The Shackleton Memorial Library at the Scott Polar Research Institute: a new international resource for the study of the polar regions (poster)

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Categorisation of the length of bowhead whales from British Arctic whaling records

British whalers were the first and last from Europe to hunt bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) commercially from the Arctic whaling grounds of the Greenland Sea (East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents stock) and Davis Strait (East Canada-West Greenland stock). Thus, British Arctic whaling records are unique, as they include both the beginning and the final story of the near extirpation of the species from these waters. By consolidating, cross-checking, and updating the work of numerous colleagues over the years, a database of over 11,000 individual records of British whaling voyages to these grounds between 1725 and 1913 has been established. Using conversion algorithms, it has been possible to derive statistically robust information on the length of the bowheads caught from the amount of oil they yielded. Translating oil yield to whale length is an important step as oil yield is one of the most common parameters documented within historical whaling records. Analysis suggests the length of whales caught at these two whaling grounds, Greenland Sea and Davis Strait, were different. A higher proportion within the East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents stock, taken from the Greenland Sea grounds, measured less than 12.5m (classed as juveniles), whilst the East Canada-West Greenland stock, taken from Davis Strait grounds, were skewed towards larger whales, 13 to 14 m long (classed as sexually mature). Furthermore, there was clear evidence that a shift in the distribution of whale length occurred when the whalers extended their hunting grounds to encompass additional regions within the Greenland Sea and Davis Strait in 1814 and 1817 respectively. Prior to expansion, we find that that the vast majority (85%) of the East Canada-West Greenland stock were of the length that are classified as sexually mature (>13.0 m), whereas only 39% of East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents stock taken were of this size. After the enlargement of the whaling grounds, the length distribution shifted with a reduction to 50% of the East Canada-West Greenland stock and an increase to 44% of the East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents stock being categorised as sexually mature. These results show the important information that may be derived from historical whaling records. Since the commercial hunt of the bowheads ceased in the European Arctic there have been substantial changes in both the oceanographic and sea ice regime in the region, thus understanding the past through whaling records can help to understand the implications of future climate-induced changes in bowhead whale populations and their habitat

Terror from the Sky: Unconventional Linguistic Clues to the Negrito Past

Within recorded history. most Southeast Asian peoples have been of southern Mongoloid physical type, whether they speak Austroasiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Austronesian, Tai-Kadai, or Hmong-Mien languages. However, population distributions suggest that this is a post-Pleistocene phenomenon and that for tens of millennia before the last glaciation ended Greater Mainland Southeast Asia, which included the currently insular world that rests on the Sunda Shelf, was peopled by short, dark-skinned, frizzy-haired foragers whose descendants in the Philippines came to be labeled by the sixteenth-century Spanish colonizers as negritos, a term that has since been extended to similar groups throughout the region. There are three areas in which these populations survived into the present so as to become part of written history: the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula, and the Andaman Islands. All Philippine negritos speak Austronesian languages, and all Malayan negritos speak languages in the nuclear Mon-Khmer branch of Austroasiatic, but the linguistic situation in the Andamans is a world apart. Given prehistoric language shifts among both Philippine and Malayan negritos, the prospects of determining whether disparate negrito populations were once a linguistically or culturally unified community would appear hopeless. Surprisingly, however, some clues to a common negrito past do survive in a most unexpected way

Health, education, and social care provision after diagnosis of childhood visual disability

Aim: To investigate the health, education, and social care provision for children newly diagnosed with visual disability.Method: This was a national prospective study, the British Childhood Visual Impairment and Blindness Study 2 (BCVIS2), ascertaining new diagnoses of visual impairment or severe visual impairment and blindness (SVIBL), or equivalent vi-sion. Data collection was performed by managing clinicians up to 1-year follow-up, and included health and developmental needs, and health, education, and social care provision.Results: BCVIS2 identified 784 children newly diagnosed with visual impairment/SVIBL (313 with visual impairment, 471 with SVIBL). Most children had associated systemic disorders (559 [71%], 167 [54%] with visual impairment, and 392 [84%] with SVIBL). Care from multidisciplinary teams was provided for 549 children (70%). Two-thirds (515) had not received an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP). Fewer children with visual impairment had seen a specialist teacher (SVIBL 35%, visual impairment 28%, χ2p < 0.001), or had an EHCP (11% vs 7%, χ2p < 0 . 01).Interpretation: Families need additional support from managing clinicians to access recommended complex interventions such as the use of multidisciplinary teams and educational support. This need is pressing, as the population of children with visual impairment/SVIBL is expected to grow in size and complexity.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Further changes at Peter I Øy

For a previous edition of Polar Research (26[2]; p. 204) I wrote a letter noting the partial collapse of a spectacular triple natural arch on the island of Peter I Øy, reported in November 2006. Two years later I was again off the island, in exceptionally clear visibility, and noted that the collapse was now complete. The island was approached from the south-east on the afternoon of 22 November 2008, again aboard the Russian icebreaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov. Aboard were 104 tourists, with 24 staff, and a complement of 62, on a voyage arranged by Quark Expeditions. The icebreaker anchored in Sandefjordbukta, which was used last time, and on several previous visits. The anchor was dropped in about 35 m of water about half a nautical mile from the coast. Landings were intended on one of the beaches of Sandefjordbukta, but winds of 20 m s-1 made this impracticable. The winds, however, caused such a reduction in cloud cover that the entire island, notably Lars Christensentoppen (1640 m elevation), was clearly visible

The 19th century Antarctic sealing industry : sources, data and economic significance

Sealing was the first exploitative industry in the Antarctic region. Throughout the 19th century it was characterized by large fluctuations in harvests and shifts in hunting grounds as seals were almost exterminated in some locations. The paper reviews the historical literature on this industry. In particular it reviews sources and data that relate the economic importance. So far, no one has succeeded in indicating the aggregate economic value of the industry. The main aim, therefore, is to explore new data, especially on market prices and catches that will enable us to assess more accurately the significance of the industry

The 19th century Antarctic sealing industry : sources, data and economic significance

Sealing was the first exploitative industry in the Antarctic region. Throughout the 19th century it was characterized by large fluctuations in harvests and shifts in hunting grounds as seals were almost exterminated in some locations. The paper reviews the historical literature on this industry. In particular it reviews sources and data that relate the economic importance. So far, no one has succeeded in indicating the aggregate economic value of the industry. The main aim, therefore, is to explore new data, especially on market prices and catches that will enable us to assess more accurately the significance of the industry