As the world's oil resources dwindle, the search for new supplies is touching regions of the globe previously considered too hostile for any kind of sustained operation. The ice-infested coastal waters of eastern and northern Canada are one such region. Already rigs have been at work off Newfoundland and Labrador where there is a long ice-free season and where drifting icebergs are the chief danger. Wells have been drilled on land in the Arctic islands and in one case from fast ice artificially thickened by flooding. However, a proposal to drill in the environmentally sensitive Beaufort Sea aroused widespread concern because of the enormous damage that could be caused by an accidental oil spill or by the blowout of an offshore well. People realized that the polar pack ice presents great dangers, that almost no information existed on the interactions between oil and sea ice, and that the oceanography and biology of the Beaufort Sea were understood only sketchily. To remedy these deficiencies a major environmental impact study, the Beaufort Sea Project, was undertaken in 1974–75 by the federal government of Canada and the oil industry acting in co-operation. The study also served the purpose of definng the conditions and restrictions under which the government would allow offshore drilling to proceed.

Now that the air cushion vehicle (ACV) or hovercraft has become an accepted and reliable means of transport, it is of considerable interest to examine its applicability to Arctic operations. Since there are so many different types of ACV, we should first understand the fundamental qualities of these devices, before going on to survey the range of vehicles at present operating.

One of the most spectacular achievements during the late 1950's was the attainment of the South Pole and the subsequent crossing of Antarctica by Vivian Fuchs with the support of Edmund Hillary. Both parties reached the pole driving over-snow vehicles ranging from modified farm tractors to mechanically complex Sno-cats. The first and last bases on the crossing were named after Scott and Shackleton, in honour of Britain's two most celebrated names during the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration. The fact that it was Shackleton and Scott who introduced the ‘motor age’ to Antarctica is perhaps even more significant. Their attempts to introduce motor transport to Antarctica make an interesting footnote to their famous exploits.

The Harp Seal Pagophilus groenlandicus is a gregarious, migratory seal inhabiting Arctic and sub-Arctic waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. In spring, asthe ice recedes, the largest of three known breeding populations migrates up the east coas of Canada from the Gulf of St Lawrence, along the coast of Labrador, to the Canadian Archipelago, Hudson Bay, and the west coast of Greenland. After spending the summer feeding in Arctic waters, the seals move southward ahead of the Arctic ice pack, reaching the coast of Labrador and the Gulf of St Lawrence sometime in late December or early January. They reappear at the end of February and in early March in whelping ‘patches’ or concentrations on ice inthe Gulf of St Lawrence west of the Magdalen Islands, and off the coast of Labrador in an areaknown as the ‘Front’. One of the two smaller and probably distinct breeding populations is to be found in the White Sea, the other in the Vestisen [West Ice] between Jan Mayen and Svalbard.

This paper examines an example of the functioning of what is referred to in the Soviet literature as the shift method (vakhtennyy metod) of working mineral resources in remote northern locations. The essence of the method is that the workers have their homes and families at some established centre in the south, and are flown in to their place of work in the north for shifts of a few weeks, during which long hours are worked. Thus at the northern end living accommodation can be very simple, with no need for elaborate social facilities, and substantial economies should accrue. These economies would more than offset the cost of transportation, and would become apparent if account were taken of the indirect as well as the direct costs of the enterprise—that is, the associated towns, highways, airports, power stations and so forth.

The total breeding population of the Thick-billed Murre (Brünnich's Guillemot)Uria lomvia in west Greenland in 1951 was estimated to amount to two million pairs (Salomonsen, 1951), half of which inhabit the gigantic loomery at Kap Shackleton (Agparssuit) (Fig 1). Tuck (1960) considered this to be a conservative estimate, ‘and cannot concede that fewer than five million Thick-billed Murres inhabit the west coast of Greenland during the summer months’. The birds have long been considered an important food source by the inhabitants of the area. Rink (in Salomonsen, 1951, p 378) recorded a harvest of 70 000 birds as long ago as 1850; with the advent of modern shotguns and cheap ammunition the toll is now severe (Fig 2). As a result of shooting and disturbance population decreases have been recorded at various sites, but particularly those close to settlements (Table 1). In addition to the colonies listed in the table, a count was made in 1921 for the Sagdleq colony in the Umánaq district. An estimated 500 000 birds were recorded which, in 1949, had decreased to 250 000. In 1968 the Umánaq district legislated for total preservation of this colony for three years.

Six British Antarctic Survey stations were operational during the year. A new station, at Rothera Point, Adelaide Island, is being built to replace Adelaide station. Its development is providing a unique opportunity to study changes in the microbial, invertebrate, plant and birdpopulations as a result of human activities, including the inevitable atmospheric pollution and the localized influence of tracked vehicles. Several small sites have been set up to study these changes. Among the senior Survey staff to visit the bases this season were Dr R. M. Laws (Director), and Mr W. R. Piggott (Head of Atmospheric Sciences). Other visitors included Dr B.B. Roberts, Dr L. Ferraz, a Brazilian observer, and Mr D. Smith, a British artist.