Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
1
The Evolution of Knowledge about
the Arctic and Its Climate
Overview
The land of the midnight sun has enchanted humankind for centuries. Rarely
does a visitor to this unique and storied region leave without impressions
that last a lifetime. Whether it is images of immense glaciers, the shifting
pack ice under steel-gray skies, the Aurora Borealis, or bountiful wildlife
grazing treeless, windswept tundra, the Arctic, even today, evokes images of
a largely wild and untamed place. For many, the Arctic is as much a feeling
as it is a region. Those with even a passing knowledge of it are familiar with
the spirit of adventure - humans against nature - that drove some of the early
exploration of the region. But the history of Arctic exploration and discovery
is much more than Robert Peary's glorified, albeit doubtful, conquest of the
pole. The expeditions of Vitus, Bering, John Franklin, Martin Frobisher,
Henry Hudson, Fridjof Nansen, George Nares, Otto Sverdrup, Alfred Wegner,
and others variously reflected nationalism, the shifting economic significance
of the region, and scientific inquiry. Many of the geographic place names
in the Arctic honor these explorers (
Figure 1.1
). To appreciate our present
understanding of the Arctic, we need to step back and review some of this
rich history over the past four or five centuries, recognizing, of course, that
there have been indigenous populations in the Arctic for thousands of years.
1.1
Historical Exploration
In the sixteenth century, the Arctic came to be seen by the nations of northern Europe
as a potential route to China. Three possible routes were considered: directly across
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