R. K. Headland

Historical development of Antarctic tourism

Abstract Although Antarctic tourism has over a century of history, it became generally practicable during the last 25 years. Examples of early proposals demonstrate long established interest in the region. This paper gives a concise account of its development to the present circumstances where commercial aviation has made access to the South Pole available for almost anyone desiring it. The numbers of visitors and their effects on the Antarctic have been items of concern; the calculation of person-days spent by tourists, compared with those of all others in the Antarctic, shows that less than 1% of human activity may be attributed to the industry.

History of exotic terrestrial mammals in Antarctic regions.

A concise account of exotic terrestrial mammals known to have been introduced in Antarctica and the 19 peri-Antarctic islands is provided. This includes the entire region currently relevant to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. Of the 24 introduced species 10 are extant at one or more locations in 2011. Some species have had a widespread distribution and others are represented by one, or a few, individuals. The majority arrived as deliberate introductions but that of some was adventitious. Details of their dates of introduction, current status, and indications of environmental effects, are tabulated. Current eradication programmes are noted.

Ten decades of transits of the Northwest Passage

Abstract Marine routes which have been used to complete transits through the Northwest Passage are described and a complete list of surface transits to 2009 is given. These are analyzed by type of vessel, flag, purpose, route, and direction. Concise comparisons are made with the Northeast Passage or Northern Sea Route.

Antarctic winter scientific stations to the International Polar Year, 2007–2009

The earliest winter scientific station established in the Antarctic was in 1883 as part of the first International Polar Year (IPY) programme. Subsequently, to the IPY of 2007-2009, scientific stations have been deployed on 139 sites (103 on the Antarctic continent, 36 on the peri-Antarctic islands), by 24 countries for a cumulative total of 2666 winters to that of 2008. This paper summarises the winter dates, locations, and national status of all stations in the region. It thus includes all winter stations of the three IPYs and those of the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958). The positions of 120 of these winter stations are south of 60°S, the boundary of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 (although many of them predate the Treaty).

The 19th Century Antarctic Sealing Industry: Sources, Data and Economic Significance

Sealing was the first exploitative industry in the Antarctic region. Throughout the 19th century it was characterized by large fluctuations in harvests and shifts in hunting grounds as seals were almost exterminated in some locations. The paper reviews the historical literature on this industry. In particular it reviews sources and data that relate the economic importance. So far, no one has succeeded in indicating the aggregate economic value of the industry. The main aim, therefore, is to explore new data, especially on market prices and catches that will enable us to assess more accurately the significance of the industry.

The economic significance of the 19th century Antarctic sealing industry

Sealing was the first exploitative industry in the Antarctic region. Throughout the 19th century it was characterised by large fluctuations in catches and shifts in hunting grounds as seals were almost exterminated in several locations. This paper reviews the historical literature on this industry. In particular it reviews sources and data that relate to its economic importance. So far, no one has succeeded in indicating the aggregate economic value of the industry. The main aim, therefore, is to investigate new data, especially on market prices that will enable a more accurate assessment of the significance of the industry.

Captain Scott's last camp, Ross Ice Shelf

On 19 March 1912, Captain R.F. Scott, Dr E.A. Wilson, and Lt H.R Bowers reached a latitude of 79° 40ʹS during their return journey from the South Pole. There they camped and were fatally delayed by a blizzard. The date of Scotts last diary entry is 29 March 1912 and he died on, or shortly after, that date, with his two companions, of starvation and cold. They had left their base at Cape Evans in stages from 24 October 1911 with a party of 16. Relay parties returned on 11 and 21 December 1911, and on 4 January 1912. Five men attained the South Pole on 17 January 1912 where they found that an expedition, led by R.E.G. Amundsen from Norway, has preceded them on 14 December 1911. 33 days had elapsed between the departure of the Norwegian party from the pole and Scotts arrival there. During the return journey over the Ross Ice Shelf, roughly along the 169°E meridian, two of the party of five died: E. Evans on 17 February 1912 and L.E.G. Oates on, or shortly after, 16 March 1912.

Finding the Arctic pole of inaccessibility

The Arctic pole of inaccessibility (API), defined as the point on the Arctic Ocean that is farthest from any land, is commonly asserted to lie at 84◦ 03′ N, 174◦ 51′ W. We show that the true position is 85◦ 48′ N, 176◦ 09′ E, over 200 km from the traditional location. The reason for this error is unknown. Introduction and historical background In 1909 a pioneer in studies of Arctic navigation, Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, wrote in Russian of ‘an area that may be schematically. . . in the form of an elongated ellipse whose major axis corresponds approximately to a line connection Crown Prince Rudolf Island (Franz Josef land) with Cape Barrow (north coast of Alaska) and whose minor axis corresponds to a line drawn from Bennett Island to Cape Alfred Ernest (west coast of Grant Land, or Garfield Coast). The point of intersection of these lines lies approximately in longitude 180◦ and latitude 84◦N. The area defined by this ellipse enclosed the region permanently covered with the ice fields of the Arctic pack and inaccessible to navigation.’ This remained relatively unknown until translated into English in 1928 (Kolchak 1909). A footnote in the published translation indicates that this was an earlier formulation of the concept which Vilhálmur Stefansson later propounded independently as the ‘pole of relative inaccessibility’. In 1909, Kolchak was unaware of the existence of the Arctic archipelago of Severnaya Zemlya [Northern Land], the last major land area on Earth to be discovered. The discovery of part of this archipelago was in 1913 (Starokadomskiy 1976) but its full extent was unknown until 1932 (Barr 1975). The resulting maps extended to the northernmost land of the archipelago, Mys Molotov [Molotov Cape] (later renamed Mys Arkticheskiy [Arctic Cape]), which would have influenced the position of Kolchak’s ellipse. In 1920 a variation of such a concept was developed by Stefansson (1920). This was reprinted in 1921 (Stefansson 1921) with the addition of some further relevant thoughts. Stefansson’s definition was more practical than theoretical involving the possibility of reaching a pole of inaccessibility by various methods then in use for Arctic travel (first a ‘Zone of Approach by Ship’ and within this a ‘Zone of Man-Dog Travel’ and ultimately a ‘Zone of Comparative Inaccessibility’). It was illustrated by a general map of the Arctic (although still lacking any indication of Severnaya Zemlya) and specified the position as 83◦ 50′ N, 160◦ W. He included some speculation and analyses of modes of travel practicable at the time. Stefansson (1920) defined the pole of inaccessibility in a rather particular way, to mean ‘the point within the arctic regions most difficult of access for any explorer who first goes as far as he can by ship and then pushes forward by the use of men and dogs hauling sledges’. More recently, the term has been commonly used to denote the point farthest from a specified coast, either on land or in the sea. The Arctic pole of inaccessibility (API) defined in this sense, appears to have served as a focus for exploration for several decades. The flight northeast from Barrow, in Alaska, made by Sir George Hubert Wilkins in 1927, has appeared in literature, and more recently on several internet sites, as one intended to attain such a pole. It landed on the pack ice at a position of 77◦ 45 ́ N, 175◦00 ́W where Wilkins made a preliminary sonic depth measurement of 5625 m, corrected to 5440 m (Wilkins 1928a). A detailed narrative (Wilkins 1928b) described the many difficulties of the flight, abandonment of the aircraft, and trek over pack-ice to return, but which provided minimal scientific information. Neither of these publications made any reference to a ‘pole of inaccessibility’ which is curious as Wilkins was a colleague of Stefansson during the illfated Karluk expedition of 1913–1918 and they remained in contact (Montgomery 1948; Thomas 1961). Indeed Wilkins wrote ‘For Vilhjalmar Stefansson’s advice and encouragement I am most grateful’ (1928b: x). The next approach to the pole was in 1928 during the flight of the dirigible Norge from Svalbard to Alaska, during which the geographic North Pole was first indubitably sighted on 12 May. The flight continued towards Alaska when Roald Amundsen referred to the ‘Ice-poleor, as up to this time was called, the Inaccessible Pole is the centre of the great ice-covered region and as such, of course, is the most difficult place to reach’ (Amundsen and Ellsworth 1928: 121). Interestingly on this occasion Amundsen and Oscar Wisting, who had reached the geographical South Pole together on 14 December 1912, became the first persons to have seen both poles. After passing above the geographical North Pole (incidentally on his 46th birthday) Lincoln Ellsworth, who funded the expedition and who was on board, wrote ‘we came to a FINDING THE ARCTIC POLE OF INACCESSIBILITY 87 hypothetical spot on the map hitherto unseen by man, the so-called Ice Pole. The Ice Pole, at Lat. 88◦N, and Long. 157◦E, is the geographical centre of the Arctic ice mass, the edges of which are all well explored and known’ (Ellsworth 1938: 217). Shortly after the rescue of some of the survivors from the crash of the airship Italia by the Soviet icebreaker Krassin in 1928, interest in Arctic aviation increased rapidly as Soviet authorities concentrated on the northeast passage (northern sea route). Aerial survey and reconnaissance, particularly of ice conditions, became frequent and several crossings of the Arctic and other long-distance flights were made. Techniques of landing on ice floes, even close to the geographical North Pole, developed as specialisations. Armstrong (1958) described three flights in April 1941 departing from the sea ice of Bukta Rodzhersa, [Rogers Bay], Ostrov Wrangela [Wrangell Island], and intending to reach ‘the region of the Pole of Inaccessibility’. These had Yakov Libin as chief scientist and Ivan Cherivichnyy as pilot of an SSR-N-169 aircraft. The flight on 3 April landed at 81◦ 27′ N, 181◦ 15′ E, on 13 April at 78◦ 31′ N, 176◦ 46′ E, and on 23 April at 79◦ 56′ N, 179◦ 55′ W. Each stayed for a few days surveying the position and drift of the pack ice while conducting physical research and making biological collections. The flights are indicated in the Atlas Arktiki (Treshnikov 1985) and a series of scientific results was published (Vize 1956). The flight of Sedov-5, in 1950 from Mys Schmidt [Smith Cape] followed the 166◦ 30′ W meridian from 76◦ 40′ N to 90◦ N thus it was also in the vicinity of the pole of inaccessibility. Many subsequent flights came near the position while establishing, supplying and evacuating drift stations, engaged in ice reconnaissance, and other purposes. Subsequently Soviet Union and Russian aviators maintained a comprehensive programme of landings on the Arctic Ocean pack ice. Some of these went to the drift stations but most landed, mainly in spring when conditions are most favourable, for short periods elsewhere. These, opportunistically, progressively accumulated knowledge of bathymetry and other aspects of the ocean. Many of the data were regarded as of military significance owing to their value for submarine navigation, consequently there is little published information available. In 2000 a summary of landings appeared which included details of aircraft and personnel involved and a series of small-scale annual maps (Konstantinov and Grachev 2000). From these it may be determined that in 1973, during programme Sever 25, and in 1977, Sever 29, aircraft landed relatively close to the actual pole of inaccessibility. The precise coordinates of the landings, and take-off after drifting, are not given. The published maps show no other flights landed in that vicinity although many would have flown over, or very close to, the position. Beginning in 1937, the Soviet Union deployed 31 Arctic drift stations, and subsequently Russia has deployed several more. Inevitably a few of these drifted close to the vicinity of the pole of inaccessibility and two came very close to the geographical North Pole. Their courses are indicated in several small-scale Arctic Ocean charts (Romanov and others 1997; Treshnikov 1985). From these it may be seen that in the proximity of the actual pole of innaccessibility the course of drift stations tends to become irregular with many changes in direction in comparatively short times. This is probably an influence of the edge of the Beaufort Gyre. Thus CP 4 (in 1955), 8 (1959), 20 and 22 (1972), 26 (1986), and 30 (1991) have followed convoluted courses in its vicinity. During the period of operation of a drift station several flights land nearby and others drop supplies and equipment. The United States nuclear submarine, Nautilus, commanded by William Anderson, passed near the putative pole of inaccessibility in 1958 during a submerged journey from off the Alaskan coast, on a bearing of 155◦ N. The master reported, on 2 August 1958, that the submarine had the pole of inaccessibility abeam, ‘But who cared? We were safe, warm, and comfortable in our home beneath the sea’ (Anderson 1959: 156). One of the way points during the British Trans-Arctic Expedition of 1968–1969, led by Wally Herbert was ‘to be in the vicinity of the Pole of Relative Inaccessibility by Midsummer’s Day’ (Herbert 1969: 111). An injury to one of the four men caused delays and a period in a camp, termed ‘Meltville’, drifting from 82◦ 27′ N, 163◦ 30′ W until ice conditions improved for travel to continue north. Several secondary accounts of the expedition report that it reached the pole in question. The location of the pole, as well as its definition, have resulted in it being the last notable place in the Arctic Ocean attained by a ship. The Russian nuclear powered icebreaker, Yamal, made a voyage from Murmansk to the North Pole in 1996 with passengers aboard. The destination, after a transit of the Arctic Ocean, was Barrow in Alaska. Ice conditions wer