POLAR YEAR EXPEDITION — STAGG 109 



committee by the Government through the Air Ministry, and large 

 and generous donations were made in instrumental and foodstuff 

 equipment by upwards of 50 manufacturing and wholesale firms. 



For obvious reasons, it had been one of the guiding principles of 

 the international program that, as far as possible, the stations oc- 

 cupied 50 years ago should be reestablished, with, of course, as many 

 additional ones as possible to complete the circumpolar network. 

 And, further, though it was true that special efforts were to be made 

 in high latitudes, where systematic observational material is at once 

 most scanty and most important, the program of meteorological, 

 auroral, and magnetic work was to be intensified throughout the 

 world. 



It reflects great credit on the efforts of the International Polar Year 

 Commission and especially on its most enthusiastic and energetic 

 president. Dr. la Cour, director of the Danish Meteorological Serv- 

 ice, that in spite of the incidence of the world-wide financial crises 

 just at the time when preparations were in progress, some 46 differ- 

 ent countries have taken part in the Polar Year activities, 23 of 

 which have been able to set up special stations either in their own 

 territory or that of other countries more suitable for the work. A 

 map showing the distribution of Polar Year stations is reproduced 

 in fiaure 1. 



To this general program Britain's contribution has been fourfold : 



(1) By collaboration with her permanent and regular meteoro- 

 logical stations and observatories, including ships at sea. 



(2) By organizing a scheme of special auroral observations in 

 Scotland and the northern islands — a work largely in the hands of 

 the Royal Society, Edinburgh. 



(3) By subsidizing a party under Prof. E. V. Appleton for mak- 

 ing an extensive, novel, and very valuable series of observations of 

 conditions in the ionosphere over Tromso. 



(4) By reoccupying the station at Fort Rae, established 50 years 

 ago. 



In the party of 6 selected by the National Committee for the 

 work in Canada, 4 of us, Messrs. Morgans, Sheppard, Grinsted, 

 and I, were from the Meteorological Office staff; the fifth, Mr. 

 A. Stephenson, from the geography department, Cambridge, had 

 had experience of Arctic work with the British Arctic Air Route 

 Expedition to Greenland in 1930-31; and Mr. Kennedy, our sixth 

 member, acted as our steward-mechanic. All six of us were very 

 thoroughly examined by the Air Ministry medical staff before being 

 accepted, since our station would be far from skilled medical aid for 

 at least 14 months and our personnel was too small to include a 

 doctor. Mr. Grinsted and Mr. Stephenson had, however, undergone 

 a short course in first aid against the cruder contingencies which 



