Commercial pelagic whaling of the 17th–19th centuries in the Greenland Sea was heavily influenced by environmental factors. Much of the fishery took place along a constantly shifting ice-edge, variations in which stamped a unique character on each season's operation. Environmental conditions required expert interpretation, both to procure paying cargoes of whale oil and bone and to survive hazards posed by sea, wind and ice. Detailed knowledge of currents, temperatures and winds enhanced greatly the chance that a master would have a successful voyage.

India's interest in Antarctica dates from 1956, when the Indian government first raised the question of the peaceful use of Antarctica in the UN. Although India began as a strong critic of the Antarctic Treaty System, and, indeed, conducted scientific activities on the continent for two years without being a member of it, India recognised that her interests would be better served by joining the Treaty as a full member.

Concerned to assert sovereignty over northern territories, Canada in 1922 began an annual patrol to the eastern Arctic to establish and maintain police posts. The experienced Captain Bernier and the Arctic made four trips; then from 1926 to 1931 the government chartered Beothic, a larger sealing ship. The patrol was led by a civil servant and transported doctors, scientists, court officials and representatives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As part of depression economies in the 1930s, space was rented on the Hudson's Bay Company's Nascopie under Capt Smellie and many more Inuit were visited, but fur trading interests took precedence. Major McKeand, the patrol leader, had many roles and useful research continued, but Nascopie sank in July 1947. With postwar concern for a heightened government presence in the Arctic, and after some interim arrangements, the patrol was resumed in 1950 in CD. Howe. The new expedition was especially designed for an expanded medical team eager to test all Inuit for tuberculosis, as a result of which many were evacuated to southern hospitals. In 1959 Northern Affairs turned over command of the slow-moving patrol to the senior doctor, and in 1968 National Health and Welfare belatedly decided that the movement of Inuit into settlements with nursing stations and airstrips made the C. D. Howe service redundant, so the patrol was discontinued.

During seven summer Brazilian expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula area the author used radio weather transmissions to collect data for synoptic analysis and operational weather forecasting. A particularly intensive effort aboard Barão de Teffé in 1989–90 yielded detailed information on frequencies, schedules, procedures and contents, which should be useful to radio-operators, meteorologists, and other Antarctic workers since official publications listing Antarctic radio transmissions are out-dated or incomplete. Radiotelegraph broadcasts particularly valuable to mariners, which may replace or complement facsimile transmissions, are made by Valparaiso, Punta Arenas, and Buenos Aires. Because of unreliable reception of regular fax and teletype broadcasts, synoptic reports were copied directly by monitoring voice and Morse point-to-point circuits, gaining time crucial to operational decisions. Especially useful sources of reports were the Frei, Marambio, and Faraday collections, and the USSR radiotelegraph communications carrying land and ship reports for all sectors of Antarctica and southern hemisphere oceans. Other signals, eg from Chilean lighthouses, ships of opportunity, and aircraft have become useful sources of meteorological information, especially for Drake Passage since Chile has suspended broadcasts, adversely affecting weather forecasting in the area. An insight into weather conditions on the Antarctic Plateau, as well as a sense of history in the making, were gained by monitoring Adventure Network International's radio frequencies.

Henry Grinnell (1799–1874), a wealthy American businessman, was a leading protagonist of 19th century American Arctic exploration. Despite his considerable influence, little has been written about his life. He never visited the Arctic, but sponsored important expeditions of the Franklin search, financing expeditions under Edwin De Haven 1850–51, Elisha Kent Kane 1853–55 and Charles Francis Hall 1860–62 and 1865–69. He supported also American attempts on the North Pole by Isaac Israel Hayes in 1860–61 and Hall in 1871–73. This article deals mainly with Grinnell's influence on polar affairs other than Franklin search expeditions, which were discussed in an earlier article.

Following Italy's accession to the Antarctic Treaty in 1981, the Italian Parliament made provision for a six-year programme of Antarctic research, to be administered by the Ministry for University and Scientific and Technical Research. The programme, Progetto Antartide, centres on a permanent scientific station at Gerlache Inlet, installed in 1986–87 for a staff of up to 60. Chartered ships, helicopters, snow vehicles and heavy transport aircraft provide logistic support for a substantial scientific and field programme, ranging widely from the base, the scope and extent of which is likely to increase.

Modern shore station whaling spread from Norway to Newfoundland in 1896 with development of the Cabot Steam Whaling Co Ltd. Their success stimulated formation of a second company, the Newfoundland Steam Whaling Co Ltd, which in 1908 mounted a pelagic expedition to hunt in both hemispheres, particularly from the South Orkney and South Shetland Islands and off northern Labrador. The expedition was a failure, and Newfoundland whaling remained a totally shore-based industry until cessation in 1972.