King George Island and Nelson Island, close together in the central South Shetland Islands, were discovered early in the 19th century and often visited by whalers and sealers. Whalers also used their harbours early in the present century. The first permanent station was established in 1947 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. Currently they are the site of scientific stations and depots operated by eight Antarctic Treaty nations (Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Chile, Peoples' Republic of China, Poland, USSR and Uruguay), all of which make use of their accessible harbours and relatively long summer season.

Plans exist in the USSR to divert southward part of the flow of some northern Russian and Siberian rivers, notably the Northern Dvina, Pechora, Ob' and Yenisey, to alleviate water shortages in Central Asia, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine, and counter falling water levels in the Aral and Caspian Seas. Possible effects of diverting small and large amounts of river water away from the Arctic are discussed in the light of recent observations and modelling studies of Arctic basin hydrology and sea ice distribution. Current evidence suggests that small diversions planned to operate before the end of this century will have little effect on ocean circulation or sea ice distribution. Larger-scale diversions planned for the future might affect sea ice formation over the shelf regions of the Kara and Barents Seas, but are unlikely to have a major effect on circulation or sea ice distribution over the Arctic Ocean as a whole.

In 1983 the UN Secretary-General was requested by the General Assembly to prepare a ‘Study on the question of Antarctica’ for the 1984 meeting of the Assembly. Published in November 1984, the Study provided a foundation for the UN First Committee's discussions of 28–30 November. These demonstrated, as had the discussions of the previous year, the polarization of views among UN member states for and against the Antarctic Treaty System. The UN resolution that followed the discussions similarly represented little advance on that of 1983, merely postponing any decision for a further year. Meanwhile the considerable amount of information marshalled for the Study may help to spread interest in Antarctic affairs and enhance international understanding.

The Sea Ice Group of the Scort Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, took part in the international Marginal Ice Zone Experiment 1984 (MIZEX 84) from 12 June to 26 July, operating from icebreaker FS Polarstern and chartered sealing vessel Kvitbjørn in the Greenland Sea. Observations included measurement of ice edge kinetics, wave-ice interactions and upper ocean structure and processes; ocean surface measurements and pressure ridge profile studies were also made in the same area during a post-MIZEX cruise in MS Lance.

Albert Armitage was the second in command of both the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition of 1884–1897 and R. F. Scott's British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–1904. He never led an expedition himself; as Frank Debenham wrote (1944), ‘For polar work his mind was perhaps not quite flexible enough or his aims were not sufficiently ambitious to make him lead an expedition of his own.’ Despite this he played a leading role in both expeditions, and contributed significantly to Arctic and Antarctic exploration.