Non-normative Victorians : Ian McGuire's The North Water as a neo-Victorian novel

Abstract The neo-Victorian novel has been one of the most significant branches of contemporary British historical fiction for the past three decades. Thanks to works like A. S. Byatt’s Possession, Sarah Waters’ trilogy Tipping the Velvet, Affinity and Fingersmith and Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White, the genre has gained not only considerable popularity among readers, but also almost a canonical literary status. Although recent neo-Victorian fiction has been trying to find some new ways in which the genre could avoid stereotypical narratives, it still retains its most determining idiosyncrasies. One of them is an interest in the undersides of Victorian society, including the themes of violence and criminality, which is why these novels often resort to the genre of crime and detective fiction. This is also the case of Graeme Macrae Burnet’s His Bloody Project (2015) and Ian McGuire’s The North Water (2016), both historical novels set in Victorian Britain which were, respectively, shortlisted and longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. This paper attempts to show the different manners in which these two novels employ various forms of crime narratives so as to achieve their goal of presenting convincing and seemingly authentic insights into the more obscure aspects of the Victorian era.

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Holocene polynya dynamics and their interaction with oceanic heat transport in northernmost Baffin Bay

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-88517-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca Jackson ◽

Anna Bang Kvorning ◽

Audrey Limoges ◽

Eleanor Georgiadis ◽

Steffen M. Olsen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sediment Cores ◽

Active Role ◽

Atlantic Water ◽

The Arctic ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Baffin Bay ◽

The North ◽

North Water ◽

History Of ◽

Ocean Conditions

AbstractBaffin Bay hosts the largest and most productive of the Arctic polynyas: the North Water (NOW). Despite its significance and active role in water mass formation, the history of the NOW beyond the observational era remains poorly known. We reconcile the previously unassessed relationship between long-term NOW dynamics and ocean conditions by applying a multiproxy approach to two marine sediment cores from the region that, together, span the Holocene. Declining influence of Atlantic Water in the NOW is coeval with regional records that indicate the inception of a strong and recurrent polynya from ~ 4400 yrs BP, in line with Neoglacial cooling. During warmer Holocene intervals such as the Roman Warm Period, a weaker NOW is evident, and its reduced capacity to influence bottom ocean conditions facilitated northward penetration of Atlantic Water. Future warming in the Arctic may have negative consequences for this vital biological oasis, with the potential knock-on effect of warm water penetration further north and intensified melt of the marine-terminating glaciers that flank the coast of northwest Greenland.

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Vulnerability of the North Water ecosystem to climate change

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-24742-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sofia Ribeiro ◽

Audrey Limoges ◽

Guillaume Massé ◽

Kasper L. Johansen ◽

William Colgan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sea Ice ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Arctic Ecosystems ◽

Little Auk ◽

The North ◽

Water Ecosystem ◽

North Water

AbstractHigh Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous livelihoods are tightly linked and exposed to climate change, yet assessing their sensitivity requires a long-term perspective. Here, we assess the vulnerability of the North Water polynya, a unique seaice ecosystem that sustains the world’s northernmost Inuit communities and several keystone Arctic species. We reconstruct mid-to-late Holocene changes in sea ice, marine primary production, and little auk colony dynamics through multi-proxy analysis of marine and lake sediment cores. Our results suggest a productive ecosystem by 4400–4200 cal yrs b2k coincident with the arrival of the first humans in Greenland. Climate forcing during the late Holocene, leading to periods of polynya instability and marine productivity decline, is strikingly coeval with the human abandonment of Greenland from c. 2200–1200 cal yrs b2k. Our long-term perspective highlights the future decline of the North Water ecosystem, due to climate warming and changing sea-ice conditions, as an important climate change risk.

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Horizontal Movement of Fast Ice in the North Water Area

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/s002214300002949x ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 19 (81) ◽

pp. 547-554 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Hajime Ito ◽

Fritz Müller

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Water Area ◽

Physical Characteristics ◽

Stress Strain ◽

Horizontal Movement ◽

The North ◽

North Water ◽

Fast Ice ◽

External Forces

AbstractThe understanding of the horizontal movement of fast ice is important for applied sea-ice mechanics. A case study, carried out in conjunction with a polynya known as North Water, is presented in this paper. The displacements of the fast-ire arches which separate the polynya from the surrounding ice-covered sea, were measured and found to be small. It is, therefore, confirmed that these arches prevent the influx of large quantities of sea ice into the polynya. The results are then explained in terms of the external forces (wind and current), the stress- strain situations and some physical characteristics (temperature and thickness) which were measured simultaneously.

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Applications of Satellite Thermal Infrared Images for Monitoring North Water during the Periods of Polar Darkness

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/s0022143000015276 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 25 (93) ◽

pp. 425-438

Author(s):

B. Dey

Keyword(s):

Satellite Images ◽

Open Water ◽

Thermal Infrared ◽

Water Area ◽

Infrared Images ◽

Baffin Bay ◽

The North ◽

Thermal Infrared Images ◽

North Water

AbstractThe study reported here illustrates the unique value of NOAA thermal infrared (TIR) images for monitoring the North Water area in Smith Sound and northern Baffin Bay during the periods of polar darkness. Wintertime satellite images reveal that, during the months of December through February, open water and thin ice occur in a few leads and polynyas. However, in March, the areas of open water and thin ice decrease to a minimum with a consequent higher concentration of ice. Two ice dams, in northern Kennedy Channel and in northern Smith Sound, regulate the flow of ice into northern Baffin Bay and also determine the areal variations of open water and thin ice in Smith Sound.

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Virtual versus real water transfers within China

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2005.1644 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 361 (1469) ◽

pp. 835-842 ◽

Cited By ~ 146

Author(s):

Jing Ma ◽

Arjen Y Hoekstra ◽

Hao Wang ◽

Ashok K Chapagain ◽

Dangxian Wang

Keyword(s):

South China ◽

Water Scarcity ◽

North China ◽

Virtual Water ◽

Water Transfer ◽

Qualitative Description ◽

The North ◽

Food Deficit ◽

Virtual Water Flow ◽

North Water

North China faces severe water scarcity—more than 40% of the annual renewable water resources are abstracted for human use. Nevertheless, nearly 10% of the water used in agriculture is employed in producing food exported to south China. To compensate for this ‘virtual water flow’ and to reduce water scarcity in the north, the huge south–north Water Transfer Project is currently being implemented. This paradox—the transfer of huge volumes of water from the water-rich south to the water-poor north versus transfer of substantial volumes of food from the food-sufficient north to the food-deficit south—is receiving increased attention, but the research in this field has not yet reached further than rough estimation and qualitative description. The aim of this paper is to review and quantify the volumes of virtual water flows between the regions in China and to put them in the context of water availability per region. The analysis shows that north China annually exports about 52 billion m 3 of water in virtual form to south China, which is more than the maximum proposed water transfer volume along the three routes of the Water Transfer Project from south to north.

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Living at a High Arctic Polynya: Inughuit Settlement and Subsistence around the North Water during the Thule Station Period, 1910–53

ARCTIC ◽

10.14430/arctic4573 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 69 (5) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Bjarne Grønnow

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

High Arctic ◽

Ringed Seal ◽

Site Location ◽

Ice Cap ◽

The North ◽

North Water Polynya ◽

Annual Range ◽

North Water ◽

The Rich

The settlement and subsistence patterns of the Inughuit of the Avanersuaq (Thule area) are described and analyzed for the years 1910 to 1953, when Knud Rasmussen’s trading station at Dundas was active. Inughuit subsistence was based on the rich biotic resources of the North Water polynya between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, but the analysis shows that trade, primarily with fox furs at the Thule Station, also played a major role in shaping the settlement pattern of the period. During the Thule Station Period, the named winter settlements amounted to c. 40 sites; however, only 10–15 of them were settled at any given time. The Inughuit settlement close to the station, Uummannaq, soon became the largest site in the area. The sources enable us to follow changes of residence of some hunting families over four decades. By moving their winter sites every second or third year, the families gained primary knowledge of the topography and seasonal variation of the hunting grounds in the entire Thule district during their active years. In the same way, they connected with diverse family networks through the years. Tracing the sledge routes that connected the sites over great distances reveals how decisive proximity to main and escape routes over the Ice Cap was for site location. Dog sledge technology, and thus capacity to transport people, gear, and stored food, boomed during the Thule Station Period with the wealth created from trade and access to raw materials. Mapping the main hunting grounds on the sea ice and modeling the hunters’ annual range of possibilities for accessing different game—mainly walrus, ringed seal, narwhal, and sea birds (plus some caribou)—showed that ringed seal formed the bread and butter of the subsistence economy. However, bulk resources, gained in particular from intensive spring walrus hunts at a few hot spots, as well as carefully timed consumption and sharing of the stored meat and blubber, were keys to life at the North Water polynya. Temporary settlement at the trading stations in the area—a couple of winters at a time—was also part of the risk management strategy of the Inughuit.

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The history of seabird colonies and the North Water ecosystem: Contributions from palaeoecological and archaeological evidence

AMBIO ◽

10.1007/s13280-018-1031-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 47 (S2) ◽

pp. 175-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Thomas A. Davidson ◽

Sebastian Wetterich ◽

Kasper L. Johansen ◽

Bjarne Grønnow ◽

Torben Windirsch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Archaeological Evidence ◽

The North ◽

Water Ecosystem ◽

North Water ◽

History Of ◽

Seabird Colonies

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Fractures in Arctic Winter Pack Ice (North Water, Northern Baffin Bay)

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/s026030550000063x ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. 211-214

Author(s):

K. Steffen

Keyword(s):

Ice Cover ◽

Water Area ◽

Infrared Thermometry ◽

Baffin Bay ◽

The North ◽

Ice Surface ◽

Air Interface ◽

Pack Ice ◽

North Water ◽

Ice Surface Temperature

Profiles of the ice cover in the North Water area were obtained in the winter of 1980/81 by using low-level infrared thermometry. The flight measurements were carried out from December to March. The statistical analysis of the sea ice surface temperature was carried out to yield distributions, frequencies and widths of fractures. Ice-free as well as ice-covered fractures with a maximum ice thickness of 0.4 m were analysed. Typical fracture frequencies were 0.25 per km for Lancaster Sound and 0.14 per km for Baffin Bay and the North Water area, with 90% of fractures being less than 0.6 km wide. From December to March, the fractures occupied 8.8% of the Ice cover in the North Water area, 8.7% along the Baffin Bay profile and 10% in the Lancaster Sound. In the North Water area the distance (y) between fractures for different fracture widths (x) is an exponential function of the form y=Aexp(ax) (A,a are constants), for fractures between 50 and 800 m wide. In the North Water area during winter, fractures of all widths occur 5 times more frequently than in M’Clure Strait and about 7 times more frequently than in southern Beaufort Sea. The heat loss in Lancaster Sound at the ice-air interface was found to be 40 to 100% larger due to the fractures compared to a fast ice situation in the same winter.

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Ice Conditions of an Arctic Polynya: North Water in Winter

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/s0022143000012089 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 32 (112) ◽

pp. 383-390 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Konrad Steffen

Keyword(s):

Sea Water ◽

Surface Condition ◽

Open Water ◽

Sea Surface ◽

Aerial Images ◽

The Arctic ◽

The North ◽

North Water ◽

Ice Conditions ◽

Fast Ice

AbstractThe surface condition of the North Water was investigated during two winters (i.e. the three polynyas: Smith Sound polynya, Lady Ann Strait polynya, and Barrow Strait polynya). Since no detailed information was available on ice conditions and the extent of open water during winter, radiometric temperature measurements of the sea surface had to be taken along a flight line of 2650 km from an altitude of 300 m. From November to March 1978-79 and 1980-81, 14 remote-sensing flights were carried out. On the basis of the radiometric measurements, the following ice types were identified: ice-free, dark nilas, light nilas, grey ice, grey-white ice, and white ice. A comparison between the thermal and the visual ice classification (the latter being based on grey tones of the aerial images) showed a deviation of 3%. The analysis showed that in November, December, and January more than 50% of the Smith Sound polynya was covered by young ice, nilas, and ice-free, whereas in February and March white ice was dominant. Moreover, it was found that the two polynyas in Smith Sound and Lady Ann Strait were much smaller than previously believed. In Barrow Strait, a semi-permanent polynya was observed in the winter of 1980-81. The occurrence of polynyas in Barrow Strait seems to be connected with the location of the fast-ice edge. On the basis of the calculated ice-type distribution and heat-flux rates for different ice types, an energy loss of 178 W m-2was found on the surface of the Smith Sound polynya due to open water and thin ice for the winter months November to March. Compared with other ice-covered sea surfaces in the Arctic, the heat release by the sea-water in the Smith Sound polynya is about 100 W m-2larger.

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