Twenty years of British polar expeditions are described, covering nearly 60 expeditions and over 260 members, virtually all emanating from the universities. Expeditions are catalogued with the official name (if any), dates, areas visited, leader's name, number of members, and mentioning any special features. Backgrounds and principal characteristics of the expeditions are described, particularly scientific objectives and details of members, including distinctions in their later careers. The record includes four deaths, all in the summer and three from drowning, and a single rescue operation of an aircraft by a motor boat. Scientific results are outlined, with main emphasis on the author's speciality (surveying and mapping); hope is expressed that others will describe the other scientific results in future articles. Most expeditions were characterized by absence of publicity, and the virtual impossibility of rescue operations due to isolation and lack of field radio transmitters and aircraft.

Distribution, size composition and behaviour of Euphausia superba were investigated in the northwestern Weddell Sea (59–63°S, 45–52°W) in October-November 1988 using RMT trawling, SCUBA diving and visual examination of the ice undersurface using a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV). Amounts of krill washed onto the ice during ice-breaking along transects were noted. Juvenile and sub-adult krill were found, often in high numbers, in association with seasonal pack-ice, from the outer marginal ice zone to at least 200 nautical miles [3 50 km] into the closed pack-ice zone. Krill caught with the RMT or observed within or close to the ice usually had full guts. They were frequently seen feeding on ice algae, and seemed to concentrate in pressure zones, melting ice and infiltration layers, ie where ice provided both confining crevices and rich algal growth. During twilight numbers of krill increased in open water close to the ice, though ROV observations at night revealed even greater numbers remaining in ice cavities. Direct observations from deck, by divers and by ROV, confirmed that most of the krill population in the uppermost water layer was confined to ice habitats, though in three out of 20 RMT catches krill reached densities of 0.1 nr3 ie normal summer values. ‘Miniswarms’ forming in early November may indicate seasonal transition of at least part of the krill population from winter ice habitat and grazing on ice-algae, to summer pelagic life and filter-feeding on phytoplankton.

In June and July 1914 DiamondJenness.amember of Stefansson's Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–18, excavated 103 archaeological features in three abandoned native villages originally inhabited 400 to 550 years ago on Barter Island and nearby Arey Island, northern Alaska. His notes, diagrams, and some 3300 specimens for long remained unstudied. Recently they have been shown to provide much of the available information on the prehistoric occupation of the western Beaufort Sea coast.

This article describes the natural history of a large colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes for steri, its size, dispersal pattern of chicks, and associations with other bird and mammal species. A mid-season count of 19,364 chicks indicated that about 20–25,000 breeding pairs had been present in June and July. The colony was fragmented into several sub-groups which showed different mean sizes of chicks and survival to fledging. Other species observed included leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx, the only major predators, which preyed heavily on both adults and fledging chicks. Fledgelings left the colony over a period of about 10 days; departure was an active process in which the chicks walked to the ice edge and dispersed in groups, swimming consistently southward. At this time they were still in about 60% down and weighed about 10 kg, having lost some 30% of the heaviest mass achieved during parental feeding.

This article describes the main characteristics of the Greenlandic economy in the 1980s and the aims of the country's Home Rule Government in regard to fisheries policy and economic development. The strategy adopted by the Home Rule Government is presented and evaluated, in terms both of economic theory and of results. Greenland's problems are similar to those of other developing countries, but intensified by its Arctic location, communications problems, a vulnerable resource base and harsh operating conditions inits fisheries, also by its colonial and post-colonial history which has fuelled aspirations towards a high standard of living and given rise to high import demands. Difficulties encountered point towards a modification of the aims and policies of the government, including adoption of a less ambitious approach, focusing upon satisfying basic social and economic needs, and avoiding the mistakes made by the Danish administration in the 1960s and 1970s, which led to alienation of segments of the population from the process of development.