The FRAM expeditions: Arctic Ocean studies from floating ice, 1979–82

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Johnson, Leonard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1983
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Arctic Ocean; Greenland; laptev; Laptev Sea; Norsk Polarinstitutt; Polar Record; Scott Polar Research Institute
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400021999; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400021999

In May 1982, with the successful conclusion of FRAM IV, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) completed the FRAM series of observations from ice floe stations in the eastern Arctic (Fig 1)—expeditions initiated each spring from 1979 to 1982. The programme developed from an unsuccessful attempt by the Arctic Programme of the ONR to duplicate Fridtjof Nansen's drift of the FRAM across the Arctic. This was to have involved freezing the icebreaker USCGC Burton Island in the pack ice of the Laptev Sea, but the programme was cancelled due to lack of support. Arctic scientists meeting at the Third Symposium on Antarctic Geology and Geophysics at Madison, Wisconsin, decided on an alternative programme involving ice floe stations. Named FRAM in honour of Nansen's vessel (Hunkins and others 1979a; Kristoffersen 1979), this was eventually organized by the Arctic Programme of ONR to provide basic environmental data from the eastern Arctic north of Greenland. From its inception FRAM emphasized multi-disciplinary research by scientists of several nations. The stations were under US management, with logistics coordinated by the Polar Research Center, University of Washington, under ONR contract. Danish scientists were involved through the Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland, Norwegians through the Norsk Polarinstitutt, British scientists through the Scott Polar Research Institute, and Canadians through the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. Each expedition emphasized a particular scientific discipline with supporting programmes: below are listed the dates, major studies (priority discipline first), chief scientists and key data reports of each.