Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kelley, J. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

The International Polar Year

A legacy of Sydney Chapman

University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA

Corresponding author: ffjjk{at}uaf.edu

The importance of the polar regions to solving many of the fundamental problems in geophysics, including climatology and meteorology, was recognized by Austrian explorer Lt. Karl Weyprecht, scientist and co-commander with Lt. Julius von Payer of the Austro-Hungarian Polar Expedition of 1872–1874. He realized that the many private expeditions conducted previously would not suffice to provide the data needed to understand nature on a larger scale. During his long overwintering while stranded on the sea ice of the Barents Sea, Weyprecht contemplated the self-serving folly of frivolous polar nations and their generally unproductive scientific pursuits. The key to success in achieving a greater understanding of geophysical phenomena, he envisioned, was to be found in an effort of international science cooperation, working together at greater efficiency.