,000 was raised by subscription. The balloon was covered with Chinese silk, and inflated with hydrogen; the car being of wood and wickerwork. On July 11th, 1897, the balloon, with Andrée and two others on board, left Spitzbergen. Some weeks later a pigeon message was received, since which no news has been heard.

[This was the second attempt in two years for the Swedish North Polar Balloon Expedition, using the hydrogen-filled balloon Örnen. Nothing was known of Andrée and his companions until 1930, when a Norwegian expedition unexpectedly discovered remains of their camp. Along with the explorers' bodies, their diaries and other items were recovered and brought home.]

8) A Remarkable Fumarole in the Old Crater of Mount Erebus.

A fumarole, or volcanic vapour well, is usually detected by the thin vapour column issuing from it. In Antarctic regions, however, the cold freezes the vapour as it reaches the surface. Thus there are built up round the orifices ice-mounds which are often of peculiar shape. One observed by the Shackleton Expedition, 1907-09, was in the form of a couchant lion.

[The name fumarole comes from the Latin word fumus (smoke). It is an opening in any celestial body's crust, often near volcanoes, and releasing steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid and hydrogen sulfide.]

9) The Northern Party at the South Magnetic Pole.

The Northern Party, sent by Lieut. Shackleton to the Magnetic Pole, was in charge of Prof. Edgeworth David, F.R.S., of Sydney University. They left winter quarters in Sept. 1908. On Saturday, Jan. 16th, 1909, they reached the calculated position of the Pole — 72º 25' S. latitude, and 155º 16' E. longitude. The Union Jack was hoisted, and the surrounding country formally added to the British Empire.

[The Northern Party was part of Shackleton's 1907-09 expedition, and represented the first successful attempt to reach the South Magnetic Pole and the first ascent of the 12,448-foot (3,794-meter) volcano Mt. Erebus. The mission was accompished without the aid of dogs or ponies and meant pulling sledges and supplies weighing up to 670 lbs. (300 kg.) Like many of the images, the picture on the card was taken from a photograph. Left to right are: Surgeon A. Forbes Mackay, Chief Scientist T.W.Edgeworth David and Physicist Douglas Mawson. Mackay was lost in February 1914, on the Stefansson Canadian Arctic Expedition. David was 50 years old when he led the Northern Party, while his companions on the 1,260-mile (2,028-km.) journey were 20 and 24 years his junior. Mawson became the symbol of Australian Antarctic exploration and one of only 18 individuals to earn both the silver and bronze Polar Medals.]

10) The British Antarctic Expedition, 1910: A Motor-Sleigh Tractor.

On Wednesday, June 1st, 1910, there set sail from London the expedition which will, it is hoped, nail the Union Jack to the South Pole. The Commander, Captain Robert F. Scott, R.N., is relying for purposes of traction on motor-sleighs of the type illustrated. They are fitted with 4-cyl. vertical motors, and the chain-wheels drive an endless chain designed to grip in the snow and ice.

[Since Scott's last expedition came home in early 1913, it would seem that this card set was put together shortly after Scott left for the Antarctic (and with Shackleton's recent expedition still fresh in the public's mind). Scott and the French polar explorer Dr. Jean-Baptiste Charcot tested sledges equipped with motors and caterpillar tracks in the French Alps before Scott took three of them south on the Terra Nova. During 1907-09, Shackleton was the first to take a car to Antarctica, but it could not move in the soft snow and was used only for short distances. It was hoped that tracked vehicles would fare better — they did not. Early 20th century technology and design was still no match for the Antarctic and the motorized beasts suffered from a variety of ailments and each one broke down.]

copyright 2006 Glenn M. Stein, FRGS

Ice-breaker Polarstern to explore Antarctic seafloor

2006-11-15T16:56:01+00:00

Posted by Jerome Coupe

Huge areas of sea floor (around 3,250 km²) have been freed up by the collapse 4 years ago of the Larsen B platform along the Antarctic Peninsula – leaving a blank spot on Antarctic maps.

Polarstern, the research flagship of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, will shortly conduct there the first major biological research.

The Science

25 different research projects will be undertaken by 47 scientists, encompassing disciplines as diverse as benthology, planktonology, taxonomy, ecology, physiology, biogeochemistry, genetics, bathymetry, etc.

Fisheries management

The first part of the expedition will focus on biological investigations on fish stocks as a contribution to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), following a dozen similar surveys since 1976. Researchers will monitor previously fished areas located in the western part of the Antarctic Peninsula to determine the state of stock recovery.

Global warming & ice shelf collapse

When Antarctic glaciers reach the coast of the continent, they begin to float and become ice shelves, from which icebergs are then calved. Since 1974, a total of 13,500 km2 of ice shelves have disintegrated in the Antarctic Peninsula, a phenomenon linked to the regional temperature rise of more than 2°C in these past 50 years. An increasing number of scientists worry that similar break-ups in other areas could lead to increases in ice flow and cause sea level to rise dramatically. The final collapse of the Larsen B platform in February 2002 is the latest and the biggest of these catastrophic events tentatively related to global warming, freeing an additional 3,250 km2 of sea bottom of an ice cover that has been estimated to be there for at least 5,000 years.

Evolution of bottom fauna

Meanwhile, the vanishing ice allowing vegetal and animal plankton to reinvade and thrive in these areas offers a perfect opportunity to study the evolution of bottom animal communities depending on this plankton. Sampling with various trawls, grabs and traps and the use of a remote operated vehicle with a video camera will allow the description of new species within this near-pristine environment. A dozen scientific studies will look into groups as different as microbes, sponges, crustaceans, octopuses, starfish and whales, from the grounding line to the open sea areas, and will furthermore give the best benchmark of the early stages of colonization. These studies could become a reference for other parts of Antarctica where such disintegration of ice shelves is already expected on how climate-induced shifts in biodiversity will change in ecosystems structured largely by ice.

Mud volcanoes

The expedition will also lead the first biological studies of a recently discovered cold-vent ecosystem in the same Larsen area, the first of its kind known in Antarctica. Uncovered in 2005 by an American geoscience research team, this 8 km zone harbors mounds spewing out fluid and mud particles, as well as clusters of large clams. These mollusks and their associated fauna probably depend on chemical energy from the Earth, rather than one driven by photosynthesis from the sun or from hot emissions rising from inside the planet.

A run up to the International Polar Year (IPY)

With 47 scientists onboard from more than a dozen different nationalities, the Polarstern expedition brings together an international network of research programs that will focus on the biological characteristics of this blank spot, from November 2006 to January 2007. One of the major contributors to the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), Polarstern's voyage will be a major event in the IPY, and open the way for further polar expeditions.

The partners

ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE (AWI)
The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research conducts research in the Arctic, the Antarctic and temperate latitudes. The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research coordinates polar research in Germany, and provides important infrastructure, such as the research icebreaker Polarstern and stations in the Arctic and the Antarctic, for international science organizations. The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research is one of 15 research centers of the 'Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft', the largest scientific c organization in Germany.

CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE (CoML)
The Census of Marine Life is a growing global network of researchers in more than 70 nations engaged in a 10-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life in the oceans - past, present, and future.

CENSUS OF ANTARCTIC MARINE LIFE (CAML)
The Census of Antarctic Marine Life, which is part of the global Census of Marine Life, will investigate the distribution and abundance of Antarctica's vast marine biodiversity to develop a benchmark for the benefit of humankind. As one of the main International Polar Year endorsed initiatives, the Census of Antarctic Marine Life will be the biggest Antarctic marine science program ever undertaken, investigating all regions, biomes and habitats.

THE COUSTEAU SOCIETY (TCS)
The Cousteau Society is an international organization created by Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1973, focusing, among other goals, on the equilibrium between Humanity and Nature on the World's oceans. TCS has three decades of international experience documenting and communicating the value of natural resources, including within the polar realms. TCS has a strong legacy of preserving Antarctica, which includes Captain Cousteau's worldwide petition that helped keep Antarctica as a "natural reserve, land of science and peace".

INTERNATIONAL POLAR FOUNDATION (IPF)
The International Polar Foundation communicates and educates on polar research as a way to understand key environmental and climate mechanisms. It will use the International Polar Year as a powerful tool to get its message across a wide audience. Beside its outreach mission for international media, the IPF scientific officer onboard will make the follow-up of the expedition accessible to the youth through its "Educapoles" website. Interviews of polar scientists on board will also be published on SciencePoles

THE POLAR EMBASSY
The Polar Embassy is an official International Polar Year education and outreach project linking scientific knowledge to the public at large. It focuses on topics related to polar areas, sustainable development and global climate change, and their links "From Local to Polar". The Polar Embassy has developed participative actions to raise awareness and educate through a program spanning from 2006 to 2009 and beyond. Some participants will have the opportunity to join exceptional expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctica, onboard a polar vessel, the wandering "Polar Embassy". They will hereafter be entitled "Polar Ambassadors" and endowed with the task of spreading the word about polar regions and their importance for the planet.

Book Launch: On Site with Maurice Haycock, Artist of the Arctic

2006-11-15T14:54:00+00:00

Posted by Polar Artists, Ottawa, Canada

By Linda Mackey — Announcing the upcoming launch of a new book by an amazing artist/scientist whose life embraced most of the 20th century.

Maurice Haycock was born in Canada in the Victorian era, before cars, phones, radios and air travel. He went on to learn to use a computer at 80 and predicted the coming of the internet. He lived in the Arctic in 1926-27, painted at the North Pole, discovered a mineral which was named "haycockite" after him, was a worldwide recognized geologist and Canada's most travelled Arctic artist. For almost 40 years he travelled andMackey — painted across Canada's northern wilderness.

In 2007 his manuscript will be released as a lavish book of Arctic paintings and drawings interspersed with historical notes and fascinating personal adventures.Haycock's keen interest in the history of the Arctic, from the earliest pre-Dorset inhabitants to the voyages of Discovery in search of the Northwest Passage and the North Pole, comes alive in stories and images of artifacts and ancient formations. At the same time Haycock takes the reader with him on numerous entertaining adventures through time and place across Canada's most northerly tundra and ice.

The publication of this book is a project of Arctic Quest and Polar Artists Group, and supported by International Polar Year.

For more information on Maurice Haycock and the book "On Site with Maurice Haycock, Artist of the Arctic" please visit www.haycock.ca and www.nwp100.com.

Arctic Quest Artists Explore the Northwest Passage

2006-11-13T19:12:00+00:00

Posted by Polar Artists, Toronto, Canada

By Linda Mackey — Twenty-five Arctic Quest artists followed in the footsteps of great artists and explorers of the past, as they marked the 100th anniversary of Amundsen's 1906 navigation through the Northwest Passage with a journey of their own this summer.

During a twelve day voyage aboard the Akademik Ioffe, the group Arctic Quest recorded their impressions on canvas, paper and film as they traveled up the east coast of Baffin Island, Greenland, and parts of the Northwest Passage, ending in Resolute. Every day brought new surprises including icebergs emerging from the fog, waking up to Orca whales, circling incredible icebergs, taking a zodiac ride to the base of the icefields in Illilisat, Greenland, or donating art supplies to Inuit children in the Arctic communities. We were able to sketch on Beechey Island and other historic sites, such as Dundas Harbour, where we were treated by a several hour visit with over 100 walrus.

We saw one polar bear at Monumental Island looking for food and another one on an ice floe in Davis Strait. The thing that surprised us the most was that we wore our T-shirts and a light jacket on most of the voyage. In 2002, we had to follow an ice-breaker to get to Beechey Island, but this time, there was no sign of ice. The ice-pilot on our ship had to look at the ice maps to try to find ice, rather than avoid it as on previous voyages. We wondered whether we were seeing extreme conditions of global warming, or whether we just had an unusually warm season. Upon return, and looking at the other 2,500 photographs that I had taken, I did notice glaciers in Greenland, where the snow only seemed to come down about 25% of what it used to, and I remembered Roberta Bondar's 1999 photograph of the historic Ward Hunt Island Ice Shelf, on Ellesmere Island which is 10% the size it was 100 years ago, and has split in half since the photograph was taken.

Arctic Quest artists are now back in their studios, reflecting on the beauty, people, and fragile environment of the High Arctic. We have begun an ambitious program of exhibitions, film, workshops, lectures, and historical projects, all planned to coincide with International Polar Year. Please see Arctic Quest Artists to learn more about this group, the exhibitions they have planned, and the projects or email Linda Mackey.

“Stellar Axis: Antarctica” coming in December 2006

2006-11-08T11:42:00+00:00

Posted by Stefan Geens

IPY starts in March 2007, but not everybody is waiting until then to start celebrating the poles. L.A.-based artist Lita Albuquerque has just announced that she will be creating an installation piece on Antarctica in next month, Dec 22, 2006. The piece will be named "Stellar Axis: Antarctica" and is produced at the invitation of the US National Science Foundation's Artists and Writers Program.

Lita's project already has an accompanying website, which in time will contain video and diary entries documenting the art installation process. You can also read the press release, and you can find out more about Lita Albuquerque on her personal site.

IPY press release: CO2 rise heightens concern over vulnerability of polar regions

2006-11-07T16:16:01+00:00

Posted by Mark Oliver

The news that global concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) increased last year has heightened concern about the vulnerability of polar regions amongst scientists managing International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008. IPY is co-sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

"The rise in global concentrations of CO2 and nitrous oxide (N2O) over the past few decades will continue to stoke global warming, which has a pronounced effect in polar regions," says Dr David Carlson, Director of the International Polar Programme Office that oversees IPY.

"IPY next year, and the associated launch of hundreds of scientific research projects focussed on polar conditions and polar ecosystems comes none too soon.

"The scientific community stands ready to respond to the imperative to gather as much data about the effects of global warming on polar areas as quickly as possible – changes in these regions will have a massive influence on the well-being of the rest of the planet."On Friday, WMO released its 2005 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin showing that global concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide were up 0.53 per cent on 2004. N2O, another greenhouse gas, also increased 0.19 per cent year on year.

Atmospheric CO2 - one of the principal forces behind global warming - has seen a 35.4 per cent rise since the late 1700s, a state of affairs aggravated by worldwide deforestation.

The 3rd Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment of the Climate (2001) predicted a worldwide rise in sea levels of between 9 cm and 88 cm by the end of the century – largely triggered by melting ice sheets in the polar regions.

The launch of IPY 2007-2008 on March 1 next year will mark the onset of an internationally coordinated campaign of research in both polar regions, recognizing their critical link with the rest of the globe.

IPY will involve a wide range of research disciplines, including the social sciences and aims to educate and involve the public while helping to train the next generation of engineers, scientists, and leaders.

Press officers:
Belle Dumé. Tel: +33 (0)1 45 25 57 77, E-mail: belle@icsu.org
Mark Oliver. Tel: +41 (0)22 730 84 17, E-mail: moliver@wmo.int

http://www.ipy.org

1. International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 will be an intense, internationally coordinated campaign of research that will initiate a new era in polar science. IPY 2007-2008 will include research in both polar regions and recognize the strong links these regions have with the rest of the globe. It will involve a wide range of research disciplines, including the social sciences, but the emphasis will be interdisciplinary in approach and truly international in participation. It aims to educate and involve the public, and to help train the next generation of engineers, scientists, and leaders.

2. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a Specialized Agency of the United Nations. It is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.

3. Founded in 1931, the International Council for Science (ICSU) is a non-governmental organization representing a global membership that includes both national scientific bodies (107 members) and international scientific unions (29 members).

Through this international network, ICSU coordinates interdisciplinary research to address major issues of relevance to both science and society. In addition, the Council actively advocates for freedom in the conduct of science, promotes equitable access to scientific data and information, and facilitates science education and capacity building.

Tara: Adrift on an ocean of ice

2006-11-06T05:53:00+00:00

Posted by Grant Redvers, Arctic Sea

[From the logs of Tara, a research vessel sailing into Arctic pack ice during 2006-2008.]

If there is one thing that we can be sure about during this expedition, it is that we can never really relax as we drift across an ocean of ice. Sunday night at 3am the sea ice came alive. Beginning with an innocuous grinding and tapping on the hull, the pressure and sound rapidly increased to a deafening noise inside the boat. At times a constant tapping as the ice squeezed and the pressure increased, then rising to a high pitched screeching like fingernails running over a blackboard as the blocks of ice slide by. Tara handled the onslaught well, being pushed in all directions we have now come to rest on a pressure ridge with a nine degree list to port, not huge but big enough to give us the impression of being at sea.

After a very busy week spent reinstalling scientific equipment on the ice, we have now recovered all of this material, including the radiometer, tilt-meter and CTD. We are once again in standby mode, waiting for the full moon to pass on the 5th October. As Nansen observed, we are also seeing a strong link between the phase of the moon and ice movement.

With all of the commotion outside we were still able to celebrate the passing of Denys birthday on Monday night. With Russian cavier, a leg of New Zealand lamb, and fine French wine we celebrated in style!

Tara: Water management up North

2006-10-27T11:17:00+00:00

Posted by Grant Redvers, Arctic Sea

[From the logs of Tara, a research vessel sailing into Arctic pack ice during 2006-2008.]

As we continue to organise our life on board for the long polar night ahead, a constant preoccupation is the production, use and discharge of water. Ensuring that we have a sufficient amount of good quality water for our basic needs is a big task for at least two people each day. Like most large boats, we have a watermaker onboard that makes freshwater from seawater through the process of osmosis.

In temperate climates we can produce up to 200 liters per hour. However, in our current position close to 83 degrees north the water temperature is -1.5 degrees celsius and the temperature in the forward hold (the location of the watermaker) has descended to -7 degrees, below the minimum operating temperature of 0 degrees. Therefore, we now produce our water by melting ice and snow. We have a small water tank of 200 liters that supplies both the galley and shower. Inside this tank is a heating element from the boats central heating system. We also have another container in the Galley in which we melt ice passively and very efficiently just using the ambient temperature.With such a scarcity of this vital resource every drop is counted, with the knowledge that supplies will have to be replenished by some hard labour outside. On average we use about 100 - 150 liters per day (approximately 13 – 19 liters per person per day). By comparison the consummation in Madagascar is 5 liters per person per day and in the United States 500 liters per person per day (Source: Universal Encyclopedia).

Discharge of water from the galley and shower is another challenge. For now the shower outlet is ok, however the outlet for the galley is frozen (despite attempts to keep it open with an electrical heating resistance) and we have experienced intermittent problems with the toilet. Consequently we now drain greywater from the galley into a container before discharging outside, and we have constructed a simple outside toilet, providing an expedition in itself each day!

50 birthday party for Halley

2006-10-27T10:30:00+00:00

Posted by Alex Gaffikin, South Kensington, England

Congratulations to Halley Research Station (76 degrees South) - 50 years old this year! Last week we had a celebration bringing together everyone from members of the Royal Society IGY advanced party, to current winterers via a live internet linkup to Antarctica. I went along officially as an ex-winterer but un-officially on the look-out for stuff for the Natural History Museum's Ice Station Antarctica. Part of the celebration featured a do-it-yourself exhibition (above); an eclectic collection of maps, t-shirts, flags and wonderful but poignant photos of an age of exploration gone by.

Badges for Imperial Russian & Soviet Polar Exploration and Research

2006-10-18T15:02:00+00:00

Posted by Glenn Stein

While many nations have awarded medals for Arctic and Antarctic exploration and scientific research over the last 200 years, Russia has also awarded special breast badges for these services. The tradition of breast badges dates back to the middle of the 19th century, when they were presented by military academies. Toward the end of the 1800s, all manner of badges were being produced, including those with maritime connections. Some honored the launching of ships, goodwill naval visits to foreign seaports, awards for winners of boat races — and to commemorate ocean voyages. After the Soviet Union came into existence in 1922, the tradition of awarding special badges was continued by Soviet civil and military institutions.Here is an illustrated review of some badges awarded for polar exploration and research:

1) Swedish/Russian Arc of Meridian Expedition (1899-1901)

The governments of Sweden and Russia sponsored this expedition and it was organized by the academies of science in Stockholm and St. Petersburg. The aim of the expedition was to obtain very precise measurements of how much the Earth is flattened at the poles due to the planet’s rotation. Physical and meteorological observations were also carried out and valuable topographical surveys were made around Sorgfjorden and on the northwest coast of Nordaustlandet, between Kapp Hansteen and Celsiusberget.

2) Voyage of the Icebreakers Taymyr and Vaygach (1910-15)

The Imperial Russian Navy sponsored the Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition from 1910-15, using the specially constructed survey icebreakers Taymyr and Vaygach to sytematically chart the waters north of Siberia during six seasons. The aim was to develop the Northern Sea Route, which would be an important means of communication across Russian territories. It is difficult to understand why the dates on the badge are '1913-1915'. The expedition made the important discovery of the achipelago Zemlya Nikolaya II (now Severnaya Zemlya) and several smaller islands. It also made the first through-passage of the Northern Sea Route from east to west. As a result, new charts and pilots were created for the entire route from the Bering Strait to the Kara Sea. However, the main objective of opening up a Northern Sea Route to regular shipping was not accomplished. It was not until after the Russian Revolution that important efforts to establish such a route were begun by the Soviets.

3 & 4) Expeditions to Wrangell Island (1924 & 1929)

Lying between between the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas, the history of Wrangell Island involves some interesting twists and turns. In 1824, Ferdinand von Wrangell investigated reports of land north of the Chukotka Peninsula by the local Chukchi people. Though he never sighted the island, he did see birds flying north and assumed land was to be found in that direction.

British naval Capt. Henry Kellett may have been the first to sight the island in 1849, which he named for his ship--HMS Plover. However, the position noted on his chart is not correct, so what was seen may have been a mirage. Sailing in the W.C. Talbot during a trading and exploring expedition, Eduard Dallmann claimed to have been the first to land on the island in 1866, but this claim has been widely disputed. The American whaler Thomas Long sailed along the island's south coast in 1867 and gave Wrangell Island its name. In 1881, two American government ships searched the island for survivors of the ill-fated American Jeannette Expedition (1879-81).

The Vaygach was the first Russian vessel to visit the island (September 1911, during the Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition). A landing was made, in addition to the first circumnavigation and first accurate coastal survey, and Wrangell Island was claimed for Russia. In 1914, 17 survivors of Vilhjamur Stefansson's Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913-18) landed on the island's north coast. This temporary occupation was seen by Stefansson as basis for a territorial claim, and three white men and one Inuk girl (Ada Blackjack) were landed on the island in 1921. By June 1923, Blackjack was the only survivor of the group. She was rescued soon after by a relief expedition. A new party of colonists were left behind, composed of 12 Inuit, led by American trapper and prospector Charles Wells.

Neither the Canadian, British or American governments were prepared to formally claim Wrangell Island, and in August 1924, the armed Soviet icebreaker Krasny Oktyabr' (Red October) made a landing and claimed the island for the Soviet Union. The colonists were arrested and subsequently expelled.

In 1926, a Soviet colony was formed on Wrangell Island, composed of 60 Inuit from Chukotka and led by Georgiy Ushakov (who constructed of a meteorological and radio station). In 1929, a new leader arrived and served until 1934. In the latter year, Konstantin Semenchuk became the station head. Wrangell Island became the scene of a bizarre criminal story when it supposedly fell under Semenchuk's increasingly arbitrary rule. It was reported that he controlled the local populace and his own staff through open extortion and murder. The subsequent Moscow trial in June 1936 sentenced Semenchuk to death for "banditry" and violation of Soviet law, and he was executed in the beginning of Stalin's purges. The 1929 dated badge depicts the icebreaker Fedor Lidtke, which was built in 1909 and scrapped in 1960.

5) Participant on a North Pole Drift Station (circa 1950s)

Although the first established Soviet drift station NP-1 in 1937, floating ice stations are far more often associated with the Cold War period. The Soviet Union next operated stations from 1950 to 1991 and varied considerably according to their duration, from a few weeks to over 3,000 days.

NP-1 drifted more than 1,000 miles in 274 days and was finally evacuated off the east coast of Greenland. It was a major propaganda victory for the young Soviet Union, and the station supplied supplementary meteorological information for ships using the Northern Sea Route, and much was learned about the central Arctic Ocean and Greenland Sea: the direction and strength of surface currents, the geographical distribution of terrestrial magnetism and the topography of the ocean floor.

The Cold War drift stations carried out and supported a wide range of scientific and military activities.

6, 7 & 8) Honored Polar Explorer (1935-Present Day)

In 1935 the Main Board of the Arctic Sea Way, at the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, founded the Honored Polar Explorer badge, which has been awarded to the most distinguished polar pilots, sailors, researchers and those who have over-wintered in the polar regions. By way of example, all of the participants of the first Soviet Antarctic expeditions during the 1950s were given these badges. Approximately 7,000 badges in all have been awarded, and were issued with an engraved numbers on their reverses, which correspond to individual recipients.

Badge no. 6 is circa 1940s/1950s and is numbered 1222. The icebreaker on the badge has 'I. Stalin' on its bow. The Joseph Stalin was built during 1937-39 at the Ordzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad. Badge no. 7 was issued in the 1970s/1980s and is numbered 6918. It shows the Lenin, the world's first nuclear-powered icebreaker; she began her sea trials in September 1959. Badge no. 8 is the current badge and is unawarded.

(Acknowledgements: Clive Holland, Veniamin Maletin, William James Mills, Maria Tsukernik)

Tara: Arctic vegetable garden

2006-10-13T08:40:00+00:00

Posted by Grant Redvers, Arctic Sea

[From the logs of Tara, a research vessel sailing into Arctic pack ice during 2006-2008.]

The days are rapidly becoming shorter and shorter as the polar night approaches. Our preparation continues for winter and today we began installing our hydroponics garden in one corner of the saloon. Kindly supplied to us by General Hydroponics Europe, this system promises to provide us with fresh veggies throughout the winter months. Not only giving us a good source of vitamins, it will also create a welcome winter activity. Gamet has already shown his green fingers by nurturing a variety of plants on board, including one rose that is about to flower, giving us a welcome burst of colour and life.We have also winterized our water maker this week as the temperature in the forward hold has descended to zero, the minimum operating temperature for this machine. As a result we are now fully dependent on making our water from ice and snow. Collecting old sea ice (with no salt) and compacted snow each day, we are able to melt this in a heated water tank to produce water. However, water conservation is always of the highest priority, a strange irony as we drift on a frozen ocean.

Creatures to be featured in ‘Ice Station Antarctica’

2006-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

Posted by Alex Gaffikin, South Kensington, London

These creepy critters gave me the shivers whilst measuring them up for display. Our new exhibition, Ice Station Antarctica, will have a section about how animals have adapted to the cold Antarctic seas. Both these guys demonstrate gigantism; the sea spider (right) is 1000 times bigger than it's European counterpart. The sea louse (left) is 50 times bigger than a normal louse. Thank you Lloyd Peck from British Antarctic Survey for supplying them. They'll be alarming our more squeamish visitors to the National History Museum next May.