Man in the Antarctic

• Main Author: Norman, John Nelson
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 1961
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://theses.gla.ac.uk/79370/; http://theses.gla.ac.uk/79370/1/13850712.pdf

The effects of a cold environment have been sought both in experimental animals and in man. In animals there are well defined indices of physiological change resulting from cold exposure but as study passes to man normally domiciled in a cold climate and then to temperate zone man exposed experimentally to cold evidence of physiological adaptation becomes progressively less well defined. When men living temporarily on a polar base are considered, evidence of cold acclimatization is almost completely lacking and reasons for this lack of evidence were sought by examining the patterns of activity and by measuring the degree of cold to which such men were exposed. The patterns of activity were derived by means of a time and work study and it was shown that an average of 9% of time was spent outdoors but this was subject to a marked seasonal variation. The mean annual energy expenditure was calculated to be 3,347 Cal/day while the energy expended during manhaul sledging was 5,055 Cal/day. Criticism is levelled against the use, by the physiologist, of meteorological data expressed in terms of mean and extreme values. There is a requirement for the expression of climatic data in terms of frequency or, ideally, double frequency tables of temperature and wind velocity since environmental stress can only be assessed from a knowledge of the occurrence and duration of the various combinations of these two parameters. While the better presentation of meteorological data is an advance towards the evaluation of the climatic stress it does not present the true picture since no account is taken of the shelter used by the men or the clothing worn. To account for these factors two concepts are introduced; the exposure climate - the climate which surrounds the man wherever he may be - and the sub-clothing or micro-climate. The annual mean value of the exposure climate was 14C while that of the station was -18.6