Stauffer, Bernhard

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REVIEWS 89There are 84 distribution maps, divided into four sections: physical and environmentalcharacteristics, including geology, climate and floating ice; biological characteristics,including plankton, fish, birds, and mammals; existing human activities, such assettlement, tourism, transport, hunting, fishing, trapping, and mineral extraction; andpotential human activities, which are projections into the future of the previous section.Compilation of the material was undertaken by a team of specialists from federalgovernment departments, and the cartography by a team from James Dobbin Associates.Terence ArmstrongScott Polar Research InstituteLensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1ERGLACIOLOGY AND CLIMATE; THE RECORD OF THE ICE SHEETSTHE CLIMATIC RECORD IN POLAR ICE SHEETS. Robin, Gordon de Q. (editor).1983. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 212 p, illustrated, hard cover. ISBN0 521 25087 0. £32.50This volume represents results evolving from a workshop held in Cambridge, Englandin 1973, dealing with one of the most fascinating aspects of modern glaciological research.Ten years have passed since the workshop, but the book incorporates or gives referenceto all important scientific results obtained during the interim period, and is thusthoroughly up to date.The volume deals mainly with reconstruction of palaeoclimatic records, based onmeasurements of temperatures and isotopic ratios of glacier ice samples. Today it is wellrecognized that the two large polar ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contain, wellpreserved in layered stratigraphic sequence, the precipitation of the last one thousandcenturies. The isotopic composition of hydrogen and oxygen in the water molecules ofa given snow-fall depends on the condensation temperature at the time of precipitation.Firn temperature measured 10 m below the snow surface reflects the local mean annualsurface temperature. Changes of temperature with depth are due to such influences asgeothermal heat and deformation pressures of overlying strata, which can be calculated.In principle it is therefore possible to reconstruct, from boreholes augered in glaciers,the surface air temperatures of past epochs, based on analyses of isotopic ratios andmeasurements of temperature at depth. The principle is simple but the accuratereconstruction process is complicated and full of pitfalls. In this volume, the analyticalmethods employed and the model calculations used for interpretation are very carefullydiscussed.Of the volume's six chapters, the first is an excellent introduction which explains themain concepts and familiarizes the reader with some of the problems and open questionsinvolved. The second describes variations in size and behaviour of ice sheets in the past.The third chapter deals with techniques for measuring such single parameters as icetemperature, depth and movement, accumulation rates and total gas content, and withthe significance of these parameters in the behaviour of ice sheets. Chapter four presentsobservations on the principal isotopic and temperature profiles that are currentlyavailable, and chapter five discusses and interprets these results, comparing them withcalculated profiles. In the final chapter, the correlations of present day temperaturerecords are compared with isotopic records of ice cores. Most of the chapters are writtenby several authors, all of whom are well-known in their fields.https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247400004903Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 09:58:35, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at9 0 REVIEWSThis volume focuses essentially on palaeotemperatures and physical variations andbehaviour of ice sheets. While reading it one must keep in mind that glaciers have a dealof other information on palaeoclimatic environmental conditions preserved in theirlayered deposits. These aspects are well known to the authors and are often mentionedin the text; however, the title might lead one to expect more discussion of recent researchon such other important climatic parameters as atmospheric composition and circulation,sea ice cover, volcanism and solar luminosity. Overall this is a comprehensive work ofdetailed information on current glaciological concepts, which the main editor hasintegrated with introductory comments. Uniform scientific symbols are used throughout.The volume reads well, and will be a great help to students, professional glaciologists,and others working in disciplines related to glaciology.Bernhard StaufferPhysikalisches InstitutUniversity of BernCH-3012 Bern, SwitzerlandSOVIET-AMERICAN CO-OPERATION IN ARCTIC RESEARCHUSSR/USA BERING SEA EXPERIMENT. Proceedings of the final symposium onthe results of the joint Soviet American Expedition, Leningrad May 12-17 1974.Kondrat'ev, K. Ya. (editor in chief). 1982. Translated from Russian by P. Datta.Rotterdam, Balkema. 316 p, illustrated, hard cover. ISBN 90 6191 403 5. US$20.00,£11.00.In the world of polar research there is an interesting asymmetry between the twohemispheres. In the Antarctic, the Soviet Union co-operates freely with the west ininternational scientific programmes; there are free exchanges of data and even ofscientists. In the Arctic no such freedom exists. Co-operation is minimal, exchangesseldom going beyond such basic elements as meteorological data. Proposals for co-operative programmes like the World Meteorological Organization's Polar Experiment(POLEX) wither on the vine. The reason is clear; both super-powers view the Arctic asan area for the strategic disposition of submarines and missiles, and every resurgence ofthe Cold War worsens the situation. Yet for a short time in the early 1970s a hopeful periodof detente led to some genuine co-operative work. One such project was the Bering SeaExperiment (BESEX), a joint Soviet-American expedition which, following preliminarynegotiations in 1971 on scientific co-operation in space meteorology, took the field from15 February to 7 March 1973.A decade later we finally have an English-language version of the scientific results, inthe form of a translation of the proceedings of the Soviet-American symposium held inMay 1974. Most of the US contributions have already appeared in National AeronauticsSpace Agency (NASA) reports, some almost a decade ago; many of the Soviet contribu-tions have also been published, albeit in Russian. Yet this book has a value in interleavingthe American and Soviet papers, in a way that demonstrates the considerable achievementsof BESEX. Despite the short duration of the expedition, the two ships (USCG StatenIsland and Soviet icebreaker Pribot) and the US and Soviet aircraft involved collaboratedvery effectively in investigating the microwave properties of sea ice, the application ofremote sensing methods to meteorology,and the oceanographic and ice properties of theBering Sea itself. The knowledge gathered has proved valuable in more recenthttps:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247400004903Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 09:58:35, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at

Glaciology and Climate; The Record of the Ice Sheets

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