Drift Station: Arctic Outposts of Superpower Science

Althoff, William F.

ISBN 10: 1574887718 / ISBN 13: 9781574887716

Edité par POTOMAC BOOKS, 2007

Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. N° de réf. du vendeur B08J-01356

Synopsis :

Closed to conventional passage, the Arctic Ocean and peripheral seas have nevertheless known European explorers since the sixteenth century. Systematic observation, however, dates only from the last years of the nineteenth century, with the epic drift of Fridtjof Nansen's ice ship Fram (1893-1896), the first scientific expedition of the modern era. Twentieth-century technology--the icebreaker, radio transmission, nuclear power, and aircraft--opened the Arctic for survey, basic research, and observation. World War II saw the inhospitable circumpolar Arctic transformed into a theater of military operations.

The Cold War and the missile age saw governments staking further claims, because only a relatively short arc of maritime boreal waste separated North America and Eurasia. The complex interactions of air, ice, and water that drive circumpolar systems also serve as engines of oceanic and atmospheric circulation. As a result, meteorology, oceanography, geophysics, and many other areas of scientific research in the region soon became acutely linked to the economic, political, and particularly the politico-military interests of the Soviet Union, the United States, Canada, and the other Arctic nations.

In response, both superpowers established "drift stations"--that is, isolated camps based on nomadic ice floes--to conduct crucial scientific research. During the Cold War, they were the objects of suspicion, particularly the Soviet stations, which often stood accused as bases for espionage. Today, with the world's climate system and global warming under study, Russian expertise, data, geography, and stewardship are crucial to the world community.

À propos de l?auteur: William F. Althoff, an environmental geologist by profession, has published extensively in technical and in history-related journals. During 1999-2000, he was Ramsey Fellow in Naval Aviation History at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. The author several books on airships, including Forgotten Weapon: U.S. Navy Airships and the U-Boat War

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Drift Station: Arctic Outposts of Superpower...
Éditeur : POTOMAC BOOKS
Date d'édition : 2007
Reliure : Couverture rigide
Etat : Good
Etat de la jaquette : Jaquette