Jeffries, Martin O.

English

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FROZEN OCEANS: THE FLOATING WORLD OF PACKICE. By DAVID N. THOMAS. Richmond Hill, Ontario:Firefly Books Ltd., 2004. ISBN 1-55407-000-7. 224 p.,maps, colour and b&w illus., glossary, bib., index.Hardbound. Cdn$45.00; US$45.00.Thirteen years have elapsed since the publication of Glaciers(Hambrey and Alean, 1992), a lavishly illustrated book thatreflects the authors’ considerable experience investigatingalpine and polar glaciers and their wish to share their knowl-edge and enthusiasm with a broad audience. At the timeGlaciers appeared, I had seen enough sea ice to convince methat it offered ample scope for a similar book. Thanks toDavid Thomas, that book is now available.In the preface, Frozen Oceans is described as “…anintroduction to the large-scale distribution of pack ice aroundthe world.” This hardly begins to describe the content andpurpose of Frozen Oceans. As a marine biogeochemist whohas worked in both polar regions, the author views the packice as a habitat for diverse organisms: a major global habitatthat at the time of its maximum extent (between June andNovember) covers 13% of the Earth’s surface, an area similarto that covered by deserts and tundra (p. 4).The publication of Frozen Oceans in early October2004 could not have been more timely. It coincided with anannouncement that the Arctic Ocean pack ice had reacheda near-record minimum extent for the third consecutiveyear (NSIDC, 2004). There is some debate as to whetherthe continuing large changes in Arctic sea-ice extent aredue to natural climate change, or polar amplification of thegreenhouse effect on global climate, or a combination ofthe two. Whatever the cause of these changes, the NSIDCarticle was soon followed by widely reported concernabout unprecedented increases (more than 2 ppm) in an-nual atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration in both2002 and 2003 (Brown, 2004). Then, as much of thisreview was being written, the International Symposium onClimate Change in the Arctic convened in Rejkjavik,Iceland, on 9–11 November 2004, and the Arctic ClimateImpact Assessment (ACIA, 2004) was published online.Physical changes in the Arctic tend to grab the head-lines, and the ACIA report ought to lead to a widerappreciation for the fact that polar climate change also hasbiological and human dimensions and consequences. Fro-zen Oceans is primarily a book about the pack-ice ecosys-tem and its inhabitants, with a focus on a broad range ofbiota, from the micro-organisms that inhabit the smallestspaces within the ice to the largest organisms that liveabove, on, between, and under the ice floes. People, too,have long had an association with the pack ice, particularlythe indigenous peoples of the Arctic, but sealers, whalers,explorers, the oil industry, tourists, and scientists and theirmethods are also discussed briefly.Written “in a lively style” (according to the publisher’sblurb on the dust jacket), Frozen Oceans conveys in “non-technical terms and…through colour photography” the physi-cal conditions and processes of the ice cover itself and thebiological dimensions of the complex and sensitive pack-icehabitat. There are five chapters on the biology of the pack ice,organized in a sequence from the smallest to the largestorganisms. They are preceded, logically, by three chaptersthat describe the physical environment. The two final chap-ters provide a history of pack-ice exploration and how thepack ice has been studied and a discussion of threats to and thepotential of the pack ice.It’s a little odd that fast ice is excluded from the book.There is no question that the total global area of fast ice ismuch smaller than the area of pack ice, and some mightconsider the fast ice to be much less spectacular than thepack ice. For example, fast ice doesn’t move across theocean surface, often at speeds of many kilometres per day,opening up leads in some places, and elsewhere closingthem and deforming ice into sometimes spectacular pres-sure ridges. On the other hand, fast ice is important topeople—the Inuvialuit and Inuit of the Canadian Arctic,for example—and the current knowledge of pack-ice micro-biology is built on the firm foundation of earlier studies offast-ice microbiology.The geographer in me would prefer to see Chapter 3,Pack-ice Regions of the World, presented as the firstchapter, with a more detailed description of the spatialdistribution of pack ice, particularly in the Northern Hemi-sphere. The chapter concludes with descriptions of threeunusual pack ice regions: the White, Baltic, and Caspianseas. Since the Caspian Sea is an inland sea not connectedto the global ocean, that sea ice occurs at its northern endis curious and perhaps not widely known (I had no idea).On the other hand, that there is sea ice in the White Sea,located on the Arctic Circle and directly connected to theArctic Ocean, is unremarkable. And if Baltic Sea ice isworthy of mention, why not also mention the Gulf of St.Lawrence, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Bo Hai? Each is farfrom the Arctic Ocean; the Gulf of St. Lawrence is roughly10˚ farther south than the Baltic Sea and the Sea ofOkhotsk; and the Bo Hai, at the same latitude as SanFrancisco, New York, and Lisbon, has the southernmostsea ice in the Northern Hemisphere.Frozen Oceans is neither reference book nor textbook,and the knowledgeable reader will wince at some of thenumerous and avoidable errors. Here are just two exam-ples. First, on page 38 it is incorrectly stated that, inAntarctica, it is only in the Weddell and Amundsen seasthat significant amounts of pack ice last for more than oneyear (i.e., become multiyear ice). The error is partiallycorrected on page 55, where it is noted that the circulationpatterns of the Weddell and Ross gyres create conditionsthat favour the establishment of significant volumes ofmultiyear ice. So now we have multiyear ice in the westernWeddell, Amundsen, and eastern Ross seas, but that stillomits the Bellinghausen Sea. Second, on page 45 it isclaimed that the over 7 km spatial resolution of the Ad-vanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) isbetter than that which can be achieved by active micro-wave remote sensing. Putting aside the fact that the spatialREVIEWS • 215216 • REVIEWSresolution of AVHRR is actually 1.1 km, the claim wouldbe correct if the comparison is made with scatterometer-derived maps of sea-ice extent (50 km spatial resolution),but quite wrong if the comparison is made with syntheticaperture radar data, which have spatial resolution two tothree orders of magnitude better than AVHRR. I leave it toa biologist to document any problems with the chapters onthe bugs and critters.I counted 150 colour photographs, 17 black-and-whitephotographs, 15 colour illustrations and 22 diagrams/graphs/maps, all reproduced very well on high-quality paper. Thebook has a glossary (with two different definitions for iceconcentration, but never mind), an index, and three pages offurther information that list some relevant books, specializedjournals, and websites. As a book that seeks to spread knowl-edge and appreciation of the pack ice beyond the smallnumber of us who have had the privilege of working there,Frozen Oceans will appeal to the scientifically literate lay-man who is interested in the polar regions. But we specialists,too, ought to have the book on our shelves; no personal orinstitutional polar/marine science library will be completewithout it. It would also serve as a useful introduction to sea-ice biology for undergraduate and graduate students in thepolar marine physical sciences.Notwithstanding the errors, I strongly recommend Fro-zen Oceans for experts and non-experts alike. The first ofits kind, Frozen Oceans is exceptionally good value.David Thomas is to be congratulated for reducing a com-plex subject, more or less successfully, to a readable andinformative description of the pack ice, and for sharing hisknowledge and enthusiasm with a wider audience.REFERENCESACIA (ARCTIC CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENT). 2004.Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. See also http://amap.no/acia.BROWN, P. 2004. Climate fear as carbon levels soar. The GuardianWeekly 171(17):1. October 11, 2004. London: Guardian News-papers. www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1324276,00.htmlHAMBREY, M., and ALEAN, J. 1992. Glaciers. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.NSIDC (NATIONAL SNOW AND ICE DATA CENTER). 2004.Yet another low year for Arctic minimum sea ice concentration.NSIDC Notes 49:1. Boulder, Colorado: NSIDC. www-nsidc.colorado.edu/pubs/notes/49/#seaiceMartin O. JeffriesGeophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks903 Koyukuk DriveP.O. Box 757320Fairbanks, Alaska, U.S.A.99775-7320martin.jeffries@gi.alaska.eduTHE WHALES THEY GIVE THEMSELVES: CONVER-SATIONS WITH HARRY BROWER, SR. Edited byKAREN BREWSTER. Fairbanks: University of AlaskaPress, 2004. ISBN 1-889963-66-6. xvii + 232 p., map,b&w illus., bib., index. Softbound. US$22.95.The Brower family has a long and very public history onthe North Slope of Alaska. Charles D. Brower, self-styledking of the Arctic, dominated much (although by no meansall) of Barrow social life through most of the first quarterof the 20th century. His many-volume, unpublished jour-nal, archived at the University of Alaska, was published ina much shorter version entitled Fifty Years Below Zero(1942). His daughter Sadie Neakok is probably best knownas Barrow’s serving magistrate over many years, a posi-tion in which she was determined that local residentswould not suffer unjustly from unfamiliar law ways. Sadiewas also active in many arenas of public life during thesecond half of the 20th century and was universally held inhigh regard by Iñupiat and non-Iñupiat alike. Her remark-able life history was recorded with the help of MargaretBlackman in 1989.As Brewster says, Harry Brower was perhaps less vis-ibly in the public eye, but his influence was neverthelessprofound, not least in helping to foster an unusually col-laborative and mutually respectful relationship betweenscientists and many Iñupiat with specialized knowledge oftheir environment. For this alone, the present volumemakes an important contribution to the social studies ofscience, posing an important alternative to the all toocommon assumption of inevitable tensions between expertand lay knowledge, between traditional and modern knowl-edge, and between indigenous and scientific knowledge.Through her conversations with Harry Brower, Brewsterbrings to light a detailed history of this important relation-ship, beginning with Charles D. Brower’s interactionswith visiting scientists in the late 19th century, a role thatincorporated his children as collectors of scientific speci-mens. She continues by recounting further interactionswith scientists connected to NARL (the Naval ArcticResearch Laboratory, established a few miles north ofBarrow), who recruited local children to bring them de-sired specimens. Up to this point, the story is well known,although Harry Brower’s account provides nice detailsthat I have not seen elsewhere. What is less well known,but of central importance to an understanding of contem-porary political life in Barrow, is Harry Brower’s influ-ence in incorporating scientists in the activities of theAlaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC). When theInternational Whaling Commission (IWC) proposed toban Iñupiaq bowhead whaling in 1977, local whalersinsisted that the bowhead population was stronger than theIWC believed. The IWC rejected the claim, insisting thatIñupiat whalers did not have the scientific knowledge toback up their assertions. The subsequent organization ofthe AEWC included the incorporation of scientific re-search, largely at the encouragement of Harry Brower and

Frozen Oceans: The Floating World of Pack Ice, by David N. Thomas

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Frozen Oceans: The Floating World of Pack Ice, by David N. Thomas

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