Expedition Work Research Articles

Sistema Faro, Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico: speleogenesis of the world’s largest flank margin cave

Isla de Mona, a small, uplifted carbonate plateau jutting out of the waters of the Mona Passage, is an incredibly fragile and densely karstic environment. Expedition work was conducted by the Isla de Mona Project in cooperation with the Departamento Recursos Naturales y Ambientales de Puerto Rico (DRNA), including contributions from many researchers and cavers volunteering from across the U.S and Puerto Rico in the course of 12 separate expeditions, spanning a 14-year period (1998 to 2013). Over 200 caves have been documented on the island to date, the majority of this inventory is composed of flank margin caves but also includes sea caves, pit caves and talus caves. The most extensive example of cave development on the island is Sistema Faro – a sprawling maze-like series of chambers formed within the eastern point of the island with over 40 cliffside entrances overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Detailed cartography and analysis of the geomorphology and development of the Sistema Faro has helped form a complex model of carbonate island cave development as a function of tectonic uplift, lithology, sea level changes, karst hydrogeology and cliff retreat. This communication examines the roles these controls have played in the genesis of the world’s largest flank margin cave.

Charles Swithinbank

Charles Swithinbank

The Folklore Archive of the Russian State University for the Humanities in MoscowFolklorni arhiv Ruske državne univerze za humanistične vede v Moskvi

The subject of the article is the field research of the folk tradition of the northern Russian area (the region of Kargopol, Archangelskaya oblast), led by the folklore and ethnolinguistic expedition of the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH) since 1993 until now, and the expedition data archive. The expeditions are organized 1–3 times a year, the participants include professors, postgraduate and undergraduate students of the RSUH. Several groups take part in the expedition, each consisting of 10–15 people who investigate one village during 2–4 weeks. The expedition is aimed at collecting ethnographic, ethnolinguistic and folkloric data, which could give a researcher the opportunity to get as detailed as possible a description of a modern folk culture state in the region. The main method of the field research used during the expedition work is interviewing a considerable part of the village inhabitants – about 20-60% – using 27 questionnaires that concern different spheres of the traditional culture, the audio records are later deciphered, and deciphered texts make the card index. The computer version of the archive has been created in the Laboratory of Folklore since 1997. The multimedia database “Traditional culture of Northern Russia (Kargopol region)” contains written texts, audio records of some fragments of interviews and graphic data (photos, scanned manuscripts, containing incantations, prayers, songs, etc). The database includes now about 20% of all archive materials. The card index contains about 120000 cards, while the database – about 23000 cards.

Reconstructing the landscape structure of the Lena-Angara interfluve at the turn of the 19th century

The landscape schematic map characterizing the natural and transformed geosystems in the late 19th–early 20th centuries has been compiled for the key area of the Lena-Angara plateau. The description of the natural complexes is given on the basis of reports drawn up by the Resettlement Administration from results of expedition work in 1908.

Climbing Everest: Oncology Work as an Expedition in Caring

This study reports findings from 21 in-depth interviews with oncology clinicians (social workers, physicians, and nurses). Interviews addressed clinicians’ overall experiences of their work, including professional roles, teamwork, challenges and rewards of the work, and thoughts about whether oncology work changed their worldview. Researchers used an expedition metaphor to understand oncology clinicians’ experiences. An expedition and oncology work have in common a clear division of labor, the necessity of collaboration, intense work, significant obstacles, great rewards, and work that the world at large cannot tolerate undertaking. Understanding the experiences of oncology health professionals is essential in attracting and retaining dedicated clinicians and in helping them mitigate the potential deleterious effects of their work, such as compassion fatigue. Additionally, the expedition metaphor itself is compelling; it highlights the breadth of experiences of oncology clinicians, particularly that successful multidisciplinary teamwork in itself can ameliorate compassion fatigue.

Exploring Expedition Research Methodology: A Personal Reflection

Research into the human dynamics of expeditions is a potentially rewarding and fruitful area of study. However, the complex nature of expedition work presents the researcher with numerous challenges. This paper presents a personal reflection on the challenges linked to determining appropriate methodological processes for a study into expedition teamwork. Previous expedition research is outlined and reviewed for appropriateness. Some alternative methodological theories are described and limitations highlighted. Lastly the actual data gathering and analysis processes are detailed. The aim being to show that what happened in the field inevitably dictated how methodological processes were adapted. Essentially the paper describes a personal journey into research. A journey that sparked numerous personal insights in the science of human dynamics and expeditions and one that I hope will add to the development of expedition research in general.

The uses of soil stabilizing gel media in the conservation of large and small shipwreck artifacts

The recovery of a marine steam engine, which lay for 113 years in the hull of an iron shipwreck, SS Xantho, presented conservators with a big packing/storage problem. Collecting large quantities of ceramic sherds and glass fragments from shipwreck sites can lead to a compromise situation developing with regard to storage/packing of these materials. Some damage is likely to occur during transit to the conservation laboratory. Similarly, storing artifacts onboard an expedition work boat presents some risks during unsettled sea conditions. This paper describes the use of two gel media (normally used for agricultural purposes) with respect to their suitability for providing interim storage environments and protection during travel for large (concreted) and small artifacts. The application of Agrosoke and Erosel during field trials on HMS Pandora (1791), the Foam (1893), SS Xantho (1872) and the H.E.I.C. ship Trial (1622) are described with methods of preparation and use. Problems associated with the use of chemical additives are mentioned though conclusions are not drawn for want of further investigation.

Effects of Modernization on the Khumbu Region of Nepal: Changes in Population Structure, 1970-1982

The Khumbu district of Nepal has undergone numerous changes during the past decade as the result of the rapid growth of tourism and related activities. As part of an attempt to document the effect of this rapid exposure to external influences on the district's native population, demographic information from each household was collected during the summer of 1982 and compared with that of a similar survey conducted in 1970. Major shifts have occurred in the ethnic structure of Khumbu's population, most noticeably an increase in the number of Nepali inhabitants and a decrease in the number of Tibetans. Population growth among the Sherpas has been at a virtual standstill over the past decade with births barely outnumbering deaths. Although infant and child mortality declined substantially, children's declining economic importance, and time spent away from home by married heads of household engaged on expedition work, have effectively lowered the overall fertility rate of this population. Continued preoccupation with trekking and tourism will likely cause these trends to continue.

Twenty years of soviet investigations in the antarctic

Abstract A review of Soviet expedition work in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1975 traces the establishment of stations and the program of scientific observations and its most important findings. Summary tables list the leaders of expeditions, expedition vessels, operating stations and numbers of participants of all Soviet Antarctic expeditions (Appendix 1) as well as the programs of observations conducted at stations from year to year (Appendix 2).

The Swain Reefs Expedition: Crinoidea

Eighteen species of crinoids collected at the Swain Reefs, 21°43′S 152°25′E; N.E. of the Capricorn Channel, are discussed, one of these, the unusual five-armed Eudiocrinus serripinna A. H. Clark, representing a genus new to the Australian fauna. The range of two other species, Oligometra serripinna (P. H. Carpenter) and Ptilometra australis (Witton), are extended into Queensland waters by the expedition's work.

Technical Developments in the Study of Particulate Matter in Glacial Tills

Some techniques in the study of the structural organization of glacial tills are described. The first of these employs a modified version of Harrison's method of studying mesofabrics (clasts 64-2 mm). A lightweight goniometer, suitable for expedition work, is described and some field results presented from a subglacial environment. A dry-brushing technique designed to accelerate fabric analysis and render it less selective is also described. Results of examinations of three-dimensional microfabrics of the same tills using the scanning electron microscope are also presented. The methods, used in combination, increase the diagnostic and analytical potential of till fabric analysis.

Problems of physical oceanography in coastal upwelling investigations

During recent years, both expedition activity and theoretical work on coastal upwelling increased rapidly. In this article, an attempt is made to define some common needs for future research in this field. For this purpose, the general idea of the coastal upwelling process as obtained from observations is discussed and recent theoretical results are reviewed under the aspects of viscosity, the interior pressure field, diffusion, nonlinear dynamics, and transient effects. From these considerations, it is seen that in future expedition work current measurements rather than hydrographic observations play a key role. The realization of this new type of upwelling research is demonstrated with the “Upwelling Expedition 1972” of RV “Meteor” and “Planet.” Proposals are made for expedition programmes which enable small research institutions to perform valuable upwelling studies in shelf waters.

The Devon Island Expedition

In 1959 the Arctic Institute of North America undertook an integrated program of long term research on Devon Island in the Queen Elizabeth Islands of arctic Canada. The co-ordinated studies were designed to help understand the interrelationships between the glacier ice of Devon Island, the ocean in Jones Sound, and the encompassing atmosphere. They are being carried out over a 3-year period under the leadership of Spencer Apollonio. The main effort is concentrated on attempts to evaluate such factors as physical, chemical, and biological variations in the arctic waters of Jones Sound caused by discharging glaciers; evaporation and transfer of moisture between the ocean waters and the ice-cap and glaciers; and the overall influences of solar radiation energy on the mass balance of the ice-cap, the biological production in the sea, and the growth and decay of sea-ice. Some supplementary studies in archaeology and geology are included in the expedition's work because of the marked deficiency of knowledge in those subjects for Devon Island. In the late summer of 1960 a main base was established on the north shore of Devon Island near Cape Skogn by an advance party of eight men taken in with their materials by the Canada Department of Transport icebreaker d'Iberville. During a 3-week period buildings were erected and routes inland and to the ice-cap explored and marked, while an archaeological reconnaissance of the Cape Sparbo area was made by a small party under Mr. Gordon Lowther of McGill University. Everything was installed for a beginning of the 3-year program in April 1961. During the months of April to September 1961 21 men worked on extensive programs in geophysics, glaciology, marine biology and oceanography, meteorology, and surveying. Intensive work was also completed in archaeology and geology. ...

United States Antarctic Discoveries

THE work of the United States Antarctic Service Expedition of 1939–41 has been overshadowed by war and was little known in Great Britain. The volume now published (Reports on the Scientific Results. New York: Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., 89, No. 1, 1945) gives full accounts of all aspects of the expedition's work in a long series of papers, many of which are well illustrated but none of which is well supplied with maps.

The Work of the Arctic Institute in 1937

In outlining the scientific research work to be carried out by the Arctic Institute of the U.S.S.R. in 1937, we will begin with a brief description of the geological and prospecting work to be done. These expeditions form part of a large scheme for systematic geological survey and research along the whole stretch of the Soviet Arctic. The chief expeditions are as follows:(1) In 1937 geological work will be continued at Pay-Khoe, under the leadership of A. B. Khabakov. A geological survey will be made on a scale of 1: 200,000, and a topographical survey on a scale of 1: 100,000, over an area of 4000 sq. km. Prospecting for minerals in the Khabarov and Amderma districts forms another important branch of the expedition's work. The party will remain in the field from March to December 1937.

Research in the Solomon Islands

A REPORT on the work of the Templeton-Crocker Expedition to the Solomon Islands, 1933, has recently been sent to NATTJBE by the Director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. The expedition left San Francisco on March 2, 1933, in Mr. Templeton-Crocker's auxiliary schooner Vaca and returned on September 15 after conducting a preliminary ethnographical and medical survey of a number of islands in the Solomon group. The principal objective was the Rennell and Bellona islands, but before arriving there the expedition collected data bearing on tuberculosis and tropical diseases, as well as ethnographical material, at Sikiana, Tulalagi, Guadalcanar and Malaita. Advantage was taken of conditions on Rennell and Bellona, where bird and insect life are undisturbed and the inhabitants virtually unaffected by European contacts, to make extensive collections of birds, plants and insects and to record particulars relating to native life and customs, which appear to have suffered little change since the Polynesian ancestors of the inhabitants first arrived there twenty generations ago. It was also possible to arrange for an intensive study of the disease and general health of the population of one district. Blood samples for filaria tests and blood groups were obtained. On Bellona the party was fortunate enough to obtain cinematograph record of the annual first-fruits ceremony. A medical and health survey was also made on the islands of San Cristobal, Santa Anna and Santa Catalina. As a result of the expedition's work, 3,200 artefacts have been added to the collections of the museum in Honolulu, as well as a large number of entomological and botanical specimens. Other collections are to be distributed among scientific institutions in America and Europe, while the material relating to canoes will be submitted to Dr. A. C. Haddon in Cambridge.

Forest Flora of Syria

AN expedition under the leadership of Dr. Alexander Eig, head of the Section of Systematic Botany and Ecology at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, has been examining the forest and other flora of Syria (Science Service, Washington, D.C.). During the tour, the members of the expedition were able to collect valuable material for the herbarium as well as to complete plans for the Syrian Section of the new Botanical Garden at Mount Scopus. The party travelled twice throughout the length and three times across the width of Syria, and were able to fix in a preliminary fashion the line of demarcation between the Mediterranean zone and that of the Urano-Turanic region, the precise boundary between which was previously unknown. An important part of the expedition's work was a study of the forest species of Syria, and the investigations undertaken enabled the principal types of forest species, particularly in the Amanus and Cossus hill regions, to be determined. A study thus begun came to the knowledge of the French Governor of Jebel Druze. The expedition received great assistance from the French Government officials in the mandated territory north of the Sykes-Picot line, and the French Governor has asked Dr. Alexander Eig to advise on the subject of afforesting certain parts of the Jebel Druze region. The determination of the principal Syrian forest types will be, it is said, of considerable importance to the Botanical Garden on Mount Scopus.

Reports on Climates

AN interesting memoir on the climate of Bagdad (“Sul Clima di Bagdad”), by Prof. Filippo Eredia, appears in a recent issue of the Bollettino della Reale Societa, Geografica Italiana, under the auspices of which a mission was dispatched in 1908, led by Dr. A. Lanzani. Prof. Eredia summarises the more salient features of this expedition's work, and further utilises information given in various papers by Eliot, Hann, and Gilbert Walker. Bagdad is in lat. 33° 19′ N., long. 44° 26′ E., the height of the cistern of the barometer above sea-level being 127 ft. The mean barometric pressure at 32° F. sea-level and lat. 45° is 29-893 in., being highest, 30-149 in., in January, and lowest, 29-543 in., in July, a variation in the monthly means of 0-60 in. The mean annual temperature is 73-0° F., ranging from 94-5° in July and August to 48-9° in January. The mean of the daily maxima is 86-0°, the mean monthly values ranging from 109-9° in August to 59-5° in January. The mean of the night minima is 60-1°, highest in July, 79-5°, and lowest in January, 38-1°. The highest temperature recorded was 122°, and frost is not uncommon from November to February. The mean daily range of temperature varies from 33° in August and September to 20° in December. The relative humidity is 58, rising to 80 per cent, of saturation in December and January, and falling to 38 per cent, in June: The mean cloud amount (over-cast sky=100) is only 16, the extremes being 29 in March and 1 in July. Various authorities place the annual rainfall between 6-94 in. and 9-04 in., practically all of which falls between November and April. June, July, and September are rainless, but slight showers have fallen in May, August, and October.

The Future of Polar Research

WE have had quite a flood of Arctic news during the last few weeks, and the question as to the direction to be taken by future Polar research is attracting attention in various quarters. Evidently those interested in this department of exploration are thinking that “something ought to be done”; but as to what that something should be, there is likely to be difference of opinion. It is unfortunate that the United States expedition sent out at the instigation of Capt. Howgate to found a Polar colony at Lady Franklin Sound, had to turn back through some defect in the engines of the Gulnare. Had this ship been successful in reaching the proposed ground of the expedition's work it would no doubt have given an impetus to the scheme of Polar research which has gained the approval of the Arctic authorities of nearly all nations except our own. On the other side of the American continent no news has been received from Mr. Gordon Bennett's expedition in the Jeannette of later date than August, 1879, when that vessel was off Cape Serdze Kamen, all well, and on her way to Wrangel Land, All the sea within Behring Strait, both on the American and Asiatic side, was searched this summer by the Corwyn, but no trace of the Jeannette was found. The conclusion from this that the expedition has come to grief, we have already pointed out is too hasty. Everything was in her favour when off the coasts of Kamtchatka last year, and if she had fair sea-way there can be no doubt that the expedition would take advantage of it, and push on as far northwards as was safe. We should not be surprised if a year hence the Jeannette might emerge by Behring Strait or by Novaya Zemlya with news of equal importance to that brought back by the Tegettkoff years ago.