In outline, the Antarctic continent crudely resembles a pear. It is indented on two sides by arms of the ocean, the Ross and Weddell Seas. These indentations are even greater than an outline map would suggest, for the seas extend far toward the interior of the continent beneath the world's two largest floating ice shelves, bearing the names of their respective discoverers, the English sea captain, Ross, and the German explorer, Filchner.

A century ago geologists first began to consider the possibility of large lateral shifts of the continents. Reconstructions of the ancient positions of the continents have been proposed at various times since to try to explain past climatic zones, faunal distributions, similar orogenic sequences and structural trends on adjacent continents, and many other detailed geological events. Prominent amongst the hypotheses is that generally known as the Continental Drift Hypothesis, developed independently by F. B. Taylor and A. Wegener fifty years ago and later modified by A. L. du Toit andothers. In this hypothesis two primeval continents, Laurasia and Gondwanaland, are supposed to have formed at the north and south poles, to have broken up and possibly to have grown, and the pieces to have drifted to the positions of the present continents. The continents are moved around by forces of unknown origin and their interaction with each other and with the substratum gives rise to orogenesis. Due in large part to the lack of any known forces capable of producing these movements the hypothesis is nowadays less favoured than others requiring no drift. Recently, however, the study of palaeomagnetism has provided an independent line of evidence. From it the ancient latitudes and orientations of the continents can be worked out and relative displacements may possibly be revealed.

The traditional methods of studying the marine biology of any coastline almost always involve the collection of plants and animals when the shore is exposed by the fluctuation of the tides. In the Antarctic, however, intertidal collecting is generally impossible due to the continuous abrasive action of floating ice, which scours this zone clean. Further difficulties are encountered in areas where fast ice extends out directly into the water, leaving no intertidal zone exposed. Thus our knowledge of the marine plants and animals of the Antarctic has been obtained largely through the use of the dredge. Skottsberg, in 1906, provided the first indication that there was, below the action of the ice, a rich growth of large marine algae. Unfortunately the bulk of his collections were lost when the Antarctic, the ship of the ill-fated Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1901–03, was crushed and sunk by pack ice.

About 80 million acres on the mainland of the Northwest Territories and Yukon, and over 40 million acres on the Arctic islands, are under oil and gas exploration permit. Exploration permits were issued in the Arctic islands for the first time in June 1960, following promulgation in April of new Canada Oil and Gas Regulations for federal government lands. The issue of these permits extended the northern oil and gas search from the Alberta and British Columbia borders, in lat. 60° N., northward to the Arctic islands; in terms of land area this is one of the most widespread oil and gas searches in the world. The Arctic islands exploration also holds particular interest since it is the farthest north oil and gas exploration ever carried out.

In 1946 the United States Weather Bureau and the Canadian Meteorological Service installed the first of the Joint Arctic Weather Stations at Resolute Bay. The network of satellite stations was extended into the Arctic archipelago in the following years on roughly a 275-mile spacing to Mould Bay, Isachsen, Eureka and Alert.

Operation “Hazen” was an IGY expedition, organized by the Canadian Defence Research Board to carry out scientific studies in the Lake Hazen area of northern Ellesmere Island, from April 1957 to August 1959. From April to August 1957, a party of six carried out glaciological, glacial-meteorological, seismic, and survey studies on Gilman Glacier, and two geologists worked out from Hazen Camp, the main station on Lake Hazen. From August 1957 to April 1958, a party of four meteorologists wintered at the base camp. The third phase, from April to August 1958, involved a continuation of the 1957 studies on Gilman Glacier, an extension of these studies to the ice cap to the north of Lake Hazen, and a co-ordinated study of the Lake Hazen basin and of other parts of northern Ellesmere Island. The latter included meteorological, geological, limnological, geomorphological, botanical, zoological and archaeological work by twelve members of the expedition stationed at the base camp. In the summer of 1959, a limited programme of glaciological, meteorological and botanical research was conducted by a small party on Gilman Glacier. During the spring and autumn re-supply operations, the expedition received support and co-operation from the Royal Canadian Air Force, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, and (for a week in 1958) from a “Supercub” aircraft flown by Dr Terris Moore of Waterville, Maine.

Arctic char, long a favourite food with the Eskimos, has recently been finding a ready market throughout Canada and the United States. With the increasing concentration of Eskimo populations in settlements, and with their increasing dependence on “white man's” food and equipment, it has become essential to stimulate means of increasing cash income. It was with this in mind that the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources carried out an experimental project to introduce Arctic char to the southern market in 1958. During the season, about 1,500 lb. were shipped on ice to Montreal and Toronto by air, and were distributed to a number of the best restaurants. Its reception by customers was so enthusiastic that a repeat order for more than the original 1,500 lb. was received in a matter of days.