Surveying in the Antarctic

A Naturalist in Mid‐Africa. Being an account of a Journey to the Mountains of the Moon and Tanganyika. By G. F. Scott Elliot, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.G.S. Pp. xvi + 413, 49 figs., frontispiece, and 4 maps. 8vo. London: A. D. Innes and Co., 1896. Pp. xiii + 413. Price 16s.

A Breath from the Veldt. By John Guille Millais, F.Z.S. London: Henry Sotheran and Co., 1895. Pp. 236. Price £3, 3s. net.

Peru. Von E. W. Middendorf. III. Band : Das Hochland von Peru. Berlin : Robert Oppenheim (Gustav Schimdt), 1895.

Tafilet. The Narrative of a Journey of Exploration in the Atlas Mountains and the Oases of the North‐West Sahara. By Walter B. Harris, F.E.G.S., author of “A Journey through the Yemen,” “The Land of an African Sultan,” VOL. XII. Q

“Travels in Morocco,” etc. Illustrated by Maurice Romberg from Sketches and Photographs by the Author. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1895. Pages xii + 386. Price 12s.

From Far Formosa: The Island, its People, and Missions. By G. L. Mackay, D.D. Edited by the Rev. J. A. Macdonald. Edinburgh : Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier, 1896. 346 pp. Price 7s. 6d.

The Geology and Scenery of Sutherland. By H. M. Cadell, B.Sc., etc. Second edition. Edinburgh : Douglas, 1896. Pp. 104. Price 4s.

The Place‐Names of Fife and Kinross. By W. J. N. Liddall, M.A., Advocate. Edinburgh : W. Green and Sons, 1896. 8vo., pp. xiv. + 58.

Die Liparischen Inseln. Fünftes Heft—Filicuri. Prag : Heinr. Mercy, 1895.

Australien und Ozeanien. Eine allgemeine Landeskunde von Professor Dr. Wilhelm Sievers. Mit 137 Abbildungen im Text, 12 Kartenbeilagen, und 20 Tafeln in Holzschnitt und Farbendruck. Leipzig und Wien. Bibliographisches Institut, 1895. Pp. 521. Price 16 M.

Ritters Geographisch‐Statistisches Lexikon. Achte Auflage: Unter der Redaktion [von Johs. Penzler. Zweiter Band, L‐Z. Leipzig, 1895. 1202 pp.

The Natural History of Plants: their Forms, Growth, Reproduction and Distribution. From the German of Anton Kerner von Marilaun, Professor of Botany in the University of Vienna. Translated and edited by F. W. Oliver, M.A., D.Sc., Quain Professor of Botany in University College, London, with the assistance of Marian Busk, B.Sc., and Mart F. Ewart, B.Sc. With about 2000 original woodcut illustrations and sixteen plates in colours. Vol. i., Biology and Configuration of Plants, pp. xiv. + 777 ; vol. ii., The History of Plants, pp. xiv.+983. London and Glasgow: Blackie and Son, Limited, 1894 and 1895.

Handbook for Travellers in Algeria and Tunis. By Sir R. Lambert Platfair, K.C.M.G. Fifth edition, thoroughly revised. London : John Murray, 1895. Pp. 363. Price 10s. 6d.

Cassell's New Geographical Readers. Fifth Book—Europe. Sixth Book—The British Colonies and Dependencies. Seventh Book—The United States. London, etc. : Cassell and Co., 1895. Prices 1s. 6d., 1s. 6d., 1s. 9d., respectively.

The Statesman's Year‐Book. Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1896. Edited by J. Scott Keltie, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, with the assistance of I. P. A. Renwick, M.A., LL.B. London : Macmillan and Co., 1896. Pp. xxxii+1164.

The Australian Handbook, Shippers’ and Importers’ Directory and Business Guide for 1896. London, Melbourne, etc. : Gordon and Gotch. Pp. 632.

Beobachtungen der Russischen Polarstation an der Lenamündung. 1. Theil. Astronomische und Magnetische Beobachtungen. 1882–4. Bearbeitet von V. Fuss, F. Müller, and K. Jürgens. St. Petersburg : 1895.     

Ionisation in the Antarctic stratosphere

Results from a partial reflection radar experiment, operated at a frequency of 2.9 MHz at Scott Base, Antarctica, are presented for the time interval from January 1987 to June 1991. It is shown that a layer of ionisation can frequently be identified at scattering heights between 40 and 55 km. Details regarding the maximum density, thickness, and frequency of occurrence of this ionisation layer are presented. From sequential occurrences of the ionisation an approximate life time of 70 min is deduced for the layer. The possibility that the ionisation layer is produced by a flux of relativistic electrons is investigated.     

Britain and the British Antarctic Territory in the wider geopolitics of the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean

Britain's contemporary and future relationship with the British Antarctic Territory and the wider region is the subject matter of this article. In the aftermath of the ill‐fated plans for a merger of British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the National Oceanography Centre, it is timely to ask how the UK projects influence and secures its scientific, resource and strategic interests. The contemporary Antarctic is increasingly characterized by tension over resource management and conservation politics as Antarctic Treaty parties disagree, both in private and public, over the purpose of legal instruments and the regulation of activities such as fishing and marine conservation. While we do not predict the collapse of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), our analysis suggests that the effectiveness and legitimacy of the ATS is increasingly under challenge. The United Kingdom's position as a claimant state and original signatory to the Antarctic Treaty is complicated by the presence of counter‐claimants (Argentina and Chile) and a wider preoccupation with other overseas territories, such as South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the Falkland Islands. Polar science, carried out by BAS and other British agents, remains critical not only for maintaining the UK's ‘soft power’ but also increasingly for cementing a ‘strategic presence’ in the Antarctic. The article ends with a cautionary note: scientific excellence is no longer sufficient to guarantee geopolitical/strategic interests and there is growing evidence that claimant and non‐claimant states alike are no longer regarding Antarctica as an area that will remain free of intensifying and diversifying resource exploitation.     

Australia's Antarctic agenda

Australia has had a long connection with, and significant national interests in, the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. The Australian Antarctic Territory comprises 42 per cent of Antarctica's landmass. Australia is not only a claimant state and original signatory to the Antarctic Treaty but has played a significant role in the development of what is termed the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). This article aims to provide an overview of Australia's key policy interests and government policy goals towards Antarctica, including its commitment to the ATS. In examining key policy objectives we note that despite continuity and development of these objectives, significant changes and challenges have arisen in the period 1984–2006. It is these challenges that will help frame Australia's Antarctic agenda over the next 20 years and beyond.     

The Antarctic problem

Pioneering in New Guinea. By James Chalmers. London : The Eeligious Tract Society, 1887. Price 16s.

Australian Defences and New Guinea. Compiled from the Papers of the late Sir Peter Scratchley, R.E., K.O.M.G. By C. Kinloch Gooke, B.A., L.L.M., Barrister‐at‐Law. London : Macmillan, 1887. Price 14s.

Shores and Alps of Alaska. By H. W. Seton Kaee, F.R.G.S. Pp. xiv. + 248. London : Sampson Low and Co., 1887. Price 16s.

The Ancient Cities of the Neiv World, being Travels and Explorations in Mexico and Central America, from 1857–1882. By Désiré Charnay. With numerous Illustrations. Translated from the French by J. Gonino and Helen S. Conant. London : Chapman and Hall, 1887. Pp. xxxii. and 514.

Report on the Administration of the Punjab and its Dependencies for 1885–86. Lahore, 1887.

Précis de Géographic Élémentaire. Par Paul Chaix. Onzième. Édition, revue et modifiée. Geneva : Cherbuliez. 1887.

Lonqmani New Geographical Readers: The Seventh Reader.—The Ocean, Currents, Tides, the Planetary System, and Phases of the Moon. London : Longmans, Green, and Co., 1887. Price 18. 9d.     

On the problem of a connection between ozone dynamics at high latitudes and magnetospheric processes

Two data sets of ozone density measurements over a wide latitudinal range in the Arctic during summer and winter seasons arc presented. It is shown that geophysical effects manifest themselves in the O₃ dynamics in the high latitude region under various circumstances. Therefore a type of total ozone content diurnal variation is a distinctive feature in the auroral oval as well as the polar cap and must be taken into account in any full model of ozone dynamics in the polar regions.     

Summer circulation in the Antarctic middle atmosphere

In November 1982 a partial reflection drifts system for the measurement of winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere was installed as part of the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme at Scott Base (77.8 S, 166.7 E). Ross Island, Antarctica. The wind speed and direction are measured once an hour from echoes available at the time within a height range of 67–97 km. Initial observations made during December 1982, show westward winds between 70 and 90 km, reaching a broad maximum of about 25 m s⁻¹ around 85 km. There is a strong (10 m s⁻¹) meridional component away from the pole at heights of 85–95 km.     

Horizontal movements in the ozone layer

The variations of the column ozone densities at Middle-Asian stations and several others in the former USSR were examined by auto- and cross-correlation analyses. Periodic processes with amplitude of tens of DU and periods of 15 to 25 days occur simultaneously at many stations. The movement of this wave disturbance is directed towards the south-east and can also be seen in the weather maps at 500 hPa and 100 hPa, and the driving force is most probably meteorological air motion.