Despite five difficult and distinguished scientific expeditions to Svalbard and Franz Josef Land between 1871 and 1882, the British yachtsman and explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith published no detailed account of his expeditions. Best known for a dramatic shipwreck at Cape Flora in Franz Josef Land in 1881, his early work in Svalbard — particularly his first effort when he developed the Arctic voyaging and scientific techniques he would employ on his subsequent expeditions — has received scant attention. In the summer of 1871, Leigh Smith launched the first of three consecutive annual geographic and oceanographic explorations of Svalbard. His unpublished 1871 journal details his growing appreciation of and expertise in the European high Arctic; corrects misstatements in later accounts of this first effort; details his exploration of Hinlopenstretet and the discovery and naming of Brochøya, Foynøya, and 31 other points in northeast Svalbard; and offers glimpses of an explorer who kept his personality well-hidden behind pioneering oceanographic and geographic observations of Svalbard and its surrounding seas.

Frithjof participated in several North Pole expeditions between 1898 and 1907 and was also involved in several relief expeditions. Her most frequent commander was Captain Johan Kjeldsen, who was an internationally famous ice pilot. Frithjof was built in 1884 at Stokke on Oslo fjord, Norway. After being employed in the sealing trade for some years, Frithjof was sold to an Icelandic concern. In 1891 she returned to Norwegian ownership and, in 1898, was chartered for Walter Wellman's North Pole expedition of the years 1898–1899. In 1900, she was the expedition ship for the Kolthoff expedition to Greenland, Spitsbergen and Jan Mayen. Between 1901 and 1904 she was engaged in Ziegler's North Pole expeditions both as expedition ship and as relief vessel. In 1903 the Swedish government chartered Frithjof in order to search for the Nordenskjöld expedition in the Antarctic. In 1906–7 the ship was again chartered for Wellman's North Pole airship expeditions. In late September 1907, Frithjof sailed from Tromsø on a relief expedition to search for Laura, an expedition vessel to Greenland that had not been heard of for three months. On 5 October 1907 she was lost in a storm off Iceland and only one man survived from her crew of 17.

The first article in the last issue of this journal was a Commentary entitled ‘To those who have made Polar Record’. It was written by Beau Riffenburgh and marked his retirement after holding the appointment of Editor of this journal since 1992. During his long tenure of the office, he presided over no fewer than 54 issues, more than in the case of any previous Editor. In his note, he presented not only an outline history of the progress of the journal since its establishment in 1930 but also illuminating comment on who had done what to make Polar Record the successful academic publication that it is today (Riffenburgh 2006).

It is often an advantage of retiring that one finally is able to say things that have long been on one's mind and to acknowledge those who have contributed to one's career or profession. Better yet is retiring as an editor of a journal or magazine, because then those thoughts and the mention of significant individuals can be recorded on paper for posterity. Having just retired after some 14 years as editor of Polar Record, I am pleased to be in that position now, because there are many people — both before my tenure and during it — who deserve mention for their contributions to what this special and very visible aspect of the Scott Polar Research Institute has become and to how it will develop.

Indigenous peoples have emerged as active participants in international relations. They claim the right to participation and to consultation in international political decision-making and to represent their interests based on principles of self-determination. Indigenous peoples' organizations in the Arctic have been in the forefront of the political mobilization of indigenous peoples in different international forums. The aim of the INDIPO project is to study the dynamics of interactions between states, international organizations, and indigenous peoples. This research project draws on theories and practices in international politics and international law in order to analyse how ‘indigenousness’ is used politically as a claim to self-determination and sovereignty in the international system and what the political consequences of this claim will be. The research objective consists in seeking answers to two interrelated questions. Firstly, how relations between states, international organizations and indigenous peoples have been and are currently constructed as legal and political practices? Secondly, how indigenous peoples, through different strategies, construct political agencies to further their political interest? The research project advances knowledge about the construction of the political agency of indigenous peoples and their participation in international policy-making. The researchers seek to establish a constructive dialogue with the representatives of major stakeholders and to organise two workshops with them in order to discuss the objectives and results of the project. The first one was held in Inari, Finland in January 2006.

At Cape Adare, there are three wooden historic huts in varying condition. Two are the first permanent structures erected in Antarctica for human habitation and were occupied in 1899 by the British Antarctic Expedition (1898–1900) led by C.E. Borchgrevink. The third hut was built in 1911 by the northern party of R.F. Scott's British Antarctic Expedition (1910–13) led by V.L.A. Campbell. Previous research has focused on the unusual wind regime at Ridley Beach, Cape Adare, with the use of an environmental wind tunnel to support field observations, and on the sequence of destruction by wind of the 1911 hut. The present paper focuses on the weathering of timber at some historic huts in Antarctica and presents observations and data collected on three visits to Cape Adare spanning 21 years. The results indicate that over 23% of the timber has been eroded from exposed board ends on one corner of Borchgrevink's ‘stores hut’ and further damage to the huts is being caused by wind blown sand and pebbles which, at two meters above the ground surface, can attain a velocity of 29–203 km/hr−1. This has in places, resulted in severe degradation of the timber.

The climatic conditions in the Arctic, and observations of the wind-induced drift of ice made in connexion with Fridtjof Nansen's Fram expedition, led to the discovery 100 years ago by Vilhelm Bjerknes' pupil, V.W. Ekman, of the importance of the Earth's rotation in limiting the depth of the wind-induced shear current in the ocean. This essay commemorates the centenary of Ekman's seminal paper, which was published in 1905. The paper presents a concise summary of Ekman's contributions to physical oceanography and a brief review of their continuing impact. The two key concepts are the Ekman spiral (the helical rotation of the velocity vector, in atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers) and the resultant Ekman pumping (vertical motions in the water column associated with the divergence of the flow in the surface layer in the presence of a rotational wind-stress field). Later work has revealed how the magnitude and direction of the surface current relative to the wind vector is influenced by the presence of surface waves and the behaviour of the turbulent flow in the near-surface layer of the ocean. However, the structure of Ekman's original viscous coupling model remains a permanent legacy to physical oceanographers.

In the western Arctic and in the northwest coast and Alaska, the significance of the raven as a creator and trickster is generally acknowledged. In the eastern Arctic there are no such elaborate mythical cycles concerning the bird. But the raven still plays an important role in myths and rituals. In this paper, some features of the Alaskan complex and the position of the raven in the eastern Arctic are discussed. The basic features of the Alaskan raven complex are used as heuristic principles guiding research into the situation in the eastern Arctic region. It is argued that in many respects the raven is responsible for society but without being part of it. As a predator and a scavenger it is often associated with eating dirt, excrement and human flesh, and yet it created light, enabling people to see and invented tattooing, enabling women to marry.

Low temperatures severely limit the rate of bioremediation in cold climates. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of temperature on bioremediation rates and to optimize the nutrient supply in order to accelerate bioremediation. Samples of diesel-contaminated soil from two Alaskan sites were incubated in the laboratory at different temperatures (1, 6, or 20°C) with varying nutrient levels (0, 100, 300, or 800 mg nitrogen per kg dry soil). As expected, biodegradation was fastest at higher temperatures. However, after approximately two months of treatment, the cumulative amount of CO2 produced at a temperature of 6°C could reach 75% of the amount produced at 20°C. Based on this data, researchers concluded that a temperature of 6°C was sufficient to achieve efficient treatment if all other potentially limiting factors — such as oxygen, water content, and nutrient supply — were addressed. A cost-effective process based on passive solar soil heating is proposed to raise the soil temperature and thereby improve the bioremediation rate. Furthermore, in field applications, an even distribution of nutrients cannot be taken for granted, especially when granulized fertilizer is applied; this method often results in suboptimal local concentrations (too high or too low). Particularly in cold climates with a short growth season, it is important to utilize this short time-window efficiently. The second part of the study explored improving the method of fertilizer application (granular versus liquid application, with and without irrigation) to achieve a homogeneous nutrient distribution. It was found that irrigation can substantially improve the distribution of nitrogen, thereby increasing bioremediation rates and shortening treatment times by as much as 50%.

The small island of Tuppiap Qeqertaa, formerly known as Tobias Ø or Tobias Island, is situated 80 km off the northeast Greenland coast. The island was discovered in 1993 and is approximately 2 km long and 1.5 km wide. Most of the island is covered by an ice cap that rises to 35 m above sea level, as determined by airborne laser scanning. High-quality geodetic GPS measurements determine the position of a small cairn erected on the island to 79°20′34.48′′ N, 15°46′31.23′′ W. Minor parts of the island are ice free, with small hills of gravel. Late Holocene shells of marine bivalves have been found and were presumably brought up by ice floe push. Shell fragments of southern extralimital marine invertebrates point to the presence of pre-Holocene deposits. Three species of moss are the only land plants that have been found on the island.

The Canadian Arctic provides important habitat for millions of marine birds. Some key habitat sites for these have already been protected, but many others lack official protected status and remain vulnerable to various anthropogenic threats. The authors worked with the community of Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut, to create two new National Wildlife Areas that protect the colonies, and the nearby marine area, of approximately 500,000 birds during the breeding season. The process has taken two decades to complete, in part due to misunderstanding and mistrust of government on the part of aboriginal residents. In this paper the path that led to the creation of these sites is traced. This has included the approach adopted to collaborating with the local community, incorporating aboriginal (local) ecological knowledge, conducting scientific surveys while building local capacity for further scientific investigation, and finding a solution that addressed the disparate interests of the various stakeholders in this process.

Indigenous peoples regularly regard international law as a very important tool for the advancement of their political goals. This is most likely because in many nation-states their opportunities for influencing political development are rather limited. Even though international law seems to be an important means for indigenous peoples to advance their goals, these peoples should be aware of its inherent limitations. One such shortcoming is that international law seriously restricts indigenous peoples' opportunities to participate in the international law-making processes; that is treaty and customary law. The contention in this article is that the recent norm-making method of soft law provides indigenous peoples with a better opportunity for influential participation than is afforded them by traditional methods. If these peoples are to benefit from this opportunity, however, we must appreciate the revolutionary potential of the concept: a potential that is suffocated if the concept is understood only from the perspective of international law. A good example of indigenous peoples gaining a better standing in inter-governmental co-operation is the Arctic Council, which based its work on the soft-law approach from the outset. There would seem to be good prospects for adopting the Arctic Council's approach in other regions of the world in order to improve indigenous peoples' international representational status.

Creative remediation schemes have been implemented with success at petroleum-contaminated sites in Alaska and Canada during the past decade. Contaminated media have been landfarmed, amended with fertilizers, augmented with microbial products, and manipulated with engineered systems. Phytoremediation developments and use of biodegradable synthetic and polymeric resins for potential use with petroleum and xenobiotic contaminants are on the horizon. Treatment of supra-permafrost water and melt-water runoff with permeable reactive barriers and partitioning bioreactors is now possible. Cost and time limitations will likely continue to drive remediation decisions in the Arctic. Environmental policy, environmental constraints, and cost will dictate what technologies are appropriate for Antarctic clean-up, although the pressure of time is less acute because land transfer and liability are not drivers. This paper discusses some recent advances in remediation engineering for use in polar regions. Conceptual models are presented, and case study treatment costs and durations are highlighted to aid environmental decision-making.

Chemical factors that are essential in frost heaving of soils are examined through consideration of the process of ice formation in soils and the role of temperature gradients in generating water potential gradients in freezing soils. Unfrozen films are maintained around soil particles in frozen soils. The osmotic potentials at the ice–water interface of the unfrozen films and in the frozen fringe, the thin zone between the frozen and unfrozen soil, generated by dissolved salts and exchangeable cations that satisfy soil particle surface charge, are controlled by the local temperature. The coldest location and the most negative osmotic potentials at the ice–water interface are located immediately below the base of the ice lens, in the unfrozen films that separate the underlying soil particles from the ice lens. An osmotic potential gradient is generated because the osmotic potential at the water–ice interface in the frozen fringe becomes less negative with increasing temperature and distance from the ice lens. As water freezes onto the ice lens, re-supply of water to the unfrozen film along the osmotic potential gradient is the temperature-gradient-induced mechanism that generates the force that lifts the overlying frozen soil. Models that recognize this driving mechanism should improve predictions of soil freezing and frost heave, analysis of contaminant transport in freezing and frozen soils, and other aspects of the soil-freezing and frost-heave processes.

In November 2005 the ‘Question of Antarctica’ was taken up yet again by the UN First Committee. Following formal placement upon its agenda in 1983 by the Malaysian government, the UN has discussed the topic regularly, initially annually, then biennially, but more recently upon a triennial basis. As usual, in 2005 UN members were guided by a lengthy report produced for the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in order to outline recent developments affecting Antarctica and the Antarctic Treaty system (ATS). In November 2005 the UN First Committee, acting upon proposed amendments advanced by the Malaysian delegation, agreed to a major change of course. Thus, resolution L60, adopted by the committee without a vote, stipulated that the UN, though remaining ‘seized’ of the ‘Question of Antarctica’, would not place the topic upon the agenda of the 63rd. session in 2008. Nor would the UNSG be required, henceforth, to produce a report on Antarctica for members. In December 2005, the UN General Assembly adopted draft resolution L60 as resolution 60/47, once again without a vote. As a result, for the first time since 1983, the UN is no longer scheduled to return to the ‘Question of Antarctica’. Meanwhile, the episode has raised interesting questions about future developments: the UN's role, if any, in the ‘Question of Antarctica’, the direction of Malaysian policy towards the ATS, including membership thereof; the continued ability of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs) to manage Antarctica in a democratic, transparent and accountable manner without attracting criticism from the broader international community; and the relevance of the common heritage principle to the Antarctic region.

The need to address the human health implications of northern development is well founded, and the role of health determinants in environmental impact assessment is increasingly recognised; however, there is limited understanding of the nature of health determinants and current practices in northern project assessment and decision making. This paper reports on a study of the nature and use of health determinants in Canadian northern environmental impact assessment, and discusses the key challenges to, and opportunities for, improved practice. Four themes emerged from this study. First, the consideration of health is limited to physical environments and the physical determinants of health, with limited attention to broader social and cultural health determinants. Second, when health is considered in northern project impact assessments such considerations rarely carry forward to post-project approval monitoring of health determinants and evaluation of health impact management programmes. Third, while there is general consensus that health determinants should be an integral part of northern impact assessment, there exist different expectations of the role of health determinants in project evaluation and decision making due in large part to different understandings and interpretations of health. Finally, a broader conceptualisation of health and health determinants in northern environmental impact assessment is required; one that takes into consideration northern cultures and knowledge systems, and is adaptive to local context, geography and life cycles.

Indigenous rights have gained considerable prominence in international forums over the last few decades, and are now being institutionalised through emerging norms within the international system. This paper examines the factors affecting the adoption of the norm of self-determination for indigenous peoples in the Finnish case using current constructivist models of normative change. Explanations for Finland's difficulty in adopting this norm, as symbolised by the ratification process of International Labour Organization Convention No. 169, are found in both the international normative context in which it emerged and in domestic factors within Finland itself. The concept of a ‘corrupt’ norm is introduced as a theoretical device in cases where norms have strong moral- or value-based appeal, but are weak in terms of the clarity of how they will work. This is an INDIPO project paper (Tennberg 2006)

Permeable reactive barriers are used to adsorb contaminants from soil water. Their fillings are granular materials whose stability under freezing conditions has not been demonstrated. In this research, three granular materials (activated carbon, raw clinoptilolite and a nutrient amended clinoptilolite) were subjected to freeze-thaw cycles at different moisture conditions, in order to simulate their use in permeable reactive barriers in areas of freezing ground. The <250 μm fraction, which will potentially accumulate grain fragments, showed no change for the carbon, but an increase from ∼1% to ∼3% abundance by volume for the clinoptilolite with modes at 100–200 μm. SEM images show cracks in the zeolite grains, forming fragments of the size observed in the particle size data. These findings may have implications for the long-term permeabilities of reactive barriers operated in areas of freezing ground.

Sphagnum moss has been used globally as an indicator of climate change. Since continuous meteorological recording started in the late 1940s, there has been a marked change in the climates of Southern Ocean islands. The distribution of Sphagnum on Macquarie Island appeared to be expanding through the 1980s. All patches of Sphagnum were mapped in the 1992/93 austral summer, with 112 Sphagnum moss patches (<3 m2) and 12 larger (≥3 m2) patches recorded. The vast majority of sites recorded were lowland coastal, with a few sites around plateau lakes. The area of moss beds ranges from 0.03 m2 to 32.4 m2. A total of 23 sites were pegged and tagged by 1996, but only 14 of these sites still had Sphagnum moss present by 2004. It is considered that the climatic conditions (higher than average temperatures and wind speeds and lower than average humidity and precipitation) that occurred between April 1999 and May 2000 would have resulted in a period of desiccation that accounts for the destruction of the smaller and/or shallower Sphagnum beds on the island. It is highly likely that both the spatial distribution and size of Sphagnum moss beds on Macquarie Island will continue to decline with predicted changes in sub-Antarctic climate.

This paper describes observations made on visits to Beechey Island in 1999, 2002, and 2005. These visits were made in order to examine the memorials on this very important site for Arctic exploration and to make an extensive photographic record of them. Their history and present condition are described. There are some inconsistencies and confusion in the scattered literature concerning their history and this paper seeks to resolve these matters. It is hoped that further investigations to resolve the few remaining problems, will be conducted and that a systematic nomenclature, which is suggested in the paper, will be adopted for the memorials. Restoration, repair, and regular maintenance of the memorials are becoming necessary and appropriate funding for this is required before it is too late. Close regulation of the erection of more modern memorials and burials, some of which, in the author's view, detract from the significance, solemnity, and appearance of the island is desirable. With the growing number of airborne and ship borne travellers and tourists visiting Beechey Island, a degree of supervision may become necessary in order to ensure that the memorials remain intact. Beechey Island is one of the most important heritage locations in Canada and in the history of Arctic exploration by the Royal Navy in the nineteenth century.