Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
In the vessel
Alert
he rounded the north tip of Ellesmere Island, halting at Floeberg
Beach (82.27°N) as the sea began to freeze. The name “floeberg” refers to ice
blocks rafted up onto the beach by onshore winds (Gadbois and Laverdiere,
1954
).
Sledging trips conducted in the spring over the hummocked and ridged sea ice dem-
onstrated the fallacy of the open polar sea. Indeed, the expedition coined the phrase
“paleocrystic sea” (Levere,
1993
).
Robert Peary's claim to have attained the Pole across this irregular and chaotic
sea ice surface with Matthew Henson in April 1909 remains in doubt. While some
historians are of the view that he either did reach the pole or honestly thought that
he had, others feel that he deliberately exaggerated his accomplishments. Issues
contributing to doubt include the lack of clear documentation of navigation and the
implausible travel speed claimed during the last part of the journey. The first undis-
puted attainment of the pole was by Roald Amundsen in 1926, the explorer who is
perhaps better known for reaching the South Pole in 1911.
During 1898-1902, Otto Sverdrup in the
Fram
, accompanied by cartographer
Lt. Isachsen, made discoveries of new land in the northwestern part of the Canadian
Arctic Archipelago by sailing along Jones Sound and then traveling overland. Axel
Heiberg Island, Ellef Ringnes and Amund Ringnes islands, Eureka Sound, and
Greely Fiord were all added to the map. Henrik Mohn (
1907
) summarized the mete-
orological observations from the expedition. In 1903, Amundsen (
Figure 1.2
) sailed
the
Gjoa
from Norway into Lancaster Sound. After spending two winters near King
William Island, he reached the Mackenzie delta in August 1905, finally achieving
the Northwest Passage. The remaining blank spaces on the maps of the Canadian
Arctic Archipelago were now being filled in. In 1914, the American “Crocker Land”
Expedition led by Donald MacMillan showed that Peary's “Crocker Land” north-
west of Ellesmere Island was an illusion. Apparently, Peary was confused by the
towering effect of a superior mirage (fata morgana). Oddly, a Rand McNally Atlas
from the late 1940s owned by the first author of the present volume shows Crocker
Land as a mapped feature.
Vilhjalmar Stefansson's Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-1918 focused on
the Beaufort Sea, Banks Island, Prince Patrick, and Borden and Meighen islands
in the northwest of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. This added considerably to
the known extent of Canadian territory. The mapping of northeast Greenland was
completed by the Danmark Expedition in 1906-1908, with surveyor J.P. Koch and
Alfred Wegener, and by the Thule Expeditions led by K. Rasmussen in 1912 and
1916-1917. A notable discovery was the mountainous ice-free (nunatak) region
of Dronning Louise Land (ca. 76.0-77.3°N, 23-26°W) inland from the coast near
modern Dansmarkhavn. In 1913, Koch and Wegener set out from there to cross the
widest part of the ice sheet, barely making it to Upernavik on the west coast.
A new scientific direction in the exploration of the Arctic Ocean began with the
voyages of the
Tegethoff
in the Eurasian Arctic in 1871 and 1872-1874. Pursuing
a suggestion of the German geographer August Petermann that the northeastward
flow of warm Atlantic water might reduce the ice cover in the eastern Arctic, two
Austrian scientists, Lt. Karl Weyprecht and Lt. J. Payer, found little ice off Novaya
