King George Island, largest of the South Shetland Islands, is the site of nine scientific stations of different nationalities operating within the Antarctic Treaty System. Following a recent visit by the author to assess environmental and management issues, this article (the first of two) updates the status of developments on the island and outlines problems, real and potential.which have arisen from scientific activities, tourism, vehicles, use of fuels and waste disposal. It is concluded that existing management practices have not been adequate to deal with these problems and new approaches are required.

Commercial pelagic whaling of the 17th–19th centuries in the Greenland Sea was heavily influenced by environmental factors. Much of the fishery took place along a constantly shifting ice-edge, variations in which stamped a unique character on each season's operation. Environmental conditions required expert interpretation, both to procure paying cargoes of whale oil and bone and to survive hazards posed by sea, wind and ice. Detailed knowledge of currents, temperatures and winds enhanced greatly the chance that a master would have a successful voyage.

In 1953–55 the Canadian government experimentally relocated Inuit (Eskimo) families from the region of Port Harrison (Inukjuak), on Quebec's Ungava peninsula, to Ellesmere and Cornwallis Islands in the Arctic Archipelago. Today Inuit relocatees allege that they were deceived by the government and suffered greatly as a result of the experiment. The government asserts that the relocation was undertaken for humanitarian reasons. The controversy has recently resulted in hearings before a Canadian parliamentary committee on aboriginal affairs and the Human Rights Commission. A study of the relocation issue prepared for the government, known as the ‘Hickling Report’, rejects Inuit claims of mistreatment. In this paper the Hickling report's findings are assessed. Contrary to the report's conclusions, documentation suggests that one of the government's motives for undertaking the relocation pertained to Canadian sovereignty and exercising ‘effective occupation’ of the islands.

The Antarctic environment has undergone significant local environmental damage and degradation, with nations rebuilding, expanding, or developing stations and bases. The Australian Antarctic Division's ten-year (1985–95) A$76.704 million programme of rebuilding and expanding stations in Australian Antarctic Territory is representative of a continent-wide increase in station numbers and impact, increasing station size, human numbers, lengths of roads, buildings, waste material production, and energy requirements. Environmental planning and impact assessment have not been incorporated in official decision-making; human activities at Australian Antarctic Territory stations had serious impacts on the limited ice-free land and local flora and fauna. Casey, are-developed station, is examined with reference to environmental planning and management under Antarctic Treaty obligations and recent Australian environmental legislation. Recommendations include the setting up of an Australian Antarctic Resources Committee responsible inter alia for environmental planning and management, including regional and station management plans and cumulative and environmental impact assessment for all Antarctic operations.

In summer 1990 a Soviet-Norwegian expedition spent three weeks travelling to and around Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa (Franz Joseph Land). The main purpose of the expedition was to locate the remains of Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen's wintering quarters of 1895–96, and other historical sites at Cape Flora, Eira Harbour, Camp Ziegler, Buchta Tichaja and Teplitz Bay were also visited. The group experienced an amazing openness in this area which has been closed to visitors since 1930. The historical sites and their present condition are described.

James Gordon Bennett Jr (1841–1918), recognized as one of the most important individuals in the development of popular journalism in the United States, was proprietor of the New York Herald, perhaps the most influential American newspaper of his time. The man who sent Henry Morton Stanley to Africa to find David Livingstone, he was also significant in American Arctic exploration during the second half of the 19th century. He played a role in the organization or funding of five Arctic expeditions, including the Jeannette expedition under George W. De Long. Although his interest in exploration was primarily a means to increase the circulation of his newspaper, by his sponsorship Bennett helped contribute to knowledge of the Arctic. More importantly, through extensive coverage in the Herald, he helped create national interest in the Arctic and in polar exploration in general.

Climate models predict a substantial warming at high latitudes following the enhanced greenhouse effect caused by anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and various other trace gases. Arctic and sub-Arctic soils contain large amounts of organic carbon that could be made increasingly available for decomposition in a wanner climate due to deepening of the biologically-active layer and increased thermokarst erosion. This produces the potential for increased emissions of CO2 and CH4 from tundra areas and thus positive (enhancing) feedback effects on the greenhouse effect. From being a net absorber of CO2 the global tundra areas could become a net source of up to 1.25 Gt C yr1 as a result of the predicted warmer and dryer conditions during the thaw period. CH4 is at least 21 times more effective as a greenhouse gas than CO2. How the CH4 balance in the tundra will respond to climate change is therefore very important but also much less certain. Estimates of total present CH4 emissions from northern wetlands vary greatly, ranging from 2.4 to 106 Tg CH4 yr1 and little is known about the mechanisms controlling the flux. There are indications, however, that if the tundra becomes wetter under warming, CH4 emissions would probably increase. If it becomes dryer, the emissions could cease or even turn the tundra into a sink for atmospheric CH4, partly due to increasing microbial consumption of CH4 in the soil. There is an urgent need for more research into the processes controlling the CH4 flux in Arctic and sub-Arctic soils.

India's interest in Antarctica dates from 1956, when the Indian government first raised the question of the peaceful use of Antarctica in the UN. Although India began as a strong critic of the Antarctic Treaty System, and, indeed, conducted scientific activities on the continent for two years without being a member of it, India recognised that her interests would be better served by joining the Treaty as a full member.

Alaska's North Slope Borough, established in 1972, is a unique institution of Native-controlled local government in the north. Providing a case study of Native self-determination under favourable conditions of indigenous, local control of resource wealth and political power, it has been the instrument by which local Inupiat capturedand used oil wealth, with clear economic and political benefits. They have gained high levels of local public services, jobs, and incomes; and effective representation in negotiations with external corporate and government authorities; the borough has also preserved and adapted critical elements of traditional culture. Costs of development and changeunder borough leadership have included waste and inefficiency, crime and corruption. Centralized power in borough headquarters has reduced the independence of borough villages and encouraged borough citizens to act like clients and consumers. Borough economy remains dependent on uncertain tax revenues from oil, with uncertain future employment opportunities for a rapidly growing Native population. North Slope Borough government has provided the Inupiat with means to greater political self-sufficiency, and the borough has responded effectively, under great pressure, to the opportunities and problems that petroleum development has brought to the region.

The Soviet Arctic region is defined in administrative terms, and some parameters of sustainable development are defined and discussed. Under state enterprise sincethe 1930s the Arctic has been subject to a ruthless policy of development with little regard for environmental considerations or the needs of either native or migratory workforces. Perestroyka brings promise of better and more effective organization. The Arctic should be regarded as a component of the Soviet national economy, but business and scientific developments must be implemented with due consideration of possible social and ecological consequences. In all developments the limited material and labour resources of theArctic, as well as limited possibility of their employment elsewhere in the country to get the same result, should be bome in mind, and the effectiveness of proposed Arctic projects must be considered in the light of possible alternatives before any are implemented.

Concerned to assert sovereignty over northern territories, Canada in 1922 began an annual patrol to the eastern Arctic to establish and maintain police posts. The experienced Captain Bernier and the Arctic made four trips; then from 1926 to 1931 the government chartered Beothic, a larger sealing ship. The patrol was led by a civil servant and transported doctors, scientists, court officials and representatives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As part of depression economies in the 1930s, space was rented on the Hudson's Bay Company's Nascopie under Capt Smellie and many more Inuit were visited, but fur trading interests took precedence. Major McKeand, the patrol leader, had many roles and useful research continued, but Nascopie sank in July 1947. With postwar concern for a heightened government presence in the Arctic, and after some interim arrangements, the patrol was resumed in 1950 in CD. Howe. The new expedition was especially designed for an expanded medical team eager to test all Inuit for tuberculosis, as a result of which many were evacuated to southern hospitals. In 1959 Northern Affairs turned over command of the slow-moving patrol to the senior doctor, and in 1968 National Health and Welfare belatedly decided that the movement of Inuit into settlements with nursing stations and airstrips made the C. D. Howe service redundant, so the patrol was discontinued.

The Xlth Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting in Viña del Mar, Chile (19 November to 6 December 1990) aired the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties' views on conservation, following the collapse of support for the minerals convention. Almost simultaneously at the United Nations Assembly in New York, the eighth successive annual discussion on Antarctica included the usual critique of the Treaty System's political and legal framework. The conservationist emphasis apparent in 1989 continued in 1990, accompanied by an attack on Antarctic science. Particular emphasis was placed on adverse environmental impacts from the crowding together of scientific stations. Treaty parties countered with their long-standing opposition to UN interference in Treaty matters. Resolutions on Antarctica sought to exclude South Africa from ATS activities and to consider the establishment of a UN international research station. The 1990 discussions showed that the Treaty System at its 30th anniversary fails to enjoy universal support, and contributed to an emerging debate on the merits of Antarctic science.

During seven summer Brazilian expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula area the author used radio weather transmissions to collect data for synoptic analysis and operational weather forecasting. A particularly intensive effort aboard Barão de Teffé in 1989–90 yielded detailed information on frequencies, schedules, procedures and contents, which should be useful to radio-operators, meteorologists, and other Antarctic workers since official publications listing Antarctic radio transmissions are out-dated or incomplete. Radiotelegraph broadcasts particularly valuable to mariners, which may replace or complement facsimile transmissions, are made by Valparaiso, Punta Arenas, and Buenos Aires. Because of unreliable reception of regular fax and teletype broadcasts, synoptic reports were copied directly by monitoring voice and Morse point-to-point circuits, gaining time crucial to operational decisions. Especially useful sources of reports were the Frei, Marambio, and Faraday collections, and the USSR radiotelegraph communications carrying land and ship reports for all sectors of Antarctica and southern hemisphere oceans. Other signals, eg from Chilean lighthouses, ships of opportunity, and aircraft have become useful sources of meteorological information, especially for Drake Passage since Chile has suspended broadcasts, adversely affecting weather forecasting in the area. An insight into weather conditions on the Antarctic Plateau, as well as a sense of history in the making, were gained by monitoring Adventure Network International's radio frequencies.

Seal hunting remains of vital importance to Inuit culture, but the value of seal meat extends beyond nutritional and dietary requirements. This article focuses on the contemporary ideology of subsistence in a Greenlandic scaling community, with particular reference to the sharing of seal meat. Seal hunting is not cash-oriented and therefore seal meat is not regarded as a commodity. When it is shared or given away as a gift it expresses the relationships people share with each other. Sharing cements bonds of kinship and close social association and remains a distinctive statement of community.

This paper proposes management responses to problems perceived in an earlier paper on King George Island (Polar Record 27(162): 193–204, 1991). Available management instruments and barriers to solutions are reviewed, and new management approaches and tools postulated. The category of Antarctic Protected Area (APA) is proposed for areas needing special protection, with sub-designations of Natural, Scientific and Historic Reserves. Multiple-use Planning Areas (MPAs) are endorsed for areas of high use needing local and regional planning, including station environs, but with sub-designations Environmentally Sensitive Areas, Scientific Research Sites and Facilities Areas. Both APAs and MPAs will require management plans: APAs will be accessible only by entry permit. Also recommended are a scientific and logistic register, scheduled meetings among station commanders, development of an internationally coordinated regional scientific strategy, and an environmental information system. To manage tourism a commercial tourism licence system and tourist levy are recommended, with the industry controlled under management plans developed for APAs and MPAs, plus general Treaty provisions. Workload arising from these revisions would necessitate the Committee on Environmental Protection in the forthcoming Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, with a permanent Treaty secretariat. This framework, requiring a multinational approach to management more sophisticated than has so far been achieved under the Antarctic Treaty, would improve and coordinate management throughout Antarctica.

Horses were first used in Antarctica when eight Manchurian ponies provided support for Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition (1907–09). Scott's British Antarctic ‘Terra Nova’ Expedition (1910–13) used 17 ponies during its first year, and seven Indian mules in the following season. This paper presents new information on the mules, which suffered severely from the effects of an unbalanced diet and low temperatures. They were the last horses ever used to support an Antarctic expedition. In January 1989 when the stables of Scott's hut at Cape Evans were reclad and cleared of ice by a working party from the Antarctic Heritage Trust (New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme), artefacts relating to their occupancy by Manchurian ponies and Indian mules were located.

Scientific cooperation in the Arctic has gained momentum during the last two years. The changing attitude of the Soviet Union, the most advanced Arctic state in this respect, has played a crucial role in this evolution. This article, which focusses on non-Soviet research efforts in Soviet Arctic waters, concludes that the Soviet Union has lately given a clear signal by allowing foreigners, after many years of repeated refusal, to conduct marine scientific research close to its own coasts. In doing so the Soviets have further clarified the legal status of their northern waters.

Henry Grinnell (1799–1874), a wealthy American businessman, was a leading protagonist of 19th century American Arctic exploration. Despite his considerable influence, little has been written about his life. He never visited the Arctic, but sponsored important expeditions of the Franklin search, financing expeditions under Edwin De Haven 1850–51, Elisha Kent Kane 1853–55 and Charles Francis Hall 1860–62 and 1865–69. He supported also American attempts on the North Pole by Isaac Israel Hayes in 1860–61 and Hall in 1871–73. This article deals mainly with Grinnell's influence on polar affairs other than Franklin search expeditions, which were discussed in an earlier article.

In Tempelfjorden and Sassenfjorden, Svalbard, 12 March to4 April 1990, a Siberian husky dog was used to detect ringed seal breathing holes in the ice, using random stratified sampling to sample 20% (40 km2) of the total area. The area was estimated to contain 997 ringed seal breathing holes, corresponding to 293 ringed seals. A maximum of 185 pups were born in the area. A breeding condition factor was constructed to enable comparisons of yearly and areal variation in ice cover and precipitation within ringed seal breeding habitats.

The Winter Weddell Gyre Study was conducted by an international group of scientists, including members of the Scott Polar Research Institute, from FS Polarstern (FRG) in September and October 1989, in collaboration with RV Akademk Federov (USSR). This was a multi-disciplinary experiment involving biologists, chemists, oceanographers and meteorologists. The SPRI involvement centred on sea-ice research, involving both our own experiments and a programme carried out in collaboration with the other research groups on board. The SPRI programme involved measuring ice thickness; studying the under-ice topography with an upward looking sidescan sonar; investigating the acceleration, tilt and strain of the ice; deploying Argos buoys; aerial photography; iceberg tracking; and two acoustic experiments, one to record ambient noise and the other to acoustically measure the ice thickness.