Captain Scott rewrote his story: January–June 1911

This article reveals that Captain Robert Falcon Scott rewrote his Terra Nova journals for the period 24 January to 18 June 1911, making extensive changes, in places. He made carbon copies of his journal from then until 31 October 1911. The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) holds the combined manuscript as Carbon copy of diary as leader of British Antarctic Expedition, Jan. to Oct. 1911 with reference number RFS/1. This little-known version of Scott’s journals has apparently been overlooked by many researchers and scholars. The main research question addressed by the article is: “What was the significance of Captain Scott rewriting his story?” The article reviews two versions of Scott’s story – the published narrative Scott’s Last Expedition, and RFS/1. It investigates the provenance of each version and then reviews differences between the two texts. Three key differences stand out, suggesting the underlying pressures that drove Scott to rewrite his story in mid-1911. The article touches upon editorial changes made by Leonard Huxley in compiling Scott’s Last Expedition and contrasts those changes with changes made by Scott when rewriting the same passages. It also investigates the provenance of a typescript version of RFS/1 held by Canterbury Museum.

Current-controlled sedimentation in the north-western Weddell Sea

The sedimentary basins of the north-western Weddell Sea are characterized by a variety of contourite drifts. This study is aimed at their identification, spatial mapping and temporal evolution and based on the integration of a large amount of seismic data collected by different countries including the recent data of the Russian Antarctic Expedition. Most of the drifts in the region being studied are classified as separated, confined, plastered or sheeted. The chain of sediment wave fields is mapped in the western and northern Powell Basin. The earliest contourite drifts started to form in the Early Miocene or, possibly, in the Late Oligocene. The changes in the depositional pattern in the Middle Miocene and then in the Late Pliocene are thought to have resulted from successive intensification of the bottom currents.

Changes in the Ukrainian expeditioners’ psychological states during long Antarctic stay

Introduction. Extreme conditions of Antarctica and socio-spatial isolation of a small group of expeditioners’ significantly affect their physiological and psychological state. Aim. To empirically investigate the changes in the expeditioners’ psychological state indicators during a year-long Antarctic expedition. Methods. For statistical analysis were used Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation); One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test; and Paired Sample T-Test. Results. The self-assessed indicators of expeditioners’ psychological states rise significantly during the first four months of the year-long expedition. Then their average self-esteem begins to decline gradually, reaching the lowest values in the last two months of stay at the Antarctic station. Conclusions. This study confirms that the long stay and work within an isolated group of people is a factor that affects the expeditioners’ psychological health at the first place.

Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961

<p>This thesis investigates four Antarctic built environments between 1911 and 1961: Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1912 Terra Nova expedition base at Cape Evans, Ross Island; Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition base at Commonwealth Bay; Australia’s Mawson Station in MacRobertson Land, founded in 1954; and New Zealand’s Scott Base, also on Ross Island, founded in 1957. Examining unpublished and published diaries of expeditioners, government files and newspaper reports, this thesis demonstrates that, to the expeditioners who built and occupied them, these places created protective bastions of civilization in an extreme environment. It investigates what residents and architects (figurative and literal) thought and felt about these blizzard cities, their meaning and significance. In doing so, this study reinforces, extends, and at times challenges broader conceptions of built environment, nature, civilization, Antarctica, and their thicket of interrelationships. The first two chapters – one focused on the Heroic Era and the second on the post-WWII bases – argue that Antarctic built environments were embattled, modern sanctuaries. The extreme environment of Antarctica also demonstrated to expeditioners that built environment had plasticity, which challenged the expeditioners’ expectation of built environment being stable, durable, and impermeable. Chapter three argues that Antarctic built environment allowed expeditioners to create civilization in the wilderness, in a variety of ways. Through examining facets of occupation such as etiquette and international cooperation, the chapter argues that civilization took many forms, not all of them positive from the expeditioners’ point-of-view.</p>

Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961

<p>This thesis investigates four Antarctic built environments between 1911 and 1961: Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1912 Terra Nova expedition base at Cape Evans, Ross Island; Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition base at Commonwealth Bay; Australia’s Mawson Station in MacRobertson Land, founded in 1954; and New Zealand’s Scott Base, also on Ross Island, founded in 1957. Examining unpublished and published diaries of expeditioners, government files and newspaper reports, this thesis demonstrates that, to the expeditioners who built and occupied them, these places created protective bastions of civilization in an extreme environment. It investigates what residents and architects (figurative and literal) thought and felt about these blizzard cities, their meaning and significance. In doing so, this study reinforces, extends, and at times challenges broader conceptions of built environment, nature, civilization, Antarctica, and their thicket of interrelationships. The first two chapters – one focused on the Heroic Era and the second on the post-WWII bases – argue that Antarctic built environments were embattled, modern sanctuaries. The extreme environment of Antarctica also demonstrated to expeditioners that built environment had plasticity, which challenged the expeditioners’ expectation of built environment being stable, durable, and impermeable. Chapter three argues that Antarctic built environment allowed expeditioners to create civilization in the wilderness, in a variety of ways. Through examining facets of occupation such as etiquette and international cooperation, the chapter argues that civilization took many forms, not all of them positive from the expeditioners’ point-of-view.</p>

Device for fusion drilling with simultaneous or follow-up reaming of wells in ice

The paper deals with a new opening technology for subglacial reservoirs, which ensures environmentally friendly geological exploration. The technology is based on the results of the first openings of the subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica (February 2012 and January 2015). The primary goal of further studies of the subglacial Lake Vostok is to take clean samples of lake water and bottom sediments, which requires direct penetration into the lake. There is a number of conditions to be met in order to conduct further studies of the lake using a clean access well at the Vostok drilling complex. The article summarizes the main results including technological and engineering solutions protected by the patent of the Russian Federation. A detailed consideration is given to a new device for fusion drilling with simultaneous reaming of an ice hole. This device combines two technological processes: drilling due to contact melting, and an increase in the diameter of the well due to the creation of a vortex flow of a continuously heated coolant in the bottomhole zone. The thermal method of ice breaking ensures the ecological cleanliness when opening subglacial reservoirs and is a priority method that favorably differs from the existing ones. The device was named a “thermal drill reamer” (TDR). During the seasonal work of the 64th Russian Antarctic Expedition bench tests of the TDR 132/400 were carried out, the results of which confirmed that the device is capable to ensure 132 mm drilling with simultaneous reaming up to 400 mm.

Eukarya biodiversity in the Thala Hills, East Antarctica

Knowledge of the biodiversity of the Thala Hills oasis (Enderby Land, East Antarctica) is very limited. Here, we integrate all information available since 1962, when the Russian ‘Molodyozhnaya’ station was established in the western part of the oasis. The published data on local eukaryote diversity (lichens, embryophytes, metazoans) include records of 90 species. Since 2008, Belarusian Antarctic Expedition researchers have worked in the eastern part of the oasis, accessible from the Belarusian station ‘Vechernyaya Mount'. This research revealed 95 species, including 44 species not recorded in the earlier published literature. The level of available information is uneven across major taxa. Lichens are the better-known group, with 51 species recorded in total, including 13 species recently recorded for the first time in the oasis. New records were also obtained for rotifers. Thala Hills biodiversity is consistent with wider patterns of Antarctic biogeography, with a high proportion of regionally endemic species (especially metazoans), the occurrence of both endemic and bipolar species of lichens and generally low numbers of cosmopolitan species (largely limited to aquatic rotifers, with the caveat that up-to-date taxonomic studies are required). The lack of data on marine macrobenthos, soil nematodes and terrestrial rotifers emphasizes the need for studies focusing on these groups.

Bound for Antarctica

The British National Antarctic Expedition left England in 1901 to spend the following three years in Antarctica. Under the leadership of Robert Falcon Scott the officers and crew on board Discovery were provided with an extensive library for research and recreation during their long sojourn in the south. From the men’s diaries, official reports, and correspondence, it has been possible to account for the diversity and intensity of reading experiences throughout this period. Contrary to the confident official reports that came out about the expedition, the men’s relationships with print suggest a far more complex and contending situation.

Formation factors of surface inflow to antarctic lakes of the Larsemann Hills oasis

The study aims to identify formation factors of water inflow to the Antarctic lakes of the Larsemann Hills oasis (East Antarctica). The objects of study are 11 lakes of the oasis. The analysis was performed based on the expeditionary data of the Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE): 63rd season (23 December 2017 – 3 February 2018), 64th season (12 January 2019 – 27 February 2019), 65th season (2 November 2019 – 24 March 2020). Data of lakes water level observations, aerial photography of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and route surveys are given, the results of identifying the boundaries of the lakes catchments are presented. The factors that determine the formation of water inflow to the lakes in this region were identified based on the analysis of the materials. The most significant are the meteorological conditions, the presence of perennial snowfields and glacial areas in the catchments, and the presence of lakes that can cause outburst flood. The seasonally thawed layer also has an impact on the formation of the inflow to the lakes. The vegetation cover is not so important for inflow formation in this region due to the physical and geographical conditions. As for anthropogenic activity, it mainly affects the environmental situation of the catchments and water quality, while the anthropogenic influence on the formation of water inflow to the lakes in the oasis is limited to the territories of polar stations. The factors identified should be taken into account in the further study of hydrological processes, the creation of models that describe them, and the organization of field observations.

The Influence of Contact Intensity with the Outside Environment on the Bodyʼs Adaptive Capabilities During Antarctic Wintering

The research was conducted by a member of the 60th Russian Antarctic Expedition at the all-yearround Mirny Station. The aim was to study what influence contact intensity with the outside environment has on adaptive capabilities of polar station staff. The level of adaptive capabilities was evaluated using the method of cardio-respiratory synchronism, assessing the index of regulatory and adaptive status (IRAS). This method had been developed at the Normal Physiology Department of Kuban State Medical University under the supervision of Prof. V.M. Pokrovsky. It is based on recording the synchronization parameters of controlled high respiratory rate and heart rate. We compared IRAS dynamics of two aerologists during one year of wintering. The subjects had similar anthropometric data, health status and working conditions, the same length of Antarctic wintering (6 years) and were in the same age group. Contact intensity with the outside environment was determined by varying periods spent outside the station premises, mostly due to the lay-out of the residential and amenity buildings (canteen, leisure area, medical unit, gym). This period ranged from 2 to 7 hours on different days. The negative IRAS dynamics, being a marker of human adaptive capabilities, allowed us to identify the relationship between the intensity of environmental influence and the level of the body’s adaptive abilities in one of the expedition members who had been exposed to stronger environmental effects. The authors conclude that proper organization of off-duty periods aimed to decrease the influence of the outside environment will contribute to improving the health of the station staff and optimize their living conditions.