During the past 200 years, few informed persons have doubted that abouta.d. 1000 the Norse attempted to colonize a part of the New World that theycalled Vinland. But the location of Vinland and the meaning of the word itself have long been subjects of dispute among scholars, and the lack of incontrovertible evidence of Norse occupation has permitted a proliferation of hypotheses. Among the earliest speculators in this matter were Torfaeus (1705) and Forster (1784), but the initiation of spirited controversy may be credited to Rafn (1837), who first forcibly drew public attention to the fact that it was the Norse who, some 500 years before Columbus, discovered the New World.

The increasing importance of the polar regions, and in particular the increasing use of polar waters by shipping, has led to publication in recent years of a number of ice atlases. These compilations attempt to summarize in cartographic form existing knowledge of the seasonal distribution of floating ice (mainly sea ice, but icebergs also are important in certain areas). The atlases seek to present a summary which is based on the greatest possible number of observations within a given period, and from which deductions may be drawn as to the future. They are therefore not to be confused with ice charts of another sort, which show only actual situations at particular times—although the two sorts may be used to complement each other. A summary of the currently available atlases and their characteristics may be helpful.

During the past few years, interest in the physicochemical properties of ice has expanded considerably (Gorham, 1958; Sugawara, 1961; Coachman, Hemmingsen & Scholander, 1956; Langway, 1962). Little, however, is known of the chemical composition of precipitation in the polar regions or of the chemical composition of different types of ice. Consequently, it is thought that the following information, compiled as a part of a much larger chemical study of several Antarctic lakes, might be of some interest to students of chemical meteorology and to those workers investigating the physical properties of ice.

The World Meteorological Organization International Ice Nomenclature, though it has not yet been officially published by the international agency, is in fact in general use in North America, and has been used by the Canadian ice reporting services since January 1962. As a result of this experience with the practical application of the terminology, and of a total of about ten years of operational ice reporting, Canadian users have compiled a list of proposed amendments, which has been officially submitted to WMO for consideration by the Maritime Commission. The proposal was co-ordinated through the Working Group on Ice Navigable Waters of the Canadian Committee on Oceanography, which represents virtually all Canadian agencies and individuals directly involved in ice operations and research. It thus reflects a fairly broad spectrum of Canadian opinion on the subject. The proposals are dealt with under four general headings: “Fast ice terms”, “Age categories”, “Topography”, and “Other amendments”. Many of these amendments are of a minor nature and it is not proposed to itemize them here. In view of the fact, however, that the processes of WMO are of necessity rather slow, it was felt that there might be some value in publishing the proposals in the age-category section, which are considered to be the most important, for the information and possibly discussion of those interested.

Since Brown (1963) wrote his comprehensive review of Antarctic whaling, the course of events has given 1963 some prominence in the history of this remote industry. Most significant was the fifteenth meeting of the International Whaling Commission, held in London in July, which had as one of its most important agenda items consideration of the reports of the special committee of three experts in population dynamics. This committee had been set up in 1960 to investigate Antarctic stocks, to work with the Commission's Scientific Committee, and to advise on conservation.

In Polar Record, Vol 11, No 75,1963, p 735, I. A. Suyetova made calculations of the area of Antarctica and of its major ice shelves based on published and unpublished material available up to 1961. Suyetova's estimate of the area of the ice shelves, excluding attached islands and ice rises, is 1–38 × 106 km2. In a study of the drainage systems of Antarctica (Giovinetto, 1963) the area of the ice shelves as defined above is estimated at (1·63 ± 0·30) × 106 km2. The latter estimate is based, except for the region of the Filchner Ice Shelf, on the more recent chart of Antarctica compiled by the American Geographical Society (1962; 1:3000000). The difference between the estimates of total ice shelf area cannot be explained entirely by the margin of error; there are some differences between the areas estimated for particular ice shelves which are significant:

The Canadian proposals outlined by Miss Dunbar (antea, p 717–22) have the great advantage of having grown out of several years' practical application of the WMO International Ice Nomenclature. The proposals are made not only out of a desire to refine concepts and lessen ambiguity as knowledge grows, but also out of a need for reorganization called for by practical considerations. This is the right way for a terminology to develop.

In September 1840, the whaling ship Hope, Captain Brighton, was cruising beyond Cape Horn in the south polar sea. One evening a storm drove her up against icefields and icebergs forming a wide roadstead. About half a nautical mile away rose an interminable line of high, snow-covered mountain peaks; everything was frozen, and in that direction the ocean was obviously closed. Meanwhile the sea was calm in the wide basin and Hopewas no longer in danger of being hurled against the edge of the ice; nor were there any more floating icebergs as they all had formed one continuous mass. But the captain was still on his guard and the crew was ready to use the first favourable wind, which in September in these latitudes usually gets up around midnight. If they stayed too long in this ice harbour the icebergs might start moving close together and wedge the whaling ship in until the weather became milder—or for ever.