Daily rhythms enable organisms to adapt to daily fluctuations in environmental factors. Do organisms still exhibit 24-h rhythms when living in habitats without obvious daily cycles in external signals? To answer this question, we measured the heart rates of six Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) chicks on Inexpressible Island during the polar day between 15 and 21 January 2019. Averaged heart rates were between 186 and 233 beats/min for individual chicks. Both fast Fourier transformation and autocorrelation were employed to assess the daily rhythmicity. Based on fast Fourier transformation, a significant contribution of daily rhythm in heart rate variation was found only in one individual. Small effect size of significant autocorrelation coefficients was found in two individuals, while there was no significant autocorrelation coefficient for 24-h time lag in four other individuals. In summary, no prevailing daily rhythm of heart rate was found in these Adélie penguin chicks. We propose that the lack of daily rhythm in Adélie penguin chicks could be an adaptation to the local environment in the polar regions, but that the adaptive value thereof remains to be investigated.

“The Question of Icebergs” is a cryo-history (Sörlin, 2015) of Arctic infrastructures: How has ice and snow shaped communication infrastructures in the Arctic by both drawing in and deterring interest in travelling through, connecting with and building in the region? This study follows the case of the 160-year-old plans for “The Northern Route,” a transatlantic telegraph which would have placed Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands at the centre of transatlantic communication in the early 1860s. I draw on Actor-Network Theory and postcolonial studies to trace how notions of the Arctic Sublime, a dependency on “credible ice witnesses,” local ice knowledges and the “politics of comparison” influenced the eventual abandonment of the route, where Arctic territories were (dis)regarded and considered as mere “substrate” for infrastructure. I argue that this cryo-history of Arctic telecommunication infrastructures is an essential contribution to a new socio-technical agenda in cable studies, which shows how established logics about who to connect, and where, still influence infrastructural development in the region today.

Throughout the past two decades, the number of studies examining the adaptive capacity of Arctic communities in the context of climate change has been increasing; however, little is known about Arctic communities’ ability to adapt to certain emerging changes, such as increased shipping activity. To address this knowledge gap, this study systematically analyses published scientific articles on community adaptive capacity in circumpolar Arctic, including articles published in Russian which may not be captured in English-only reviews. Throughout this review, the study focuses on three areas: the development of the adaptive capacity framework; the conditions that enable community adaption abilities; and the extent to which shipping developments are addressed in the literature. This study demonstrates that the adaptive capacity framework has been significantly developed both theoretically and methodologically and is broadly used to address new types of climatic and non-climatic changes. Though the impacts from the shipping development are discussed in some studies, there is a clear need for further examination of coastal communities’ ability to adapt to such changes. Additionally, the study reveals limitations in the application of the Western conceptual terminology when exploring community-based research by Russian scholars.

This paper develops an argument on the empathetic relationship between hunter and prey, as applied to the relations between small-scale fishers and fish. Drawing on ethnographic material from the Kemi River, and recent work on fishing, it suggests that although fishers often do not see the fish, they know their whereabouts and movements through an empathetic engagement with the fish. People on the Kemi do not see fish as merely the animal itself, but include in their empathetic relationship the behaviour and environment of the fish. An analysis of popular fishing techniques used subsequently illustrates that they represent what can be called an inversion of the fish's life story.

During the eight years I spent in the Arctic, I have experimented with a variety of clothing, but in neither winter nor summer have I found any more suitable than that worn by the present-day Eskimos in districts where caribou are still plentiful. From 1938 to 1941 we prepared all our own skins, and my wife made all the skin clothing excepting the seal-skin boots. The descriptions are primarily intended to give practical information on clothing to travellers in Arctic regions. For this reason we have made no attempt to discuss women's clothing. My wife adopted men's clothing because of its superior convenience, and because it requires less material. Women's clothing is made with a view both of being different from the men's and of accommodating the baby, always carried on the back. Except as otherwise indicated, both the clothing and the methods of preparation here described are those of the Eskimos of Baffin Island, Melville Peninsula, Southampton Island, and the coastal region from Repulse Bay to Chesterfield Inlet; and where mention is made of “the Eskimos”, the reference is to those of these regions only.

The economic foundation of Alaska is not sufficiently broad and diversified to be secure. For twenty years past, the economy has been bolstered by heavy expenditures of federal funds, first on the building and manning of large military installations, more recently on the building and manning of DEW-line and BMEWS radar sites. But in the last few years, finding expenditure of military money within the State much reduced, Alaskan businessmen and legislators have become increasingly eager to secure the interest of other agencies capable of investing large sums in programmes of construction and development.

The ‘Tundra Conference’, held in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1969 focussed public attention on the need for strong conservation measures in northern regions at a time when the extent and potential impact of non-renewable resource exploration was becoming readily apparent. A number of contributions were concerned with ‘what has happened and what is happening to specific tundra areas and what should be done and what is being done to prevent further degradation of the land’ (Fuller and Kevan, 1970). The Canadian government responded by making what amounted to a major shift in its northern lands policy. To a system of land management concerned principally with the administration of surface and sub-surface rights, concomitant with vigorous economic development, the government added a managed use component—the protection of the land surface through the regulation of resource exploration activity (Naysmith, 1970). The ‘Tundra Conference’ marked the beginning of a decade of public debate on land management and the development of a strong, regulatory regime.

The Antarctic Peninsula, the islands rising from the Scotia Ridge, and the Falkland Islands are a key area for biologists interested in the origin, relationships, and adaptations of the Antarctic flora and fauna. Of all Antarctic regions, furthermore, this has perhaps been the most intensively studied. The pioneer observations of J. R. and J. G. Forster during Cook's circumnavigation in 1772–75, and of James Eights in 1833 (Caiman, 1937), supplemented by the less systematic accounts of those engaged in early nineteenth-century sealing and whaling voyages (Weddell, 1825; Allen, 1899) paved the way for the thorough scientific programmes of more modern expeditions. The first of these, the Belgica expedition under de Gerlache, 1897–99, yielded much general information and brought back an apterous fly {Belgica antarctica),the first higher insect to be discovered in the true Antarctic. Soon afterwards, the Swedish South Polar Expedition led by Nordenskjold, 1901–04, brought to the Antarctic an outstanding botanist, the late C. J. F. Skottsberg, whose botanical researches on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic themes were to last for over half a century (Skottsberg, 1963). During the following decade the two French expeditions led by Charcot, 1903–05 and 1908–10, contributed important microbiological and ornithological information, and in 1902–04 the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition under Bruce made the first study of the South Orkney Islands and provided a general evaluation of botanical and biogeographical problems (Rudmose Brown, 1912). All these expeditions made general collections of flora and fauna which revealed that the Antarctic Peninsula and its adjacent islands were the richest area, biologically speaking, of the whole Antarctic region. Farther north, the Swedish Magellanic Expedition, led by Skottsberg in 1907–09, provided what is still the only published account of the vegetation of the Falkland Islands and information vital to the evaluation of biogeographical relationships between the Scotia Ridge, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Magellanic region of South America. Skottsberg (1912) also described the vegetation of South Georgia, where pioneer work had been done by Will during the German International Polar Year expedition, 1882–83. The botanical work on this island, up to 1964, has recently been comprehensively reviewed by Greene (1964a).

Anchor ice. All submerged ice attached to the bottom irrespective of the nature of its formation.Barrier ice, or Shelf ice. A form of land ice or land ice afloat, produced by an accumulation of horizontal layers of snow which has reached the intermediate opaque névé or firn stage before passing into true glacier ice. Portions of the barrier break off to form tabular bergs.

The 1845 British polar expedition in search of a northwest passage through the Canadian Arctic under the command of Sir John Franklin resulted in the greatest loss of life event in the history of polar exploration. The names of the 129 officers and crew who sailed and died on the catastrophic voyage are known, but the identification of their skeletons found scattered along the route of their attempted escape is problematic. Here, we report DNA analyses from skeletal remains from King William Island, where the majority of the expedition fatalities occurred, and from a paternal descendant of a member of the expedition. A match was found between an archaeological sample and a presumed descendant sample using Y-chromosome haplotyping. We conclude that DNA and genealogical evidence confirm the identity of the remains as those of Warrant Officer John Gregory, Engineer, HMS Erebus. This is the first member of the 1845 Franklin expedition whose identity has been confirmed through DNA and genealogical analyses.

The steam barque Danmark, used on Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen's expedition to northeast Greenland (1906–08), was originally a Scottish whaler named Sir Colin Campbell, built in 1855 in Sunderland. After nine years of whaling out of Peterhead, in 1865 Sir Colin Campbell started the transportation of cryolite from the mines of Ivigtut in southwest Greenland to the United States and several European ports. This trade lasted for 103 years, until 1968. In the early 1870s, the ship was sold to Norwegian owners, renamed Magdalena, fitted with a steam-engine, and used as part of the Tønsberg sealing fleet. In 1894 she was the ship in which Roald Amundsen made his first voyage to the Arctic. In 1905 Magdalena was chartered by the estate of William Ziegler for a relief expedition to Bass Rock, northeast Greenland, to search for members of the Fiala-Ziegler expedition. The next year she was sold to the Danmark-Expedition and renamed Danmark. The main task for the expedition was to survey the coast from 77°N to Independence Bay, an area that was completely unknown. In addition to geographical exploration, much ethnographical, ornithological, zoological, hydrographical, meteorological, and botanical work was carried out on the expedition. In 1909, Danmark was sold to the mining company Grønlandske Minedrifts Aktieselskab of Copenhagen. She made voyages every year to Greenland, returning with copper and graphite. In 1916 she was chartered by the American Museum of Natural History to bring home the members of the Crocker Land Expedition. When in December 1917 she returned to Denmark, her captain did not know that, in their two years' absence, the coastal signals had been changed due to conditions in World War I. Danmark grounded off Høganes, Sweden; condemned, she was sold to a breaker's yard, and her masts, sails, engine, and other fittings were sold at auction the following year.

The Arctic region is commonly seen as a territory of international dialogue and cooperation. This perception is largely due to the science diplomacy efforts that are largely being contributed by universities, scientific centres, research teams and individual scholars. This paper discusses the Arctic science diplomacy initiatives proposed by Russia’s northernmost federal university. Of particular interest is the case of establishing in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation of national biological monitoring network – the initiative supported by the government-funded mega-grant programme. Our analysis suggests that two pillars of science diplomacy – “science for diplomacy” and “diplomacy for science” – can be successfully combined within the framework of one project. Evidence is provided of the pursuit of national interests being not a limiting factor but rather a driver in the process of promoting diplomatic collaborations in science, serving as a third science diplomacy pillar. Significant progress towards ensuring peace and harmony in the Arctic and sustaining international dialogue on science-based responses to global challenges has been achieved through science diplomacy initiatives proposed by Northern (Arctic) Federal University (NArFU). The authors confirm that most effective tools for establishing good neighbourly relations in the Arctic and promoting international cooperation are offered by scientific discussion.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott's plan for the attempt to reach the South Pole during the Terra Nova Expedition was to use horses, motorised sledges and dog teams to lay depots on the Ross Ice Shelf to advance the effective starting point for the three man-hauling groups to the foot of the Beardmore Glacier. His idea was that two of the groups would turn back after two and four weeks, after depositing supplies for the final polar party to rely on during the return journey. In this paper, the logic of the mathematical ‘jeep problem’ is applied to derive the theoretically optimal points at which the support parties should have turned back in order to optimise the relationship between distance and consumption of supplies. The results show that, according to this model, Scott took both his support parties along too far, especially the last support party under Lieutenant E.R.G.R. ‘Teddy’ Evans.

The article discusses how promising outlooks and favourable memories of past and distant mining ventures are employed in the view of a mine in spe. The study utilises interview quotes and written narratives pertaining to a case of mine development in Swedish Pajala and neighbouring Finnish Kolari (the Northland project 2004–2014), located above the Arctic Circle, for explicating this. Its theoretical framework includes the concept of minescape and the ideas of past presences and anticipated futures, which support capturing (the temporality of) the sociocultural and discursive dimensions of mining alongside with its physicality. Previous and distant experiences with mines appeared readily abstracted and brought into the current debate, forgetting about contexts, that is, about any historical or geographical contingencies. This kind of temporal and spatial referencing is seen to represent an imaginative practice which, as it is argued, gains an enhanced role in tandem with the increasing market dependency and volatility of the extractive business. By attending to the meaning-making based on remembering, and forgetting, in the context of experiences made with mining in the past or elsewhere, the article contributes to our understanding of the present-day role of mining heritage.

Indigenous peoples throughout the circumpolar north have made significant progress in terms of securing self-determination through greater political autonomy. Although such change is important, it must be accompanied by greater economic control aimed at reducing state dependencies. Using an analytical framework developed by Norwegian political scientist, Stein Rokkan, this article explores the interplay between economy, territory, and identity among the Inuit in Canada and the Sámi in Norway. It reveals that the economic destinies of both groups have been profoundly influenced by both domestic and international factors that determine the focus and type of economic development they undertake. While the Inuit have pursued a balance of modern and traditional forms of economic development that is grounded in a regionally based model of self-rule, the Sámi have opted for an economic development model that emphasises traditional economic activities and is supported by Norway’s international commitments to the rights of Indigenous peoples.