Scott Base was built in the summer of 1956/7 at Pram Point, Ross Island, initially to provide accommodation for the Ross Sea Support Party of the Commonwealth Transantarctic Expedition (NZ TAE) and for the New Zealand International Geophysical Year Antarctic Expedition (NZ IGY). It has generally been accepted that it was built primarily by and for the Ross Sea Support Party. This is reflected in naming one of the last, conserved, original huts (Hut A) after the NZ TAE and also in ignoring the existence of the other original huts (Hut G and H) still in use. The contribution of the NZ IGY programme to Scott Base (SB) has received little recognition. Furthermore, SB provided a presence in the Ross Dependency to support the New Zealand claimant position. The specifications for the base buildings were developed by a joint committee from both expeditions with final design by the Ministry of Works of the New Zealand Government. The base was constructed and largely paid for by the New Zealand Government. This note briefly reviews what occurred during the conception, design, construction and payment for the base.

Drawing on an ethnographic survey in Svalbard before and during the coronavirus outbreak, this commentary reflects on the multiple dimensions of fieldwork highlighted by the pandemic. Firstly, the cancellation of many field campaigns has revealed the decisive role of personnel inhabiting scientific bases in the maintenance of scientific activities in Svalbard. Automatic and remote-controlled instruments are autonomous only in appearance as the crucial phases of data acquisition often call for human presence. Secondly, airborne remote sensing can be perceived as a response to fill data gaps. Although embedded in a long history, the use of remote sensed data has taken on a new meaning in the context of the pandemic. Finally, the fact that several researchers endeavour to go to the field whatever the travel conditions underlines a certain need of being in Svalbard as well as limitations of science performed remotely.

Distributions of gymnosomatous pteropods, Spongiobranchaea australis and Clione antarctica, were determined at six sites along a latitudinal gradient in western Antarctica Peninsula shelf waters using vertically stratified trawls. Hydrographic data were collected at the same sites with conductivity-temperature-depth casts, and correlations of explanatory variables to gymnosome distributions were determined using statistical analyses performed in Matlab, a high level programming software to conduct numerical computation and visualisation. Explanatory variables included sampling site, latitude, longitude and depth, seawater temperature, salinity and density, Southern Ocean Antarctic Surface Water, Winter Water, Upper Circumpolar Deep Water and warm transitional waters, as well as oceanographic remote sensing data for coloured dissolved organic matter, chlorophyll a concentration, normalised fluorescence line height, nighttime sea surface temperature, photosynthetically active radiation, particulate inorganic carbon, particulate organic carbon, daytime sea surface temperature and daily sea ice concentration. Hydrographic data revealed that warmer water masses were prevalent along the western Antarctic Peninsula, and the distributions of both gymnosome species were primarily influenced by water masses, temperature, sampling site and latitude. As a consequence, distributional shifts of gymnosomes are predicted in response to the current warming trends.

In 1921, when Sir Ernest Shackleton was planning his circum-Antarctic expedition on the R.Y.S. Quest, he was eager to appoint a suitably qualified young person as a cabin boy or deck hand. He expressed great admiration for the Boy Scout Movement and its founder, Sir Robert Baden-Powell. Discussions between them led to Shackleton advertising for a Boy Scout to accompany him on the expedition, believing that the experience would greatly benefit the youngster's character, as well as providing much positive publicity for the expedition. He selected two young Scouts but, while much has been written about James Marr, no account has been written about the younger boy, Norman Mooney. This is because he was unable to cope with continuous seasickness and had to return home after only four weeks at sea. This account provides some little-known detail about Mooney and why he was selected, and about Shackleton's sensitive recruiting procedure.

The insulin responsive glucose transporter, GLUT4 is found predominantly in muscle and adipose cells. Maratou and others (2007) reported that there is GLUT4 in white blood cells (WBC) collected from human subjects in response to insulin activation. This study was designed to validate the presence of GLUT4 in white blood cells of sled dogs and furthermore to investigate whether changes in levels of the GLUT4 protein might be associated with aging. Additionally, we examined the blood insulin concentration of two populations of dogs, young and old, before and after a meal to observe their insulin response. It is documented in skeletal muscle that GLUT4 expression is increased as a result of conditioning, making sled dogs an excellent model in the circumpolar north for studying the effects of exercise, nutrition and diabetes (Felsburg 2002; Kararli 2006). Blood was withdrawn from 11 healthy sled dogs: 6 young (1–5 years) and physically fit, conditioned for racing and 5 old (7–13 years), retired from racing. The insulin response was determined using blood plasma and ELISA. The buffy coat (containing WBC) was collected with a glass pipette after centrifugation and washed and suspended in 1x phosphate buffer. GLUT4 was measured using ELISA kits (USCN Life Sciences). The results validate that GLUT4 is present in white blood cells in sled dogs. Age had no significant effect in the concentration of GLUT4 between the populations of old and young dogs. A significant difference in insulin levels pre and post meal in young (0.13 ± 0.03 ng/mL (pre), 0.22 ± 0.04 ng/mL (post), p < 0.05) and old (0.13 ± 0.02 ng/mL (pre), 0.22 ± 0.03 ng/mL (post), p < 0.05) dogs was observed, displaying the typical postprandial insulin spike. No significant difference was found in insulin concentration comparing old versus young dogs. Our data shows that white blood cells in young (40.4 ± 2.4 ng/mL) and old (35.3 ± 8.8 ng/mL) sled dogs have quantifiable but non-significant different GLUT4 levels (p > 0.05). Detecting GLUT4 via an ELISA in white blood cells, opens up minimally invasive avenues for studying the underlying molecular mechanisms associated with insulin resistance in more complex, dynamic and physiological systems. This project was the first step in developing a protocol for this simple, technique with a potential clinical application for diagnosing insulin resistance.

Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition famously did not succeed in traversing the Antarctic continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. It was, nevertheless, an enterprise that engaged the interest of New Zealanders and the rest of the British Empire even as World War I was being fought. When one of the expedition ships, Aurora, broke from her moorings soon after arrival in McMurdo Sound and drifted trapped in pack ice for months, the construction of a temporary jury rudder while still at sea enabled her crew to make their way to Port Chalmers, Dunedin for more extensive repairs in 1916. This paper discusses interactions between the Otago Museum staff and the crew of Aurora while she was in port, the offer of the replaced jury rudder to the museum, and reflects on the concerns and interests that might have contributed to the offer and its rejection.

Visual documenters made a major contribution to the recording of the Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration. By far the best known were the professional photographers, Herbert Ponting and Frank Hurley, hired to photograph British and Australasian expeditions. But a great number of images – photographs and artworks – were also produced by amateurs on lesser known European expeditions and a Japanese one. These amateurs were sometimes designated official illustrators, often scientists recording their research. This paper offers a discursive examination of illustrations from the Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897–1899), German Deep Sea Expedition (1898–1899), German South Polar Expedition (1901–1903), Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901–1903), French Antarctic Expedition (1903–1905) and Japanese Antarctic Expedition (1910–1912), assessing their representations of exploration in Antarctica in terms of the tension between emotive/aesthetic and systematic analytic/scientific motifs. Their depictions were influenced by their illustrative skills and their ‘ways of seeing’, produced from their backgrounds and the sponsorship needs of the expedition.

A recently-discovered financial balance sheet, accounting for the first four years’ transactions of the Hull Whale Fishery Company (1754–1757), adds detail to present knowledge of British Arctic whaling economics during the early years of the industry. This article summarises previously-known information on the Company and its four ships, and provides transcripts of the balance sheet covering the profits and losses of the early voyages. Based on tabulated details from the transcripts, and additional data from Customs records and muster rolls, it discusses ships, crews, voyages, catches and expenses, the products of oil and baleen, and the profits derived from them. It makes brief comparisons with similar data from Bristol and Exeter in the formative years of the industry, and draws attention to the key significance of the 40 shilling (£2) bounty during the early years.

The objective of this research was to determine the number of people using the Ross Island recreational walking tracks, and to examine the relationships between the number of users, track morphological characteristics, and soil physiochemical properties. Infrared track counters provided 2-years of data on five walking tracks on the island. Track width and track incision were measured and soil sampling in the vicinity of the track counter and an adjacent control site was undertaken. Between January 2009 and January 2011 5084 passes were recorded on the Scott Base to McMurdo Station walking track, 2842 on the Wind Vane Hill walking track, 3561 on the Round Observation Hill walking track, 10936 on the Up Observation Hill track, and 693 on the Crater Hill summit walking track. There were more users on all tracks in the 2010–2011 summer season than the 2009–2010 summer season. The highest frequency of visitors occurred on Sundays during the summer (November to January). There was no relationship between the number of passes on the track and the measured impact indicators. This indicates that higher usage of a formed track had little cumulative impact. Track width and incision were related to the slope of the terrain, with tracks traversing flatter areas generally wider (R2 = 0.85) and less incised (R2 = 0.96), than those traversing steeper hillsides. There were no significant differences between tracks and control samples in soil pH, soil EC, organic C, total N, and total P. However, soil bulk density was higher in the walking tracks than adjacent control areas (p < 0.05).

In 1931, the Hudson's Bay Company cargo steamer, SS Baychimo, was trapped in sea ice and abandoned in the Chukchi Sea off the northern coast of Alaska. Large amounts of scientific and navigational instruments and gear and personal items were left aboard, among them an ethnographic collection gathered in 1930 from Inuit groups in the Canadian Arctic by Richard Sterling Finnie. The ship was boarded several times over the next three years with items being salvaged by locals from nearby Wainwright and Barrow. In 1933, crew and passengers from MS Trader, a small trading vessel from Nome, boarded the abandoned ship and recovered several of Finnie's ethnological specimens. In 1934, Peter Palsson, crewmember of Trader, gave several ethnological specimens to members of the United States Department of the Interior-Alaska College Archaeological Expedition. That year, the Baychimo collection was accessioned to the nascent University of Alaska Museum (now, the University of Alaska Museum of the North). For over 80 years, the collection's relationships with Finnie, the Baychimo, and Palsson remained obscure, and its historical significance has just been rediscovered. This paper describes the collection and the path it took from the Baychimo to the University of Alaska Museum.

Recent records of increasing temperature, melting of sea-ice, retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, increasing sea levels, and increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events provide clear evidence of global climate change, particularly in the Arctic. The impacts of climate change are not only environmental, but also influence social, economic, psychological, and political conditions in the region. The confluence of these conditions emphasises the need for improved communication of climate information and formulation of ethical responses to address changes in the Arctic. This review explores the meaning of ethical communication followed by an overview of the barriers to ethical communication including uncertainties related to climate change, and constructions of varying interpretations of climate change due to discipline-specific perspectives of science, journalism, and law, in the Arctic. The final section of this paper summarises key elements of ethical communication, and integration of ethical principles in formulating decision-making strategies to address climate change in the Arctic.

Poa annua is the only flowering plant species that has established a breeding population in the maritime Antarctic, through repeated anthropogenic introduction. The first appearance of this species in the Antarctic was observed in 1953. Annual bluegrass inhabits mainly anthropogenic sites, but recently has entered tundra communities. The functioning of P. annua in the Antarctic could not have been possible without adaptations that enable the plants to persist in the specific climatic conditions typical for this zone. Poa annua is highly adaptable to environmental stress and unstable habitats: huge phenotypic and genotypic variability, small size, plastic life cycle (life-history types ranging from annual to perennial forms). The spreading of P. annua in the Antarctic Peninsula region is a classic example of the expansion process following anthropogenic introduction of an invasive species, and illustrates the dangers to Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems that are associated with increasing human traffic.

The small population of Weddell seals at Larsen Harbour, South Georgia, is isolated from the rest of the species and is unique because nearly all pups are born on land rather than on sea-ice. Observations of seals in Larsen Harbour during the breeding season are summarised. These have been infrequent until cruise ships started to visit. With often only a single observation in a year, accurate estimates of pup production are impossible but it appears that the population has decreased over the last three decades.