Polar Research (E-Journal)
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Perspective: Qanuqtuurniq - finding the balance: an IPY television series using community engagement
No full textThe three-part television broadcast Qanuqtuurniq - finding the balance was an International Polar Year communications and outreach project concerning Inuit health and wellness. The goal of this project was to engage the Inuit public and others in ‘‘real-time’’ dialogue about health and wellness issues and health research, and to deliver key messages. It was aired live in the Inuit language (with English captions/sub-titles) from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, in May 2009 and simultaneously webcast. Qanuqtuurniq - finding the balance used an Inuit communications model for remote communities that was developed in the Arctic in 1994 by the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation/Inuit Communications. In Qanuqtuurniq - finding the balance more than 250 people were engaged through the use of a diverse range of methods, including content working groups, stakeholder input, music recordings, pre-recorded community programme videos, live and public screening of the broadcasts, live panels, live audiences, public phone-ins, Skype video-conferencing and real-time online chat, focus groups and e-mail. This article examines the project in light of the principles of ‘‘community engagement’’, demonstrating that Qanuqtuurniq - finding the balance exemplifies community engagement in a number of significant ways, including heavily involving community members in the selection of the health theme content of the televised programmes and through the formation of focus groups. Based on challenges encountered during the Qanuqtuurniq - finding the balance project, the article offers recommendations for future projects.Keywords: Inuit communications model; community engagement; indigenous health and wellness; knowledge translation; social change; communications tools(Published: 31 December 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 11514, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.1151
Review of A woman in the polar night, by Christiane Ritter, translated by Jane Degras and with an introduction by Lawrence Millman
No full textLike many other first-time Arctic explorers Austrian Christiane Ritter (1897–2000) claims to have been inspired by the reports of others. In her case she decided to travel to Spitsbergen after reading the diaries written and sent to her by her husband Hermann, who had spent three winters there as a hunter–trapper. A woman in the polar night, Ritter’s eloquent account of her experiences while overwintering with him in Gråhuken on Wijdefjorden in the mid-1930s, also has the form of a journal. Apart from an introductory chapter sketching the background of her journey, and underscoring her own complete ignorance of what she had in store, it is written mainly in a continual present tense. This allows the reader to follow her evolving perspective on life in the Far North – as well as on European culture viewed from a distance that gradually becomes mental as well as geographical. The book is therefore full of firsts: from “the first glimmerings of the relentless nature of the Arctic”, to her first experience, towards the end of her stay, of sharing her husband’s “hunting fever”.
(Published: 14 October 2011)
Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 9801, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.980
Review of The great ocean of truth, by Peter Wadhams
No full textHudson-70 was an epic voyage by the Canadian research oceanographic ship CSS Hudson from 19 November 1969 to 16 October 1970. This major expedition was similar in scope to the Eltanin Southern Ocean cruises and the earlier Discovery and Meteor expeditions. It was, however, the first to focus on, and successfully complete, a circumnavigation of the Americas. The vessel carried out multidisciplinary scientific observations in the North and South Atlantic, Antarctic, Pacific and Arctic oceans and at that time was only the sixth ship to traverse the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Archipelago. It encountered polar sea ice and icebergs at the distal extremes of its voyage.(Published: 7 January 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 5909, doi: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.590
At-sea observations of the spring migration and pair bonding of ivory gulls (Pagophila eburnea) around Svalbard and East Greenland
No full textBecause of logistical constraints little previous information exists on ivory gulls (Pagophila eburnea) in the waters around Svalbard and the east coast of Greenland in late winter/early spring. The Swedish Arctic Ocean 2002 expedition investigated these areas at that time of year and in this paper I report on the observations of ivory gulls made during the expedition. The ivory gull was essentially absent from open waters but was the most common seabird in areas with pack ice, showing behavioural differences depending on local conditions. Generally, the number of ivory gulls was low when there was little plankton in the water. Ivory gulls followed the ship depending on the availability of food items in the wake and also depending on competition from other species, particularly glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus). Although ivory gulls were present in most of Fram Strait and the northern part of the East Greenland Current during 6 and 19 May, sightings were few and correlated to the amount of plankton in the water. Aggregations of several hundred were seen on the ice where copulation and other social interaction took place. A previously undescribed pair bonding behaviour during which females seemed to select between two competing males was observed north of Svalbard on 30 April - 1 May. Off Scoresby Sound on 25 May, more than 700 birds were seen migrating north, while farther south along the Greenland coast on 30 May there was little indication of migration although many ivory gulls were seen. Keywords: Ivory gull; Pagophila eburnea; mate selection; pair bonding; feeding behaviour; inter-species competition (Published: 22 March 2011) Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 6421, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.642
Spring phytoplankton onset after the ice break-up and sea-ice signature (Adélie Land, East Antarctica)
No full textThe phytoplankton onset following the spring ice break-up in Adélie Land, East Antarctica, was studied along a short transect, from 400 m off the continent to 5 km offshore, during the austral summer of 2002. Eight days after the ice break-up, some large colonial and solitary diatom cells, known to be associated with land-fast ice and present in downward fluxes, were unable to adapt in ice-free waters, while some other solitary and short-colony forming taxa (e.g., Fragilariopsis curta, F. cylindrus) did develop. Pelagic species were becoming more abundant offshore, replacing the typical sympagic (ice-associated) taxa. Archaeomonad cysts, usually associated with sea ice, were recorded in the surface waters nearshore. Rough weather restricted the data set, but we were able to confirm that some microalgae may be reliable sea-ice indicators and that seeding by sea ice only concerns a few taxa in this coastal area of East Antarctica. Keywords: Ice break-up; phytoplankton; sea-ice signature; East Antarctica (Published: 10 January 2011) Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 5910, doi: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.591
Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions
No full textThe contamination of polar regions with mercury that is transported from lower latitudes as inorganic mercury has resulted in the accumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) in food chains, risking the health of humans and wildlife. While production of MeHg has been documented in polar marine and terrestrial environments, little is known about the responsible transformations and transport pathways and the processes that control them. We posit that as in temperate environments, microbial transformations play a key role in mercury geochemical cycling in polar regions by: (1) methylating mercury by one of four proposed pathways, some not previously described; (2) degrading MeHg by activities of mercury resistant and other bacteria; and (3) carrying out redox transformations that control the supply of the mercuric ion, the substrate of methylation reactions. Recent analyses have identified a high potential for mercury-resistant microbes that express the enzyme mercuric reductase to affect the production of gaseous elemental mercury when and where daylight is limited. The integration of microbially mediated processes in the paradigms that describe mercury geochemical cycling is therefore of high priority especially in light of concerns regarding the effect of global warming and permafrost thawing on input of MeHg to polar regions.Keywords: Microbiology; mercury biogeochemistry; redox transformations; polar regions; methylation(Published: 28 December 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 15469, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.1546
Implications of meltwater pulse events for soil biology and biogeochemical cycling in a polar desert
No full textThe McMurdo Dry Valleys are one of the most arid environments on Earth. Over the soil landscape for the majority of the year, biological and ecosystem processes in the dry valleys are constrained by the low temperatures and limited availability of water. The prevalence of these physical limitations in controlling biological and ecosystem processes makes the dry valleys a climatesensitive system, poised to experience substantial changes following projected future warming. Short-duration increases in summer temperatures are associated with pulses of water from melting ice reserves, including glaciers, snow and permafrost. Such pulses alter soil geochemistry by mobilizing and redistributing soil salts (via enhanced weathering, solubility and mobility), which can alter habitat suitability for soil organisms. Resulting changes in soil community composition or distribution may alter the biogeochemical processes in which they take part. Here, we review the potential impacts of meltwater pulses and present new field data documenting instances of meltwater pulse events that result from different water sources and hydrological patterns, and discuss their potential influence on soil biology and biogeochemistry. We use these examples to discuss the potential impacts of future climate change on the McMurdo Dry Valley soil ecosystem.Keywords: Water pulse; climate change; polar desert; International Polar Year; discrete warming events; soil biogeochemistry(Published: 19 December 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 14555, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.1455
Evaluation of simulated sea-ice concentrations from sea-ice/ ocean models using satellite data and polynya classification methods
No full textSea-ice concentrations in the Laptev Sea simulated by the coupled North Atlantic—Arctic Ocean—Sea-Ice Model and Finite Element Sea-Ice Ocean Model are evaluated using sea-ice concentrations from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer—Earth Observing System satellite data and a polynya classification method for winter 2007/08. While developed to simulate largescale sea-ice conditions, both models are analysed here in terms of polynya simulation. The main modification of both models in this study is the implementation of a landfast-ice mask. Simulated sea-ice fields from different model runs are compared with emphasis placed on the impact of this prescribed landfast-ice mask. We demonstrate that sea-ice models are not able to simulate flaw polynyas realistically when used without fast-ice description. Our investigations indicate that without landfast ice and with coarse horizontal resolution the models overestimate the fraction of open water in the polynya. This is not because a realistic polynya appears but due to a larger-scale reduction of ice concentrations and smoothed ice-concentration fields. After implementation of a landfast-ice mask, the polynya location is realistically simulated but the total open-water area is still overestimated in most cases. The study shows that the fast-ice parameterization is essential for model improvements. However, further improvements are necessary in order to progress from the simulation of large-scale features in the Arctic towards a more detailed simulation of smaller-scaled features (here polynyas) in an Arctic shelf sea.Keywords: Polynyas; sea ice; sea-ice/ocean models; remote sensing(Published: 9 May 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 7124, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.712
Review of Return to Antarctica: the amazing adventure of Sir Charles Wright on Robert Scott’s journey to the South Pole, by Adrian Raeside
No full textThis book is mainly the result of a visit made to Antarctica in general and the historic huts on Ross Island in particular. The author is the grandson of Sir Charles Wright, who was a physicist and glaciologist during Captain Scott’s last expedition aboard Terra Nova (1910-13). Indeed much is derived from his grandfather’s diary published in 1993. Wright was a member of the party which found Scott’s last camp after the 1912 winter.
(Published: 23 August 2011)
Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 7440, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.744
Reviews of Eloquent science: a practical guide to becoming a better writer, speaker and atmospheric scientist and Presentation skills for scientists
No full textNot an inveterate producer of bad science, mediocre writing or boring presentations, I have nonetheless yet to master all forms of science communication. This review of Eloquent science and Presentation skills for scientists is written from the point of view of a practicing scientist always interested in building competence rather than any sort of expert on science communication. In fact, at the time ofmy first reading of Eloquent science, I was rewriting a paper that had not, shall we say, passed gracefully through the peerreview process. Schultz’s book provided useful guidance that improved the paper at once. While there are plenty of books on communication skills for scientists, there is no doubt many students and professionals would benefit as I have from Schultz’s thorough how-to guide to becoming a better communicator of science. (Published: 4 April 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 7036, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.703