Books in the Studies in Polar Research series

This book reviews the biology of bryophytes and lichens in the polar tundra, where these plants may form a dominant component of the vegetation. It considers adaptation to severe environments in terms of growth form, physiology and reproduction.

In this book Professor Orrego Vicuna examines in depth the legal framework - the Antarctic Treaty, sovereignty, jurisdiction, and the law of the sea - as it relates to the exploitation of Antarctic minerals.

The crossing of the Northwest Passage in August 1985 by a US icebreaker, without requesting authorisation, raised the whole question of Canada's sovereignty over the waters of its Arctic Archipelago.

This book provides a structured account of the full range of environments in Antarctica and of the microbial communities that live within them.

Wind as a Geomorphic Agent in Cold Climates, first published in 2004, presents a description and explanation of wind-generated polar landforms, both modern-day and those in the geological record. It provides an important introduction to this area of geocryology for graduate students and researchers in geomorphology, geology and environmental science.

This book describes the development of Antarctic science over three centuries against a background of advances in techniques of travelling and working in the polar environment and changing political attitudes to a remote and unknown part of the world.

A wide-ranging and up-to-date review of permafrost science, unique in presenting the Russian viewpoint. This English edition brings the standard Russian work on geocryology to a larger readership, allowing the value of the knowledge and concepts developed to be realised more widely.

In this survey, a study group, brought together by the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies, looks at the political and environmental questions raised by the potentially conflicting interests in the Antarctic.

Negotiations to create an International Arctic Science Committee have increased public awareness of issues involving the Arctic. This book provides a timely review of the situation from a social, political and human standpoint and provides an in-depth study of contemporary global controversies involving the Arctic.

This book describes in mathematical, physical and biological terms, the growth and decay of ice - in water, air, earth and living organisms - on a scale ranging from molecular to macroscopic. Consideration of the growth of ice in each of the above contexts provides a clearer understanding of the processes involved.

Macquarie Island, a speck of land rising from the Southern Ocean about 1,000 km south-east of Tasmania, is a wild and beautiful place. Declared a nature reserve in 1933, the island is of immense scientific interest, providing scientists with an opportunity to study unique geological features and to examine the special characteristics of a southern island ecosystem.

The introduction earlier this century of Norwegian reindeer to the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia provided scientists with the unusual opportunity of studying the interaction between a large arctic herbivore and a southern ecosystem that had not previously been exposed to grazing by mammals.

The Antarctic Treaty regime is a uniquely successful legal system which preserves Antarctica for peaceful purposes and guarantees freedom of scientific research. This volume based on an international conference, examines the legal, political and environmental issues that it raises.

The work provides, in chapters by different authors, an in-depth review of the outstanding environmental, technological, political, economic, social and legal issues associated with arctic resource use, development and management.

In this survey, a study group, brought together by the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies, looks at the political and environmental questions raised by the potentially conflicting interests in the Antarctic.

This book describes the effects of cold climates on the surface of the earth. Using scientific principles, the authors describe the evolution of ground thermal conditions and the origin of natural features such as frost heave, solifluction, slope instabilities, patterned ground, pingos and ice wedges.