Across Greenland's Ice Cap: The Remarkable Swiss Scientific Expedition of 1912 - Couverture rigide

De Quervain, Alfred

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0228010667 ISBN 13 : 9780228010661

Editeur : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2022

Synopsis

As polar exploration reached its zenith, and in the same month that Captain Robert Falcon Scott perished in Antarctica, four young scientists from Zurich took ship for Greenland. Though they had little previous experience of arctic travel, their ambition was to achieve the first west-to-east crossing of the northern hemisphere’s largest ice cap, making scientific observations along the way.<br /><br />Few outside Switzerland have heard of this expedition or its leader, the meteorologist Alfred de Quervain, in spite of its success. In thirty-one days in the summer of 1912, the party sledded across 640 kilometres of untracked snow and ice. Nobody died or fell into a crevasse, although there were some near misses. The voyage was more than a well-executed feat of arctic travel: de Quervain and his colleagues collected data still used today by scientists researching the effects of climate change on Greenland’s ice cap. De Quervain’s popular account of his adventures, published in German in 1914, is both a minor classic of exploration literature and a sympathetic portrayal of life in Greenland’s remote coastal settlements in the early twentieth century.<br /><br />Published to coincide with the expedition’s 110th anniversary, Across Greenland’s Ice Cap includes the explorer’s original text, translated into English by his daughter and son-in-law; a historical and biographical introduction by Martin Hood; reflections on the journey’s scientific legacy by the geographers Andreas Vieli and Martin Lüthi; and a treasure trove of hand-tinted lantern slides reproduced in full colour.

65 colour photos, 1 map

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Alfred de Quervain (1879–1927) was a Swiss meteorologist who led the first west-to-east crossing of central Greenland’s ice cap.<br /><br />Martin Hood works in Switzerland for an international organization and is a member of the Academic Alpine Club of Zurich.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Date d'édition: 2022
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0228010667
• ISBN 13: 9780228010661
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 248
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible