Lauge Koch's expeditions to east Greenland, 1926 to 1958

Extract

The early exploration of east Greenland between lats. 70° N. and 82° N. was the work of several nations, and Danish, Swedish, German and British expeditions all played their parts in it. In the last three decades, however, although other groups have made valuable contributions, the expeditions under the leadership of Lauge Koch have been of paramount importance by virtue of the large numbers of scientists involved, the range of the studies, and, in particular, the continuity of effort. This continuity has enabled an unusual degree of foresight and planning to be applied to the operations. Even in these more favoured circumstances, however, “greater results might possibly have been obtained if the means had been ensured beforehand, so that the work could have been planned for a longer period of years at a time”. It has been the policy to concentrate on geological survey as the basic scientific inquiry in this uninhabited, almost virgin, territory. This emphasis on geology has, in turn, stressed the need for detailed geographical information, and stimulated topographical survey to produce an adequate coverage of medium-scale maps for a large part of the region. Other fields have not been overlooked, and biologists—studying the fauna and flora of both land and sea—meteorologists, glaciologists, hydrographers, and archaeologists have been included in the parties.