Recent Exploration in the Polar Regions

Abstract

W XC tITH ninety to a hundred expeditions working in the Arctic in I937 and I938, it is evident that interest in the Polar Regions has not abated. It is true that some forty of these were carried on by the Soviet governnment in the Arctic section of Siberia and in the Arctic Sea and its arms on the Siberian coast and that their purpose was primarily economic and strategic; but the importance of their contributions to scientific knowledge of the Arctic as a whole is not lessened thereby. On the other hand, the fact that between fifty and sixty expeditions worked in West Spitsbergen, Northeast Land, Greenland, Labrador, Arctic Canada, and Alaska should dispel any idea that present-day Arctic exploration is confined chiefly to Soviet territory. So long is the list of recent expeditions in the Arctic that it is possible, within the scope of this review, to mention only some of the most outstanding. Attention is called, however, to The Polar Record, issued twice annually (January and July) by the Scott Polar Research Institute. It is the only source at all complete of information covering the whole field of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and is particularly valuable for its news of Soviet expeditions.