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New Book by John C. Behrendt Released
"Innocents on the Ice; A memoir of Antarctic Exploration, 1957" "Innocents on the Ice" is based on John's experience and writings as part of a U.S. Navy-supported scientific expedition to establish Ellsworth Station on the Filchner Ice Shelf. The expedition, undertaken from November 1956 to early 1958, coincided with the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958), which initiated the "scientific age" in Antarctica. John describes the stress of experiencing the dark Antarctic winter of 1957, during which intense personal conflicts arose at the most isolated of the seven U.S. Antarctic stations. The tension was unrelieved by contact with the outside world. There was no mail for the nine civilians and 30 Navy men living beneath the snow, and only occasional radio contact was made with families for a year. John also describes explorations of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf system during the following summer of 1957-58. As part of an international effort to determine the balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, the field party measured ice thickness and snow accumulation along the hazardous 1,300-mile oversnow traverse in two Sno-Cats. They also made the first geological observations of the spectacular Dufek Massif in the then unexplored Pensacola Mountains. Finally, John draws on his 40 years of continual participation in Antarctic research to explain the changes in the activities and environmental awareness in Antarctica today. John is a Fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado and a Scientist Emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey, where he worked for 31 years. The book is 416 pages long and contains 50 black and white photographs, 6 maps, and an index. It is available through the University Press of Colorado, P.O. Box 849, Niwot Colorado 80554, USA, or an autographed copy can be purchased from the author (2605 Vassar Drive, Boulder, CO 80303, USA).
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in this issue:
Japanese Gas Hydrate Researchers Visit Arrivals & Departures—Menlo Park Arrivals & Departures—Woods Hole
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U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
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