Heroic Efforts - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 79

environmental processes function in the Arctic. Such studies are multidisciplinary in nature
and thus progress often requires integrated teams of specialists from a wide range of dis-
ciplines. The logistics required include ships, aircraft and remote sensing. This has been
a common approach taken in ocean-atmosphere studies. It is very expensive and getting
such activities organised is rather like planning a military campaign. Almost certainly, the
project will be national or international in terms of scientific effort and logistics. The ex-
ample par excellence has been the International Polar Years (IPYs), but there are a number
of others - some of which were not directly focused on the Arctic but which had Arctic
repercussions. I call them heroic efforts .
The idea for the first IPY came from Karl Weyprecht, an Austrian explorer and naval
officer who took part in the Austro-Hungarian Polar Expedition of 1872-1874. From this
experience, he decided that major advances in polar geophysical science required large-
scale international cooperation. He foresaw the need for multidisciplinary teams that plan
a programme of research, conduct the work and then collectively interpret the data. His
ideas led to the creation in 1879 of the International Polar Commission, which consisted of
Austria-Hungary, the Dominion of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Neth-
erlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was this
commission that organised the first IPY, which took place between 1882 and 1883. Twelve
countries took part and 13 multinational expeditions set out for the Arctic and two for the
Antarctic. Thisapproach wasquite aninnovation. Previously,visits totheArctic orAntarc-
tic were primarily patriotic adventurous explorations or had national strategic goals. It was
a dangerous business. Seventeen of the 24 Americans involved in one of the participating
Arctic IPY-1 expeditions (led by Adolphus Greely) starved to death when a supply ship
was missed. If you fly south from Alert along the east coast of Ellesmere Island, with the
cooperation of the weather, the ruins of Fort Conger - where much of this sad story was
played out - can still be seen. It is a desolate place. Nevertheless, the first IPY collected a
huge amount of information over its 12 months of operation and it provided the foundation
of our knowledge of Earth's magnetic field.