Danish Expedition Research Articles

The history of chemical concepts and field studies of CO2 in seawater: A tribute to Kurt Buch (1881–1967)

This review of the research on the marine CO2 system spans the time between the mid-19th century and the first years after World War II. It covers the period from the first attempts to determine the amount of CO2 dissolved in seawater to the first complete physico-chemical characterization of the marine CO2 system. The development of the latter was significantly influenced by the theoretical and experimental work of the Finnish chemical oceanographer Kurt Buch (1881–1967) during the first half of the 20th century. To acknowledge his outstanding achievements in Chemical Oceanography, this review is dedicated to him.The first part of our discussion is organized along the characteristic variables of the marine CO2 system. The analytical procedures that led successively to the definition of total CO2, alkalinity (“neutral carbonate”), the CO2 partial pressure (“CO2 tension”) and pH are briefly described. We trace the attempts to connect these variables quantitatively through the mass action law. After several failed attempts, CO2 dissociation constants were finally determined with the support of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (1931). Their results constituted the basis of the marine CO2 studies conducted after World War II.The second focus of our review refers to the various field studies, including early measurements of total CO2 and alkalinity during Norwegian (1878) and Danish expeditions (1895/96) in the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean and the first measurements of surface water pCO2 in the North Atlantic, in 1902. Furthermore, we acknowledge the achievements of the German Atlantic expedition (1925–1927) for the characterization of the vertical and horizontal distribution of pH, pCO2 and CaCO3 saturation in the Atlantic Ocean. Among Buch's field studies of the CO2 system, we consider the Finnish monitoring program, in which pH and alkalinity were measured at over 70 stations in the northern Baltic Sea.Whenever it is appropriate, we show the connection between past scientific ideas, concepts and knowledge with current efforts and developments concerning the understanding of the marine carbon cycle and its response to increasing atmospheric CO2.

Measuring the Tibetan nation: Anthropometry in 1950s Kalimpong

AbstractThis article explores the anthropometric survey of 5,000 Tibetans by the ethnographer HRH Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark in the northeast Indian Himalayan town of Kalimpong in the 1950s, as part of the Third Danish Expedition to Central Asia. In the context of the crisis created by the Chinese incursion into Tibet in 1950, which pushed thousands of Tibetans into India, stationary field anthropometry, rather than a mobile expedition, became Prince Peter's principal entry into Tibetan worlds. This article explores the scientific paradigms underpinning his anthropometric survey at a time when anthropology had seemingly moved on theoretically and ethically, the historical conditions and contingencies of Prince Peter's research, and the survey's representations of Tibetan peoples and places. We argue that, while Prince Peter's understanding was in essence primordialist, linking particular peoples to particular places, in practice he took a more modernist approach to ‘Tibetaness’ as contingent upon historical processes. The article concludes by reflecting on the potential significance of this vast and unique collection of historic anthropometric data for Tibetans today.

Niebuhr’s Museum. Artefacts and Souvenirs from the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia 1761–1767

To open with the observation that Karsten Niebuhr (1733–1815) never actually owned a museum is not to undermine in the least the wonderful volume produced by Anne Haslund Hansen, for she presents us here in remarkable detail with material that Niebuhr assembled but never possessed and which hitherto has never been brought together as a related group. The context in which this virtual collection took shape was provided by the ambitious expedition mounted in the 1760s at the behest of King Frederik V of Denmark (an enterprise that deserves to feature much more prominently than it generally does in the history of scientific exploration). The original publication of this volume as Souvenirs og sjældenheder fra Den Arabiske Rejse (also in 2016) would have left the non-Danish speakers among us little more enlightened, so its translation into English here by Dan A. Marmorstein is a real boon to English-language scholarship. It was in January 1761 that the expedition in question set out and November 1767 when it ended. The rate of attrition among the personnel proved punishingly high, for only Niebuhr would make it back to Europe, the other members – a philologist, naturalist, physician and engraver – all succumbing to illness and disease along the way. Not the least remarkable feature of the enterprise was the degree of effort invested in its planning, resulting in a list of Kongelige Instruks – Royal Instructions – and a set of 100 questions the expedition was to attempt to answer; both were published in 1762 as Fragen an eine Gesellschaft Gelehrter Männer, a text revealing the powerful influence of Linnaeus’s recent Instructio Peregrinatoris of 1759. The final instructions comprised forty-three paragraphs of detailed notes covering the organization of the expedition, its itinerary, and the responsibilities of the individual members in fields covering biblical history, geography, and natural history: ‘useful oriental manuscripts, natural specimens and other curiosities’ were to be sought out, but scholarly interest was to take priority over matters of aesthetics or prestige.

Early Scientific Expeditions and Local Encounters. New Perspectives on Carsten Niebuhr and ‘The Arabian Journey’. Proceedings of a Symposium on the Occasion of the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia Felix, written by Ib Friis, Michael Harbsmeier and Jørgen Baek Simonsen

Early Scientific Expeditions and Local Encounters. New Perspectives on Carsten Niebuhr and ‘The Arabian Journey’. Proceedings of a Symposium on the Occasion of the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia Felix, written by Ib Friis, Michael Harbsmeier and Jørgen Baek Simonsen

Enlightenment geography in the study: A.F. Büsching, J.D. Michaelis and the place of geographical knowledge in the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia, 1761–1767

This paper discusses the practical making of geographical knowledge 'at home' in the context of two interwoven Enlightenment endeavours, namely the fifth part of Anton Friedrich Büsching's Neue Erdbeschreibung concerning the geography of Asia (Hamburg, 1768) and the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia (1761–1767) organized by Johann David Michaelis. It illustrates how Büsching and Michaelis sought to integrate knowledge of the study and the field in ways that allowed them to produce more accurate knowledge of Asia's historical and contemporary geography, and to legitimate the credibility and necessity – rather than the superiority – of textual critique in the study. In so doing, it criticises recent work that has stressed the epistemological divide between the study and the field in the Danish expedition and in Enlightenment science more broadly. The paper argues that understanding the relations between the historical constitution of the study, the production of geographical knowledge through correspondence, and the critical evaluation of knowledge from the field is crucial for understanding the making of Enlightenment geography.

Two new species of Palapedia Ng, 1993 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura,Xanthidae) from the Persian Gulf.

Two new species of Palapedia Ng, 1993, are described based on material collected from Abu-Musa Island, Persian Gulf during the present study, from Bahrain by the 1937/38 Danish Expedition, and from the Saudi Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf by Michael Apel in 1992-1995. Palapedia persica n. sp. is distinguishable from its congeners by having distinctly large denticles on the upper margin of the palm and fingers of the chelae and anterior margin of the ambulatory dactyli, and by the markedly sickle-shaped dactylus of the ambulatory legs. Palapedia apeli n. sp. is similar to P. valentini Ng, 1993, and P. nitida (Stimpson, 1858), by having relatively smooth appendages.

Coffee and qat on the Royal Danish expedition to Arabia – botanical, ethnobotanical and commercial observations made in Yemen 1762–1763

In spite of widespread consumption of coffee in Europe at the time of the Royal Danish expedition to Arabia 1761–1767, little was known of the cultivation of coffee in Yemen and of the Arabian coffee export to Europe. Fresh leaves of qat were used as a stimulant on the Arabian Peninsula and in East Africa, but before the Royal Danish expedition to Arabia this plant was known in Europe only from secondary reports. Two members of the expedition, Carsten Niebuhr and Peter Forsskål, pioneered studies of coffee and qat in Yemen and of the Arabian coffee export. Linnaeus' instructions for travellers requested observations on the use of coffee, but otherwise Forsskål and Niebuhr's studies of coffee and qat were made entirely on their own initiative. Now, 250 years after The Royal Danish expedition to Arabia, coffee has become one of the world's most valuable trade commodities and qat has become a widely used and banned drug.

Random Sample

Scientists aboard the Danish Eel Expedition study declining populations in the Sargasso Sea, while diplomats sign a nonbinding international agreement to protect the open-ocean region from pollution and overfishing. And German-based biotech company CureVac plans to honor Friedrich Miescher, the little-known discoverer of DNA, by converting his old lab in the kitchen of a medieval castle into a public exhibit.

Iceland in the Eighteenth Century: An Island Outpost of Europe?

The aim is to define Iceland’s relationship with Europe during the eighteenth century. Though Iceland, an island in the mid-Atlantic, was geographically isolated from the European continent, it was in most respects an integral part of Europe. Iceland was not much different from western Europe except for the notable lack of towns and a European-style nobility. However, there was a clearly – defined elite and by the end of the eighteenth century urbanisation had become government policy. Iceland was also remote in the sense that the state of knowledge among the Europeans was slight and unreliable. However, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, Danish and French expeditions were sent to Iceland while British scientists began exploring the island with the result that by the early nineteenth century an excellent choice of books was available in the major European languages giving up-to-date accounts of Iceland. On the other hand the Icelanders were growing ever closer to Europe, by the end of the century for instance adopting fashionable European dress. Iceland’s history always followed western trends, its history more or less mirroring that of western Europe.

‘A Practical Skill that Was Without Equal’:Carsten Niebuhr and the navigational astronomy of the Arabian journey, 1761–7

Carsten Niebuhr was the astronomer/cartographer for the Danish expedition to Arabia in 1761–7. He established the practicality of Tobias Mayer's lunar distance method for determining longitude, which became the predominant basis for the determination of longitude in the last decades of the eighteenth century. Niebuhr was also a pioneer in the application of astronomy to hydrography as demonstrated in his charts of the Nile Delta, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Shatt el Arab. He is noted for the precision of his work which was exceptional for the times. However, Niebuhr's accomplishments in navigational astronomy, and their significance have largely gone unrecognized.

A naturalist of the Northern Enlightenment: Peter Forsskål after 250 years

Peter Forsskål (1732–1763) was the naturalist on the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia (1761–1767), a particularly rich example of the eighteenth century era of scientific exploration and a quintessential project of the Enlightenment. Forsskål is noteworthy for his early writings in philosophy and politics and for his outstanding contributions to the botanical and zoological knowledge of the Middle East, specifically Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, principally Yemen. His biological work stands out for the large number of species identified, its attention to detail, the expansiveness of his descriptions, his knowledge and use of Arabic and his early ideas on plant geography. Forsskål's research in the marine biology of the Red Sea was also pioneering. His publications and collections represent the single greatest contribution to the knowledge of the natural history of the Middle East in the eighteenth century and are still valued by scholars today. His skill in retaining local terminology in Arabic and his respect for the contributions of local inhabitants to this work are also worth noting. When he died of malaria in 1763 in Yemen, the eighteenth-century world of natural science lost a promising and adventurous scientist.

Scientific expeditions to the Arab world (1761-1881)

Preface Introduction. Europe and the Scientific Exploration of the Near and Middle East 1. Pehr Forsskal and the Danish Expedition of 1761-1767 2. The Naturalists of the French Expedition of 1798-1801 3. Ehrenberg and the Hemprich: The Prussian Expedition of 1820-1825 4. Balfour, Schweinfurth and the Soqotra Expeditions of 1880-1881 Conclusion. High Hopes, Disillusionment and Final Achievements

Hydrographic Work of the INGOLF Expedition (1895 and 1896) to Icelandic and West Greenland Waters

The Danish expedition in the summers of 1895 and 1896 on board the cruiser Ingolf to Icelandic and West Greenland waters mainly had zoological tasks, the results of which are treated in the present issue by Wolff. However, the expedition also obtained significant results in physical oceanography. The existence of a vast subsurface ridge, the Reykjanes Ridge, was proved. On the basis of the hydrographic stations worked, the expedition's physicist and chemist Martin Knudsen was able to describe the hydrographic situation of the area. He proved the division of the Irminger Current into an easterly and westerly branch northwest of Iceland, and the extent and magnitude of the East Icelandic Polar Current were established. The existence of an overflow over the Iceland-Faroe Ridge of cold, low-salinity bottom water from the Norwegian Sea into the Atlantic was demonstrated. Knudsen designed a new, reliable reversing thermometer for use on the expedition, and he constructed an instrument that made it possible to measure aboard the ship the content of oxygen and nitrogen dissolved in the water. He showed that the supersaturation of surface water with oxygen might be explained from the photosynthetic processes of phytoplankton.

Seasonality of spawning by tropical anguillid eels around Sulawesi Island, Indonesia

Remarkably little is known about the life histories of the many tropical anguillid eels distributed across the Indo-Pacific region, and since the Danish expedition to study eels in the region in 1928 and 1929, research on these eels has only begun again in recent years. Sampling for anguillid leptocephali in the Indonesian Seas has been carried out recently to learn about the spawning ecology and larval distributions of tropical eels there. The leptocephali of Anguilla marmorata, Anguilla bicolor pacifica, Anguilla borneensis, Anguilla interioris, and Anguilla celebesensis were collected around Sulawesi Island both in May 2001 and October of 2002. The development of genetic identification techniques has enabled these leptocephali to be identified to species, and their distributions and sizes during different seasons indicated that there are differing life history patterns among sympatric species in the region. A. celebesensis was found to have been spawning in Tomini Bay of northeastern Sulawesi Island in March and April 2001, but apparently, no spawning had occurred in the late summer and fall of 2002. Studies on anguillid glass eels have suggested that tropical anguillids may spawn throughout much of year, but our research on leptocephali in Tomini Bay and data on the downstream migration of tropical anguillids in the major tributary to Tomini Bay indicate that A. celebesensis may have a distinct seasonal pattern of spawning possibly related to the regional monsoon cycles. This is the first evidence of seasonality of spawning in tropical anguillid eels whose life histories are only just beginning to be revealed.

Jørgen Lund 60 år

Jørgen Lund reaches 60Yet another junior archaeologist at Moesgård has matured: Jørgen Lund had his roots in the Jutlandic soil near the source of the Gudenå River, and having finished his schooling on Zealand, he returned to Jutland, first to study prehistoric archaeology under the dynamic absence of P.V. Glob, later under the inspiringly absent presence of Ole Klindt-Jensen. Already during his early university days, the world opened up to the young student, who was offered the opportunity of joining the Danish expeditions to the countries around the Arabian Gulf – educational journeys enjoyed by more than one generation of Danish archaeologists.As an archaeologist and university teacher, Jørgen Lund has mainly been engaged in the early Iron Age. Having investigated the complex house accumulations in the hills of Thy, even more complicated village excavations were undertaken in the eastern Limfjord area, involving houses dug into the soil. At Overbygaard, the young candidate succeeded in establishing a very different kind of Iron Age settlement. However, the leading archaeological settlement committee did not immediately accept his results. On top of this, it took hard labour to remove some 100 cubicmetres of earth by shovel from each house in this endless row of hell’s forecourts, always under a burning sun or in the lashing sand of a sand storm similar to that of an Ara­bian desert.Was it not for Jørgen Lund, who always walked ahead in a contagious devil-may-care fashion, and the friendly atmo­sphere morning and evening in the local inn, more than one student would have probably ran away screaming.Experimental archaeology is another of Jørgen Lund’s favourite disciplines. Few archaeologists have his practical and craftsmanlike in sight, understanding, and skill when reconstructions of Iron Age houses demand the handling of heavy timber, or when persistent efforts are made to penetrate the redhot mysteries of iron extraction.Other than that, Jørgen Lund – if not in merry company – has a quiet conduct.Without making a lot of fuss, he knows how to engage the students in his classes, and his teaching is a two-way rather than a one-way communication. As a supervisor, he is praised for his breadth of view, his thoroughness, and a behaviour that inspires confidence – all of which has led to many professional friendships. Jørgen Lund, therefore, still has a close contact to many of his former students, who are now working in museums throughout the country. He is one of the university people who understand the import ance of collaboration between the university world and the museum world in order to achieve the synergism so imperative for a scholarly environment. For this reason, he has also taken his turn in all sorts of professional boards and committees and been engaged in the comprehensive interdisciplinary Limfjord Pro­ject, which was carried out in close collaboration with the regional museums. Last, but not least, he is a frequent visitor to excavations all over the country, where his visits are always welcome – not only because he so readily shares his knowledge, but also because he has a way with people.Jesper LaursenMoesgård MuseumTranslated by Annette Lerche Trolle

I Paradisets Have

I Paradisets Have

Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab i mere end 50 år

Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab i mere end 50 år

Ancient glass from ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E.) 2. Glass excavated by the Danish expedition

Ancient glass from ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E.) 2. Glass excavated by the Danish expedition

Eigil Greve Knuth, 1903-1996

... Count Eigil Knuth was born on 8 August 1903 at Klampenborg, an affluent community 10 km north of Copenhagen, the son of captain Eigil Greve Knuth and Djimphna, nee Gamel. ... Knuth was always of an uneasy mind, which was especially visible when he was younger. He graduated from one of Copenhagen's oldest, best, and most distinguished high schools (gymnasium), but instead of attending the university, he continued at a technical school for apprentices to gain admission to the building technique school of the Academy of Fine Arts, where he spent the years from 1922 to 1924. He then moved to Italy for three years to study sculpture. Back in Denmark, he spent a year at Niels Buck's Gymnastic Folk High School and graduated as a gymnastics teacher in the spring of 1932. That same summer, he participated for the first time in the excavating of old Norse ruins in West Greenland, assisting Dr. Aage Roussel from the National Museum. ... During the summer of 1934, he was excavating old Norse ruins, this time at Igaliko, again assisting Dr. Roussel and also Dr. Poul Norlund. In 1935 he was archaeologist on the Courtauld Expedition to East Greenland, during which Gunbjorns Fjeld, Greenland's highest mountain, was climbed. There Knuth was assisting Dr. Helge Larsen from the National Museum, and without doubt their discussions had an important impact on Knuth the future archaeologist. ... During the Courtauld expedition, Knuth had many talks with Ebbe Munck, in which they agreed that their generation owed the nation a Danish expedition comparable to the Danmark Ekspedition 1906-08. ... As soon as the war was over, Knuth and Munck began to organize the contemplated expedition to Peary Land. Paid for by the newly established Danish Expedition Foundation, it would be the first in a long row of Peary Land Expeditions headed by Knuth. ... [The expedition house Hus was built at Bronlund Fjord and from it many sledge and hiking trips were carried out which resulted in many archaeology discoveries.] However, Knuth deserves most credit for the demonstration of his, as he called them, Independence I and Independence II cultures, two immigration waves, almost 3000 years apart, of Palaeoeskimos, who migrated from Canada over northern Greenland and down the northern part of East Greenland. Independence I is most likely a branch of the oldest Saqqaq culture, whereas Independence II may be an early phase of the Dorset culture. ... Eigil Knuth was a very complex character. He was the artist par excellence; he was the author of several books, many papers, and numerous articles. ... His descriptions of Greenland landscapes, for instance, are masterpieces in beauty of sterling value. He was a sculptor with his own characteristic style and also a draftsman and a painter. He was a philosopher but also an exact scientist. ... Knuth's Peary Land Expeditions ended in 1995, when he visited his beloved Bronlund Hus, his headquarters for so many years, for the last time. ...

The plants of Pehr Forsskal's “Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica” Collected on the Royal Danish Expedition to Egypt and the Yemen 1761–1763. By F. Nigel Hepper and I. Friis. pp. xii, 400, front., 29 figs. Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens, in association with the Botanical Museum, Copenhagen, 1994 £1500.

The plants of Pehr Forsskal's “Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica” Collected on the Royal Danish Expedition to Egypt and the Yemen 1761–1763. By F. Nigel Hepper and I. Friis. pp. xii, 400, front., 29 figs. Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens, in association with the Botanical Museum, Copenhagen, 1994 £1500. - Volume 5 Issue 2