Wildlife observations recorded at several offshore hydrocarbon exploration sites in the Beaufort Sea were examined to evaluate the hypothesis that polar bears Ursus maritimus are attracted to drill rigs, will be judged to represent a threat to humans there, and consequently will have to be deterred or destroyed. When polar bears came south with the pack ice in the autumn, they approached drillships or artificial islands, probably because they became curious or were attracted by unfamiliar smells. However, these bears did not usually remain in the area.

In late winter, when most of the natural leads are frozen, the movement of compacted annual ice from east to west past permanent offshore drill rigs creates open cracks on the downstream side. Because of the open water there, seals are more abundant, more accessible, or both, and bears are attracted because of better hunting conditions. In mid to late winter some bears may remain in the area for several days or longer while hunting seals. This positive reinforcement may lead these bears to be attracted to other offshore rigs in the future. In the last five years four bears attracted to offshore rigs have been shot; thus the hypothesis was found to be valid. To date, the population is not under threat, but this could change if the number of offshore drill rigs operating through the winter were to increase.

On 4 August 1948, in Godthåb/Nuuk, Greenland, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Denmark's modern Arctic policy was founded. The political initiator was Hans Hedtoft, the Danish Prime Minister. The centre of Denmark's Arctic policy is Greenland, but our policy is not a Greenland policy only. Arctic policies are about people and nature, about resources and security, about high technology and traditional Arctic patterns of life. In a high degree they are a matter of cooperation between the local population and the state authorities. All these elements were present when the Danish Prime Minister presented his modern Arctic policy in August 1948.

During surveys conducted 2–20 April 1986 in Gerlache Strait, Antarctic Peninsula, 103 humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae and eight right whales Eubalaena australis were sighted. The right whale sightings extend the southern limit of known distribution for the species. Humpback and right whale densities were respectively 0.22 (sd 0.23) and 0.01 (sd 0.06) whales per survey mile. Highest densities for both species were recorded inside bays, rather than in the relatively open water of Gerlache Strait. Both species were feeding on Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. Twenty-three humpback and four right whales were identified individually using photographs of natural features. Also included are sighting records of 18 southern bottlenose whales Hyperoodon planifrons.

The schooner Polar Bear is best known for whaling and trading voyages in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas 1911–15, and as one of the vessels of Stefansson's Canadian Arctic Expedition 1915–18. This article summarizes her later career. In 1920 she ran aground in the Kolyma Delta and was abandoned. Refloated by a Soviet captain and crew in 1925 she was used to haul much-needed supplies from a cache near Chaunskaya Guba to Nizhnekolymsk. Renamed Polyarnaya Zvezda, in 1926 she made the first coastwise voyage of modern times from the Kolyma to the Lena, inaugurating a regular sea link with the Lena basin. In 1927 she carried building materials for a scientific station from Tiksi at the mouth of the Lena to Mys Shalaurova on Ostrov Bol'shoy Lyakhovskiy. After wintering at Yakutsk, in summer 1928 she towed a barge laden with supplies for the station down river to Tiksi and carried supplies and personnel to the station to Mys Shalaurova. The station is still in operation, an integral component of the network of support facilities which enables the Northern Sea Route to function. In 1929 the schooner was reported unfit for further duties; her subsequent fate is unknown.

Reindeer and caribou, respectively Old World and New World forms of Rangifer tarandus, live in large groups in the boreal forest and on the Arctic tundra. Many stocks of reindeer are herded by pastoralists. This article reviews the ecology, breeding biology and herding behaviour of both forms, as revealed by recent field studies. It identifies breeding synchrony, dominance and leadership as important aspects of their social organization, mediated by a system of signals that keep the herds together, and discusses the significance of pastoral practices that maintain herd organization and make reindeer herding possible.

From austral autumn to spring 1986 the West German research ship RV Polarstern made three consecutive cruises to Antarctica in 1986; of these the second and third (27 June–14 December) made up the Winter Weddell Sea Projet, the first detailed winter survey of the pack ice, oceanography and biota of the offshore and eastern coastal Weddell Sea south to 76°S. This article briefly describes the ship and outlines the scientific programme, which involved 137 scientists and technicians from 12 German and 16 non-German institutions. In the cruise of 27 June–17 September research was centred on physical and chemical investigations of the structure and dynamics of water, ice and lower atmosphere, including growth and movement of the icefield. The ship penetrated almost to the coast of Dronning Maud Land, failing, however, to find the Weddell Polynya which had appeared on satellite imagery in 1976–78. The cruise of 28 September–14 December added biological investigations to the programme; crossing the main body of pack ice to investigate the eastern coastal polynya, the biology of sea ice, plankton, fish and bottom fauna, and the breeding and feeding of seals and penguins were investigated. Use was made of a field station established on the mainland ice cliff. Helicopters extended the range of the work on both cruises.

During a late winter and early spring oceanographic voyage south into the Weddell Sea the icebreaker RV Polarstern first encountered patches and bands of loose floes in 58°S; these increased over the next 150 km to form closed ice pack which extended 1000 km to the coast. Along the coast the ship encountered almost continuous shore leads and polynyas that formed repeatedly despite persistently low air and sea temperatures. These areas of open water, which are generally visible in USA NOAA and USSR METEOR satellite photographs, form under the action of strong offshore winds that carry the main body of pack ice west and southwest. Grease ice, pancake ice and nilas spreading over the open water are rafted and ridged by windgenerated stresses to double thickness or more; these kinds of ice were continually driven westward, accumulating in a distinctive zone along the eastern edge of the pack ice. Polynyas and leads narrow and disappear temporarily only when winds with northerly or westerly components bring the pack ice toward the land, and reform as soon as offshore winds predominate. Open water, often more than 15 km wide, was present close to the ship throught the spring voyage, facilitating oceanographic work as far south as 77°S. Polarstern's full icebreaking capacity was needed only occasionally when winds temporarily pressed the pack ice against the coast. The presence throughout early spring of both fast and pack ice, separated by a zone of thin ice or open water, is essential to large populations of Weddell seals, emperor penguins and whales in the area. The transect from the continent included ice pack that was undergoing early summer decay, characterized by differential expansion and melting which brought about a gradual decrease in concentration toward the ice edge.

Between 1851 and 1877 Stephen Pearce (1819–1904) painted, among many other subjects, portraits of most of the distinguished 19th century British Arctic explorers. This article outlines Pearce's life, presents his most celebrated painting ‘The Arctic Council discussing a plan ofsearch for John Franklin’, and catalogues the 25 Arctic portraits held by the National Portrait Gallery. A selection of four portraits spanning the artist's working life is illustrated.

We regret that, in Dr T.E.Armstrong's note ‘Soviet winter journey in the central Arctic Basin, 1986’ (Polar Record 23(147): 713−14, 1987), D. I. Shparo's name was misspelt.