Edited by Rachel Duncan 4th Edition ISBN 0-907649-91-2 London ...

6 RGS-IBG Polar Expeditions Manual
Chapter 1: THE POLAR ENVIRONMENT
From space, the ends of the earth look very similar: white, sparkling in sunshine or
glowing under the winter moon. These are areas of frozen fresh- or saltwater. This blanket
of whiteness obscures mountains and coastlines alike. Like a mirror, the whiteness reflects
95% of sunlight that falls upon it. In winter the areas double in size; in summer they
contract but never disappear.
On the ground the polar regions could not be more different. The Arctic is centred
on an ocean basin almost ringed by land, by contrast the Antarctic is a high continent
entirely ringed by an ocean.
The polar regions are among the last patches of the earth to be explored although
we have known of their existence for centuries. The Great Bear and Little Bear
constellations revolve around Polaris, the North Star. The Arctic takes it name from the
Greeks who called the whole of the region Arktikos, the country of the great bear. The
Antarctic is named as the opposite to the Arctic.
There was a time when polar meant everything remote, cold, uncomfortable and
dangerous. Now the polar regions are accessible as never before.
1.1 Definition of the polar regions
Your viewpoint will determine the boundary of the polar regions. There are no definitive
boundaries for either the Arctic or the Antarctic. Each starts at its geographic pole and
extends an indefinite distance towards the temperate zones. Geographers often use the
polar circles, biologists look for ecological limits, oceanographers use boundaries between
water masses, climatologists use the 10ºC summer isotherm and politicians and lawyers
use other parallels of latitude.
A ‘polar’ environment exists as far south as Southern Greenland and the Canadian
Barren Grounds. Conversely, parts of Northern Norway lying well above the Arctic Circle
enjoy an almost temperate climate with ice- free harbours and cultivated fields. Ellesmere
Island at 83°N is unusually mild for the latitude, in the summer.
In this manual, we are concerned with those environments that have polar-like
conditions, be it at high latitudes or nearer the equator where there is glacial activity at
high altitude. Clearly the land and oceans adjacent to the Poles are included but so too are
for example, Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard and the Patagonian ice cap. These last areas are
all very accessible during their summer and annually accommodate several hundred
expeditions. Even the Cairngorm plateau, Scotland, in the depths of winter has a tundralike
quality, that makes an excellent training ground before going further afield.
A widely used definition is the maximum mean temperature of 10°C in the warmest
month. This isotherm in the northern hemisphere effectively marks the (gradual) transition
from northern forests to the treeless tundra. The short period warm enough for
photosynthesis limits growth enough for trees. This may be further divided into two zones:
the High Arctic (and Antarctic) has a severe polar climate with minimum snowfall. The
winters are long and cold and the summers short and very cool with a July (January) mean
of less than 5°C. The coasts are usually blocked with ice, which does not scatter until July
and August (January and February) and navigation is only possible for about six weeks,