In 1939 Dr Thomas C. Poulter, Director of the Armour Institute, Chicago and a veteran of Byrd's second Antarctic expedition, designed and constructed a 30 tonne wheeled vehicle known as the Snow Cruiser for use with the US Antarctic Service Expedition. Designed for self-contained long-distance travel, the vehicle had many new features including twin diesel engines, independent electric drive and steering on each of its four wheels, and a light aircraft carried on the roof. It was built in Chicago and tested briefly on sand dunes nearby, before being driven to Boston amid much public interest for shipment to Antarctica. At the Bay of Whales the vehicle quickly became bogged down in snow, and never moved farther south than the expedition's winter quarters. Modern evaluation of wheel-snow interaction suggests that the Snow'Cruiser unladen was three to five times too heavy for its tyres to support it on snow surfaces. It was nevertheless a bold attempt to push forward the frontiers of mobility in exploration, which failed in a spectacular fashion. The vehicle was left behind when the expedition returned home, and has subsequently been lost.

Tuberculosis was the major cause of death among Alaska Native peoples during the first half of the twentieth century, with a crude death rate estimated at 810 per 100,000. Apart from a few medical articles, not much is known of the impact of the disease on the people. This paper reviews published articles, unpublished reports by government teachers, hospital records and other materials for several Native villages in western Alaska from the period 1900–50. These archival sources suggest that tuberculosis was prevalent at the start of the century, that tuberculosis morbidity and mortality increased until the public health efforts of the 1950s and '60s, and that highest mortality rates were found among women between the ages of 15 and 35. Traditional cultural practices that brought people together for fatiguing activities in confined areas may have contributed to the spread of the disease. Public health efforts of federal teachers aimed to improve personal hygiene, household cleanliness and ventilation. Their efforts were thwarted by environmental and economic factors, primarily the limited amount of wood. Ultimately, the comments of these public officials may have reflected more their own moral beliefs than the actual etiology of the disease.

The north coast of Ellesmere Island is the location of the only known ice shelves in the northern hemisphere. Present Arctic ice shelves are as much as 40–50 m thick and occupy sheltered fiords and embayments. These thick floating ice masses are remnants of the once-extensive Ellesmere Ice Shelf that has disintegrated since 1876–1906, when Aldrich and Peary respectively travelled along the coast. Reasons for the disintegration are not clear, but it has created many ice islands that have been known to circulate in the Arctic Ocean for 35 years or more. Both ice islands and ice shelves are readily distinguished from their surroundings by an undulating surface topography of parallel ridges and troughs up to 300 m apart. The undulations probably owe their origin to the effects of wind and meltwater. Since 1952 these large ice masses have been the subject of considerable research. Ice shelf growth began about 4000 BP, when glaciers flowed off the land and remained afloat in fiords and inlets, and sea ice grew thick and remained fast to the coast. The glacier and sea ice acted as platforms for further thickening both by surface accumulation of snow and ice and by undersurface accretion of fresh, brackish and saline ice. Although much has been learned about the growth, structure and behaviour of arctic ice shelves, questions still remain concerning ice island calving mechanisms, bottom freezing, thick sea ice growth and origins of the ridges and troughs.

The 12th century Norwegian text Konungs Skuggsjá (King's Mirror), a didactic work prepared by one or several authors, probably for the education of a king's sons, provides some of the earliest known descriptions of sea-creatures (legendary and real) inhabiting northern Atlantic waters. Most of the descriptions give sufficient detail to allow identification with species common in the area today. This article (the second of two articles on Konungs Skuggsjá; see Polar Record, (1985), 23(141): 615–27), presents translated sections of the original text, and possible identifications of 26 species with discussion, notes and comments.

Heard Island, a heavily glacierized volcanic island in the Southern Ocean, is 80% ice-covered, with glaciers descending from 2,400 m to sea level: major glaciers are up to 7 km long with areas exceeding 10 km. Much of the island was photographed from the air in 1947 and again in early 1980. Photographs and limited ground surveys record changes (mostly retreats) in glacier fronts. Retreat is most marked on the eastern flanks where former tidewater glaciers are now grounded inland. Glaciers on northern and windward western flanks still end in ice cliffs but have narrowed; glaciers and ice caps on Laurens Peninsula (maximum elevation 710 m) are up to 65% smaller. Nearby lies Kerguelen and other southern islands with long climatic records have warrned significantly since the early 1960s. Surface and upper-air climatic data from Heard Island 1947–54 and records from automatic weather stations 1980–82 suggest that Heard too has warmed slightly, concurrently with a possible northward shift of low-pressure system tracks in this region. Temperatures have remained above average through the early 1980s and glacier retreat is expected to continue.

In the summer of 1908 the Mission Océanographique Arctique Française sailed from Dunkirk aboard the ketch Jacques Cartier. Sponsored by the Société d'Océanographie du Golfe de Gascogne and led by Charles Bénard, its major aims were to study the fisheries potential of the Barents Sea, to explore Gusinaya Zemlya on the south island of Novaya Zemlya, to chart and sound the bays and straits of that area, to carry out geological investigations, and to make a traverse of Matochkin Shar, which bisects Novaya Zemlya. The expedition established itself at Belush'ya Guba, from where Bénard and his companions explored much of Gusinaya Zemlya and surveyed, sounded and charted the adjacent waters. An attempt at crossing the south island, made by the medical officer Candiotti, was unsuccessful. Later, accompanied by the Russian geologist Vladimir Aleksandrovich Rusanov, Candiotti sailed through Matochkin Shar and made the first crossing of the north island, from Neznayemyy Zaliv to Krestovaya Guba. The expedition ended on rather a sour note: Bénard abandoned his ship and crew at Arkhangel'sk, leaving the organizing committee with the problems of unravelling the mess and repatriating the crew.

Petty Officer Evans was the first member of Captain Scott's party to die during the return journey from the South Pole in January-March 1912. His death has been ascribed to a combination of scurvy and exhaustion. This paper re-examines the evidence provided by Scott's and Wilson's diaries, and concludes that the primary cause of his death was anthrax, contracted from contact with the expedition ponies or their equipment.

Following the founding of the Aardrijkskundig Genootschap [Dutch Geographical Society] in 1873 there was a brief revival of Dutch interest and participation in the Arctic. The schooner Willem Barents, specially built for the purpose, made annual voyages into the European Arctic from 1878 to 1884, placing memorial stones at sites where the Dutch had operated in earlier centuries and collecting scientific data. During the International Polar Year, 1882–83 the Dutch expedition was caught in pack ice and its ship Varna was lost. Thereafter Dutch interest in the Arctic waned, and Willem Barents was sold in 1886.

During World War II the German Navy, trying to compensate for the loss of meteorological data from stations in Greenland, Iceland and other areas of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, established automatic weather stations, weather ships and manned weather stations in a zone stretching from Labrador to Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa. In summer 1944 one of the last of the manned stations (code-named Haudegen) was established on Svalbard at Wordiebukta, Rijpfjorden, Nordaustlandet. A party of 11, led by geographer Dr Wilhelm Dege, collected and transmitted weather data from 14 September 1944 to 5 September 1945; the party also explored and mapped the ice-free corridor extending south across Nordaustlandet to the head of Wahlenbergfjorden and much of the north coast from Kapp Loven east to Finn Malmgrenfjorden. After the German surrender in May 1945 the men of Haudegen found themselves apparently forgotten by Allied authorities in Norway, and began preparing for a second winter. They surrendered ultimately to the captain of the Norwegian sealer Blaasel on 4 September 1945, and were thus the last members of the German armed forces to surrender at the end of World War II.

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.

An index of human ‘survival time outdoors in extreme cold’ (STOEC) has been developed, using body-atmosphere energy budget modelling procedures. The index, which is applicable in places like Antarctica where only limited climatological data are available, is based on the calculated rate of fall of core temperature from 37°C to 27°C of a standard inactive healthy subject in full polar clothing.

Applied to data from 12 Antarctic stations it indicates relative severity of their mean and extreme climatic conditions. The severest winter conditions become lifethreatening after only about 20 minutes. At most stations in winter, exposure outdoors for more than two hours would be dangerous. Conditions at all coastal stations in summer are mildenough to allow a normal core temperature to be maintained. The index has many applications, for example estimating likely survival times of immobilized accident victims and guidelines for duration of work periods outside.

Histories of individual whale fisheries mainly undertaken by Europeans have yet to be written. This article provides an outline history of whaling in the Davis Strait area during the 18th and 19th centuries. Current knowledge is reviewed of whaling west of Greenland by ships from Danish, Dutch and German ports, and from English, American and Scottish ports. The land-based West Greenland whale fishery is also mentioned, and the activities of whalers from France and Spain. In spite of recent national whaling histories of the English, Dutch and Danish industries, quantitative data for the Davis Strait fishery are still virtually non-existent.

Pending land claims by Alaska Natives were extinguished by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. This act marked the culmination of more than 100 years of expressed Federal concern for protection of land rights of aboriginal peoples within the region, starting with the 1867 Treaty of Cession. The Federal legislation provided both a cash and a land settlement, and mandated creation of corporations to manage the resulting assets. Two amendments, in 1976 and 1980, attempted to alleviate certain problems arising from the original act. Nonetheless, many difficulties with the act itself are becoming more apparent as the 1990s approach, and certain sections of the act such as taxation and stock alienation become activated. This paper discusses the major events leading to passage of the act, key provisions of the act, and the major controversies and conflicts facing Alaska Natives through the next two decades as a result of the legislation.

The question of Antarctica was discussed at the United Nations General Assembly in 1985 for the third successive year. While the content of the debates differed little from that of previous years, the discussions resulted in the adoption, by large majorities, of three resolutions in favour of an expanded and up-dated UN Study on Antarctica, the provision of information for the UN on the Antarctic minerals regime negotiations, and the exclusion of South Africa from the Antarctic Treaty System. The Antarctic Treaty powers, favouring no real UN role in Antarctica, stressed the need to maintain the present arrangements and did not participate in the UN votes on the three resolutions. The apparent breakdown of the consensus approach that was characteristic of 1983 and 1984 raises a question for the future; will 1986 witness bridge-building or continuing divisions on the most appropriate way to manage Antarctica in the future?

In Canada's Northwest Territories native peoples constitute the majority of the population, a unique situation which has recently had significant repercussions, national as well as regional, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Native peoples are already playing an increasingly important role politically and economically in the Territories, currently illustrated by a proposed restructuring of the northern political map of Canada. Resolution of Comprehensive Land Claims with the Government of Canada will provide them with a major role in resource development and in policy governing it. At the time that many native peoples are entering into more active participation in modern society, renewed interest that others are showing in aspects of traditional culture creates at least a potential source of friction among them.

Garrow Lake (area 418 ha, greatest depth 47 m), Little Cornwallis Island, NWT, Canada, is the northernmost recorded hypersaline meromictic lake, Covered 11 months annually with ice up to 2.4 m thick and internally stratified, its waters at 20 m reach temperatures of 9.1°C from solar heating throughout the year. Salinity varies from less than 0.01% at the surface to over 75% at the bottom. Isostatic uplift isolated the lake from the sea about 3000 BP. Isotope dating indicates that the bottom water has been unmixed for nearly 2500 years. An advancing permafrost wedge appears to have forced brine from pores in rock strata below the watershed into a talik (chimney) in the lake centre. From November 1981 the lake has received approximately 100 tonnes/hr of mine tailings rich in lead and zinc. Dissolved oxygen introduced along with the slurry may be important in reducing anaerobic photosynthetic bacteria. Biotic diversity is low. Only one vertebrate, Myoxocephalus quadricornis (four-horned sculpin), occurs in the lake. The zooplankton consists of only one species, Limnocalanus macruras; phytoplankton includes 51 taxa dominated by flagellates.

Political development in the north (and elsewhere) often occurs in a context of confrontation and conflict between values of community and stability on one hand and economic growth and change on the other. Indigenous peoples of the north may not be able to resist strong tides of social and economic change—‘development’ toward forms of the dominant social, economic and political institutions—but they can substantially affect the terms of their integration into dominant societies. Alaska Natives seek both autonomy through tribal governments and access to the benefits of dominant institutions. Their ability to achieve and reconcile these purposes is a basic measure of their political development.

This article describes a framework within which an initial strategy could be developed for managing commercial exploitation of marine living resources of the Southern Ocean, particularly of krill and fish, in accordance with Article II of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Quantitative predictions involving multi–species models are needed to assess any indirect impacts of fish or krill exploitation, and also for management to restore depleted populations. This article recommends research to provide the knowledge necessary for the models (identifying key species, estimating their demographic status, and experimental interference), and suggests interim management action to delimit management areas, agree target levels for stock–size, and monitor stocks. Early efforts to model the fishing operation are particularly recommended.

The constitutional development of the Yukon and the Northwest Territories has become a topic which is debated with increasing frequency and by an ever-widening group of participants. Provincial status is seen by many as the logical, ultimate goal. Admission of new provinces to the confederation, previously a rather straightforward process, depends on conditions which the Constitution Act of 1982 has altered. For the first time candidates are now required to be fiscally sound prior to admission. In this paper the circumstances in which Canada's northern territories might become fiscally viable are investigated, using simulation analysis. It is concluded that fiscal viability awaits the development of some of the frontier mega-projects proposed in recent years.