National Antarctic Expedition Research Articles

Falling off the Map: South Africa, Antarctica and Empire, c. 1919–59

During the first half of the twentieth century, despatches about the coldest corner of the British Empire were circulated to three, sometimes four, of its southern neighbours under the British crown: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Falklands. Of these four, South Africa seemed the least interested in Antarctica, despite the keen interest of some influential individuals and a strategy of bringing Antarctica into the imperial fold through British dominions that were proximate to Antarctica. In this context, we ask how South Africa viewed itself in relation to the Antarctic to the south and the British metropole to the north. We discuss the key activities that connected South Africa to Antarctica—whaling and weather forecasting. Moreover, we consider some of the enterprising plans for a South African National Antarctic expedition, and what these plans reveal of South Africa's perception of itself as a southern country. This article interlinks with a growing scholarship that is critical of treating Antarctic history as politically and culturally isolated, including showing how the relatively simple natural and political ecology of the Antarctic can throw into relief multiple national and international concerns.

A superposed epoch study of the effects of solar wind stream interface events on the upper mesospheric and lower thermospheric temperature

The response of mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) temperature to energetic particle precipitation over the Earth’s polar regions is not uniform due to complex phenomena within the MLT environment. Nevertheless, the modification of MLT temperatures may require an event-based study to be better observed. This work examines the influence of precipitation, triggered by solar wind stream interfaces (SI) event from 2002 to 2007, on polar MLT temperature. We first test the relationship between the ionospheric absorption measured by the SANAE IV (South African National Antarctic Expedition IV) riometer and the layer of energetic particle precipitation from POES (Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites). The combined particle measurements from POES 15, 16, 17 and 18 were obtained close in time to the pass of the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) temperature retrieval. Here, a superposed epoch technique is described and implemented to obtain average temperature profiles during SI-triggered particle precipitation. The superposed epoch average shows no significant temperature decrease below 100 km prior to the onset of SI-triggered precipitation, whereas a clear superposed average temperature decrease is observed at 95 km after the SI impact. A case study of SI event also yields similar observations. Results indicate that cooling effects due to the production of mesospheric odd hydrogen might be major contributors to temperature decrease under compressed solar wind stream.

William Speirs Bruce and the Polar Medal: myth and reality

The paper assesses the candidacy of members of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition for the Polar Medal, instituted in 1904, and, more particularly, the widely held assertion that it was Sir Clements Markham who effectively prevented its award. Contemporary documentation indicates such royal denial of the medal to Bruce’s expedition arose not from doubts as to its scientific achievements, or from the malign influence of individuals, but paradoxically from its self-sufficiency in requiring neither government monies nor Admiralty rescue. King George V was not prepared, in 1910, eight years after the expedition, to overturn the decision of his father King Edward VII by honouring Bruce and thereby setting a precedent by widening the scope of the medal.

Extracting gravity wave parameters during the September 2002 Southern Hemisphere major sudden stratospheric warming using a SANAE imaging riometer

Abstract. Using absorption data measured by imaging riometer for ionospheric studies (IRIS) located at the South Africa National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE), Antarctica (72° S, 3° W), we extracted the parameters of gravity waves (GW) of periods between 40 and 50 min during late winter/spring of the year 2002, a period of the unprecedented major sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) in the Southern Hemisphere middle atmosphere. During this period, an unprecedented substantial increase of temperature by about 25–30 K throughout the stratosphere was observed. During the period of the occurrence of the major stratospheric warming, there was a reduction of both the GW horizontal phase speeds and the horizontal wavelengths at 90 km. The GW phase speeds and horizontal wavelengths were observed to reach minimum values of about 7 m s−1 and 19 km, respectively, while during the quiet period the average value of the phase speed and horizontal wavelength was approximately 23 m s−1 and 62 km, respectively. The observed event is discussed in terms of momentum flux and also a potential interaction of gravity waves, planetary waves and mean circulation.

The first publication of The South Polar Times, Volume IV

Polar bibliophiles, librarians and readers will be familiar with the three handsome facsimile volumes of the first Antarctic newspaper, published in 1907 and 1914 and edited in turn by E. Shackleton, L.C. Bernacchi and A. Cherry-Garrard during the National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–1904 and the British Antarctic Expedition 1910–1913. These expeditions were led by Captain R.F. Scott R.N. in Discovery and Terra Nova respectively. From S.Y. Discovery, beset for two winters in the ice of McMurdo Sound were made the first extensive sledge journeys into the interior of the Antarctic continent, including the great ice sheet or plateau. These were further prolonged, following Shackleton's Nimrod expedition, while the pursuit of science during both Scott expeditions led to the publication in London of two monumental sets of scientific and geographical results, plus new charts and maps.

The mineral prospecting expeditions to the South Atlantic islands and Antarctic Peninsula region made by the Scottish geologist David Ferguson, 1912–1914

Synopsis David Ferguson’s mineral prospecting expeditions to South Georgia (1912), the Falkland Islands and the South Shetland Islands (1913–1914), on behalf of the Christian Salvesen whaling company of Leith and now largely forgotten, were early examples of commercially motivated terrestrial exploration in the South Atlantic region. Prior geological knowledge was very limited and Ferguson complemented his unsuccessful prospecting work with attempts to understand the regional geology of the areas that he visited. These interpretations were based on relatively cursory fieldwork undertaken in an arduous environment, and did not prove robust; but the well-documented specimen collections that Ferguson accumulated provided the basis for excellent and much-cited petrographical accounts by G. W. Tyrrell of Glasgow University. Ferguson had studied geology at the university and the influence of his mentor there, Professor J. W. Gregory, is apparent. In turn, Gregory utilized Ferguson’s observations in support of a subsided ‘South Atlantic continent’, opposing the ‘displacement hypothesis’ for that region formalized by Alfred Wegener from 1912 onwards. Ferguson’s field notebooks and most of his rock specimens are now held by Glasgow University (Archive Services and Hunterian Museum, respectively) but he distributed representative specimen collections widely, and these are extant in several other British museums. Specimens were also supplied to, and discussed with, William Speirs Bruce who, following the 1902–1904 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, took a keen interest in Ferguson’s discoveries.

Alf Howard

Alf Howard, (Fig. 1) died on 4 July 2010. He was the last surviving member of Sir Douglas Mawson's 1929–1931 British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) that made further extensive claims to sovereignty defining the limits of what was to become Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) in 1933. He was also the last survivor to have served aboard the coal-fired three-masted wooden ship Discovery built in Dundee for Captain Robert Falcon Scott's 1901–1904 National Antarctic Expedition.

An ancient Antarctic endemic genus restored: morphological and molecular support for Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni (Collembola: Hypogastruridae)

Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni Carpenter was only the second collembolon† to be described from the Antarctic continent. It was collected first in 1902 from Granite Harbour, southern Victoria Land, Eastern Antarctica, by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–1904). Since then several studies have investigated the distribution, ecology, ecophysiology and molecular composition of the species. Despite two morphological redescriptions and an absence of detailed evolutionary phylogenetic studies, the genus Gomphiocephalus was recently reduced to a subgenus of Schoettella Schäffer. Here, we redescribe the species in detail and use morphological and molecular (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and 28S) data to indicate its generic relationships within Hypogastruridae. Characters of Gomphiocephalus do not conform with those of any extant genus in the family, including Schoettella. In addition, the only Schoettella species described from the southern hemisphere, Schoettella subcorta Salmon, is shown here to belong in the genus Xenylla. Furthermore, molecular data indicates the genus has no close relationship to any other in Poduromorpha, and in particular Hypogastruridae. Therefore, we restore Gomphiocephalus to generic status. Our results reinforce the already recognized high level of endemism in the Antarctic fauna at both species and generic levels, and emphasise the necessity of using both morphological and molecular data in determining the systematics and evolutionary relationships of the fauna.

Aerosol optical properties over the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean during the 140th cruise of the M/V S.A. Agulhas

The research analysed the aerosol optical properties of the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean regions during the South African National Antarctic Expedition 2007/2008 (SANAE 47) take-over cruise on board the M/VS.A. Agulhas. Very low aerosol optical thickness values were obtained for the Antarctic Coastal region with a mean AOT 500nm of 0.03 and a mean Ångström exponent of 1.77. The South Atlantic region showed a mean AOT 500nm of 0.06 and a mean Ångström exponent of 0.69. AOT values for the South African coastal region were similar to those in the South Atlantic and had a mean AOT 500nm of 0.07 and a mean Ångström exponent of 0.76. A discrepancy exists between the MODIS TERRA and AQUA aerosol product and the acquired dataset using the Microtops II Sunphotometer.

Study on the impact of sudden stratosphere warming in the upper mesosphere-lower thermosphere regions using satellite and HF radar measurements

Abstract. The occurrence of a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) excites disturbances in the mesosphere-lower thermospheric (MLT) wind and temperature. Here, we have examined the high frequency (HF) radar wind data from the South African National Antarctic Expedition, SANAE (72° S, 3° W), a radar which is part of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN). Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) on board the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite temperature data and National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) temperature and wind data are used to investigate the dynamical effects of the unprecedented September 2002 SSW in the Antarctica stratosphere and MLT. The mean zonal wind (from SANAE HF radar) at the MLT shows reversal approximately 7 days before the reversal at 10 hPa (from NCEP). This indicates that there was a downwards propagation of circulation disturbance. Westerly zonal winds dominate the winter MLT, but during the 2002 winter there are many periods of westward winds observed compared to other years. The normalised power spectrums of both meridional and zonal winds show presence of planetary waves (of ~14-day period) before the occurrence of the SSW. The SABER vertical temperature profiles indicated the cooling of the MLT region before the SSW event.

Catalogue of type specimens of molluscs in the collection of The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, UK

Th is paper presents the fi rst published listing of the holdings of type specimens of mollusc in Th e Manchester Museum (University of Manchester, UK), the fourth largest mollusc collection in Britain. Type material relating to 480 taxa, including holotypes, paratypes and syntypes, are included in the present catalogue, mainly coming from the collections of A Abercrombie (India), RD Darbishire, Prof. AC Haddon (Torres Straits), Rev. J Hadfi eld (Lifu, Loyalty Islands), LJ Shackleford (especially Marginella), GC Spence (especially African land snails and Urocoptis and many specimens from M Connolly and HB Preston), FW Townsend (Persian Gulf ), syntype material from the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-1904) and that received from the Smithsonian Institution in 1973 in exchange. Th ere is undoubtedly more type material within the collection which is not identifi ed as such as yet.

The Scottish national Antarctic expedition (1902–04) and the founding of Base Orcadas

The history of the establishment of the scientific research station on Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands, is recounted. Its founding by the Scottish National Antarctic (Scotia) Expedition (1902–04) and the subsequent operation by Argentina resulted in it becoming the first all‐year‐round permanently‐staffed research facility in Antarctica. The networks of government and non‐government personnel involved in the rivalry between British and Scottish interests and aspirations and the transfer of the Laurie Island facility from the Scottish expedition to Argentine government control are investigated. The narrative is set against the background of the centennial celebrations of that transfer.

The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902 - 04) and the founding of Base Orcadas

Abstract The history of the establishment of the scientific research station on Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands, is recounted. Its founding by the Scottish National Antarctic (Scotia) Expedition (1902–04) and the subsequent operation by Argentina resulted in it becoming the first all‐year‐round permanently‐staffed research facility in Antarctica. The networks of government and non‐government personnel involved in the rivalry between British and Scottish interests and aspirations and the transfer of the Laurie Island facility from the Scottish expedition to Argentine government control are investigated. The narrative is set against the background of the centennial celebrations of that transfer.

A century of Antarctic science; planning and serendipity

The British National Antarctic Expedition planned with discreditable bickering, sailed for the Antarctic in 1901 on the Discovery. The venture was well equipped and commanded by R. F. Scott who, without scientific training himself, was nevertheless remarkably in empathy with his scientists. The expedition was foremost among those dispatched around the same time in establishing basic knowledge of the continent. Followed by the second Scott expedition and those of Shackleton and Mawson, a cadre of able and enthusiastic scientists was established. The second involvement of the Discovery in Antarctic exploration was planned without quarrels and with unusual understanding of science by a government department, resulting in a massive accumulation of knowledge about the Southern Ocean. United States expeditions began in 1928, introducing modern technology, thereby extending greatly the scope of Antarctic research. The Norwegian-British-Swedish expedition of 1949–1952 put planned science before geographical exploration. The International Geophysical Year of 1957–1958, supported by governments and planned by international committees, achieved great success. Science has flourished in Antarctica with unplanned and serendipitous findings emerging, for example, the structure of the magnetosphere, collection of meteorites by ice movements, the microbial life of the apparently sterile Dry Valleys and the discovery of the ozone “hole”.

Ships employed in Arctic ice: Discoverys past, 1602 to 1876

This paper looks back to the predecessors of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery, which was built for the National Antarctic Expedition 1901–1904. The period covered is 1602 to 1876. An account is given of the exploring voyages of those ships named Discovery which sailed to the Arctic, including those of George Waymouth, Henry Hudson, William Baffin, James Knight, Christopher Middleton, James Cook, George Vancouver and Sir George Nares. In addition brief mention is made of several ships owned by the East India Company, also named Discovery, which sailed in lower latitudes.

The polar ship Scotia

The ship that the oceanographer Dr William Speirs Bruce used on the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04, was originally a sealer named Hekla, built in Norway in 1872. In 1889 the Norwegian skipper Ragnvald Knudsen explored the northeast coast of Greenland between latitudes 74° and 75°, and in 1891–92 the ship was used by the Danish naval officer, Lieutenant C. Ryder, to explore the inner recesses of Scoresby Sund, finally visiting Angmagssalik. In 1902, re-named Scotia and captained by Tam Robertson from Peterhead, she sailed to the Weddell Sea under the leadership of Bruce. The southern winter of 1903 was spent at Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands, and in March–April 1904 the party discovered 150 miles of previously unknown coastline of the Antarctic continent, reaching a farthest south of 74°01′S, 22°00′W. An extensive programme of marine survey and biological research was carried out. Back in the UK, Bruce sold the ship, and she returned to sealing, based in Dundee until appointed to be the first international North Atlantic Ice Patrol ship after the tragedy of Titanic. The Great War caused her to become a freighter in the English Channel area until she caught fire and was burnt out on a sandbank in the Bristol Channel on 18 January 1916.

Of poles, pressmen, and the newspaper public: Reporting the Scottish national Antarctic expedition, 1902–1904

Between 1902 and 1904, the Scots naturalist William Speirs Bruce (1867–1921) led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition on a voyage of oceanographical discovery. Unlike other British expeditions undertaken during the ‘Heroic Age’ of polar exploration, Bruce's Expedition placed undivided attention upon scientific accumulation, and dismissed the value of territorial acquisition. As a consequence, Bruce and his Expedition were subject to a distinct interpretation by the press. With reference to contemporary newspaper reports, this paper traces the unique mediation of Bruce, and reveals how geographies of reporting served to communicate locally particular representations of him, and of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition.

Antarctic sledging preparations and tacit knowledge

The article discusses how organisational structure and culture affected the preparations for sledging in three Antarctic expeditions between 1901 and 1904. The central focus is how expedition leaders sought tacit knowledge, ‘the knowledge of how we do things.’ Two organisational types were derived from a study of 36 major polar expeditions. These – the industrial organisation and the innovative organisation – were used to analyse how sledging practices evolved in the British National Antarctic Expedition, German South Polar Expedition, and Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. Robert Falcon Scott, in great part as a result of his naval heritage, did not fully understand the need for and the methods required to gain the operational knowledge required for sledging in Antarctica. He applied the traditional command-and-control system based on naval tradition. Erich von Drygalski and William Speirs Bruce applied Fridtjof Nansen's scientific approach, in which the scientific staffs were integrated into sledging operations. In this approach, every variable that could possibly affect the outcome of the research was incorporated into preparations, much as is the case in classical experimental design. While no attempt is made to judge sledging success in the study, the results clearly indicate the importance of knowing how to use the tacit dimension in sledging. The implications go far beyond sledging and suggest the need for managers to have an intimate understanding of how things work.

“No Joke in Petticoats”: British Polar Expeditions and Their Theatrical Presentations

By late March 1902, the British National Antarctic Expedition's ship Discovery was frozen in. Atop the ice, the explorers erected a hut, which was fitted with a stage, scenery, and footlights. The Royal Terror Theatre opened in June with Ticket-of-Leave and climaxed in August with a minstrel show. In the icy darkness white men played women and black men, parodied and critiqued structures of power, reinforced attitudes of racial prejudice, and labored at activities that saved their sanity if not their lives. The prolonged engagement in play challenges the easy narrative of courage, endurance, and heroic survival usually associated with polar expeditions.

Outdoors modelling of snowdrift at SANAE IV Research Station, Antarctica

This paper describes the experimental modelling procedure and results to evaluate the snowdrift characteristics surrounding the research station of the South African National Antarctic Expedition, SANAE IV. For this purpose a 1:25 scale model of the research station was constructed and mounted on a large flat snow covered area in the vicinity of the base. The wind profiles of the prevailing winds were measured with a 6-m wind mast positioned near the base model and the characteristic surface roughness and shear velocity functions were derived and analysed. Snow buildup was measured behind the scale model as well as the existing research station and a comparison was evaluated between the two, based on a similarity analysis. The similarity analysis method and results are presented in this paper. It is found that the surface roughness and shear velocity functions derived from the wind velocity data compares favourably with available results in literature for similar measurements of wind profiles in drifting snow conditions. From these results an inner law velocity relationship is established with additional parameters to account for the effects of surface roughness and saltating snow. It is further shown that the scaling parameters employed for the snowdrift modelling provide acceptable results when applied to outdoors modelling of snowdrifting.