500 lOOOMOTtcn ANTARCTIC PENINSULA s/2 9 !S°km " A M 9 I C j O m t o

1 Comandante Ferraz brazil 2 Henry Arctowski polano 3 Teniente Jubany Argentina 4 Artigas uruouav 5 Teniente Rodotfo Marsh emu BeHingshausen ussr Great WaD owa 6 Capstan Arturo Prat ck«.e

7 General Bernardo O'Higgins cmiu 8 Esperanza argentine 9 Vice Comodoro Marambio Argentina 10 Palmer usa 11 Faraday uk SOUTH 12 Rothera uk SHETLAND 13 Teniente Carvajal chile 14 General San Martin Argentina ISLANDS JOOkm

NEW ZEALAND ANTARCTIC SOCIETY MAP COPYRIGHT Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic Antarctic (successor to "Antarctic News Bulletin")

Vol. 12 No.4 Contents Polar New Zealand 94 Australia 101 Pakistan 102 United States 104 West Germany 111 Sub-Antarctic ANTARCTIC is published quarterly by Heard Island 116 theNew Zealand Antarctic Society Inc., 1978. General ISSN 0003-5327 Antarctic Treaty 117 Greenpeace 122 Editor: Robin Ormerod Environmental database 123 Please address all editorial inquiries, contri Seven peaks, seven months 124 butions etc to the Editor, P.O. Box 2110, Wellington, New Zealand Books Antarctica, the Ross Sea Region 126 Telephone (04) 791.226 International: +64-4-791-226 Shackleton's Lieutenant 127 Fax: (04)791.185 International: + 64-4-791-185

All administrative inquiries should go to the Secretary, P.O. Box 1223, Christchurch, NZ

Inquiries regarding Back and Missing issues to P.O. Box 1223, Christchurch, N.Z.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in Cover : Fumeroles on Mt. Melbourne any way, without the prior permission of the pub lishers. Photo: Dr. Paul Broddy Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4

Polar activities Winter life at Scott Base to be filmed by Television New Zealand New Zealand's 1990-91 Antarctic Research Programme finished on Wednesday February 20 with the departure of the last summer staff and field personnel from Scott Base. Over 260 scientists and support staff took part in the 44 projects undertaken since early October. Under the joint logistical arrangements ilton, telecom technician; Helen Wills, also of with the United States Antarctic Programme Hamilton, Telecom Supervisor; Jack the last flight for the season left McMurdo on Jenniskens, a mechanic from Stratford; Peter 28 February. The two winter teams have now Harding, base engineer from Wellington and started six months of isolation broken only by Phil Clerke from Blenheim, who is store telephone calls and winter resupply sched keeper and provided field support for the uled for June 25 and 26. summer. Leader for the winter at Scott Base is Ross In addition a two man crew from Televi Macdonald of Tokoroa who is also Engineer sion New Zealand are spending the winter at ing Manager. the base. They are Max Quinn (producer and Others in the party include Karen Gage, a director) from Dunedin and Don Anderson chef from Bumham, Sally White of Springfield, (soundman) from Little River. who is part of the domestic staff; Peter Kraak, Among the field programmes successfully Chris McCarrell and Max Olliver, all techni completed these season were: cians from Christchurch, Roy Joblin of Ham-

*rw

84*30"

Location an route of the Seris experiment 94 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

Geophysics, Wellington and Dr Uri ten Brink, The SERIS experiment of the Department of Geophysics, Stanford Crustal seismic investigation across the University, California the party comprised 15 boundary between East and West Antarctica. people including two drillers, two surveyors Undertaking one of the first large-scale (for the initial flagging of the line), three field modern multichannel seismic experiments in assistants, a mechanic, camp manager, two the Antarctic interior this season was a joint seismic engineers and four geophysicists. New Zealand-United States party. Working The profile was to cross the Transantarctic from three principal camps the team com Mountain front via glaciers and the Ross pleted a profile 142km long across the Ross Iceshelf. Initially the party were to use the Ice Shelf and the Transantarctic Mountain Skelton, the only one previously traversed by front just south of the Nimrod Glacier. heavy vehicles, but the orientation and loca The purpose of the project was two-fold; tion made this impossible. Instead after exten firstly to image the geological structures formed sive inquiry and two CI30 reconnaissance at the boundary of East and West Antarctica flights in January, the interconnected glaciers and secondly to test different seismic acquisi Robb and Lowery, some 80 km north of the tion techniques which may be used in future Beardmore Glacier, and just south of the seismic exploration of the continent. Nimrod, were chosen. In addition to their With a total length of 3000-3500km and location, each glacier offered a moderate elevations up to 4500m the Transantarctic topographic slope and both were relatively Mountains are one of the major Cenozoic free of crevasses. The Robb-Lowery route ranges in the world. They are bounded on was also found to be nearly windless because their eastern margin by steep normal faulting the Markham Plateau to the west blocked the and can generally be described as gently tilted flow of katabatic winds from the Polar Pla block-faulted mountain ranges. Parallel and teau. just offshore in the Ross Sea sector is the Leaving Scott Base in the first week of Cenozoic age Terror Rift. The Ross Embay December about 12 C-130 flights were re ment as a whole is a vast submerged region of quired to put the main party into Mike and extended continental crust which has been Lima Camps. The exercise required that some dissected by several rifts probably during the 80 tons of equipment, consumables and peo Mesozoic and Cenozoic. It is commonly as ple be moved into the field including a Hag- sumed that the Transantarctic Mountains form glund, two Tucker snocats, one Sprite and five the boundary between the two major conti skiddoos. Eleven tons of dynamite were used nental plates described as East and West but this was not detonated all at once. About Antarctica. 1400 shots were fired, each using 5-7 kilos of The boundary is of particular interest as it dynamite. To ensure good radio communica is one of the few continent/continent bounda tion the expedition established their radio ries on earth where the juxtaposed plates are transmitter on Mt. Christchurch. separating rather than colliding. The result of The party carried about 23 km of seismic this process has been the development of a cable and over 100 geophones. Hot water deep basin on one side of the boundary and drilling techniques were used to make the an elevated Mountain range on the other. (approximately) 1400 17 - 20 metre deep It is anticipated that analysis of data ob holes in the ice for detonating the charges. tained by the use of modern multichannel This work was contracted to PICO (Polar (Ice crustal reflection/refraction techniques, should Coring Office, University of Alaska) through explain the nature of the faulting across the the National Science Foundation. Two thou transition, the variation in crustal thickness sand gallons of fuel were used to melt the snow across the plate and the presence or other to produce the hot water and a further 800 wise of the southward continuation of the gallons were used by the whole expedition. Terror rift. The first third of the profile took them from Led by Dr Tim Stem of DSIR Geology and just west of Mike, a depot, about half way 95 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 between Scott Base and the South Pole,at of at least 90 km and wide angle-reflections the junction of the Lowery and Rob Glaciers from deep within the crust. down the Robb and past the north end of the Analysis of the multichannel reflection and 3000 metre high Holland Range which rises refraction data is currently underway at the steeply at the boundary between the Ross DSIR in Wellington and at Stanford Univer Embayment and East Antarctica. The last sity. The results should show a wealth of two thirds of the profile stretched east across crustal reflection with the iceshelf portion of the Ross Ice Shelf over ice 200 to 500metre the survey and a seismically more transparent thick. This provided two "sample environ crust within the Transantarctic Mountains. ments", the first over a grounded glacial ice overlying crystalline basement and the sec ond over floating ice layer overlying both Model building and water and sediments.Seismic reflection, re fossil analysis fraction and gravity data were collected along Working in the Allan Hills area 150 km the line. north-west of Scott Base from 1 December to Two different systems were used to collect 24 January were Ken Woolfe, Dr Peter reflection data. The first was a conventional Barrett, Malcolm Arnot of Victoria Univer cable and buried geophone system and the sity. They were accompanied by Drs Jane second a towed "snow-streamer" loaned from Francis of the University of Adelaide and Norsk-Hydro in Norway. Seventeen to 18 Norm Smith from the University of Illinois. metre holes were drilled in the ice by a hose The Permian-triassic of South Victoria ejecting water at 80 deg C and at high Land contain some of the best exposed fluvial pressure. Spaced at 200 metre intervals, rocks in the world and Allan Hills is one of the three to five could be drilled in an hour. better examples. The party were seeking to Charges were placed at the bottom of each describe the strata and sedimentary struc and the results recorded on 48 groups of 14 tures they contain in order to reconstruct the Hz geophone strings with six units per string channel morphology and flood-plain charac and placed at 50 metre intervals for the first teristics of the river system. Their purpose is 51km of the traverse down the glacier. to provide a realistic depositional model for The second system using the snow- the strata in order to add confidence and streamer consisted of a 1.5 km long listening detail to paleogeographic reconstructions from array of 60 gimballed geophones towed by a such sequences. Hagglund. Two shots were fired every six to Along with Norm Smith the work of the seven minutes. With no drilling required the VUW party focussed on examining the expo team could move quickly but because the sures of Permian (250myrs) fluvial rocks. geophones lie on the surface they were They resolved the apparently enigmatic susceptible to wind noise. occurrence of braided and meandering rivers A further experiment involved the collec on the same flood plain and found clear tion of data from wide-angle reflection/re evidence that the remnants of the Permian Ice fraction. It consisted of four deployments Sheet remained long after the main icesheet each of a 23 to 25 km long receiving array had disappeared. They are now in a position with an interval of 100 to 300 metres and to produce a model that explains the pres detonation at between three and five shots for ence of sheet-geometries in meandering each deployment. Two of the deployments stream depositions, a feature that previous were made over the glaciers over the models have been unable to deal with. In Transantarctic Mountains and the other two addition they completed a 1:20,000 geologi on the Ross Iceshelf. cal map of Allan Hills. The team carried at SUN SPARC work Dr Jane Francis, a palaeoclimatologist station for preliminary processing of refrac who has specialised in ancient climates, un tion data in the field and from this they could dertook a palaeo-botanical survey of the ascertain energy propagation over a distance area. She worked on what is one of the best 96 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic deposits of tree fossils found so far. The metres were also taken. Each of the samples discovery contains thousands of fossilised filters about 50 cubic metres of sea water and forest trees felled in huge floods some 250 contains up to 4,000 individual organisms, million years ago and buried in sand at the mostly microscopic copepods. These are iden bottoms of rivers that once flowed across the tified and counted and by comparing the plain. Although their species is not yet certain numbers within and between samples, locali they are thought to be ancient relatives of ties and occasions an idea of the patterns in Australian native pines found in Tasmania space and time can be built up. It is already and the Norfolk Island pine and other species clear that more and larger zooplankters (in of conifers growing in New Zealand. Metres cluding krill) occur deeper in the water below in diameter, each trunk is a detailed climatic about 70 metres. database particularly valuable because most Preliminary analysis suggests that the vari predictive models are computer based; the ation within each season to be the same in all trees will provide actual evidence on which to three years, although fewer of two species test them. were found in 1985 and a more of another in More than 500kg of samples are on their 1990. way to England where Dr Francis, who has Ten surface samples were obtained at now moved to Leeds University after five Cape Royds by rigging a tripod over seal holes years at the University of Adelaide, will study and dropping nets through the ice at approxi them. mately the same location as in 1985 and for the first time at Marble Point on the western side of McMurdo Sound. Comparison of the Zooplankton, counted, three sample sets revealed no quantitative differences between Marble Point and Scott examined and filmed Base. As in 1985 however Cape Royds was Zooplankton populations are hard to de different suggesting changes in ecosystem fine because of the size and dispersion of the structure between there and the other two species and the dynamics of the environment areas. in which they occur. Numbers can only be At Danger Slopes (off Arrival Heights), the assessed by replicated sampling at restricted party used a pump to draw sea water from locations and times, the results presenting depths to about 20 metres filtering the sam patterns in space and time. ples through a plankton net. No consistent Repeating and extending a zooplankton differences were found in densities of different sampling programme begun in 1985 was Dr species at depth discounting the possibility Brian Foster of the Zoology Department, that bottom fishes have access to more dense University of Auckland, who was accompa populations of zooplankton just over the sea nied by Rodney Roberts and Peter Broom. bed. The party were on the ice from 29 October Direct observations made from the US until 10 November. Observation Tube showed the water in 1990 Their research is aimed at defining the to be particularly rich in various gelatinous plankton (jellyfish, ctenophores siphonophores zooplankton component of the marine eco and pteropods) which could be seen from the system and relating it to fish feeding studies. tube giving insights into the real world of Using two different techniques they obtained plankton. samples from four sites. With integrated ver Plankton was caught for the preparation of tical nets they worked off Scott Base, Marble a high resolution colour video recording and Point and Cape Royds but used a depth a short 15 minute tape has been prepared restricted pump off Danger Slopes. showing live microzooplankton in restricted Twenty surface to 100 metres samples action.This type of close up footage has been were taken off Scott Base from the fish hut lacking from previous nature history films of site through augured holes. Samples were Antarctic marine life. first obtained from here in 1985 and subse The samples have been returned to New quently in 1987. Some deep samples to 300 Zealand for further analysis. 97 Vol. 12 No.4

Lateral lines and evolution of Antarctic fish species Zoologists from the University of Auck land completed their 13th season of studies on various aspects of Antarctic fish. For the last three years they have focussed on the lateral line and the evolutionary relationships between species. Team leader for the season was again Dr John Montgomery who was assisted by Dr John Macdonald. Heiko Weix, an electronics expert and field hand, and Richard Milton and Peter Ritchie from the Zoology Department, also went south as part of the project. This season the party was divided twice. Dr Montgomery worked with American col leagues, Drs John Janssen and Sheryl Coombs at McMurdo Station while the others worked from Scott Base where they were joined by Drs Guido di Prisco and Maurizio Tamburrini from the Italian Programme. Under the recip rocal arrangement Macdonald and Ritchie also spent some time with the Italians at Terra Nova Bay working on a collaborative study on the role of haemoglobin in Antarctic fishes.

At McMurdo the team were joined by a Scientists employing orthodox measures Russian scientist Dr Valentina Sideleva and to catch fish at Terra Nova Bay - Photo they concentrated mainly in lateral line work. John Macdonald One of the primary objectives is understand ing how fish catch prey in the darkness of the Antarctic winter when sight is impossible. Work for John MacDonald at Scott Base Observations made in the aquarium at again concentrated on the temperature lability McMurdo proved that the lateral line was of acetylcholinesterase the enzyme which used in locating and catching prey. The lines, breaks down the neuro-transmitter control located over the surface of the head and along ling muscle contraction. Fish were caught the body, are like small canals which are open through a hole in the ice cut with a huge to the outside of the body through pores in the posthole digger (auger) in the sea ice two km skin. Inside each of the lines are series of from Scott Base. Biochemical extracts were "hydrophones, sets of hairs similar to those in prepared from the brains and the activities of the human ear which can sense vibrations. the enzymes measured. Preliminary results revealed that the enzyme is not very tempera ture-labile. Although it has been known for about a 100 Using a portable laboratory in the fish hut, years that fish have lateral lines it is only more Richard Milton monitored the behaviour of recently that researchers have established their function and physiology. The common fish as they selected and captured prey. Peter Ritchie studied the genetic similarities of Ant ancestry of the various Antarctic fish species and the shared problem of winter darkness in arctic fish with the aim of establishing an the extreme environment provides a concen evolutionary tree. He continued this work at trated focus on the problem for scientists. Terra Nova Bay where John Macdonald stud- Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

ied the production of red blood cells in the Two snow cores, ten metres deep, were Antarctic fish, a problem shared with the drilled and returned to New Zealand also for Italians. determination of rock dust, sea salt, sulphate The joint project involved collection of and nitrate. Other cores drilled to five metres blood samples and purification of hemoglobin were sub-sampled on site and have been in order to assess the variability between the returned to New Zealand for rapid analysis. various antarctic fish species. This is signifi A two metre laboratory pit was dug and cant because each species demonstrates roofed with aircraft pallets. Inside, a melt different levels of activity and it is thought that vessel and heating system were set up to allow there are specialisations which enable them snow to be melted and passed through a to work better under higher or lower concen polyurethane foam filter which will be ana trations of oxygen. By relating the type of lysed for dioxins and other pesticide residues. haemoglobin the fish have and the oxygen Approximately 80 kg of snow could be proc carrying characteristics aspects of the ecol essed in a ten hour day. The scientists worked ogy and behaviour of the different species in two hour shifts usually divided into one may be explained. hour, at -30deg in the pit, controlling the melt system and one hour, at -20deg, collecting snow from a sample pit 20 metres away. Eight samples were collected at different depths Testing air for pollutants down to one metre to obtain a short historic Camping on the East Antarctic plateau for record. two months to test the air for pollutants last Meteorological service instruments re summer were three scientists and one field corded wind and temperature and counted assistant. At an approximate latitude of 78deg and sized aerosol particles, the data being S, 140 deg E, they endured eight weeks of logged on a computer. Very few particles "thin sun" with a constant windchill tempera were found; about ten per cubic centimeter, ture of around -40deg.C. compared with hundred or thousands in Leader of the party was Chad Dick from regions close to sources of contamination DSIR Chemistry in Wellington. He was as such as seawater, exposed soils, or human sisted by John Patterson from the same industrial emissions. Those particles which organisation and David Wylie from the Uni reached the plateau were almost all in the versity of Auckland. The field leader was John smallest size range. They are likely to be Gee from Tokoroa. They were flown into the sulphuric acid or methane sulphonic acid field on November 24 in a C-130 Hercules droplets formed by oxidation of such gases as with 3500kg of fuel and equipment which dimethyl sulphide (D.M.S.) released from was then manhauled two kilometers from the biogenic activity in the oceans. Although landing area to avoid contamination of the concentrations of these particles varied by a site from the aircraft. factor of ten no correlation has been noted Sampling was subsequently carried out with the variations in the source of the air mass approximately 200m upwind of the camp. Low volume air samples were collected in whether it be marine or continental as sug suction pumps using small filters and returned gested by temperature or cloud amount or to New Zealand where they are being ana type. The lack of correlation may indicate a fairly slow reaction rate which allows these lysed for rock dust, sea-salt, sulphate and gases and aerosols to become well mixed over nitrate aerosol particles, while high volume the continent or could suggest that aerosol samples, collected alongside by similar meth removal by precipitation in marine air masses ods will be analysed for methane sulphonic is rapid. A more detailed examination of the acid, (an important species in the atmos results is needed before any conclusions can pheric sulphur cycle), and for toxic organic be reached. The party returned to Scott Base compounds such as dioxins. on January 25. 99 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4

in the cells which permit their survival during Cyanobacteria and the the extreme conditions. ecosystem From their measurements and others be Building up a detailed picture of the struc ing analysed from samples returned to New ture and dynamics of Antarctic cyanobacteria Zealand and Wales involving dessication toler and their role in major ecosystems, such as ance and the influence of UV light on the the McMurdo Ice Shelf ablation zone was the shallow water cyanobacteria, the scientists objective of three scientists from the Taupo are building up a detailed picture of the Research Laboratory, Division of Water Sci structure and dynamics of Antarctic ences, DSIR Marine and Freshwater. cyanobacteria and their role in the McMurdo Drs Clive Howard-Williams, Warwick Vin Ice Shelf Ablation Zone. cent and Nicholas Russell spent five weeks Further coverage of the very successful late in the summer of 1991 working mainly 1990-91 season for the New Zealand Antarc on the McMurdo Ice Shelf. There several tic Research programme will appear in our hundred square kilometers of moraine coated next issue. ice are overlaid by an inter-connected system of lakes, pools and streams. These provide an aquatic habitat for prolific growths of highly pigmented cohesive mats of cyanobacteria. Antarctic Psychology In mid-summer, temperatures of up to + 10 deg C and water containing high nutrient A.J.W. Taylor, New Zeakland Department levels and low salt concentrations provide of Scientific and Industrial Research, DSIR very suitable conditions for microbial growth. Bulletin no. 244, Wellington 1987 ISBN 0- The team were interested in the way in 477-02509-0 which the mats tolerate the extremely high salt concentrations (equivalent of five times This short book by a respected and experi that found in sea water) and the very low enced New Zealand psychologist, constitutes temperatures (-12deg C) that occur in the an intelligent and practical ponds as they freeze at the end of the sum handbook....refreshingly free from mystical mer. jargon...Polar Record Working in the Bratina Island field labora Very well written...clear and interesting - tories the team used minute quantities of almost gripping in parts... .a timely and useful radiotracers to follow the changes in the cells book.. .will be of interest to all those who have which were subjected to experiments simu an interest in the Antarctic. British Antarctic lating those conditions. Infrared gas analysis Survey Bulletin. was used to follow photosynthesis and respi A trail blazer... a good systematic overview of ration and Nitrogen fixation was measured the field, by unarguably one of the leading by gas-chromatography. Antarctic psychologists... concise and They found that comparatively low con cogent...an excellent introduction to Antarc centrations of salt, similar to that of seawater tic psychology. Environment and Behaviour stopped major metabolic activity including A scholarly treasure chest. Contemporary photosynthesis. Nitrogen fixation ceased. Psychology However, the mats investigated, were able to survive the high salinities and low tempera Price including postage NZ$35; Aus tures experienced at winter freezeup and all tralia $38; America US$38; UK LI 250. recovered within a few days after the intro Payment can be made by cheque, VISA, duction of freshwater. Bankcard or American Express and Nick Russell, working for the department should be sent to 145A Barnard Street, of Biochemistry at the University of Wales, Wadestown, Wellington, New Zealand. will be further analysing the samples to determine the specific biochemical changes 100 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

ANARE Further oil spill occurs at Casey A further fuel spill occurred at Australia's Casey Station on the afternoon of 22 January 1991. Approximately 19,000 litres of light diesel fuel overflowed from a storage tank, during a transfer from the station's main tanks to another tank at the power house half a kilometre away. According to sources there is no vegeta rendering the material harmless for collection. tion or concentration of wildlife in the imme The operation involved decanting over diately vicinity and for the moment the fuel 100,000 litres of fuel, venting 275 gas bot has concentrated in a depression just down tles, recovering chemicals and detonating of hill from the main storage tanks. explosive material. Station staff pumped the fuel into empty Some of the material was used at Casey but barrels from the depression and early the the rest was packaged for return to Australia following afternoon some 4,600 litres had on Icebird undertaking the eighth and last been recovered. Antarctic voyage of the summer. Leaving It is the second spill at Casey in the last Hobart on 28 February she visited Casey to year. In 1990 the Antarctic Division commis collect 51 returning expeditioners including sioned a report on spill prevention control biologists, glaciologists, physicists, meteor measures which draws particular attention to ologists, construction workers and other sup the need to improve procedures and the port personnel. She also collected 20 person Division is further developing a programme nel including biologists, an archaeologist and to implement improved procedures and train an officer of the Tasmanian Department of ing at all stations. Parks, Wildlife and Heritage from Macquarie Every station is being provided with spe before her return to Hobart on 22 March. cial materials to clean up spills. Nansen's winter hut Hazardous waste discovered Head of Norwegian Arctic research, Morten removed Berle, who last winter led a Soviet/Norwegian Environmentally hazardous waste left at expedition to Franz Josef Land in the Soviet the Antarctic station of Wilkes when it was Arctic, sent back news that the team had found abandoned in 1969 because of encroaching the primitive stone hut where the Norwegian, ice was removed by Army personnel in a ten explorer, scientist and humanitarian, Fridtjof week operation during this last summer sea Nansen, spent the winter of 1895-96 to son. The waste, which had accumulated dur gether with Hjalmar Johansen. The two men ing the ten years that U.S. and Australian had made bid for the North Pole but were expeditions were based at Wilkes, comprised forced to turn back and made their way to pressurised gas, chemicals, fuel and explo Franz Josef Land where they erected a hut of sives. stones, driftwood and walrus skins. The expe The six man Army team, led by Lieutenant dition erected a commemorate plaque by the Phil Grue of 1 Construction Regiment in hut. Sydney, was transported across the ice seas Franz Josef Land has been forbidden territory between Wilkes and Casey Station, three to the Norwegians since it was annexed by the kilometres away in amphibious vehicles from Soviets in 1929. Last year's expedition was the 10 Terminal Regiment, also based in the first to visit the island group in more than Sydney. They had to endure frequent 60 years. interruptions from summer blizzards while 101 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 Pakistan builds base outside Antarctic Treaty System

Pakistan, which has opposed the Antarctic Treaty system in the United Nations, has built a summer station in Queen Maud Land, on the Weddell Sea side of the continent. It has been named Jinnah after Dr Muhamad Ali Jinnah, remembered as the founder of Pakistan and its first Governor-General in 1947.

Jinnah Station is at 70 deg 24min S/25 ary 1 in "The Muslim", a newspaper pub deg 45 min E on the Princess Ragnhild Coast lished in the capital, Islamabad. of Queen Maud Land and 75 km north-east As Pakistan had to charter an ice-strength of the Japanese inland station Asuka (71 deg ened ship from Sweden, helicopters from 31 min 5/24 deg 32 min E) which was built Canada and buy German prefabricated huts in the 1984-85 season. and British polar clothing, logistic informa Late last year Pakistan's intention to send tion about the expedition became available. an expedition to Antarctica was known at the With 11 scientists, 25 support staff and a special meeting of the Antarctic Treaty con crew of 15 or 20, the expedition sailed from sultative parties held in Chile to consider Karachi aboard the Columbialand (21,110 environmental protection issues. Concern was tonnes) on December 12. It arrived at Port expressed about countries wanting expedi Louis, Mauritius on December 21 and then tions except under the umbrella of the treaty headed for the Weddell Sea on December 24. system. But this is not the first time a country About January 14 the Columbialand was outside the Antarctic Treaty has established a off the Princess Ragnhild Coast. It has been base and done scientific research in Antarc suggested that the expedition, which was to tica. India, was the first and, South Korea was spend 50 days in Antarctica, would probably the second. Both are now consultative par use Breid Bay (70deg 15 mins/24 deg 15 ties. min E) where Japanese field scientists worked As Pakistan is not a party to the treaty it in the 1984-85 season when Asuka Station does not have to advise other countries of its was established with the support of the ice intentions or where it has set up a base. One breaker and supply ship Shirase. newspaper report in January indicated that Pakistan's chartered Swedish ship has the base was in Prydz Bay on the Ingrid operated in Antarctic waters before but Christensen Coast; a second suggested it was under a different name. As the Stena Arctica near Japan's Syowa Station on the Prince it provided logistic support for the second Olva Coast of Queen Maud Land., Prydz Bay Swedish Antarctic Expedition, SWEDARP is in the main territory claimed by Australia 88/89, which did scientific work in Queen between 45 deg E and 136 deg E., Maud Land, the Weddell Sea, and the Antarc Norway believed that the base was possi tic Peninsula area. SWEDARP 88/89 also bly being set up in the territory between 20 established the main Swedish base Wasa in deg W and 45 deg E which it claims, but by Vestfjella at 73 deg 02 min S/13 deg 25 min December it had not been approached by W. Pakistan. Built at Gothenburg in 1978 by Formal notification of the establishment of Ericksberg's, the Columbialand is a 185 m the base, its location, and its name, was given bulk carrier with six cargo holds, four 20- by Dr Abdul Farah, Director General of the tonne cranes and can carry 832 5m contain Pakistan Navy's National Institute of Ocea ers at a speed of 16 knots. The engine-room nography. His statement appeared on Febru is aft and container deck space can be used for 102 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic helicopters. search programme, before unification of Operated by the United Cruising Com Germany last year. pany Limited, a subsidiary of the owners, Not surprisingly the Swedish Government Brostrom Shipping Company, the is reported to have urged Pakistan to become Columbialand has a name change to Seatrain a signatory of the Antarctic Treaty and to co London in 1979. By 1985 she was back to operate with other Treaty members. her original name. Swedish scientists and airmen worked in In 1989 the name was changed for the Queen Maul Land with the Norwegian - Brit second time and as the Stena Arctica, the ship ish - Swedish Expedition (1949-52). Since was prepared for her Antarctic voyage. She then the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, was equipped for marine research and logis which managed the Arctic and Antarctic pro tic operations which included the provision of grammes, has supported individual scientists helicopters for the establishment of tempo and participated in other nation's programmes. rary field camps in the Antarctic Peninsula Now special priority is given to international area. co-operation and joint programmes with other After her return to Gothenburg the ship nations. went back to her original name. A sister ship In 1986 the secretariat initiated an Antarc built in 1977 is another ice-strengthened bulk tic programme (SWEDARP). The first expe carrier. She is the 21,128 tonne Thuleland. dition in 1987-88 had logistic support from India, which sent its first expedition to the Federal Republic of Germany. A Swedish Antarctica in 1981-81, chartered the team joined the FRG icebreaking research Thuleland for its fifth in the 1985-86 season. and supply ship Polarstern with its own vehi Structural alterations were made to provide cles, field equipment and with German and helicopter decks and accommodation for 80 Austrian geologists made a traverse from scientists. The charter was renewed each year Georg von Neumayer station between Janu until the 1989-90 season. ary 6 and February 22, 1988 to the With Pakistan's establishment of Jinnah Heimfrontfjella (Homefront) Range (74 deg Station there are now eight other notions 35 min S/11.00 W) and the Vestfjella (West engaged in research in the area claimed by RAnge) of the Kraul Mountains (73deg 30 Norway, which has one summer station.Troll. min S/14 deg 10 min W). Eight stations are occupied all the year round A small summer station SVEA was built at and nine are used in the summer. All have 73 deg 35 min S/lldeg 13 min W on the been built on the coast or inland. southern rim of Scharffenbergbotnen, one of As of 1 February 1991 this year there are the peaks of the three groups of the Homefront 17 summer and winter stations in Queen Range. Food, fuel, field equipment and motor Maud Land between 20 deg W and 45 deg E. sledges were left for the second expedition. Japan and Germany have three, the Soviet In the 1988-89 summer the second Union, India, Sweden and South Africa two, SWEDARP expedition put in Sweden's main and Norway, Finland and Pakistan one each. base at 73 deg 02 min S/13 deg 25 min W Norway occupied Norway Station for the in the Vestfjella (West Range of the Kraul 1957-58 International Geophysical year. It Mountains). It has provision for winter parties was taken over in 1960 by South Africa and SVEA is now a satellite station. which built its own in 1962. Finland, which acceded to the Antarctic Since then Norwegian research has been Treaty in 1984 and became a consultative maintained with maritime expeditions which party in 1988, has now sent three expeditions have worked in the Antarctica Peninsula area to Queen Maul Land. It has ahead a close in the Weddel Sea and Queen Maud Land at relationship with SWEDARP in scientific intervals of three to five years. Germany projects and logistic co-operation. became responsible for a third station, Georg FINNARP, the programme organised by Forster, which was operated by the German the National Committee on Arctic Research, Democratic Republic within the Soviet Re started in the 1987/88 season. A team of five 103 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 technicians and scientists did technical and part in the European Polarstern STudy sea-ice research in the Finnish-built Soviet (EPOS). Two geologists began studies of research and supply ship Akademik Federov Antarctic quaternary deposits with Austral during its voyage from Wellington to Buenos ians at Davis Station, and a Finnish- Aires by way of Leningradskaya, Russkaya Argentininan ozone sounding project was and Bellingshausen stations. started at Vice-comadoro Marambio Station When FINNARP 88/89 established its on Seymour Island. first station in Western Queen Maud Land Between December 1989 and February Sweden carried the expedition to the Prin 1990 FINNARP completed the first large cess Martha Coast aboard the Stena Arctica scientific expedition arranged since Finland and provided tracked vehicles, sledges and signed the Antarctic Treaty. motor scooters for construction and scientific A marine research programme in the work. Weddell Sea was carried out by the new 1600 Aboa was built in the Vestfjella (West tonne vessel Aranda, built for the Marine Range) of the Kraul Mountains at 73 deg 03 Research Institute of Finland. Glaciological, min S/13 deg 25 min W) on Nunatak Basen climatological, and technological studies3s about 450 m above sea level. It can accom were continued close to Aboa to which scien modate ten persons. tists were transferred by helicopter. Finnish scientists took part in the Swedish A number of scientists from other coun expedition and joined Swedish scientists in tries took part in the expedition. Once again part joint research projects. FINNARP also there was close logistic co-operation with arranged for three marine biologists to take Swedish scientists in the land-based studies.

USAP Season on Peninsula involves eight cruises as well as programmes at Palmer Station The season on the Peninsula opened with the departure of the Polar Duke from Punta Arenas on 6 September. Four days later the vessel was at Palmer Station. Contractor crews assisted in the change from winter to summer operations. Launches of instrumented balloons in support of the National Ozone Experiment and the collection of phytoplankton from the vessel marked the start of the summer science programme. By 20 September the Polar Duke had returned to Punta Arenas with most of the winter team. Because the Antarctic is now experienc was aboard the first cruise of the Polar Duke ing large springtime losses of stratospheric and remained at Palmer working in the Arthur ozone, the magnitude of ultraviolet-B radia Harbour before joining the vessel for the tion reaching the surface now approaches cruise departing on 1 October from Punta that measured in tropical latitudes. Ultravio- Arenas with three others of the team. They let-A and solar radiation used for photosyn collected samples during both cruises and thesis have, however remain unchanged. from the station area for species identification Dr Deneb Karentz, from the Radio Biol and culture for comparative purposes. ogy and Environmental Health Laboratory at Their study focussed on the question of the University of California in San Francisco, DNA repair mechanisms of phytoplankton 104 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic communities exposed to increased UV irra water column bacterioplankton on the way to diation. Making use of recent improvements Palmer and the second, collected further sam in atmospheric modeling and technology in ples on the next voyage. In between times oceanographic instrumentation they spent a further samples were collected from Arthur total of six weeks documenting the impact of Harbour. ultraviolet radiation on the phytoplankton The project is important because coupling community during the ice-edge spring bloom. of carbon flows from primary producers to Special emphasis was placed on defining bacteria can significantly influence the pat biological restrains imposed by springtime terns of vertical flux in organic matter in the radiation changes on the balance of ultravio- ocean. Bacteria must break down particles let-B damage to repair capabilities, as well as and mix them with water before uptake and protection from UV radiation and mecha therefore they assume a central role in carbon nisms of photosynthesis used by organisms in flux from particulate organic matter into the the southern oceans. microbial loop. Between September 10 and 13 Novem Hypothetically the scientists consider that ber Dr George Brothers and an assistant during the winter, bacyterial-exohydrolase from NASA in Virginia took daily stratospheric production ceases in high latitudes and there measurements of the ozone from Palmer fore particles and polymers produced during Station using balloons. Their project, which the early spring cannot be used by bacteria. began in 1987, involved taking a large set of They tested the theory off the Peninsula by profiles over the period which included the sampling the euphotic zone pre-bloom through beginning of the ozone depletion as well as development and decline of the spring the peak. Such profiles will provide clues to phytoplankton bloom. changes in the depth, vertical extent, ozone Using field and laboratory manipulations loss rates and seasonal behaviour of the they examined the environmental cues that phenomenon as well as correlative perform regulated enzyme activity, their knowledge ance checks on remote-measurement sys contributing to the understanding of biological tems. production mechanisms and variability in the The second cruise of the season began pathways of organic matter cycling in the on 25 September and concluded on 18 southern ocean. November. In addition to the study of the From September 30 an early field team of UV radiation on phytoplankton during a two were put into the Copa Field Hut to begin cruise along the Weddell Sea Ice edge, studying the foraging behaviour and demog personnel were put ashore at the field raphy of the Adelie, chinstrap and gentoo camp in Admiralty Bay for an avian biol (Pygoscelis) penguins on King George Island. ogy programe, also supported from Palmer They were joined on 9 December by project Station. leader Dr Wayne Trivelpiece of the Point Other scientific programmes from Reyes Bird Observatory in California. Palmer beginning with the arrival of the For several years the team has banded vessel included continued NOZE opera penguins at Point Thomas (near the Polish tions and a study ofexoenzyme and bacte Arctowski Station on King George Island) and rial growth rates and chlorophyll measure studied their breeding and feeding ecology. ments. Results of their work indicate that each species Investigations of bacterial activity in Arthur responds differently to winter conditions, dif Harbour by measrurements of enzyme ex fers in annual survival levels and has different pression during the spring bloom were made age and sex requirements for maintain popu between 25 September and 30 December. lation levels. The research team, under the leadership of This last season, the team, working in the Dr J.T. Hollibaugh of San Francisco State Admiralty Bay area, were able to observe University in California were divided into two banded penguins daily and by using radio parties of three. The first party sampled the telemetry and time-depth records could col- 105 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4

lect data on known-age populations to deter burst communications and survey work for mine the relationships of sex/age and experi a seimsmological network were also landed ence to fecundity and survival. They were also at Palmer Station. able to compare foraging ability of the young, The study of sediment transport on the first-time breeding birds, with older, experi antarctic continental margin in the vicinity of enced breeders. floating glacier tongues and restrictive fjord The data obtained by telemetry and time- environments was concerned with determin depth equipment enabled them to expand ing the importance of mid-water and deep- their data base to include information on how cold-water tongues in the transport proc the penguins behaved at sea. Their project esses. will significantly improve the scientific under Scientists from the Geology Department, standing of the trophic relationships among Hamilton College, in New York, were also the penguins and enable the scientists to test concerned with determining whether precise hypotheses on how age affects foraging pro links could be established between the ob ficiency and, how in turn, that affects breed served glacial-climatic regime and the result ing and recruitment patterns. ing depositional record. Such a record is Four scientists from the Biology Depart being reconstructed from the coring programe ment at the University of California under the and high-resolution seismic reflection pro leadership of Dr Mark Chappell were based files. The expected thick Holocene sections, at Palmer from 25 September to March 10. with pronounced internal changes in texture Focussing on the Adelie penguin they and composition were analysed for their im measured rates of energy consumption and plications in the antarctic fjord glacier systems changes in body composition in breeding and Holocene climate changes. birds and observed their foraging behaviour. During the second part of the cruise, and, The purpose of their work is to determine on several subsequent cruises, Dr L.B. Quetin reproductive effort and to calculate the trophic and R.M. Ross of the Marine Science Institute impact of breeding Adelies on the surround of the University of California in Santa Barbara ing marine ecosystem. with a large field team studied and collected The third cruise consisted of a number krill on the ice edge. In all they covered areas of separate by logistically intertwined op near Adelaide Island, Marguerite Bay, the erations. It began on 24 November and Bellingshausen Sea, southern Bransfield finished on 4 January. Strait, Gerlache Strait and the Palmer Basin. During the first part scientists investi In addition they used sonar to track and gated sedimentation rates and stratigraphy measure the size of krill populations, measure at the foot of glaciers and at ice edges by current, temperature and salinity at selected coring, and using high resolution seismics sites and collected water samples. Divers and sediment traps. from the team observed the behaviour of the The second part of the cruise involved a krill communities. biological study of the growth rates of krill The results of the project should contribute in terms of space and time and, in addition, substantially to understanding aspects of krill a geological field party were put ashore for biology that are either unknown or poorly two weeks on the Beyers Peninsula at understood. Livingston Island. Another group of scientists focussed on Also during the cruise a USAP char the construction of a model to elucidate ocean tered U.S. Air Force (Sepcial Assignment and atmospheric response to past climate Airlift Mission (SAAM) was flown to King change in order to reconstruct the Holocene George Island to transfer science and op climate history of the Antarctic peninsula. erational personnel as well as support Preliminary analysis of benthic foraminiferal visiting dignatories from the Santiago distribution, sediment distribution and water Antarctic Traty Consultative Meeting at column profiles from the Bellingshausen/ Vina del Mar. Scientists studying meteor Pacific sector of the Antarctic Peninsula have 106 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic suggested that observed patterns are influ Studies carried out in 1987 and 1989 enced by oceanographic, glacial and climatic prior to the January 28 spill, have provided conditions. the team with data on the abundance, breed A party of two from the Byrd Polar Re ing success, diets and growth rates of many search Center supplemented the preliminary members of the seabird community including findings and sought to provide new informa chicks marked in 1988, which had not been tion on the microhabitat and geochemical exposed to oil and those marked in 1989 after associations between the surface sediments the spill. Baseline data such as this can be used and benthic foraminifera. By analysing mod for comparative purposes and will enable em sediment flux and distribution, water them to assess seabird mortality and deter column-profiles and benthic foraminiferal dis mine the population's potential for recovery. tribution, the faunal and environmental asso On 9 January 1991 a further cruise ciations could be used to formulate an inter began from Punta Arenas. Most of it was active model. Such a model can be used in dedicated to high resolution geophysical tern to infer paleo-oceanographic and work in the Northern Peninsula - Weddell paleoclimatic conditions in down-core Sea area. During the cruise, however, a sediments and help to re-evaluate the Cenozoic geological field programme was put ashore marine records from samples previously col at various areas. lected in the Antarctic margin region. In the meantime work at Palmer contin Working on the Beyers Peninsula were ued with avian biology and krill growth Drs Anne Grunow and Ian Dalziel also from studies, the latter receiving three days sup the Byrd Polar Research Center. They con port from the vessel which arrived at King tinued their examination of the geological George Island on 7 February at the same history of West Antarctica and the relation time as a second SAAM flight was made to ship of West to East Antarctica by collecting change scientific crews for the completion paleomagnetic samples from Mesozoic-age of the cruise. rocks. They hope, that by systemically obtain Since 1979 scientists from the Depart ing samples, ranging in age from the Triassic ment of Geology and Geophysics at Rice through Late Cretaceous, a more complete University in Texas have collected and de apparent polar wander path can be con scribed the sediments that blanket the antarc structed for the Antarctic Peninsula and help tic sea floor and related them to glacial and constrain its position in respect to East Ant oceanic conditions. During the cruise Dr John arctica in addition to providing information B. Anderson and five others gathered seismic on the time of opening of the Weddell Sea. reflection data and collected piston core sam Between early December and mid-March ples from the Bransfield Basin (north of Palmer Dr William Fraser of the Point Reyes Bird Station to King George Island) and along the Observatory in California and two colleagues continental margin (north of the South Shet continued penguin and seabird censussing land Islands). They used sedimentological and observations of breeding and reproduc analysis of deposits and high resolution seis tive cycles. They operated mainly in the mic methods to map the distribution of marine Arthur Harbor area but visited rookeries on ice sheets and shelves on the continental shelf several islands including Litchfield and Dream, during the last glacial maximum. By studying some four miles from Palmer. Their work such lithofacies in detail, in areas representa entailed the capture of birds for banding, tive of antarctic glacial marine environments, stomach content analysis, weighing, measur they are increasing their understanding of ing, examining and subsequent release. Ra sediments which occur under such circum dio transmitters were attached to selected stances. In addition they examined the deep birds. sea hemipelagic and turbidity record of the The focus of the study is to determine the area to see how glacial changes are mani impact of the spill of fuel from the Bahia fested in deep sea deposits and conducted Paraiso has had on the seabirds in the area. high-resolution seismic stratigraphic studies 107 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 of the continental shelf to learn more about general model of carbon and energy flow in tectonic and glacial evolution. antarctic coastal ecosystems. The next cruise began at King George Professor Theodore Foster and nine oth Island on 7 February 1991. A sediment ers from the Marine Sciences Department at trap for the RACER programme was recov the University of California were involved in ered and redeployed prior to the vessel the investigations of peninsula bottom wa heading out to the Weddell Sea and under ters. taking a major programme to study the In the global context the area is a major formation and circulation of cold Antarc water mass modification site, involving open- tic bottom water. A number of current ocean convection, the continental margins meters were deployed and water samples and ice cover. taken at various stations. The cruise ended During the cruise time the various water on 17 March in Punta Arenas. types combine to form Weddell Deep Water Between 5 and 10 February Dr David Karl and Antarctic bottom water. The conditions and an assistant from the Department of under which the masses form are not known Oceanography, University of Hawaii, Hono well enough to establish direct physical links lulu were involved with the retrieval, data and volumetric budgets. The scientists ex collection, cleaning and redployment of the pected that the outflow from the Weddell Sea bottom moored sedimentation traps from is restricted to quite narrow boundary cur the Northern Gerlache strait 64 deg 11.75S/ rents flowing near the base of the continental 61 deg 19.5W. Logistically they utilised the shelf, and consequently, could be observed SAMM II flights in and out of King George with conventional current-meter moorings Island. from the shelf into the deep ocean. The project is a component of RACER Investigation involved two expeditions to and is concerned with microbiology and flux the Weddell sea in order to measure flow of which is important because the southern the newly formed bottom water and to ex ocean maintains moderate, if patchy, biologi plore the sinking process of the near-surface cal productivity in spite of its harsh environ water in the open ocean to see how these ment. Primary production in coastal antarctic affect the deep water flows. ecosystems is characterised by an intensive For three weeks from 1 March a project spring bloom which lasts between two and being undertaken by Dr Umran Inan of three months. During this time between 70 Stanford University was supported at Palmer and 90 percent of the annual organic carbon station by an assistant. The project focuses on is produced and this in turn increases biologi the bursts of precipitation that lightning dis cal productivity at all levels from bacteria to charges induce at middle to low latitudes. The baleen whales. results from their studies will help them Precise pathways for carbon transfer and determine the role of lighting and thunder the rates and mechanisms involved have not, storms in relation to magnetospheric elec however been carefully investigated and the trons and the way in which the atmosphere, role of microheterotrophs in antarctic food ionosphere and magnetosphere are coupled. They used ionospheric density enhancements webs and the immediate fate of phytoplankton to study the phenomenon. Such enhance production in particular need to be exam ined. The study is attempting to define the ments are detected as amplitude and phase perturbations on very-low, low and middle - mechanisms, pathways and rate of coupling frequency radio signals that propagate along between the photoautotrophic and geomagnetic field lines. They also conducted heterotrophic populations and evaluating the simultaneous, high resolution measurements coupling between the pelagic and benthic of the amplitude and phase of subionospheric habitats. Data obtained, during this expedi very low, low and middle frequency signals to tion, will add to the overall understanding of determine the spatial distribution, temporal the rates of primary and secondary produc signatures and magnetic conjugacy of light tion and eventually be used to formulate a ing-induced precipation. 108 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

From 22 March to 29 April the Polar To do this they are studying the Duke undertook a further cruise in sup microstructural patterns in fish otoliths - cal port of a number of other operations. cium carbonate structures in the inner ear that Physiology of cold water fishes was stud serve as storage sites for chronological infor ied at Palmer while the vessel trawled for mation. With this data they hope to develop a samples. Work on the effects of the Bahia schedule for larval fish growth rates, hatching Paraiso oil spill continued as did that on periodicity and environmental histories and to krill growth rate. New, was a study on the understand the processes better. The data larval history of antarctic fishes. from their laboratory work will be combined Determining the biochemical adaptations with environmental data so they can relate the responsible for the assembly, stability and physical aspects of larval fish to growth and function of the cytoplasmic microtubules of survival and produce results that should help antarctic fishes was a team, led by Dr William clarify the factors influencing growth and Detrich from Northeastern University in Bos mortality. In addition the model developed ton. While the Polar Duke trawled for sam from otolith research can be used for studies ples, the team sought to determine the of how fish maintain population levels and structural adaptations that enable antarctic could improve scientific understanding of the fish to chemically assemble and dissemble early life-history stages of antarctic fish. cold-stable microtubules, and characterise Also making use of samples obtained by the structure of tubulin and M APs (microtubule trawling from the Polar Duke was Dr Bruce associated proteins) that are involved in the Sidell of the University of Maine and three interactions. assistants. Their field objectives focused on From the brain and reproductive organ collections of Notothenoid fishes for biochemi tissues of two species of antarctic cods and cal analysis of metabolic processes within one of ice fish they purified the microtubule tissues. Their goal was to use a cellular/ proteins and nucleic acids necessary for their biochemical approach to describe more com studies which are being continued at the pletely the energy metabolism of antarctic fish University. The work is important became and compare how diet and lifestyle affect the ordered assembly, maintenance and dis energy metabolism. The results of the study assembly of the microtubules play critical should help resolve conflicting hypotheses on roles in cell division, nerve growth and regen whether metabolic rates of these fish are cold eration, cell-shape determination and cyto adapted or whether fats are primary fuels for plasmic transport and at temperatures near energy metabolism. The data will also contrib O deg C the cold-labile microtubules of warm ute to a better understanding of the role of the blooded vertebrates break down rapidly into fish in the trophic structure of the antarctic their simpler sub-units. marine ecosystem. Although fish larvae are important in the Studies of the distribution of hydrocarbons zooplankton community, their ecology has in the area adjacent to the Bahio Paraiso Spill received little attention. Four researchers as continued during this part of the season. They part of a team working with Dr Richard were undertaken by Dr Mahlon Kennicutt II Radtke of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics from the Geochemical and Environmental in Honolulu were aboard the Polar Duke on Research Group, of the Texas A&M Univer this voyage and spent some time at Palmer. sity and four assistants. Water samples were The function of the larvae affects the collected on their way in and out of Palmer dynamics of fish populations and ultimately where they were based from 22 March to 29 the entire marine ecosystem. Before the April. processes can be investigated scientists need Sampling included tissues of invertebrates to identify the life history stages, environmen and macroalgae, sediments and water in both tal events or combination of the two signifi affected and control areas. They performed cant to larval growth, survival and recruit laboratory chemical analysis of samples col ment into adult population. lected at the site at the time of the accident and 109 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 a year later. Their goal is to assess the chemi side scan sonar on the Duke will be utilized to cal impact of the accident on the environment determine krill location and densities. The and to evaluate, on a broader scale the signifi ship board CTD systems will also be utilised cance and impact of petroleum releases asso for determination of current oceanographic ciated with man's activities in the polar re parameters and visual observations will be gions. made for quantification and identification of The marine biological research on cold sea-bird populations. Observations will be water fishes and their larval stages con made in the South George region at 54deg tinue through the next voyage of the vessel S/36deg W and continue for approximately which commenced on May 3 and will end 30 consecutive days in the region. In addition, on June 10. plans have been made to go ashore at one or Between the 16 June and July 29 the two locations on King George Island to collect vessel will be in the Scotia Sea in the seabird food and phytoplankton samples to vicinity of South Georgia and scientists substantiate the association. The field team will be studying the interactions of krill will be lead by Dr Richard Veit. and foraging seabirds. The programme In addition to the cruises, work at Palmer involves an attempt to derive a mathemati and around the Peninsula system the cal model to describe the process. Polar Duke supported a major multichannel Nine scientists from the Department of seismic programme. This was conducted in Zoology at the University of Washington, the Peninsula area from the R/V Maurice Seattle will be aboard the Polar Duke for this Ewing from 20 January to 6 March. study. Transects utilizing the hull mounted

USAP Dinosaur find provides scientists with samples of three different ages Fossilized bones from at least two dinosaurs were found on Mt.Kirkpatrick in the Beardmore Glacier region 400 miles from the South Pole by American scientists late in December 1990. Most of the bones are from a herbivorous dinosaur, possibly a prosauropod that walked on four limbs. They date from the late Triassic or early Jurassic and are probably 175-150 million years old. Previous reptiles found in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains have been Triassic, a little older and further north. The bones were discovered by David Elliot, fossil specimens in the first three weeks of the a geologist from the Ohio State University, project. doing lava flow work in the area. He alerted Others in the team included Larry Krissek, a team led by Dr William Hammer from the a faculty member in the geology department Department of Geology, Augustana College, and associate of the Byrd Polar Research Rock Island, Illinois. Institute at the Ohio State University, Jeff Dr Hammer's team of six scientists were Tamplin, a graduate student/instructor in some 25 miles south of Mt. Kirkpatrick in the zoology at Louisiana State University, Steve Gordon Valley collecting fossils of 190 mil Krippner, an Augustana graduate in geology lion year old mammmal-like-reptiles predat and Tim Horner, a graduate student in geol ing dinosaurs, from an ancient stream chan ogy at Ohio State University and Bill nel exposed by erosion, initially identified in Hickerson, also of Augustana College. 1985-86 and known as the upper Fremouw The dinosaur fossils were found in rock at Formation. They had discovered two new 12,500 feet on Mt Kirkpatrick, which, at animals (therapsids) and collected about 150 15,000 feet, is one of the highest peaks in the 110 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

Transantarctic Range, an area where over 97 longing to a carnivore was found with the percent of the surface is covered with ice. herbivore skeleton. Initial inspection revealed the animal to Bones from both sites were flown back to have been about 20 -25 feet long. Using a McMurdo and have been shipped to the jackhammer the scientists were able to ex States where William Hickerson, a graduate tract the front half of a large skeleton, student in geology from the University of Iowa including the skull and lower jaw, four or five will probably spend about a year at Augustana limb bones, numerous vertebrae, ribs and a College extracting them from the siltstone in scapula. The bones appear to belong to a which they are encased. single herbivore but more, and most particu The dinosaur find has now provided scien larly the skull, needs to be removed from the tists with samples from three different ages of rock matrix before the animal can be identi fossil vertebrates. The oldest group includes fied. Because it was set far back in the rock, the Lystrosaurus fossil, believed to be about the dinosaur's fossilized tail remains in the 200 million years old and found in the mountain face. A tooth, one and half inches Beardmore region in 1969. long with serrated edges and probably be

GANOVEXVI (West) Germany completes its sixth Antarctic Expedition to the Ross Sea area GANOVEX VI, Germany's sixth expedition to the Ross Sea sector of Antarctica was completed during the 1990-91 summer season. It comprised 20 projects in a programme planned to cover an area comprising the Ross Sea, the Ross Ice Shelf, the Transantarctic Mountains and part of Marie Byrd Land. Although the area included some of the Helicopters from the Polar Queen which served most extensively studied regions of the Ant as a floating base and workshop for this leg. arctic continent and offshore, many of the Both parts of the leg also involved geological significant problems remain and some new and geophysical field programmes. ones have been identified. Leg three: A Gondwana field programme Logistically the expedition was again di involving geological and geophysical ground vided into three legs, Leg one: An investigations. Logistic support was provided aeromagnetics survey over the Ross Ice Shelf by the four AS-350 helicopters carried aboard using two Dornier 228 fixed wing aircraft the Polar Queen. It began at the end of Leg (Polar-2 and Polar-4 of the Alfred-Wegener- two and operated from the Polar Queen and Institute). This was also supported by the US Gondwana Station and included a ten day from McMurdo as it was a joint US Geological reconnaissance of the Bay of Whales and the Survey programme and by the National edge of the Ross Ice Shelf by the Polar Queen. Science Foundation with transfer flights from The two Dornier 228 aircraft were flown in Christchurch. a three week period starting October 8 from Leg two: Comprised a two part aeromagnetics Germany to Punta Arenas and from there to programme over firstly, the Lower Rennick McMurdo via Rothera, the Filchner Ice Shelf Glacier and secondly the Gondwana Region and the South Pole. In the meantime the using the two Dornier 228's and two AS-350 scientists involved in the Geophysical work 111 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 came into Christchurch and were flown south Like the African plate the Antarctic plate by the National Science Foundation and the appears to have remained relatively station first leg of the programme was underway. ary since the Mesozoic; knowing why would Other field personnel, arriving in Christch help explain the movement of lithospheric urch from mid-November undertook survival plates and may help answer questions con training with New Zealand instructors at Mt. cerning the origin of mid-plate volcanism. Cook before joining the Polar Queen which However with less than two percent outcrop berthed at Lyttelton during the third week of and only a few scattered inland seismic refrac November. They then sailed south in the tion measurements understanding of the struc vessel, a Norwegian ice class "sealer" with a ture and evolution of the Antarctic lithosphere J crew of 14. She carried about 35 expedition i s a t p r e s e n t v e r y l i m i t e d . ? personnel in addition to field equipment, fuel An accurate reconstruction of a for flight operations, the four helicopters, Gondwanaland will help scientists understand ~f aircraft spare parts and, on this occasion, a the evolution of the Antarctic plate and the new sewage treatment system for the inception and growth of the Atlantic and Gondwana Station. After unloading she pro Indian ocean basins. Because West Antarc ceeded to Cape Williams at the north coast to tica forms a portion of the circum-Pacific back up aeromagnetic operations from an ice mobile belt it can provide evidence on the runway. evolution of the Pacific ocean basin. The Most of the field investigations out of relationship of West Antarctic to the East Gondwana Station were concentrated in the Antarctic craton is important for studies of area south of Terra Nova Bay between the planet kinematics on the active outer Reeves and Mawson Glaciers. As usual they Gondwana margin. involved personnel from other nations and Most of the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic these included a scientific team of the Dutch fragmentation history of the Antarctic conti Geological Survey which continued a glacio- nent is contained either on the continental geological programme started during shelves or in the subglacial basins of East and GANOVEX V in 1988/89 and an Italian West Antarctica. The processes involved in scientist who was included in a volcanological the break up of the former Gondwana team. Participating organisations from Ger supercontinent in late Mesozoic and Cenozoic many included the Alred-Wegener-Institut time played a central role in the global fur Polar und Meeresforschung, the paleoenvironmental changes culminating in Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften und the Cenozoic glaciation. Moreover the tec Rohstoff (BGR) as well as the Universities of tonic evolution of the Antarctic plate contains Frankfurt, Bremen, Munster, Mainz and the keys to biogeographic patterns of the late Wurzburg. A total of approximately 50 Mesozoic and Cenozoic as well as present day personnel. Dr Franz Tessesohn, a geologist ocean currents and weather patterns in the with the BGR was scientific leader and Jurgen southern hemisphere. Koth from the same organisation was logistic Because the related scientific problems ^ manager. are best addressed by studying examples of i GANOVEX VI was seeking sought to different stages of present development at | better understand some of the geological and least two major tectonic features of Antarctica \ geophysical processes involved in the regions are likely to provide such insights. The development. The work is important because Penninsula is an example of a compressive the Antarctic plate is one of the seven major orogen developed like the Andean and North lithospheric plates that form the surface of American Cordilleras at the plate boundary of the earth and is a critical part of the global the ocean and continent. The recently up geodynamic system; understanding the struc lifted Transantarctic Mountains adjacent to ture and evolution of the continent, its mar the Ross Sea rift system provide opportuni gins and the adjacent areas of oceanic lithosphere is fundamental to global plate ties for studying processes of continental kinematics and dynamics. extension. 112 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

Data on the present structure of the Antarctic Mountains forming a high flank and the Ross lithosphere is best obtained by geophysical Sea basins continuing beneath the ice. Little is investigations on and offshore while the evo known about the volcanicty in this segment lution of the lithosphere is deduced mainly but magnetic anomalies indicate that the com from geological investigations and considera pletely ice covered Roosevelt Island may be of tions of plate tectonics in accordance with volcanic origin. geophysical data. An aeromagnetic investigation of a seg The evolution of the West Antarctic ment of the Ross Ice Shelf east of McMurdo lithosphere is best seen in formation, along was a major project during GANOVEX VI. the active Gondwana margin and fragmenta The Transantarctic Mountains rise from tion behind the active Andean arc extending sea level to maximum heights of about 4000m from South America through the Peninsula and are made up of Precambrian and Paleo and Marie Byrd Land to New Zealand. zoic mainly crystalline rocks of the Ross Geophysical data from the Ross Sea area, Orogen. For over more than 200 km they sub-ice topography and paleomagnetic data form the high western and southern flank of indicate that the embayment probably devel the Ross Sea depression. As young fault- oped during an extension to the Mesozoic to block-mountains they are one of the best Cenozoic regime. Continued tectonic activity examples on earth of an uplifted and titled rift is indicated by Mt Erebus and fumeroles shoulder. Recent studies of the uplift history of along the East Antarctic margin and in Marie the mountain range point to an extremely Byrd Land. rapid Cenozoic uplift. The "throw" on the Morphologically and structurally the Ross master fault between the mountains and the Sea depression is an asymmetric feature with Victoria Land basin is more than 10 km. a high rift shoulder formed by the Trans Cenozoic volcanic rocks occur in this structure antarctic Mountains and a shallow flank in in the mountains and in the basin. The Marie Byrd Land. Three north trending sedi volcanism is strongly alkaline and bimodal mentary basins, probably containing Mesozoic from alkali basaltic to phonlitic and trachytic. and Cenozoic sediments are separated by Peralkaline rocks occur also as effusive and basement highs. The east and central basins intrusive bodies. are about 6-8km deep whereas the Victoria On the other flank of the depression (in Land basin in the West, immediately adjacent Marie Byrd Land) the relief is much softer and to the Transantarctic Mountains contains a lower - up to 2000m. Volcanism is manifested section of sediment more than 10km thick. on this side mainly by large volcanic edifices Sparse seismic-refraction data obtained aligned on an almost rectilinear grid of faults near McMurdo Sound indicate that the crust or feederdikes. has been stretched and thinned to a thickness The separation of Antarctica and Australia of about 20km. Active or young volcanism took place between the Cretaceous and mid occurs over a wide range of Marie Byrd Land dle Tertiary. Whereas the western parts of the and along the Ross-Sea front of the Transan two continents separated along a single com tarctic Mountains. Aeromagnetic data indi paratively sharp line, the eastern separation cate at least 100 young volcanoes penetrat was more complicated. The landmass split up ing thick sedimentary basins beneath the into several microplates, among them the Western Ross Sea. Potential sites for an Lord Howe Rise, Tasmania and the South Ocean Drilling Programme have been iden Tasman Rise, New Zealand and the Campbell tified and are being actively considered. The Plateau and Marie Byrd Land; The Ross Sea eastern coasts of the Ross Sea is locked by depression is part of the eastern mosaic of heavy pack ice and no seismic lines exist microplates. there. Offshore data collected during Ganovex All of this makes the Ross Sea Area as a V is still being processed and interpreted. whole is particularly suitable for investigations In the South the Ross Sea depression is of the structure and evolution of the Antarctic covered by the iceshelf, with the Transantarctic lithosphere. 113 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4

The present structure of the lithosphere is volcanic rocks of Cambrian and Ordovician characterised by the existence of a large age, a the Robertson Bay Terrane consists of continental rift, a feature that allows the study turbidities that are of Cambrian age too. of the initial processes of lithospheric thinning All three terranes were deformed and associated with continental split and break affected by metamorphism during the Ross up. This stage is highly relevant for the later Orogeny (early Ordovician). At the same formation of a new ocean. time, granites were emplaced in the Wilson Comparable in size to the Basin and Range Terrane. It must be assumed that at the time province of North America and the East of the orogeny the various terranes had al African rift, this system is unique for the ready been welded to the outer rim of 4 asymmetry of the shoulder uplift in an intracontinental system. Why the rift system Gondwana. < is active within an apparently stable and To prove this scientists working in GANOVEX VI tried to compare the age of largely aseismic plate is a question relevant not only to Antarctic research but to continen deformation in the three terranes by dating tal rifts in general and to the forces which drive the newly formed micas in the folded rocks by plate tectonics as well. the AR/Ar method. If the ages are the same The evolution of the West Antarctic in all three terranes then their postulation is Lithosphere was marked by the generation of true. Only if there are large differences in the a new lithosphere at the active Gondwana age of deformation should the terranes be margin bordering the Pacific or Palaeopacific regarded as truly exotic. The same project and the fragmentation of the West Antarctic will compare geochemically and date several lithosphere which finally led to the present Admiralty granites which unconformably in mosaic of crustal blocks. trude the terranes along the northern coast of Northern Victoria Land at Cooper Bluff, Sputnik Island, Znamenskiy Island Generation of lithosphere at the One theory holds the mode of attachment active Gondwana Margin... of the terranes to be strike-slip accretion but it can also be explained by subduction accre The Antarctic Ross Orogen and the mo tion as evidenced by remnants of ultramafic bile zones on the Pacific outer rim of rocks preserved along the suture line between Gondwana form one of the longest preserved the Wilson and Bowers terranes. segments of this active margin which devel oped from the late Precambrian on. The During GANOVEX V a series of thrust. active margin is characterised by the forma planes were discovered in the basement of tion of fold belts similar to the present circum- Oates Land, other thrusts were investigated Pacific mobile belts. in the Terra Nova Bay area. An integrated The basement of the Transantarctic Moun model was developed for these structures at tains consists of Precambrian and lower the active Gondwana margin during the time Paleozoic rocks of the Ross Orogen. of the Ross Orogeny (Cambrian to Metasediments and migmatites of the Wilson Ordovician). This model fits best the assump- ! Group crop out mainly in the western and tion of subduction-related thrusts and back inland parts of North Victoria Land. Adjacent thrusts. to the east, the slightly metamorphic rocks of It was intended to do undertake a more the lower Paleozoic Bowers Supergroup and detailed investigation of those thrust planes in the Robertson Bay Group are found. These order to derive the conditions under which three units a occur in zones separated from thrusting took place, and to deduce the tec each other by fault zones and regarded as tonic transport, and check for possible strike- tectonostratigraphic terranes. The Wilson Terrane contains rocks of the late Precambrian slip motions. Radiometrically dating of the to Cambrian age, the Bowers Terrane is granites and pegmatites cutting the thrust made up of folded fossiliferous sediments and planes was also planned. 114 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

The boundaries of the Precambrian East Extensional processes forming the Ross Sea Antarctic Shield, which includes granulite- depression and the Transantarctic Mountains facies rocks probably belonging to the lower during the Cenozoic. crust have not yet been definitely located. This Among the significant problems relating to makes it difficult to fit Antarctic and Australia the fragmentation of the lithosphere and ad together in the reconstruction of Gondwana. dressed by the programme were studies of the Since Italian scientists have discovered granu- nature and thickness of the crust beneath the lite rocks in the TNB area there is renewed Transantarctic Mountains undertaken in three interest in the problem of how to distinguish projects. These included a Regional Gravity relict shield rocks within the high grade terrane Survey of the lower Rennick Glacier area by of the Ross Orogen. Standard radiometric the BGR and USGS; a gravity survey on ice dating does not get back in time through the with accompanying thickness determinations Ross Event where especially where the head by radar in the Terra Nova Bay area also by of the widespread granites has reset the the BGR and a study of the geochemistry and radiometric clocks completely. Only U-Pb petrology of Jurassic and Cenozoic volcanic dating of zircons separated from suitable rock rocks by scientists from the Universities of types provides the essential Precambrian data. Mainz and Naples. Based on the first results of a sampling pro The Geometry of the faultplane bounding gramme carried out during GANOVEX V the basins of the Ross Sea rift from the sampling was continued in the TNB region. shoulder to the Transantarctic Mountains was This season the programme was comprising covered by the compilation of an inventory of mapping, petrography and the dating of pre- Cenozoic structures in the Ross Sea coastal Ross relicts. areas. During previous work, the granite Focussing on the time of the major uplift of migmatite relations in the Wilson Terrane the Transantarctic Mountains was also in were found to be less straight forward than cluded by the inventory and augmented by the assumed. Apart from the bulk of Granite dating of Cenozoic tectonism by scientists Harbour Intrusives (480-490 my) there may from the BGR and Fission track sampling of be an older generation of granite which is the Cenozoic Granites at the Ross Sea coast older, perhaps 530 my. It is not clear whether by others from the University of Bremen. the migmatites are related to either of the two The age and episodicity of rift volcanism generations or to just one, and, if so to which was studied by scientists from the Universities one. Petrographical and geochemical inves of Mainz and Naples and from the BGR, some tigations were envisaged to solve this ques of whom also made a study of the local tion. Field work and sampling was under structure of the lithosphere derived from mantle taken in the Wilson Hills and in the area xenoliths, part of which was extended to cover between the Priestly and Campbell Glacier. also the nature of the lithosphere and underly The program was supplemented by p-T ing mantle as derived from isotope investiga determinations in the metamorphic rocks. tions of plutonic and volcanic rocks. Recent heatflow in the Ross sea was compared to that Fragmentation of the in the rift shoulders also by scientists from the West Antarctic Lithosphere. same organisation. From previous work the scientists have Other studies included the style of young distinguished certain evolutionary steps in the tectonism in the Transantarctic Mountains, development of the Ross Sea area. These crustal gradient between the Ross Sea and include: Polar Plateau derived from regional gravity Basin formation by Andean back-arc process data, an integration of subglacial and subma during the Cretaceous - early Tertiary. rine areas by aeromagnetic surveys and under Separation of Tasmania/New Zealand from ice morphology inland of the Transantarctic Antarctic and the opening of the southern Mountains as derived from Radio Echo Sound ocean also during the Cretaceous to mid- ing and further work on glacial geology in Tertiary. relation to uplift. 115 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4

Sub-Antarctic Six to winter on Heard Island in 1992 Plans are being made for a party of six people to spend 12 months at Heard Island from February 1992. Although selection depends on the evaluation of research proposals there are likely to be four scientists. The leader will be Attila Vrana from Australia's Antarctic Division. The scientific programme will focus on the the environment characterised by its harsh biology of elephant and fur seals and bird life climate and constant erosion. in order to understand more of the winter Also working from Atlas Cove was Marian cycle of breeding on the island as part of an Lillieskold on behalf of Professor Linquist of overall study of the Southern Ocean Ecosys the University of Stockholm. She collected tem. Support will be provided by a medical samples from the margins of the Vahsel, officer, and a general handyman/mechanic/ Schmidt and Baudissin Glaciers, the area radio-operator. between them and the isthmus towards Larens Apple/melon type units to be installed at Peninsula to undertake subsequent genetical Spit Bay will provide accommodation. The studies of sediments on the Island. The Pro previous ANARE station on Heard Island was fessor is seeking to analyse the changes in the in Atlas Cove. shape of the grains caused by the action of The project will constitute the second time glacial, fluvial and aeolian processes on fresh that an ANARE party has wintered away from volcanic sediments by means of scanning established bases. The first, of four people, electron microscope and three dimensional carried out glaciological work on the Amery image analysers, the results helping to iden Ice Shelf during 1968. tify deposits by different agents in other During this last season six research projects areas. Heard Island is a good locality for such were planned for the Island but in the event studies as it has fresh volcanic sediments in Icebird, while making her approach, in late which original features are unaffected by January was struck by a storm and some deck exogenic processes. The sediments have been cargo was lost overboard during rolls in ex redeposited by glaciers, wind, fluvial action cess of 50 deg. This forced the abandonment and beach processes and the way in which the of one of the two intended landing places and same types of mineral particles are trans only a third of the programme could be formed in terms of grain shape and grain undertaken. Icebird arrived on January 30 surface texture can be easily studied. and departed the following day. Cancelled for the season were projects During that time Rosemary McFarlane relating to tourism management strategies, a and Anitra Wenden undertook a programme taxonomic and phytogeographic survey of for Ms Janet Hughes, a material conservator the mosses and lichens begun in 1971 by Dr of the Australian National Maritime Museum. Rod Seppelt from Antarctic Division as part This entailed making the first field survey of of a larger programme, a multidisciplinary the Island's historic sites for a materials con programme emphasising studies that facili servation purposes. Because of the short field tate living and working in Antarctica and a season they concentrated on collecting data mapping programme. from the Atlas Cove area for subsequent laboratory analysis. Using photographs and previous archaeological reports they com pared the damage, recorded the condition of the artifact and coded it according to aid speed. Limited field testing was also under taken. The results will contribute to the pool of information, determining of priorities and advice on possible methods of preservation in 116 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

Antarctic Treaty "Comprehensive protection of Antarctic environment overtakes Minerals Convention" ". ..to explore and discuss all proposals relating to the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and its dependent and associated ecosystems" was the primary task of the 11th Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting held in Vina del Mar, Chile from 19 November to 6 December, 1990. Detailed discussion of six proposals presented to the meeting exposed unanimous support for the "need to adopt a new legally binding international instrument". Although the texts presented different options in terms of forms for such protection considerable agreement prevailed on the structure, which now seems likely to be a protocol to the Antarctic Treaty with annexes as opposed to a separate convention. A single text drafted personnally by Mr Rolf Trolle Andersen of Norway drew on the various documents and was accepted as the basis for further discussion at the next session of the meeting scheduled to be held in Madrid during April prior to its conclusion in Bonn, October 1991. In the meantime the meeting noted that bia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Greece, Hun the present restraint on Antarctic mineral gary, the Democratic People's Republic of resource activities continued. Although a Korea, Rumania and for the first time Switzer number of delegations preferred a perma land. Observers included representatives from nent ban, or CRAMRA, most were willing to CCAMLR, SCAR, the Commission of the consider a lengthy prohibition or morato European Communities CRC, IOC, the Inter rium. However, the manner in which a pro governmental Oceanographic Commission, hibition might be reviewed or terminated the International Union for the Conservation needed further consideration while arrange of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN and ments for taking decisions on mineral activi ASOC, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean ties would also need to be in place before an Coalition. Chairman for the meeting was internationally agreed moratorium could be Ambassador Oscar Pinochet de la Barra, of implemented. CRAMRA, as agreed to in Chile. Wellington, New Zealand in June 1988 has Five interrelated aspects of Antarctic envi to all intents and purposes been shelved in ronmental protection, which emerged from favour of a more comprehensive environ the Paris meeting in November 1989 pro mental regime. vided a mandate for Vina del Mar. These were The meeting was attended by representa (1) formulating principles, (2) reviewing the tives of the Consultative Parties Argentina, existing body of measures to identify gaps Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Ec requiring supplementary measures, or where uador, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, existing measures require strengthening or Japan, Sweden, the Republic of Korea, improvement; (3) strengthening the legally Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, binding and enforceable nature of obligations Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Union to protect the Antarctic environment and (4) of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United King establishing new institutional arrangements dom, the United States of America and Uru to secure effective implementation of such guay. (Ecuador and the Netherlands were measures. ratified, as consultative parties to the Antartic The fifth was to promote environmental Treaty at a meeting prior to the ATSCM.) assessment and scientific research, monitor Delegations from parties to the Antarctic ing and exploring the role of an information Treaty which have not yet achieved Consulta and data base related to effective environmen tive Status also attended. Nations in this tal management in Antarctica. category included Austria, Canada, Colom Following the adoption of the agenda six 117 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 documents containing proposals on compre tal monitoring. The group, chaired by Dr hensive environmental protection were intro Roberto Puceiro Ripoll, from the Uruguayan duced and discussed. They were: delegation, worked mainly on the detailed A draft of a Convention for the Compre provisions of New Zealand's draft Protocol, hensive Protection of the Antarctic Environ the draft annexes submitted by the United ment submitted by Australia, Belgium France States and the working paper on environ and Italy. mental impact assessment tabled jointly by A draft Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Australia, Belgium, France and Italy. It added Environmental Protection, submitted by New to its agenda, international scientific co-opera Zealand. tion, alternative energy uses to reduce envi Comprehensive Measures for the Protec ronmental impact and fuel management. tion of the Antarctic Environment and its On 5 December both groups reported Dependent and Associated Ecosystems. This back to the Plenary session, the second group was an outline of a Protocol Supplementing appending to its report additional documents the Antarctic Treaty, submitted by Argen on Marine Pollution, Waste disposal, Envi tina, Norway, United Kingdom, United States ronmental impact assessment and the Con of America and Uruguay. servation of fauna and flora. It was agreed that Draft Provisions for a Protocol Supple these would be attached to the informal draft menting the Antarctic Treaty, submitted by protocol for further consideration at the next the United Kingdom. session of the Xlth meeting. A programme Protocol supplementing the Antarctic Treaty, for further work was established prior to submitted by the United Sates of America. consideration of general business and the Comprehensive Measures for the Protection adoption of the interim report. to the Antarctic Environmental and Depend It is intended that the Protocol and its ent and Associated Ecosystems submitted by annexes would build on the Antarctic Treaty India. supplementing the associated measures al Following the presentation of the documents ready adopted. When considered in conjunc and introductory discussion two working tion with the commitment to consider the Groups were established and their terms of establishment of a secretariat and annual reference defined. The first, chaired by Mr meetings the system would provide a founda Dietrich Granow, Head of the German del tion for addressing a full range of concerns to egation, was to identify issues to be consid strengthen environmental protection. This ered in elaborating a comprehensive system seems likely to be achieved through: drawing on the proposals submitted by del • Article 2, which elaborates environmental egates. These were to include the basic princi principles. ples, obligation and compliance, institutions • Article 4, which explicitly calls for consulta and infrastructure, decision making, amend tions and cooperation among parties con ment modification, liability, monitoring and tracting to the Antarctic Treaty and related inspection, dispute settlement, the relation legal instruments which have entered into ship of the proposals to other parts of the force and institutions established to imple Antarctic Treaty System and other substan ment them. tive provisions including those issues referred • Article 5, which supplements Articles II and to by working group 11. The second III of the Antarctic Treaty obliging contracting working group was asked to initiate the nations to cooperate internationally in scien review called for in paragraph 3b of Recom tific investigations in Antarctic to reduce im mendation XV-1 and to concentrate on ma pacts on the environment and improve scien rine pollution, waste disposal, environmental tific productivity. impact assessment, the agreed measures for • Article 9, calls on ATCMs to draw upon the the Conservation of the Antarctic Fauna and best scientific and technical advice available, Flora, the protected area system, tourism and particularly that provided by SCAR and the non-governmental activity and environmen Committee for Environmental Protection to 118 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic define the general policy for the protection of which a new environmental advisory body the Environment and its dependent and asso may review the effectiveness of environmen ciated ecosystems as well as adopting such tal practices and initiate needed improve measures as necessary for the implementa ments; tion of the Protocol and additional annexes; -Whether to create an independent, institu provision for the establishment of the Com tional inspectorate to supplement the provi mittee for Environmental Protection is made sions of Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty; in Article 10 and its function is to advance -whether and how to devise a liability regime effective environmental management and for damage to the Antarctic environment; and related research and monitoring programmes. the basis for a compromise on minerals devel Articles 11 and 15 of the Protocol elaborate opment in Antarctica capable of satisfying contracting party obligations to ensure com both the concern for a prohibition on such pliance with the provisions of the document activities and the concern that whenever that and its annexes in relation to both govern prohibition is no longer in effect, there be in mental and non-governmental activities and place internationally-agreed arrangements for requires each party to report annually on taking decisions on any proposed activities measures taken in this regard. before the need arises, which would be no less • Article 12 elaborates the inspection provi stringent and effective than those set forth in sions contained in Article VII of the Antarctic the 1988 Convention on the Regulation of Treaty. Antarctic Mineral Resource activities - • Articles 12 and 15 explicitly require review CRAMRA. at the ATCM's of inspection and annual The provisions in the Protocol and its reports by contracting parties. annexes cover all human activities in Antarc • Article 13 requires each party to ensure tica and set out each party's obligation, within prompt and effective response to accidents their competence, to apply and enforce the particularly those with potential environmental requirements of the protocol and its annexes effects and to develop contingency plans for in relation to both governmental and non such situations. governmental activities. • Articles 8 and 23 provide for accelerated NCPs to the Treaty are encouraged to entry into force of provisions that modify or become parties to the Protocol and would be update the annexes and articles 8,17, and 18 required to contract before seeking consulta provide for compulsory and binding dispute tive status thus avoiding a situation where settlement in relation to the obligations set different parties were bound by different obli forth in the annexes and the Schedule to the gations and clarifying the requirements with Protocol on Arbitration. which each contracting party must comply. The question of compulsory, binding dispute Those requirements incorporated into the settlement was one of the most difficult of the annexes, combined with provision for their clauses in the various proposals to reach continuing review and revision, will establish agreement on and the different approaches an up-to-date and binding code of conduct for considered: all Antarctic activities. Furthermore the Proto - How to give effect to the agreement that all col specifies that nothing in it shall derogate Antarctic activities should be subject to prior from the rights and obligations of the parties assessment of their environmental impacts to other treaties at the same time encouraging and in particular whether or how collective consistency with other ATS components in review by all contracting parties may delay the operation of which cooperation and con proposed national activities, trigger modifi sultation is so critical to consensus and agree cation of them and or lead to their suspen ment. sion. In adopting the Protocol and annexes ap -Whether to create a new decision making proach the dynamic nature of the require organ to address environmental matters, and ments of Antarctic operations has been recog short of a decision making role, the extent to nised. The draft annexes provide for acceler- 119 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 ated entry into force of amendments or modi ernmental or non-governmental but the means fications; insofar as by incorporating such for achieving the latter is still under discussion provisions in annexes, instead of the Treaty, and for the moment it has been left to each the necessity of changes being subject to contracting party. Requirements for exchang parliamentary approval in individual nations ing lists of Initial Environmental Evaluations is avoided. (IEE), as well as related decisions have been To enter into force the Protocol requires added, along with strengthened requirements that all ATCP's at the time of adoption must for environmental monitoring, compulsory, formally approve it. binding dispute settlement and procedures The treaty covers the area south of and for accelerated entry into force of amend including 60 deg south latitude. ments or modifications to the annex. Still to SECRETARIAT be resolved is the procedure under which the A decision regarding the establishment of the Committee on Environmental Protection Secretariat to serve the Antarctic Treaty Sys would review the applications. tem was deferred, by agreement until the WASTE DISPOSAL next regular Antarctic Treaty Consultative The draft annex on waste disposal transforms Meeting. It was however agreed that such a Recommendation XV-3 into legally binding body would perform functions entrusted to it and enforceable obligations and improves by the ATCM's and would therefore grow as upon it by incorporating a number of points required. The question of funding the Secre relating to such disposal in the marine envi tariat still has to be discussed. ronment. These include a general obligation to incorporate waste storage, disposal and COMMITTEE FOR ENVIRON removal into the planning and conduct of all MENTAL PROTECTION activities in the Antarctic Treaty area; clarifi This committee would be established under cation that those who create wastes must dispose of them; strengthened obligation to the Protocol as an advisory body comprising clean up past waste sites and abandoned one representative from each party contract work sites; obligation regarding the removal ing to the instrument. It's rules of procedure of plastics; agreement on a phase-out date for would be established by the ATCM to which burning of wastes; prohibition of all disposal it would also report on each of its meetings. onto ice-free areas and into fresh-water sys WORKING GROUP II tems and strengthened restrictions regarding In its review of existing measures adopted disposal onto sea ice, ice shelves or grounded under the Antarctic Treaty the Working Group ice sheets and promotion of measures that are no less effective in protecting the environ produced four draft annexes to the Protocol. ment than those applied outside Antarctica. They represent a transformation of existing ATCM Recommendations on their topics MARINE POLLUTION into legally binding obligations which they The meeting noted that the Marine Environ sought to extend to non-government activi ment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the ties in Antarctica, particularly with respect to International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Environmental Impact. The annexes cover: approved on November 15, 1990 designa ENVIRONMENT IMPACT AS tion of the Antarctic Treaty area as a "special area" pursuant to Annexes 1 and V of the SESSMENT (EIA) Convention for the Prevention of Pollution Together with the environmental principles from Ships 1973, as amended by the Proto embodied in Article's 2 and 7 of the Protocol col of 1978 thereto MARPOL 73/78 and this annex reflects agreement on the need to that the designation is scheduled to enter into submit all activities in Antarctica, except those force on 16 March, 1992 and will bind all with little or no impact, to prior assessment. contracting parties to the relevant annexes Responsibility for such assessment should fall whether or not they have contracted to the to the organisor of expeditions whether gov Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol and an- 120 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic nexes. Working Group II's draft annexes's to the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and on Marine Pollution take into account the Hora, adopted in 1964. It maintains the two special operating circumstances in Antarctica levels of protection contained the original and builds on Recommendation XV-4 by Agree Measures; one prohibits in general the incorporating the specific amendments to the killing of native animals or birds and the other relevant MARPOL special areas just adopted grants addition protection to mammals or by the MEPC and the relevant annexes. birds listed in a special annex. Additionally full The Recommendation has been improved protection is extended to plant species and in seven ways. These include a requirement provision is made for invertebrate species to that contracting party implement the marine be listed in a special annex. The annex defines pollution control obligations with respect to and prohibits the "taking of native animals, their flag ships as well as other nations flag birds or plants except in accordance with ships engaged in or supporting their opera permits authorised by a contracting party" tions. Contracting party obligations to ad and restricts the issuing of such permits as dress the adequacy of reception facilities for prescribed in the draft annex thereby giving oily residues and garbage from ships in port greater precision to conservation require they utilize traveling to or from Antarctica are ments. Further improvements include ex articulated as is each party's commitment to tending contracting party obligations to make ensure that its flag ships entering the Antarc known the requirements to all those present tic Treaty area are fitted with sufficient capac or intending to enter the area, disallowing ity to retain on board that items while in the authorisation of "taking" to provide indispen area and have made adequate arrangements sable food for human beings; specifying pa to dispose of them subsequently. Noxious rameters for "taking"; extending protection liquid substances, including petrochemicals to essential habitat; disallowing dogs to run and others regulated by Annex II of Marpol free; strengthening restrictions applied to 73/78 must only be discharged in accord permitted importation of species including ance with the standards of that annex or live animals other than sledge dogs essential National standards that are no less stringent. for maintaining the genetic viability of existing Incinerator ash may not be disposed of at sea populations; extending prohibitions of im and greater precision is called for in obliga porting live poultry to all living birds and tions to enforce measures consistent with the imposing requirements on importing dressed annex in relation vessels enjoying sovereign poultry and disposal of poultry parts and immunity but supporting Antarctic opera restricts the importation of non-sterile soil to tions. An obligation on the part of the the maximum extend practicable. contracting parties to take account of marine Other items on Working Group 11's pollution control requirements in the design, agenda including the Protected Areas system, construction, manning and equipping of ves tourism and non-governmental activities, sels supporting Antarctic operations has also environmental monitoring and co-operation been included. A further four provisions were in Antarctica. also bracketed. They broadly relate to com Further work on Protected Areas Systems pulsory binding dispute settlement, continu is likely to be undertaken at the next meeting. ing review and accelerated entry into force of Such areas have now grown to include "Spe amendments, marine pollution preparedness cially Protected Areas" (SPA's); "Sites of Spe response including contingency plan require cial Scientific Interest" (SSSI's) which includes ments and possible liability, insurance and those in the marine environment; "Historic penalties. Sites and Monuments"; provision for "Spe CONSERVATION OF ANTARC cially Reserved Areas" (SRA's); and "Multiple Use Planning Areas" (MPA's). TIC FAUNA AND FLORA Tourism and Non-government activities The most extensive revision of existing meas will also be discussed at the next meeting. ures undertaken by Working Group II related Distinction was drawn in the use of the 121 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 expressions "environmental monitoring" and "monitoring for compliance with applicable References: rules". Some aspects, the report notes, could Interim Report of the Eleventh Antarctic Treaty be dealt with in regulations but the Protocol Consultative Meeting. Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental provides that the Committee for Environ Protection, as prepared by R.T. Andersen. mental Protection is to give advice on the "Report on Antarctica" Lee A. Kimball for World need for monitoring in relation to the imple Resources Institute, January 1991. mentation of the Protocol and its annexes as Assorted press documents and releases. well as the establishment and maintenance of Delegates: a related information and data base. The New Zealand delegation to Vina del Mar was The resumed session of the XI special led by Mr Frank Wong, Director of the Legal ATCM will take place 22 to 30 April, 1991 Division of the Ministry of External Relations and in Madrid, Spain. The regular Antarctic Trade (MERT). It comprised Mr Paul Tipping, Ambas sador of New Zealand to Chile; Mr Gerard van Treaty Consultative Meeting will be held in Bonn in October 1991 and is expected to Bohemen, Legal Consultant to MERT; Mr Murray Parrish, Environmental Coordinator to Department conclude the environmental protection Pro of Scientific and Industrial Research; Mr Michael tocol and its annexes. A preparatory meeting Prebble, Ministry of the Environment and Messrs for the Bonn ATCM will immediately preceed Grant Harper and Alan Hemmings who repre the Madrid meeting and will run from 15-19 sented non government organisations. April, 1991. Greenpeace World Park Base resupplied and second leg of programme underway The first leg of the environmental organi electrical parts and field equipment were sation Greenpeace's sixth season of Antarc unloaded during the next 14 days. tic operations concluded with the return of Two new prefabricated bedrooms were MV Gondwana to Lyttelton on January 26 also added to the base during that time. The after resupplying the World Park Base at addition involved the removal of the porch on Cape Evans in the Ross Dependency. the satellite communications side of the base Departing Auckland on April 5 she had but barely added to the floor area. One of the sailed to Lord Howe Island and joined to the new bedrooms will be used this year by the Nishin Maru whaling factory ship on her radio operator. voyage to the Ross Sea. The Japanese vessel Keith Swenson, an American is base leader; met with three whale catchers at the conver Sabine Schmidt from Germany and Wojtek gence and the fleet was observed by Moskal from Poland are the scientists. (See Greenpeace for the following week. Few Antarctic Vol 12. 2/3 pages 87 and 88 for whales were sighted and none was caught. details. The radio operator is Oz Ertok, who MV Gondwana arrived at the ice edge off is from Australia. A fifth member of the team Cape Royds on 31 December 1990, at the New Zealander Pippa Boyd, who was to be position 15 nautical miles from the organisa base medical person, has had to return home tion's World Park Base. Resupply commenced for personal reasons. on January 1 and concluded 14 days later. Six days into their return voyage to New Using the ship's Hughes 500 D helicopters Zealand an alternator motor stripped its gears, 130 drums of fuel, building materials, nearly but as it was one of two on the vessel and only four tones of foodstuffs, replacement medical one is required at the time it did not affect the supplies, engine spares, assorted hardware, ship's operation. The engine was repaired in 122 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

Lyttelton prior to the commencement of the graphic data for map preparation and it is still second leg of the voyage on February 16. one of the most poorly mapped continents on Captain for the entire voyage this season has earth. been Ame Sorensen of Denmark. Cam Cook's chart in 1777 ended speculation paigners for the second leg are Janet Dalziel on the existence of the continent although it of New Zealand, Dana Harmon of the USA was not actually sighted until 1819 with the and Ricardo Roura of Argentina. first landing in 1821. During the rest of the Recent reports indicate that the Gondwana 19th century parts of the continental coast called in briefly at Peter I Island in the were discovered and charted by different ex Bellinghausen Sea before continuing down peditions. Scott and Shackleton first explored to King George Island to land a field party and the interior from 1908 and the first aerial temporary camp. Andy Henderson of Aus surveying was undertaken in 1928. By 1947 tralia is leading the field team which com a reasonably good outline of the coast and ice prises Anna Krysczowska, a Polish scientist shelves was available. The International Geo who speaks Russian, Guillermo Rondini, a physical Year of 1957-58 enormously in Uruguayan interpreter who speaks Spanish creased the research and surveying of the and John Gardner, an American interpreter continent but determination of the land limits who speaks Chinese. They will visit several of was not complete until 1975. the bases on the Island before the ship From 1949 surveying beneath the ice cap collects them on April 6. began and by 1983 it was mapped on a In the meantime MV Gondwana called in continental scale by SPRI in co-operation with at Ushaia to collect Roger Grace, a photog other organisations. Mapping of sub-Antarc rapher, before heading out to document the tic Islands was only adequately completed in fishing practices of the large Russian trawlers 1988. The scale of the original maps varies operating a the seas surrounding King George from 1 :200 000 to 1: 300 000 the larger Island. She is expected to return to Auck scale maps where available being used for land, New Zealand at the beginning of May. coastal areas. Remote sensing from satellites from the 1960's onwards, together with airborne re Environmental mote sensing provides a massive volume of data which can most easily be organised into database a digital database. The database will draw on printed paper for Antarctica maps, manuscript maps, compilations on film, An environmental database for Antarctica satellite images, aerial photographs and pre is being developed in Cambridge U.K. It will viously digitized data from a number of inter bring together geographical, environmental national sources. and scientific data in a single system covering A digital map will provide a uniform basis the whole continent and allow up-to-date for multidisciplinary research on the continent maps at a variety of scales appropriate to be and will facilitate the development of powerful produced for different purposes. information systems. It will also provide a The project, is joint undertaking between framework for overlaying and combining data British Antarctic Survey, the Scott Polar Re from different sources and which can be search Institute, WCMC the World Conserva updated rapidly. tion Monitoring Centre with funding by Although most of the data capture is being British Petroleum and international coordi carried out in the UK other nations are con nation through SCAR. tributing original data to the project under the Maps are essential for studying and moni auspices of SCAR the data is received in either toring environmental changes but Antarcti digital form or as prepared linework maps for ca's remoteness, and rugged ice covered digitizing. Following selection and validation terrain has hindered the collection of topo of the data the digitizing team convert the 123 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 maps into digital form at which stage codes spent most of nine of them confined to their are added to every feature indicating their tent in stormy conditions. On their descent nature, its source and other information such they traveled to Punta Arenas in Chile where as contour heights and ice-front dates. they were joined by an American who they After digitizing the data undergoes a qual had met on Peak Al'brus; Gary Koppf would ity assurance check and editing when discrep accompany them on the final climb. ancies between maps from different sources The trio boarded an Adventure Network are harmonised to produce a seamless map of the whole continent. International DC-6 for a flight to the southern The ultimate product of the project will be end of the Ellsworth Mountains and landing a topographical database for distribution on on wheels on a blue-ice runway they trans CD-ROM with software to view the data and ferred to a ski-equipped Twin Otter, to fly to to export it into other GIS systems. Publica the Vinson Massif area 150 miles to the tion in this form will allow the widest dissemi north. nation of the database making it a valuable With time still short and stormy conditions tool for users at all levels of expertise. prevailing they managed three days climbing in the remaining six; they could if necessary have climed for 24 hours in good conditions. Seven Peaks in However with just nine hours to spare the pair with their friend had made it to the top of seven months the 5,140 metre peak in conditions so When New Zealand climbers Rob Hall of favourable they were able to film with bare Christchurch and Gary Ball of Twizel arrived hands. at the top of Vinson Massif in Antarctica Following their descent they returned to at 10.30pm on December 10 1990 they Patriot Hills in an ANI single engined Cessna had completed climbs of seven peaks in seven 185 piloted by New Zealander Max Wendon months with nine and half hours to spare. but shortly after their arrival they were ad Mt Everest was the first to be climbed by vised of an accident on Vinson Massif. Ac the pair. They reached the 8,848 metre companied by a Canadian doctor the pair summit on 10 May 1990. Their achievement returned in the Cessna, again piloted by Max was the catylist for the rest of the programme Wendon, to the Mountain to recover an which in terms of climbing seasons could just American team. One of the four had been be achieved. Time however was running out knocked unconscious in a fall; the guide had for their ascent of Mt. McKinley and they been hurt while trying to prevent further made straight for Alaska reaching the summit injury and a third had suffered frostbite trying of the mountain, which stands at 6,193 to help them. Storm conditions again over took the party and the Cessna was forced to metres, on 28 June. From Alaska they flew to the USSR to land 18 miles from the mountain. After a climb Peak El'brus in the Georgian Caucasus further the rescue party reached the group subsequently flying them back to Patriot Hills. in the west of the Union. They reached the The seven peaks concept was first put peak (5,633 m) on August 8. It was then onto Africa to climb Mt Kilimanjero in Tanzania together by Dick Bass a Texan in the mid which stands at 5,894 m and which they 1980s but he spent three and a half years achieving his objective. Approximately eight summited on 17 August, prior to flying to climbers have since repeated the exercise but Australia to climb the 2,230 metre high Mt. all have taken about the same length of time. Kosciusko in New South Wales, on 26 Au For Hall and Ball it had been an exercise gust. involving careful calculation of seasons; had For the last two they had to wait for the they missed Aconcargua because they were southern summer and so next came Mt unable to change their Antarctic flight they Aconcagua a 6,960 metre peak in Argentina would have returned for a second try and on 21 November but time was running short. climbed Mt. Cook in New Zealand to make it They had allowed ten days for the climb and eight peaks in eight months. 124 Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

Society's Photographic Exhibition opens in Christchurch Antarctica - the New Zealand Connection time and that the nearby facilities at Harewood is a photographic expedition organised by and the Wigram Airforce Base were more the New Zealand Antarctic Society with as appropriate for the aircraft. sistance from Canterbury Museum and funded "Some months later" said Mr McKinnon by the 1990 Commission. It was opened, at "my father and Captain Dufek were repri the Museum in Christchurch, on Saturday 8 manded by their respective superiors for ne December 1990 by the Hon. Don McKinnon, gotiating an agreement without using normal Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of For diplomatic channels, but the project went eign Affairs ahead." In his speech Mr McKinnon recalled that "For more than 30 years New Zealand and "This country's first connection with the South- the United States have co-operated on Ant em Continent dated back to the days of arctic matters In the pursuit of productive Captain James Cook.... who crossed the and credible scientific research in Antarctica, Antarctic Circle in his ship the Resolution, on the two countries have developed a symbiotic 17 January, 1773. Seventy years later Brit relationship - benefiting both parties The ish, French, Russian and American Antarctic International Antarctic Centre at Harewood Explorers began stopping off in New Zea in Christchurch is another example of a co land. operative effort with the United States so The first New Zealander to sight the icy it is appropriate that this photographic exhi shores was John Sac or Tuati, who was half bition entitled "Antarctica - the New Zealand Maori and half Pakeha. He sailed aboard the Connection" be launched at the Museum. Vincennes, the flag ship of the United States The exhibition, which comprises a series of Exploring Expedition led by Captain Charles panels with text and photographs covers Wilkes. The expedition discovered what is "The Discoveryof Antarctica"; "ThefirstNew now known as Wilkes Land in February Zealander", "Early New Zealand interest"; 1840. "the First landing and the first building". A Mr McKinnon recalled his family's asso second section comprises New Zealand and ciation with the continent which dated back to the Heroic era and includes photographs if the the 1950's when his father, a Brigadier was Discovery Expedition 1901-4; the Nimrod closely involved with the setting up of the Expedition 1907-1909; the Terra Nova Ex Deep Freeze facility at Christchurch Airport. pedition 1910-1913 and the Imperial Trans- In 1956 and 57 when the Brigadier was Antarctic Expedition 1914-1917. head of the New Zealand Joint Staff Mission A final section tells of New Zealand's role in taking charge of the Ross Dependency, the in Washington, he liaised with Captain Dufek period between the wars, pressure on the of the US Navy. "During the first of these Government to be more active in Antarctica meetings, Captain Dufek, who later became and then goes on to cover the International a Rear Admiral, inquired whether Dunedin Geophysical Year of 1957-58; the Common would be an appropriate base for the Deep wealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 Freeze activities" and went on to explain and the consolidation of New Zealand's scien "he had consulted with Admiral Byrd who tific programme. had stopped off in Dunedin on his way to the Although the exhibition was opened in ice in the 1920s". Although his father was Christchurch it will be traveling around the Dunedin bom and bred, and would have four New Zealand branches of the Society loved to see facilities built in his home city he during the next year to 18 months and will be advised Dufek that the Port of Lyttelton open to the public and members at various would best serve the vessels being used at the venues. 125 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4

Books Antarctica the Ross Sea region,

edited by Trevor Hatherton, The Bookshop, DSIR Publishing, P.O. Box 9741, Wellington, ISBN 0-477-02586-2. 287 pages NZ $89.95

Dedicated to Sir Holmes Miller, a member Claridge and Ian Campbell, Mt Erebus by Ray of the Ross Dependency Research Commit Dibble and the Shores of the Ross Sea by tee since its inception in 1958 and its Chair Murray Gregory and Bob Kirk. The third man from 1971 to his resignation in 1983, section is on climate and its effects and in Antarctica, the Ross Sea Region has been cludes chapters on Climate and weather by long awaited. Brett Mullan and Mark Sinclair, the Ice forms With a forward by Sir Edmund Hillary, the by Harry Keys and the Dry Valleys by Trevor four parts comprise 16 chapters. They cover Chinn. Life in the Ross sea region covers Exploration of the region in terms of defining inhabits of the Ross Sea by Barry Foster, Life the boundaries and completing the picture in land, ice and inland water habitats by Paul written by David Harrowfield and Hugh Lo Broady and Warwick Vincent, Birds of the gan. Part 2, The land of the Ross Sea Region Ross Sea region by Euan Young, Animal comprises chapters on Geological History by adaptions to the Antarctic environment by Margaret Bradshaw, Sculpting the landscape John Macdonald and John Montgomery. In by Mike Selby, Developing the Soils by Graeme conclusion Tony Taylor writes of Living and

Sir Edmund Hillary shows his prowess with an ice axe releasing a copy of Dr. TrevorHatherton's book at the launching in October. Vol. 12 No. 4 Antarctic

working in Antarctica and Bob Thomson lines mostly across the text pages are argu presents a chapter on the international back ably superfluous. ground. In short each chapter has been So, what of the interest and utility? It is the contributed by an expert in their field and most comprehensive and authoritative ac brief biographical note has been included. count of the Ross Sea Region so far released. The book is liberally illustrated with maps, The level is such that there is reading for the line drawings and superb colour photographs. novice and expert and all are likely to learn Good use, too has been made of the black from it. Trevor Hatherton and DSIR publish and white photographs too often overlooked ing deserve warm congratulations on the in books of this type. The layout is attractive book which is a fitting tribute to the late Sir and a sensitive use of white space enhances Holmes (Bob) Miller. Ed. the presentation although the heavy black

Books Shackleton's Lieutenant The Nimrod Diary of A.L.A. Mackintosh, British Antarctic Expedition 1907-09 Edited by Stanley Newman, Polar Publications, 1990 ISBN-0-473-00969-2, $27.50

Aeneas Lionel Acton Mackintosh was se was the first mention of the ill-will that was to lected as a member of Shackleton's 1907 - develop between Shackleton and England 1909 British Antarctic Expedition and later resulting ultimately in the ship returning south led the Ross Sea Party of the Imperial Trans- under the Captaincy of F.P. Evans. Antarctic Expedition of 1914-17. It was On 22 January Mackintosh signed off the during this expedition that Mackintosh per Ship's Articles and signed on an Agreement ished crossing the sea ice in McMurdo Sound with Shackleton, thus he was no longer a on 16 May, 1916. ship's officer but instead a member of the Shackleton's Lieutenant, is an edited ver expedition under contract to "the Boss." The sion of Mackintosh's two trips south in the reason remains unstated but presumably re vessel Nimrod used to support Shackleton's flects Shackleton's growing confidence in first expedition. Mackintosh's various abilities. Mackintosh signed in Poplar on 26 July At 9 a.m. on 23 January the Barrier was 1907 as second officer. The diary however first sighted and in Shackleton sought to begins with their departure from Lyttelton on honour the agreement negotiated by Wilson 1 January 1908. Nimrod, built in Dundee, with Scott that the Expedition did not use though sturdy and seaworthy was overloaded McMurdo Sound. They steamed eastwards with men, ponies, dogs, stores and fuel, a late into Borchgrevinks Bight (faithfully misspelt calculation on which, suggested the supply in accordance with the diary) in search of a was insufficient for the ship to complete the safe site for landing. It was not to be and return journey to New Zealand. The voyage during the afternoon they steamed out of the began under tow from the steel built SS Bay for McMurdo Sound. Koonya which cast off her charge on 15 By 29 January they had arrived off Cape January, 1908 at the Antarctic Circle with we Royds. Day was busy readying the motorcar are told "three cheers....with all our lung for landing but the rest of the expedition had force on..." Nimrod ploughed her own pas little to do as they waited for a shore-lead Two sage from then on the diary recording impa days later unloading began in earnest. "At 8 tience with the skipper, Captain Rupert a.m. the wind dropped and we commenced England, who would not start the engines. It to work at the cargo. Whilst thus engaged, a 127 Antarctic Vol. 12 No.4 hook, being let go from a cask swung across Within a couple of days of their arrival at the deck and struck me in the eye. The shock Royds Mackintosh was off the first of two and agony of the wound was pretty bad: so sledging trips to the [Minna] Bluff. At the end this commemorates the last time I used both of the first day Mackintosh wrote "Had tea: my eyes." The eye was removed later in the turned in. Wind S.E. fresh. Temperature cool. day for a time Harbord kept the diary on I have nothing to record whatever." but he Mackintosh's behalf. goes onto provide a good account of the Over the next, days unloading continued journey which includes the use of sails on the and the hut was built but Mackintosh could do sledge and the finding of an old Discovery little. The rift between "the boss" and Eng depot. land developed further as the skipper, con The diary concludes with a rendezvous with cerned for the safety of the ship refused to the ship at Hut Point and departure "On our bring it in closer to shore in spite of repeated way northwards we had to pick up geological requests from Shackleton. "At 10.30pm Ion specimens left at Menorite IMonositel Island, 22nd February! "We had finished, and 10.45 depoted by the Northern Party: but the pack we put the Nimrod's head northward and intercepted us, so we had to abandon them; amidst cheers from the ship and shore we and now we headed out for the Ross Sea: sailed towards the known world and civilisa HOMEWOOD BOUND. Mackintosh was dis tion. The last we saw of the shore-party was charged at Lyttelton on 31 March, 1909. one solitary figure silhouetted against the sky, The editors Stanley Newman and Richard gazing after the ship with thoughts mingled McElrea of Polar Publications have provided with pain, no doubt...." extensive notes, which, for various reasons By 6 March the ship was off Cape have been set out at the conclusion of each Saunders approaching Port Chalmers. The chapter requiring constant referral. This is tug Koputai went out to meet her and Mack irritating, particularly as many of them are intosh and two others transferred in order to quite technical in nature. The editors should take passage on a regular steamer to Aus however be congratulated on the extent of the tralia where he would consult and oculist and noting and their efforts to ensure accuracy. have a glass eye fixed. Treatment was likely Beyond that the book provides a largely last some months during which he hoped to matter-of-fact account of part of an expedition study the zoology of birds in order to be of with a some rare insights into personalities, more assistance to the expedition during the issues and events. Some useful biographical second leg of the journey south. notes have been included and the book, though The Nimrod went into dry dock in Lyttelton not necessarily exciting, has a rightful place as for a refit so extensive that she was never used an addition to the accounts of the expedition for the magnetic survey work which Shackleton and in any polar enthusiasts library. It is well had promised the Australian and New Zea illustrated, contains a number of maps and is land governments. England was replaced by attractively presented. Ed. F.P. Evans, who had skippered the Koonya on the tow south. The account of the second voyage begins on 1 December 1908 with a description of the farewell from Lyttelton. It covers the voyage south and eventual arrival at Cape Royds. Included is a detailed account of a life- threatening incident involving Mackintosh and McGillan who had undertaken to deliver the mail bag to Cape Royds but the conditions deteriorated and the ice broke out commit ting them to an overland journey from Cape Bird to Cape Royds. 128 The New Zealand Antarctic Society Inc.,

The New Zealand Antarctic Society was formed South Island residents should write to the: in 1933. It comprises New Zealanders and Branch Secretary, Canterbury Branch, overseas friends, many of whom have seen New Zealand Antarctic Society, Antarctic for themselves and all of whom are P.O. Box 404, vitally interested in some phase of Antarctic CHRISTCHURCH, 8000 or: exploration, development or research. Branch Secretary The annual subscription is NZ$35.00. This Otago Branch, New Zealand Antarctic Society, entitles members to: P.O. Box 7083, • Antarctic, published quarterly in the autumn, Mornington, winter, spring and summer. It is unique in DUNEDIN, 9030 Antarctic literature as it is the only periodical Overseas residents should write to the: New Zealand Secretary, which provides regular and up to date news of New Zealand Antarctic Society, the activities of all nations at work in the P.O. Box 1223, Antarctic and sub-Antarctic. It has a worldwide CHRISTCHURCH, 8000 circulation. (Airmail postage is extra for over Bulletin only membership is available to libraries and seas members.) other institutions at NZ$30.00 for organisations in New Zealand; NZ$37.00 to those in Australia and the South • Newsletters for New Zealand members and Pacific; NZ$41.00 in North America and Asia and an annual newsletter for overseas members. NZ$44.00 in South America. Europe. Africa and the Middle East. (These prices include airmail postage.) Regular meetings are held by the Auckland, Student membership: NZ$26.00 plus postage for over Wellington, Canterbury and Otago branches. seas members. Subscriptions are: • N.Z. $35.00 in New Zealand • N.Z. $43.00 in Australia and South Pacific* • N.Z. $48.00 in North America and Asia* • N.Z. $52.00 in South America, Africa, • Europe and the Middle East* Advertising rates • Includes airmail postage overseas. Full colour (outside back page only) $400 Whole page (b&w only) $200 You are invited to join: Half page (b&w only) $100 North Island residents should write to the: Quarter page (b&w only) $35 Branch Secretary Auckland Branch, The rates are negotiable for regular placement. New Zealand Antarctic Society, Deadlines: The first of December. March, June and P.O. Box 8585, September. AUCKLAND, 1035 Enquiries to the Treasurer, New Zealand Antarctic Soci ety, P.O. Box 1223, Christchurch, New Zealand. or: Branch Secretary, Fliers and other advertising material can be inserted at a Wellington Branch, cost of $ 150 per issue plus and additional postage incurred New Zealand Antarctic Society, through any such insertions. Enquiries should be made to P.O. Box 2110, the editor whose address, telephone and fax numbers WELLINGTON, 6000 appear in the front of this issue. British Airways are proud to sponsor the Antarctic Heritage Trust

N0 tfER/fy O r ^ ^

H

BRITISH AIRWAYS

The woods favourite jirli