Russian scientists have long been interested in the tundra. M. B. Lomonosov, in 1763, referred to “the places overgrown with mosses, which cover most parts of the Northern Ocean shores, excluding bogs and forests” as tundras. This early definition emphasized, therefore, the proximity of the tundra zone to the Arctic Ocean coast, the predominance of mosses in its vegetational cover (Lomonosov probably included lichens as “mosses”), and the absence of trees. The treelessness of the tundra, its outstanding characteristic, is a fundamental feature in its geography.

The aim of this study was to determine the differences in cellulolytic activity of soils around the coastal lowlands of the southwestern part of Wedel Jarlsberg Land (west Spitsbergen). Two positions (Calypso and Skilvika) representing typical soil types in this area were chosen for investigation. Within the area of Calypso, arctic brown soils formed from loamy sands with a significant addition of coarser gravel and pebble fractions occur. The Skilvika position represents the arctic gley soils of a loamy texture, with significant content of silt, associated with the occurrence of cell grounds created under the strong influence of cryogenic processes. Cellulolytic activity of the soils was determined by a gravimetric method involving estimation of a weight loss of cellulosic material buried in the surface soil horizons. The investigation showed significant differences in the cellulose decomposition rate between the two research locations. The cellulolytic activity of arctic brown soils –0,412–0,656 g*g−1*year−1 during the vegetation season (Olson's k = 0,231–0,563), was twice higher than the activity in the case of Skilvika gley soils –0,185–0,310g*g−1*year−1 during vegetation season (k = 0,089–0,131). This should be attributed, among other factors, to the grain size distribution, thereby determining more favourable water-air conditions of soils within the area of Calypso.

Between the austral summers of 1975–76 and 1979–80 the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) carried out field programmes in geology, geophysics, surveying and mapping, biology and glaciology in Enderby and Kemp lands, Antarctica (Fig 1). The glaciological research consisted of three closely related major projects: the determination of the mass flux across a section of the ice sheet, approximately along the 2 000 m elevation contour between 53°E and 62°E; an investigation of the dynamics and mass balance of the fast flowing outlet glacier streams between longitudes 48°E and 62°E; and a regional survey of the ice thickness and ice surface elevation over the same sector and up to about 250 km inland from the coast.

Following an initiative taken by the Russian Ministry of Natural resources and Ecology and by the Federal Agency of Mineral Resources (Rosnedra) in 2003 international cooperation on compiling a new generation of circum-Arctic geological and geophysical maps (in scale 1: 5 000 000) was undertaken by a consortium of national agencies from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA. The polar stereographic maps include onshore and offshore geological coverage to 60° N. The bedrock map and database was first published in 2008, the geophysical maps were completed in 2010, while a tectonic map is currently in press. The new circum-Arctic maps are formally published under the Comission for the Geological Map of the World (CGMW/CCGM). A metallogenic map and database of the main occurrences of onshore and offshore metal deposits is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

In 1949 the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) began a long-term ecological study of the Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina) at HeardIsland. The biologists devised a method of branding seals for individual recognition (Chittleborough and Ealey, 1953) which has been modified only in detail since then (Carrick and Ingham, 1962a). At Heard Island, pups were branded every year until 1953, but the study here came to an end with the closing of the ANARE station in 1955. At Macquarie Island, pups have been branded every year from 1951 to 1965, giving a sample of individuals of known age and known history.

The Falkland Islands Dependencies are divided into two main groups; the one consisting of South Georgia with its important whaling stations together with the South Orkneys and the South Sandwich Islands, and the other of the South Shetlands and the Graham Land peninsula. Coats Land and other large land areas in the Antarctic continent itself are also included. The Dependencies were the first part of Antarctica to be brought under British control, and are defined in Letters Patent of 1908 and 1917.

This article attempts to locate and briefly describe all the main mining operations that are currently active within the Arctic. In addition, many smaller mining operations, where grouped into recognizable mining districts, are included, as well as some mines which are no longer active. It is beyond the scope of this work to review the potential mineral resources of the Arctic, but where deposits are large, and figure prominently in the literature or have been investigated in detail with a view to future exploitation, they have been included and located on the various maps.

This paper concerns affective relations and unexpected interruptions as the planned expansion of an extractive open-pit mining site gathers momentum. The site is a mountain in Varanger, North Norway, criss-crossed by a sand-coloured meshwork of roads that are part of the current infrastructure of a quartzite quarry. Recently purchased by Chinese investors, the mining company Elkem plans a massive expansion of the operations, which will interrupt a wide range of practices and projects, including the migratory movement of reindeer, as well as their grazing patterns. Known as Giemaš amongst Sámi speakers, the mountain is also alluded to as a site of other powers, manifesting as unexpected accidents. In this article, I explore how the planned expansion evokes this contested site as more than a singular mountain, and how divergent epistemic formations interrupt the making of extractive resources in multiple ways.

Under the influence of a rapidly warming climate, abrupt changes have been observed along the coast of Greenland. This commentary is based on a Japanese research project initiated in 2012, in which we examined the recent changes in the coastal environment and their impacts on human society in Qaanaaq, a village in northwestern Greenland. Initially, our research sought to quantify the mass loss of glaciers and its interaction with the ocean in the Qaanaaq region. Over the course of the project in collaboration with local communities, we soon realised that the changes in glaciers and the ocean directly impacted the ~600 residents of Qaanaaq. We observed natural disasters triggered by climate change. Environmental changes are also important for local economy and industry because loss of sea ice may lead to growth in transportation, tourism and mineral resource exploration. In order to share the results of our study with the Qaanaaq community, and to gain understanding of local and traditional knowledge, we organised an annual meeting in the village every summer since 2016. Our experience demonstrates the critical importance of performing a long-term multidisciplinary study, including participation of the local communities to understand the changing environment, and to contribute to a sustainable future in Qaanaaq.

The number of patents and patent applications related to inventions based on biological material from the Antarctic is increasing. Bioprospecting in the Antarctic is happening with no explicit regulation of property rights or benefit sharing requirements. This leaves patent law as the only legal system to establish exclusive rights to genes, bacteria, and other biological material found in the Antarctic. Patent law is general in form and is applied to all areas of invention with very few adaptations to single fields of innovation. Therefore, it is interesting to identify the issues in patent law in cases in which the biological material from the Antarctic is likely to create challenges or loopholes. The aim of this article is to couple the understanding of this particular legal regime and of biological circumstances in the Antarctic with knowledge of the international patent system for the purpose of contributing to the work of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCMs) regarding bioprospecting in the Antarctic.

Following a recent upsurge of interest in Australia's heritage and association with the Antarctic, plans were formulated in the winter of 1977 to place ashore a small expedition at Cape Denison to assess the state of the various huts left by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) in 1912–13 (Davis, 1919; Mawson, 1915). Particular interest centred on the living and working hut and the party was to make recommendations as to whether it could be either renovated in situ or returned to Australia and re-erected in a place suitable for public viewing. The decision to send a summer expedition was reached after numerous enquiries from sources within Australia and overseas, dating back to a report in 1962 when the first Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) to visit Cape Denison found the hut in need of repair. All records since 1930 report the gradual whittling away of the surface timber, particularly on the windward side, and the gradual shrinking of the tongue and groove pine with which the roof and verandah are clad.

The general effect of pack ice in calming down waves and swell is well known. In the section on ice navigation in the Arctic Pilot, the abrupt smoothing of the sea and the gradual lessening of ordinary ocean swell are noted as good indications of pack ice to windward. In discussing the formation of slush, the Arctic Pilot says “The formation of slush damps down any swell…”, while in discussing the method of entry of a ship into pack ice, the following warning is given: “If the wind is blowing, or a current setting from the open water on to the ice edge, this will be more compact, with a more or less clear-cut outline. On the other hand, if the wind is blowing off the ice, or a current is setting from it towards the open water, the ice edge will be more or less broken and indistinct. It is therefore better to enter the ice from up wind, if possible. When it is necessary to enter the ice down wind, very great care must be exercised on account of the compactness of the edge and the movement of the ice due to waves, which may cause heavy blows against the hull. A combination of these two factors may render the entry difficult, the surge of the ice being especially dangerous if considerable.”

After a brief outline of how mirages are formed in polar regions, this paper discusses several kinds of mirages noted in the literature of polar exploration—those creating illusory land, the Novaya Zemlya effect, longrange visibility and magnification, and multiple images and the Fata Morgana.

When the United States dispatched icebreakers to Proliv Vil'kitskogo [Vil'kitskii Strait] in 1967, the Soviet Union did not allow the vessels to accomplish the passage, basing their refusal on a requirement, provided for in municipal legislation, that warships seek prior authorization. During the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973–82) the USSR reversed this policy: innocent passage was granted in principle to merchant and war vessels alike. This article analyzes whether this fundamental policy change, together with some other novelties in Soviet legislation, substantially influenced the regime applicable to Vil'kitskii Strait. Theoretical considerations would apparently answer this question positively. Actual state practice, though still open to conjecture, points rather in the opposite direction.

Air photographs taken on biological survey flights between 1962 and 1965 have yielded counts of Adelie Penguin breeding colonies at Beaufort Island in the southwestern Ross Sea and Inexpressible Island on the Victoria Land coast (Fig 1). These colonies are remote from expedition bases, seldom visited, and too large for accurate assessment from the ground. Earlier estimates of their size are summarised by Taylor (1964). Methods of estimating colony size are discussed by Caughley (1960) and Taylor (1962). This survey is based on serial black and white photographs taken at optimal times of the breeding cycle; counts are converted to estimates of breeding population size using data from a ground study at the Cape Royds (Fig 1) breeding colony and from known patterns of breeding at other colonies (Sladen, 1958; SapinJaloustre, 1960; Taylor. 1962; Stonehouse. 1963; Reid. 1964).

Emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri are endemic to Antarctica. Their breeding colonies are located in the coastal areas of the continent. The precise number of breeding locations is uncertain. This paper examines what is known about the colonies in the Australian Antarctic Territory and examines which colonies are without doubt breeding locations and which ones require further examination in order to determine their existence and status. Several colonies have not been seen since they were first reported. This begs the question of whether the reported sightings were indeed of breeding colonies. Given the extent of uncertainty with regard to the number of colonies, it is suggested that the listing of the species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature be changed from ‘of least concern’ to ‘data deficient’.

The tenth successive annual UN session on the ‘Question of Antarctica’ took place at the close of 1992. The UN First Committee considered the topic during the week following the close of the Seventeenth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting held at Venice. The passage of yet another resolution critical of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) suggested that little had changed as compared to previous sessions. However, during 1992, UN reports and discussions displayed evidence of a growing acknowledgement of a range of ‘positive’ developments on the part of the ATS, most notably the benefits accruing from the Protocol on Environmental Protection's designation of Antarctica as ‘a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science’ in which mining is prohibited. Significantly, both critics and the German spokesman for the Antarctic Treaty parties (ATPs) — individual ATPs still refused to participate in either the UN discussions or vote because of their belief that the UN has no meaningful role to play in the affairs of a region subject to a valid international legal regime—expressed satisfaction with the concerted approach towards Antarctica embodied in Agenda 21 of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which met at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. As a result, ATPs agreed to ensure that research products were freely available to the international community. In December 1992 the adoption of UN resolution A47/57 reaffirmed the continuing divide between ATPs and other members of the international community regarding the management of Antarctica, even if the UNCED–type formula offers one route back to consensus when the UN takes up the topic again at the close of 1993.