Introduction
-- Introduction --
Traditionally both Canada and the United States have relied on aircraft
and drifting ice camps in supporting scientific work in the Arctic Ocean. Early
examples include the so-called Ski Jump project in 19511952 and the ice
stations Alpha and Bravo in 1957. These efforts have been particularly suc-
cessful in advancing process studies, obtaining certain time series measure-
ments and exploring limited areas; they have been less successful in carrying
out synoptic survey work and sophisticated geographically distributed meas-
urements requiring heavy equipment and elaborate laboratory facilities. In
the open ocean the latter are typically done from shipboard, but not until
1987, when the German research icebreaker Polarstern crossed the Nansen
Basin of the Arctic Ocean, did a modern Western research vessel successfully
operate in the Polar Basin.
Russian scientists had also primarily used aircraft and drifting stations, hav-
ing pioneered these techniques beginning with Papanin's North Pole I station
in 1937. While the large and powerful Russian polar icebreaker fleet, one of
which first reached the North Pole in 1977, routinely operates within the
Polar Basin, the vessels are generally not used as scientific platforms. Mean-
while, the voyage of the Polarstern in 1987 was followed in 1991 by a remark-
able joint SwedishGerman undertaking using the icebreakers Oden and Polar-
stern to cross both the Nansen and Amundsen Basins, reaching the North Pole
and returning to the Atlantic via northeast Greeenland. A U.S. icebreaker, the
Polar Star, started out with the two European vessels but had to turn back near
85N because of mechanical difficulties.
Inspired by the planned SwedishGerman undertaking, but also deeply
concerned that North American scientists would be unable to participate in
ship-supported work in the Arctic Ocean, Ed Carmack and I met with Cana-
dian and U.S. Coast Guard representatives in Ottawa in the fall of 1989 to
inquire about interest in making a scientific crossing of the Arctic Ocean and
about whether the two Coast Guards thought such an undertaking was realis-
tic. The immediate response was positive on both counts, and the initial target
for the crossing was set as the summer of 1993. The next 58 months or so were
filled with a stream of planning activities involving interested scientific par-
ties, the ship operators and funding agencies. Two major changes were made:
Because of the long planning time required, the expedition was moved
back one year to 1994; and
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