The Norwegian polar heroes Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen, and to a lesser extent Otto Sverdrup, have been profiled and their deeds described in countless publications. They were, however, not the only Norwegians to travel on and use the polar seas. A significant section of the Norwegian population used to make its living in Arctic and/or Antarctic waters, and such activities led both to new discoveries of land and knowledge of natural conditions, and to an extra occupation as support for polar scientists and explorers. Some of these lesser-known individuals and their deeds are described here in an attempt to put the expeditions of the great heroes into a broader context and to give more substance to some names that may perhaps have been noted only ‘in passing.’

The Antarctic environment is well known for its hostility (cold, isolation, and confinement). The effects of the Antarctic experience on human health are controversial, as some studies emphasise negative (‘pathogenic’) and others positive (‘salutogenic’) effects. In the process of human adaptation to extreme environments, the cognitive and behavioural strategies — defined as coping — that individuals use are a basic component.

This study investigated the use and the changes of coping strategies in nine Antarctic wintering-over expeditioners by administering the COPE questionnaire three times during the year. The results showed a composite use of the coping strategies in the group. The ways of coping, focusing on problem solving and developing personal maturity, were judged to be those most used over the period. Some variations connected with the specific environment were noticed. There was an increase in self-distancing from problems, disengaging from the socio-operational environment, procrastinating, and emotional levelling, particularly in mid-winter. This lethargic, apathetic attitude, which is called ‘freezing,’ may represent a defence against useless energy expenditure and may reduce stress response. This ‘immobilisation’ strategy, well reflected in the symptoms of the ‘winter-over syndrome,’ appears to be adaptive in an environment where the control an individual can exert is highly limited. The results seem to support the salutogenic effects of the winter-over experience.

This paper examines the location, intensity, and frequency of zodiac landings by passengers on tourist ships in the Antarctic Peninsula region during 10 seasons, 1989/90 through 1998/99. In this period, the number of passengers increased 307%, from 2460 to 10,013. Zodiac landings have occurred at 165 Peninsula region sites, concentrating in the South Shetland Islands and the northwestern part of the Peninsula. From 1989/90 to 1998/99, the number of zodiac landings in the Peninsula region increased 423%, from 164 to 858. The most visited sites are identified, as are sites experiencing increases in the second half of this 10-year period. The 10 and 20 sites experiencing the most zodiac landings each season consistently account for approximately 55% and 75% of that season's landings, respectively. Based on 1998/99 data, sites with high or medium species diversity or with high or moderate sensitivity to potential environmental disturbance account for a significant percentage of landings. Recommendations are presented for improving the assessment of potential environmental impacts at zodiac landing sites, and for improved methods of reporting site visits by the tour operators involved.

Early explorers in the Canadian high Arctic described a fringe of thick, landfast ice along the 500-km northern coast of Ellesmere Island. This article shows from analyses of historical records, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery (ERS-1, SPOT, RADARSAT-1) that this ancient ice feature (‘Ellesmere Ice Shelf’) underwent a 90% reduction in area during the course of the twentieth century. In addition, hydrographic profiles in Disraeli Fiord (83°N, 74°W) suggest that the ice-shelf remnant that presently dams the fiord (Ward Hunt Ice Shelf) decreased in thickness by 13 m (27%) from 1967 to 1999. Mean annual air temperatures at nearby Alert station showed a significant warming trend during the last two decades of this period, and a significant decline in the number of freezing degree days per annum. The ice-dammed fiord provides a stratified physical and biological environment (epishelf lake) of a type that is otherwise restricted to Antarctica. Extensive meltwater lakes occur on the surface of the ice shelf and support a unique microbial food web. The major contraction of these ice–water habitats foreshadows a much broader loss of marine cryo-ecosystems that will accompany future wanning in the high Arctic.

New biographical information is given about L.R. Blake, surveyor and geologist at Macquarie Island during the 1911–14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Blake's survey of the island yielded maps that in significant respects are more accurate than the current topographic map of 1971, which, with one exception, adopted his height measurements for the 23 named peaks. The more recent height estimates for these peaks are assessed, and it is concluded that, while some of Blake's measurements were significantly in error, his values still stand as the best current estimates for one-third of the peaks. Blake's death five weeks before the end of the First World War consigned his achievements on Macquarie Island to obscurity.

Ferdinand von Wrangell (1796–1870) was one of the most successful explorers of the Russian Arctic. After participating in V.M. Golovnin's circumnavigation in 1817–19, he was appointed the commander of the Kolyma group of the northeast Siberian expedition of 1820–24. Wrangell later became a hugely significant figure in the Russian Empire, serving as governor-general in Alaska, director of the Russian-American Company, and the head of the hydrographic department of the Russian Admiralty, before being made a baron and promoted to admiral. Later still he was the minister of the naval department and a member of the State Council, during which time he continued to support geographical and scientific exploration.

The author has located an Antarctic painting that was not listed in the previously published article ‘The Antarctic paintings of Edward Seago (1910–1974).’ This painting, entitled ‘Antarctic dusk,’ is held by the Royal Geographical Society. An anomaly regarding one of the paintings discussed in the original article is mentioned and clarified.

The name for the Polar Record Glacier was approved in February 1952. At that time, the glacier was reported to possess an ice tongue that flowed into Sandefjord Ice Bay. In autumn 2000, AVHRR images were examined to assess whether the Polar Record ice tongue was still extant. It was found that there is an ice feature currently about 15 miles in length at the end of the glacier, although its orientation has changed since it was first surveyed in 1947. A fissure indicates that the tongue has calved to form an iceberg that is probably grounded.