from my earlier book about two Cold War expeditions into the Arctic Basin, both in 1958. One was the under-ice transit by the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus (SSN 571), and the other was the Office of Naval Research-sponsored flight by a U.S. Navy blimp to ice Island T-3, to test the feasibility of airships to supply ice-based camps in the boreal summer, when ice runways are rendered useless. The operations were simultaneous yet independent of each other," he says. "If I was to write convincingly about the Arctic, to bring it alive on the page, I needed to see it for myself," Althoff says. Once there, courtesy of the Canadian Ice Patrol, I found the North majestic, and unforgettable. And I found another story-the history of science on the Arctic ice." While the early polar explorers sought disKM_MTR_Oct2007.ai 03/10/2007 11:26:10
covery and glory in the high latitudes, after World War II the Arctic became a potential Cold War battlefield. "Remember, Russia and North America both front on the Polar Sea; and the shortest arc between them is over the Arctic Basin. Oceanographic research, especially acoustic research that was applicable to submarines, received great emphasis. Much of what was learned about the Arctic from that military-sponsored research is now of immense value to civilian geoscientists." With the end of the superpower confrontation, the scientific emphasis has shifted to understanding climate change and global warming. "The Arctic is a barometer for the planet. Russia and the United States have now shared their data sets, to enhance humankind's understanding of the atmospheric/oceanic/ice systems."
bookshelf
Drift Station: Arctic Outposts of Superpower Science By William Althoff Potomac Books, Dulles, Va. ISBN: 978-157488-771-6 $39.95
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