Polar Research (E-Journal)
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A “radically new method”: balloon buoy communications of the Baldwin–Ziegler Polar Expedition, Franz Josef Land, June 1902
No full textThe history of lighter-than-air operations in the Arctic between 1896 and 1930 has focused almost exclusively upon four expeditions. These are the balloon voyage of the Swede Salomon Andrée in 1896–97, and the dirigible expeditions of the American Walter Wellman in 1906–09, the Norwegian Roald Amundsen with the Italian Umberto Nobile in 1926 and the Nobile expedition of 1928. Largely invisible in this lineage are the aeronautical operations of the Baldwin–Ziegler Polar Expedition on Alger Island in the Franz Josef Land Archipelago in 1902. This article traces expedition leader Evelyn Briggs Baldwin’s interest in aeronautical exploration in the Arctic, which began early in life, led to a failed attempt to join Andrée in 1897 and culminated in his use of message buoys attached to balloons in June 1902. These operations, the fate of its balloon buoys and the historical archaeology of Baldwin’s operational bases in Franz Josef Land and north-east Greenland are examined. Baldwin’s poor planning and bad luck with ice conditions around Franz Josef Land caused him to use his balloon buoys not to reach northwards to the pole, but to send relief messages southwards towards civilization. Like the other polar aeronautical expeditions, Baldwin’s left behind a significant archaeological assemblage that continues to provide evidence for the material analysis of the history of polar exploration
The role of radio in rescuing the survivors of the airship Italia
No full textDuring WWI, rapid technical advances led to the development of relatively small and efficient short wave transmitters and receivers. By the mid-1920s, explorers of the polar regions were using such equipment to communicate with their home bases, and for direction finding. This was prior to the widespread use of radio for voice transmission, and hence all operators were skilled in the use of the International Morse code
Review of Eight men in a crate: the ordeal of the advance party of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955–1957 based on the diary of Rainer Goldsmith, by Anthea Arnold
No full textThe year 2008 is a milestone in terms of two notable anniversaries relating to Britain’s Antarctic history. One hundred years ago, the British made the first territorial claim to the Antarctic via Letters Patent, and in so doing precipitated a process that was to lead to six other countries pressing their own claims. Fifty years ago, the Trans- Antarctic Expedition (TAE) successfully executed the first mechanized crossing of the polar continent. Although a great deal of attention is now being given to the International Geophysical Year (IGY, 1957–1958), I would contend that the TAE, which did not take place under the auspices of the IGY, was an important element in the evolving scientific and political contours of human engagement with the Antarctic
Foreword to the special issue: Arctic Palaeoclimate and Its Extremes (APEX)
No full textThe recent mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet (Chen et al. 2006), the observed increases in the velocity of its fast-flowing outlets (Luthcke et al. 2006) and the melting of the permafrost demonstrate the profound changes occurring in the Arctic region as a result of global warming (ACIA 2005). This is corroborated by systematic satellite monitoring that shows there has been a progressive decrease in the extent of sea ice over the last 30 years, with a record low in 2007 (Comiso et al. 2008). Forward modelling predicts accelerated rates of sea-ice disintegration and the almost complete disappearance of Arctic Ocean summer sea-ice cover within this century. It is clear that the environment in the Arctic is changing at a pace not previously monitored by humankind. It is equally clear, however, that to place the current changes in a millennial time perspective, we need to know more about the Pleistocene natural variability and amplitude of, for example, the Greenland ice sheet, Arctic Ocean sea ice and permafrost. Such a longer time perspective can only be established through international collaborative and multidisciplinary studies of nature’s own archives, such as marine and terrestrial stratigraphic records, sediment distribution and landforms
Glacial and palaeoenvironmental history of the Cape Chelyuskin area, Arctic Russia
No full textQuaternary glacial stratigraphy and relative sea-level changes reveal at least two glacial expansions over the Chelyuskin Peninsula, bordering the Kara Sea at about 77°N in the Russian Arctic, as indicated from tills interbedded with marine sediments, exposed in stratigraphic superposition, and from raisedbeach sequences mapped to altitudes of at least up to ca. 80 m a.s.l. Chronological control is provided by accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dating, electron-spin resonance and optically stimulated luminescence geochronology. Major glaciations, followed by deglaciation and marine inundation, occurred during marine oxygen isotope stages 6–5e (MIS 6–5e) and stages MIS 5d–5c. These glacial sediments overlie marine sediments of Pliocene age, which are draped by fluvial sediment of a pre-Saalian age, thereby forming palaeovalley/ basin fills in the post-Cretaceous topography. Till fabrics and glacial tectonics record expansions of local ice caps exclusively, suggesting wet-based ice cap advance, followed by cold-based regional ice-sheet expansion. Local ice caps over highland sites along the perimeter of the shallow Kara Sea, including the Byrranga Mountains and the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, appear to have repeatedly fostered initiation of a large Kara Sea ice sheet, with the exception of the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2), when Kara Sea ice neither impacted the Chelyuskin Peninsula nor Severnaya Zemlya, and barely touched the northern coastal areas of the Taymyr Peninsula
Periglacial landscape evolution and environmental changes of Arctic lowland areas for the last 60 000 years (western Laptev Sea coast, Cape Mamontov Klyk)
No full textNon-glaciated Arctic lowlands in north-east Siberia were subjected to extensive landscape and environmental changes during the Late Quaternary. Coastal cliffs along the Arctic shelf seas expose terrestrial archives containing numerous palaeoenvironmental indicators (e.g., pollen, plant macro-fossils and mammal fossils) preserved in the permafrost. The presented sedimentological (grain size, magnetic susceptibility and biogeochemical parameters), cryolithological, geochronological (radiocarbon, accelerator mass spectrometry and infrared-stimulated luminescence), heavy mineral and palaeoecological records from Cape Mamontov Klyk record the environmental dynamics of an Arctic shelf lowland east of the Taymyr Peninsula, and thus, near the eastern edge of the Eurasian ice sheet, over the last 60 Ky. This region is also considered to be the westernmost part of Beringia, the non-glaciated landmass that lay between the Eurasian and the Laurentian ice caps during the Late Pleistocene. Several units and subunits of sand deposits, peat–sand alternations, ice-rich palaeocryosol sequences (Ice Complex) and peaty fillings of thermokarst depressions and valleys were presented. The recorded proxy data sets reflect cold stadial climate conditions between 60 and 50 Kya, moderate inderstadial conditions between 50 and 25 Kya and cold stadial conditions from 25 to 15 Kya. The Late Pleistocene to Holocene transition, including the Allerød warm period, the early to middle Holocene thermal optimum and the late Holocene cooling, are also recorded. Three phases of landscape dynamic (fluvial/alluvial, irregular slope run-off and thermokarst) were presented in a schematic model, and were subsequently correlated with the supraregional environmental history between the Early Weichselian and the Holocene
Foreword to the special issue: the Boreal Triassic
No full textThis collection of papers on the Boreal Triassic grew from a conference in 2002, which was initiated as part of the networking activities linked to the International Geosciences Project (IGCP) 467—Triassic Time and Trans-Panthalassa Correlations—from an original suggestion by Mark Hounslow and Mike Orchard of the International Union of Geological Sciences Subcommission on Triassic Stratigraphy. The aim of the conference was to provide insight on improved Low- to High-Latitude correlations, and a greater regional understanding of the Arctic Triassic successions. Around 30 participants were expected, in part drawn by the prospect of visiting Spitsbergen and its Triassic outcrops—a once in a lifetime opportunity for many
Lower Triassic conodonts from the Canadian Arctic, their intercalibration with ammonoid-based stages and a comparison with other North American Olenekian faunas
No full textConodont faunas are described from the type sections of Lower Triassic stages in the Canadian Arctic. The collections come largely from ammonoid-bearing strata of the Strigatus (upper Griesbachian), Candidus (lower Dienerian), Romunduri and Tardus (lower and upper Smithian), and Subrobustus (upper Spathian) zones. These demonstrate that diverse late Griesbachian conodont faunas included the first species of Borinella, Neospathodus and Scythogondolella, accompanied by several species of Neogondolella. Dienerian faunas are dominated by Neospathodus, but explosive radiation led to several Smithian Scythogondolella species and diverse cosmopolitan “neospathodid” species of Conservatella, Discretella and Neospathodus. Smithian Paullella (nomen novum) and Wapitiodus are recorded here for the first time in the Arctic collections, and emphasize the correlation with successions in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) and in the western USA. Conodonts from the Romunduri Zone differ in the three regions: Conservatella, Discretella and Paullella are rare in the Arctic, are more common in WCSB and are most common in the USA; Scythogondolella species are common in the Arctic, less so in WCSB and are virtually absent in the USA. Conodonts from the Tardus Zone, both in the Arctic and elsewhere, contain cosmopolitan Borinella buurensis, Neospathodus waageni, Scythogondolella mosheri and Scythogondolella milleri. Spathian conodont faunas from the Subrobustus Zone are dominated by Neogondolella species, which also occur in the WCSB associated with Triassospathodus. These two genera have an inverse relationship: Triassospathodus dominates the USA successions, and is virtually absent in the Arctic. Scythogondolella ellesmerensis sp. nov. and Scythogondolella lachrymiformis sp. nov. are described
Lithological and geochemical characteristics of Triassic sediments from the central part of the South Barents depression (Arkticheskaya-1 well)
No full textThe thickest section of the upper Triassic deposits in the South Barents depression is penetrated by the Arkticheskaya-1 well. Core samples from this well were analysed for lithology, palaeontology and geochemistry. Different environments of deposition were interpreted on the basis of these analyses. Continental and coastal facies dominate, but some short-term sea ingressions were also identified. The geochemical data include qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the organic matter and bitumen. Maturity-related changes are described, and the zone of optimum conditions for the generation of hydrocarbons is determined. Ladinian and Carnian deposits are found to be the major source of hydrocarbon-rich rocks: they are dominated by humic kerogens, and are of a maturity within the 3990–4515-m oil window. Triassic deposits of the Barents Sea region represent different depositional facies; consequently, a wide variety of lithologies are present. An integrated study of the sedimentary rocks provides information on the textural and mineral composition, organic geochemical parameters, the structural features and the fossil content to interpret their depositional environments, and their oil or gas potential
The eastern extent of the Barents–Kara ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum based on seismic-reflection data from the eastern Kara Sea
No full textWe present sub-bottom profiling (sparker and Parasound) results from the eastern Kara Sea, on the Eurasian Arctic margin, which enable the identification of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ice extent. The analysed profiles show that glacigenic diamicton is ubiquitous at the seafloor, east of about 95°E and 78°N. The eastern margin of this diamicton is expressed in a conspicuous morainic ridge at the entrance to the Vilkitsky Strait, and to the south the diamicton projection aligns with the LGM limit mapped at the north-western Taymyr. The bottom of the Voronin Trough further north is also covered with diamicton and has numerous erosional bedforms, indicating a streamlined flow of grounded ice along the trough. Accurate dating of the diamicton is not attainable, but the correlation of pre-diamict sediments to well-dated sections in the Laptev Sea, and available 14C ages from sediments on top of the diamicton, indicate its LGM age. These results support the palaeogeographic reconstruction that assumes the extension of the LGM Barents–Kara ice sheet as far east as Taymyr. This configuration implies that LGM ice blocked the drainage of the Ob and Yenisey rivers on the Kara shelf. This inference is consistent with the presence of large (>100 km wide) lenses of basin infill adjacent to the southern margin of the diamicton. However, the limited distribution of the eastern Kara ice lobe, not extending on Severnaya Zemlya, suggests that the ice was fairly thin and short-lived: insufficient for the accumulation of the gigantic proglacial lakes that occurred during earlier glaciations