This paper describes a new technique simultaneously to estimate topography and motion of polar glaciers from multi-temporal SAR interferograms. The approach is based on a combination of several SAR interferograms in a least-squares adjustment using the Gauss-Markov model. For connecting the multi-temporal data sets, a spatio-temporal model is proposed that describes the properties of the surface and its temporal evolution. Rigorous mathematical modelling of functional and stochastic relations allows for a systematic description of the processing chain. It is also an optimal tool to set parameters for the statistics of every individual processing step, and the propagation of errors into the results. Within the paper theoretical standard deviations of the unknowns are calculated depending on the configuration of the data sets. The influence of gross errors in the observations and the effect of non-modelled error sources on the unknowns are estimated. A validation of the approach based on real data concludes the paper.

On 7 December 1945 a captured German whaling factory, Wikinger, was allocated to the Soviet Union under the terms of the Potsdam Agreement between that country, the United States and the United Kingdom. In the first section, this article presents the first detailed account of how Wikinger was seized by the Royal Navy and eventually transferred to Soviet ownership. The second section illustrates the hostile attitudes of western governments towards the Slava whaling flotilla during the cold war, and the degree to which their suspicions were focused on the work of scientists assigned to the flotilla. The next four sections trace the fluctuating perceptions and presentations, during the Tsarist and early Soviet periods, of the Imperial Russian Navy's Antarctic expedition of 1819–1821, the problems in respect of Antarctica which confronted Soviet diplomacy and propaganda in the 1940s, and the new story, about Russians having been the first people to discover Antarctica, which was developed in order to address them. It is then possible, in the seventh section, to explain the political utility of the Slava flotilla in the early 1950s. An eighth section sketches the divergent cultural fortunes of the Bellingshausen expedition and the Slava flotilla after the period under consideration.

This article discusses the use of whaling and history in support of Soviet Antarctic policy between the end of World War 2 and the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–1958. But the Slava whaling flotilla did not just play a part in the historicisation of Soviet Antarctic policy. It was itself a historically constituted object, fraught with meanings on both sides of the cold war. For that reason the opportunity is taken to give a more detailed account of the flotilla's origins than has been available hitherto. The author notes that two contributors to this journal have preceded him in some of these matters (Armstrong 1950, 1971; Gan 2009). He ventures to suggest, however, that the connections between whaling, historiography and public information management in Soviet Antarctic policy have not been fully demonstrated before this.

Melt ponds are common on the surface of ice floes in the Arctic Ocean during spring and summer. Few studies on melt pond algae communities have been accomplished. These studies have shown that these melt ponds were ultra-oligotrophic, and contribute little to overall productivity. However, during the 6th Chinese Arctic Cruise in the Arctic Ocean in summer 2014, a closed coloured melt pond with a chlorophyll a concentration of 15.32 μg/L was observed on Arctic pack ice in the Canada Basin. The bloom was caused by the chlorophyte Carteria lunzensis at an abundance of 15.49×106 cells/L and biomass of 5.07 mg C/L. Primary production within surface melt ponds may need more attention along with Arctic warming.

This paper presents a brief history of Greenland which sets the scene for unprecedented recent developments, both materially and politically. After the war, in 1953, the political status of Greenland was changed from colony to an integral part of Denmark. Greenland gained home rule [Hjemmestyre] in 1979 and greater devolution to self rule [Selvstyre] in 2009. The population is becoming centralised, increasingly resembling consumer societies worldwide. In recent years the economy has been mainly based upon fish and mining, although at present there is no active mine and the economy is declining, making the country increasingly dependent on subsidies from Denmark. The former president recently predicted that Greenland would leave Denmark within her life-time, a view based upon her vision of the development of a rich mining industry. Additionally she established a reconciliation committee to examine supposed ill-treatment by Denmark. The present situation and the unrealistic expectations of huge production of different minerals are discussed based upon accepted predictions of mineral resources, world market prices, logistic problems (lack of infrastructure and tiny population) and environmental concerns. During the past year, a more realistic and less confrontational debate on the relations between Denmark and Greenland has been evident.

This essay serves as an introduction to the special issue recognising the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty. It provides the geopolitical and scientific context informing the creation of the negotiations for a new treaty between October and December 1959. Thereafter, it identifies some of the challenges facing the contemporary Antarctic Treaty System. While none are thought to be threatening to the collaborative spirit that informs the legal and political status quo, there is no room for complacency either. Finally, the contributors and their essays are introduced for the reader. Taken together, it showcases the diversity of work being undertaken by scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

This paper examines how Antarctica has been depicted in recruitment material, and compares the expectations set up in the advertising imagery with the reality of expeditioners’ experiences. Textual analyses of advertisements and job descriptions are used to reveal dominant themes, including the trope of extremity, while interviews with those who have spent time on the ice provide reflections on the actual challenges encountered when working in Antarctica, such as boredom. Much of the popular discourse around Antarctica continues to centre on the Heroic Era (1895–1922), a time of exploration typified by men pitting themselves against nature and striding out into unchartered expanses of ice. Although modern day life on Antarctic stations differs markedly from the extreme conditions experienced by early explorers, the continent continues to be associated with notions of toughness and extremity. We argue that in some cases, advertisements may actually target the wrong audience. This has important implications for how an Antarctic station as a workplace is conceptualised, and then experienced by those who head south, with potential detrimental effects.

Aleksandr Vasil'yevich Kolchak is undoubtedly best remembered by history for the role he played in the Russian civil war, and especially for his role as ‘Supreme Ruler of All the Russias’, in sole command of the White Russian armies in Siberia and with his seat of government at Omsk (Fleming, 1963, p 111). Probably the best-known incident of his entire career is the one that ended it: in the early hours of 7 February 1920, by the light of a lorry's headlights, he was executed by a Bol'shevik firing squad beneath the walls of Irkutsk prison, and his body bundled through a hole in the ice of the Ushakovka, where it flows past the prison to its confluence with the Angara (Fleming, 1963, p 216; Grondijs, 1939, p 55).

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the British Antarctic Survey have built a transportable laboratory facility, named the Dirck Gerritsz Laboratory, to accommodate new scientific research on and from the western Antarctic Peninsula. The design provides a flexible, modular, plug-and-play, innovative and sustainable laboratory setup. The docking station houses four 20-foot ISO standard high-cube containers, each of which contains a different laboratory. Special technological features were used to minimise the environmental impact. The four laboratory containers are flexible and can be installed and used as required, and renewed or removed when necessary. The container laboratories have provided, since opening in 2013, enhanced facilities for global climate change research through studying the community composition of phytoplankton; the ecological impact of virus-induced mortality in different phytoplankton groups; dimethylsulphide and brominated compound fluxes; and CO2 concentrations and trace elements in sea water. Transportable research laboratory facilities provide an effective and efficient approach for undertaking scientific research in challenging environments and might be the start of a new way of undertaking research, including exchanging laboratory modules between research stations in Antarctica.

Data were obtained during an interdisciplinary project carried out on the Ostrova De-Longa (De Long Islands) in 1987–90. The archipelago—consisting ofthree islands discovered by an American expedition underGeorge Washington De Long in 1879—81 and two islands discovered by a Russian expedition led by Boris Vil'kitskiy in 1913— 14—have rarely been visited and even less investigated. Information relating to the glaciology, palaeogeography, flora, and palaeozoology from the end of the Pleistocene and the Early Holocene was studied. Traces of a Mesolithic culture from as far back as 8000 BP were discovered on Ostrov Zhokhova, and information about the adaptive capabilities and hunting practices of this aboriginal culture was obtained. Excavations indicate that the site explored on Ostrov Zhokhova is one of the oldest in the high Arctic.

A load moving on sea ice, whether the weight of a vehicle or the pressure exerted by a low-flying aircraft, produces a deflection which can in extreme cases cause ice failure. The magnitude and shape of the deflection profile depends on the weight and speed of the vehicle) and also the the ice thickness and properties, with flexuralgraviry waves radiating from the source at speeds above a critical value. This wave pattern was studied in detail on flat, snow-free sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Surface strain was measured directly and microcracking activity monitored to correlate measured strain with possible generation of dangerous cracks. Speeds of up to 28 m sec-1 (60 mph) were achieved with a pickup truck, and up to 80 m sec-1 with a US Navy C131 aircraft. Initial comparison between theory and experimental results is very encouraging.

By autumn 1940 the first round of fighting in World War II was over. In northern Europe, German forces occupied Poland, Norway and Denmark. Both sides recognized that further operations demanded naval and air superiority in northern waters. Germany needed free access to the Atlantic Ocean through the North Sea; Britain had to prevent that access, which threatened the lifeline to the United States. More than ever before, it became essential for both sides to have meteorological information from the northern Atlantic Ocean area. Germany's need was especially acute, for the routes for her shipping from ports in Scandinavia traversed enemy-patrolled waters, where foul weather was essential for evasion.

Most of the major problems of Arctic geography have been solved, and there are now few stretches of coastline which have not been at least roughly mapped. In the Antarctic there are still huge blank spaces on the map, but even there the kind of rough and ready maps that were made by early explorers would now be scarcely adequate. A modern polar survey must be much more accurate and comprehensive if it is to be worth while and have any permanent value, and it therefore takes up rather more of the time which used to be almost entirely devoted to travel. On the other hand, modern inventions such as the light but accurate eyepiece reading theodolite, the camera, and the aeroplane, have made available very much more rapid methods of survey than were possible even twenty years ago.

The remains of the Greenland Norse provide unique biological anthropological material for the investigation of human and environmental interaction. As a population, they were generally secluded from most of the contemporary European medieval society, and land suitable for their way of life was limited in Greenland. The archaeological and historical record is excellent, clearly establishing the 500-year period of colonisation. In other words, the Greenland Norse represent a relatively isolated population, constrained in both space and time.

Living in an environment with very little buffering capacity, ecological changes immediately had repercussions. Ten years of research have shown a direct climatic impact on the humans as well as changing subsistence patterns. It seems that the Norse in Greenland responded to these changes, although inside ‘cultural’ limits. Demographic modelling indicates that emigration may have accounted for the final abandonment of the settlements. A changing ecology thus seems to have pushed the Greenland Norse out of Greenland, because their sedentary way of life, relying on animal husbandry, and probably with a strong cultural sense of identity focused on farmsteads and domestication, became unsustainable. A further step will be clarifying the genetic history of the Norse as well as of the Thule Culture Inuit. These analyses have commenced by examining mtDNA variation and Y-chromosomal diversity among present-day Greenlandic Inuit, and preliminary results appear to provide some information as to the fate of the Norse people.

New Zealand has important strategic interests in Antarctica that are as much about geography and the country's geostrategic needs, as they are about history and the politics of maintaining rights gained in an earlier era. This paper outlines the reasons behind New Zealand's involvement in and commitment to Antarctica; profiles the various bodies involved in maintaining and negotiating New Zealand's Antarctic presence and voice on Antarctic affairs; and discusses New Zealand's core interests in the Antarctic continent that help to shape its Antarctic policy.

This glossary is mainly concerned with land ice and associated terms, and is therefore complementary to the glossary of predominantly sea ice terms published in the Polar Record, Vol. 8, No. 52, 1956, p. 4–12. It is hoped that the two, taken together and incorporating any necessary amendments, will form the basis of a Special Publication which the Institute hopes to issue when funds allow.

When oil was discovered at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North Slope in 1968, the Eskimo villages of the region scattered around the ten-billion-barrel oil field were similar to most other rural native villages in the state: poor and isolated, with high unemployment, little or no prospect for local economic development, and dependent on federal and state programmes for minimum levels of education, medical care, and other services. Soon after the Prudhoe Bay discovery, however, Eskimo leaders on the North Slope began taking steps toward creation of a borough—a form of local or regional government in Alaska somewhat like a county elsewhere in the United States, but potentially having more extensive powers of taxation and regulation, and greater independence from the state government, than county governments typically possess. Incorporated in 1972, the North Slope Borough covers an area of 228 800 km2 and makes up about 15 per cent of the land area of Alaska. Within its boundaries lie the 93 435 km2 National Petroleum Reserve and most of the 35 560 km2 Arctic National Wildlife Range; both of these areas are under the jurisdiction of the federal Department of Interior. Located between these two federal land areas is the Prudhoe Bay oil field complex, which occupies state lands leased to the oil companies. Extending south from the oil field and crossing the borough's southern border is 270 km of the 1 270 km trans-Alaska oil pipeline.