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Aleksandr Stepanovich Kuchin (1888–1912) was already an experienced mariner and oceanographer when Amundsen invited him to join the Fram expedition of 1910–12. Expecting a voyage through the Barents Sea, Kuchin found himself on an expedition to the Antarctic. While Amundsen's sledging parties sought the South Pole, Kuchin remained with the ship, completing an excellent oceanographic survey of the southern Atlantic Ocean. Returning to Russia in 1912 he was recruited, by the geologist and explorer V. A. Rusinov to join a scientific expedition to Svalbard. As deputy leader of the party and captain of Gerkules, the expedition ship, Kuchin played an important role in the Svalbard survey. Then once again found himself heading in an unexpected direction: on completing the Svalbard work, Rusanov decided to attempt the Northern Sea Route to the Bering Strait. Gerkules disappeared and was never seen again; her loss, presumably in the Kara Sea, brought to an untimely end the career of a promising young polar explorer.

Inventions, innovations and technological changes in the broadest sense are often treated as an independent process and are not subjected to any detailed attempts at explanation. It is scarcely anything exceptional, for example, that Sigurd Risting, the first historian of the whaling industry in Norway, explains the development of whaling as follows: Thus there has been a large stock of finback whales along the coast of Norway for hundreds of years without their having been an object of regular profitable hunting. The reason for this has been nothing more than lack of tackle and methods capable of making hunting possible. The moment these become available, whaling as a rational business will arise by itself out of natural necessity, so to speak." Bjern L. Basberg, b. 1952, is a research fellow in economic history at the Norwegian School of Economic and Business Administration. The article is based on a thesis of 1980 titled: Innovasjons-teori, patenter og teknologisk utvikling i norsk hvalfangst ca. 1860-1968.

1. Three enzymes effecting hydrolysis of TAME have been purified from E. superba using gel filtration, affinity chromatography and FPLC-anion exchange chromatography. 2. The enzymes had molecular weights of 30,000 (Enzyme I), and 31,000 (Enzymes II and III), respectively, as estimated from SDS-PAGE. 3. pH-optima of about 8.2 were observed for all three enzymes. 4. The enzymes were inhibited by phenyl methyl sulphonyl fluoride (PMSF), tosyl lysyl chloromethyl ketone (TLCK) and soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI), whereas tosyl phenyl chloromethyl ketone (TPCK) had no effect on the activity. 5. The enzymes were stable at neutral pH, and only slowly inactivated at highly alkaline pH. Low pH rapidly inactivated all three enzymes. 6. Enzyme I liberated amino acids from casein, whereas Enzymes II and III did not; the latter two being true endopeptidases which effected enhanced amino acid production from casein when mixed with Enzyme I.

1. A survey has been made of the peptide hydrolase activities occurring in Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. 2. A major protein hydrolyzing activity in the pH range of 6–8, and a minor activity at pH 3–4, were detected. 3. Temperature optima of approx. 50°C and 35–40°C, respectively were determined for the neutral and acid peptide hydrolases. 4. Trypsin-like activity, as well as carboxypeptidase A-, carboxypeptidase B-, and aminopeptidase activity were detected in extracts of krill. 5. Considerable variation in total hydrolase activity was observed in different catches of E. superba obtained from the same area. 6. The pattern of release of amino acids during autolytic breakdown of krill proteins was very similar in catches of krill exhibiting considerable differences with respect to total peptide hydrolase activity.

1. The distribution of lipid in the tissues of Euphausia superba has been examined by histological and chemical methods. 2. The total lipid content of krill from different catches may vary considerably, and the variations are probably due both to differences in nutritional status and maturity of the roe of female krill. 3. Female krill contained about twice as much lipid as male krill from the same haul. 4. The roe is the dominating lipid depot in female krill; in both male and female krill lipid-rich areas are found along the digestive tract, between muscle bundles and beneath the exoskeleton. 5. Both the phosphoglyceride- and triacylglycerol content of body fractions of E. superba varied in proportion to the total lipid content, thus supporting the contention that both phosphoglycerides and triacylglycerols serve as depot lipids in this species of krill.

The resting spore morphology of the antarctic diatoms Coscinodiscus furcatus Karsten and Thalassiosira australis Peragallo are described. Both species form endogenous resting spores. The spore valve of C. furcatus differ from those of the vegetative cells primarily by (i) a greater convexity and (ii) a coarser and more distinctly fasciculated areolation. This resting spore is identical to the diatom traditionally identified as C. stellaris var. symbolophorus (Grunow) Jørgensen in the Antarctic. The resting spore of T. australis differs from the vegetative cells by (i) a lack of clusters of strutted processes in a modified ring on valve face, (ii) a coarser areolation and tangential rows of areolae and (iii) a narrower and more simply structured girdle. The resting spore valve of T. australis has been described as belonging to a separate species, Actinocyclus excentricus Peragallo.

In the austral summer of 1983, schools of krill from Bransfield Strait and Palmer Archipelago were analyzed for composition in terms of size frequencies and maturity stages. Juveniles dominated in all schools, and mature animals never exceeded 6.8% of the animals at any sampling site. Gravid females were encountered in only four out of 15 schools and were never more frequent than 1.8% of the animals in any school. Among subadults and juveniles the largest animals were found on the inside of Palmer Archipelago. Smaller nonreproductive animals were on the outside and in Bransfield Strait. A second group of juveniles, in a size range of 12-15 mm, was more pronounced north of Crocker Passage than south of the Passage. Their potential origin from a more slowly growing and later spawning Southern Weddell Sea population is discussed. Lack of reproductive animals in the Bransfield/South Shetlands vicinity may reflect yearly variation in this region. A hypothesis is put forward on the basis of this study that Palmer Archipelago is a nursery ground for krill spawned elsewhere. The sites of origin of this krill could be ascertained on the basis of studies of enzyme polymorphism in these populations.

The distribution with depth of seven different ions in three snow profiles, 1, 60 and 120km from the coast on Riiser-Larsenisen Ice Shelf (72° 30′ S, 15°E) shows a close co-variation between ions of marine origin and non-correlation between these ions and ions of presumptively non-marine origin. The deposition rates of ions of marine origin vary as 50:1 over some 120 km distance from the coast. The SO42−Na+ ratio in snow near the coast is lower than for bulk sea water indicating a loss of SO42− in snow to the atmosphere by volatilization.