J.J. O'Neill (1886-1966)

A Who's Who-type biographical sketch of J. J. O'Neill might read as follows: O'Neill, John Johnston, born Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, 12 November 1886, died Ottawa, Ontario, 1 June 1966; son of Thomas John and Mary Jane (Henderson) O'Neill. B.Sc. McGill University 1909; Ph.D. Yale University 1912. Married Lillian Mary Campbell, 9 December 1918. Children: Gordon Campbell, killed in action in World War II, and Melville Henderson. Geologist, Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-16; geological staff, Geological Survey of Canada, 1914-20; assistant professor of geology, McGill University, 1921-27; associate professor 1927-29; Sir William Dawson Professor of Geology and Head, Department of Geology, 1929-52; Dean of Science, 1935-39; Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, 1938-42; Dean of Engineering, 1942-52; Vice-Principal, McGill University, 1948-52; President, Royal Society of Canada, 1950-51; a Founder, Governor, and Board Chairman Arctic Institute of North America; Fellow, Arctic Institute of North America, Geological Society of America, Royal Society of Canada; Sigma Xi; Freemason; Conservative; Anglican. Club: Faculty (McGill). However detailed, such a sketch would give only an incomplete glimpse of a highly accomplished man who could be stern and awesome, yet kindly and informal, adventurous yet conservative, critical yet forgiving - in short, a whole man. It may be difficult for some who knew O'Neill as an administrator rather than as a young field geologist to visualize him as an adventurous person in addition to one who took a judicious and studious approach to problems. Yet in 1913 when he joined the Canadian Arctic Expedition in his late twenties he took a leading part in almost as venturesome an enterprise as a trip to the Moon would be today. The measure of the man is illustrated by the fact that although he and Vilhjalmur Stefansson, leader of the expedition, found themselves in opposing camps following strong expedition disagreements, O'Neill voluntarily, and at the expense of possibly handicapping his own work, gave his personal chronometer to Stefansson - an act that saved the latter's exploration program. O'Neill was the first geologist to study the mainland coast of Arctic Canada from Darnley Bay to Bathurst Inlet, a coastline distance of some 600 miles. The resulting publications indicated the bright future that lay ahead of him - Vice-Principal of McGill University, President of the Royal Society of Canada, and many additional honors about which others will write more appropriately than I. When I first met Dean O'Neill in 1938 to seek his aid in connection with further geologic research in the region he had studied, his friendliness and helpful advice made a great impression on me. Later, after World War II, as a Founder and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Arctic Institute of North America, he continued to provide excellent counsel and generous assistance during the early critical days of the Institute, when his wisdom helped to assure the organization's future. When O'Neill and Stefansson became fellow Board members, the differences that had developed during the Canadian Arctic Expedition still lingered, and it is a credit to both that when they met at an Institute Board meeting in Montreal, they shook hands for the first time in some thirty years and worked harmoniously together for the Institute. It takes great men to do this and O'Neill was such. John Johnston O'Neill was in a unique position to contribute to the Arctic Institute of North America and he did so most effectively. He contributed significantly to science, to international cooperation in science, and in the broader context to mutual understanding and respect between nations

Foresta Hodgson Wood, Valerie Wood, Maurice King

The loss of the Institute's Norseman aircraft, piloted by Maurice King and carrying Mrs. Walter A. Wood and Valerie Wood, was mentioned in a brief notice in the last number of Arctic. The aircraft was taking part in the Institute's research project "Snow Cornice", when it disappeared on 27 July 1951 on a flight from the research station, in the St. Elias Mountains in the Alaska-Yukon boundary region, to the base camp at Yakutat, Alaska. Mrs. Wood's husband, Walter A. Wood, is the Director of the Institute's New York Office and leader of project Snow Cornice. In spite of an intensive search by the United States Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and other official and private groups, in which Mrs. Wood's husband and son and Mr. King's son participated, no trace of the aircraft has been found and the occupants are presumed dead. The Arctic Institute extends its deepest sympathy to their relatives. The Institute also wishes to express its most grateful thanks to all those who took part in the search for the Norseman. The following notices are written by Dr. A. L. Washburn, Director of the Washington Office. ..

International Cooperation in Arctic Research

Probably in few regions of the world are the opportunities for international scientific cooperation greater than in the Far North. From west to east, the United States (Alaska), Canada, Newfoundland (Labrador), Iceland, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Soviet Union are all vitally concerned in Arctic and Subarctic problems. And many other countries have contributed significant chapters in the ever-expanding book of knowledge entitled "The North". Scientific problems are similar regardless of international boundaries, and the number of problems in the Arctic and Subarctic that can be best solved by international cooperation is legion. In fact many of them can be solved only by international cooperation. The desirability of such cooperation and of a circumpolar background is stressed by Professor V. C. Wynne-Edwards: "Parallel investigations along many lines are being made in Alaska, Scandinavia and the U.S.S.R. The importance, from the purely scientific as well as the practical and economic standpoint, of acquainting the investigators of this country at first hand with similar problems and conditions in other northern lands cannot be too strongly stressed. Understanding and insight are born of experience; and the need for a circumpolar background must be evident to many besides myself." ..

Radiocarbon-Dated Postglacial Delevelling in Northeast Greenland and Its Implications

Reconstructs the postglacial emergence from radiocarbon dating, at the Yale Geochronometric Laboratory, of shells and driftwood collected in the Mesters Vig area. Localities and altitudes at which the specimens were collected, species of the shells, and radiocarbon ages are tabulated, and the ages plotted against altitude. The evidence indicates that the area has been deglaciated since 9000-8500 B.P., and that the deglaciation is closely related in time and effect to the Hypsithermal. The emergence, primarily isostatic, decreased from an initial rate of 9 m/100 yrs to approx. 0.6 m/100 yrs in 6000 BP and, possibly, as little as 7 cm/100 yrs since then. A local till-like material was determined, from the shells, to be an emerged fiord-bottom rather than glacial deposit

Glacial Geology of the Hanover Region

Guidebook, forty-sixth annual conference, October 9-10, 1954: Trip

Capillary filling with pseudo-potential binary Lattice-Boltzmann model

We present a systematic study of capillary filling for a binary fluid by using a mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann model for immiscible fluids describing a diffusive interface moving at a given contact angle with respect to the walls. The phenomenological way to impose a given contact angle is analysed. Particular attention is given to the case of complete wetting, that is contact angle equal to zero. Numerical results yield quantitative agreement with the theoretical Washburn law, provided that the correct ratio of the dynamic viscosities between the two fluids is used. Finally, the presence of precursor films is experienced and it is shown that these films advance in time with a square-root law but with a different prefactor with respect to the bulk interface.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication on The European journal of physics

Schmidt-hammer exposure ages from periglacial patterned ground (sorted circles) in Jotunheimen, Norway, and their interpretative problems

© 2016 Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography Periglacial patterned ground (sorted circles and polygons) along an altitudinal profile at Juvflya in central Jotunheimen, southern Norway, is investigated using Schmidt-hammer exposure-age dating (SHD). The patterned ground surfaces exhibit R-value distributions with platycurtic modes, broad plateaus, narrow tails, and a negative skew. Sample sites located between 1500 and 1925 m a.s.l. indicate a distinct altitudinal gradient of increasing mean R-values towards higher altitudes interpreted as a chronological function. An established regional SHD calibration curve for Jotunheimen yielded mean boulder exposure ages in the range 6910 ± 510 to 8240 ± 495 years ago. These SHD ages are indicative of the timing of patterned ground formation, representing minimum ages for active boulder upfreezing and maximum ages for the stabilization of boulders in the encircling gutters. Despite uncertainties associated with the calibration curve and the age distribution of the boulders, the early-Holocene age of the patterned ground surfaces, the apparent cessation of major activity during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) and continuing lack of late-Holocene activity clarify existing understanding of the process dynamics and palaeoclimatic significance of large-scale sorted patterned ground as an indicator of a permafrost environment. The interpretation of SHD ages from patterned ground surfaces remains challenging, however, owing to their diachronous nature, the potential for a complex history of formation, and the influence of local, non-climatic factors

Phase Behavior of Aqueous Na-K-Mg-Ca-CI-NO3 Mixtures: Isopiestic Measurements and Thermodynamic Modeling

A comprehensive model has been established for calculating thermodynamic properties of multicomponent aqueous systems containing the Na{sup +}, K{sup +}, Mg{sup 2+}, Ca{sup 2+}, Cl{sup -}, and NO{sub 3}{sup -} ions. The thermodynamic framework is based on a previously developed model for mixed-solvent electrolyte solutions. The framework has been designed to reproduce the properties of salt solutions at temperatures ranging from the freezing point to 300 C and concentrations ranging from infinite dilution to the fused salt limit. The model has been parameterized using a combination of an extensive literature database and new isopiestic measurements for thirteen salt mixtures at 140 C. The measurements have been performed using Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) previously designed gravimetric isopiestic apparatus, which makes it possible to detect solid phase precipitation. Water activities are reported for mixtures with a fixed ratio of salts as a function of the total apparent salt mole fraction. The isopiestic measurements reported here simultaneously reflect two fundamental properties of the system, i.e., the activity of water as a function of solution concentration and the occurrence of solid-liquid transitions. The thermodynamic model accurately reproduces the new isopiestic data as well as literature data for binary, ternary and higher-order subsystems. Because of its high accuracy in calculating vapor-liquid and solid-liquid equilibria, the model is suitable for studying deliquescence behavior of multicomponent salt systems