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Summary
The two Intemational Polar Years and the
field research station at Snæfellsjökull,
W-Iceland in 1932-33
After 1815 there was increasing interest in explo-
ration of the polar regions, and scientists also felt a
growing need for international collaboration in fields
studying global phenomena, such as in meteorology
and geomagnetism. By 1880 it was realized that regu-
lar series of observations in the polar areas might be of
more value for science than sporadic results from brief
expeditions. This led to the first International Polar
Year 1882-83, during which much effort was spent on
establishing research stations in the Arctic. No stations
were set up in Iceland at this time. In the next few
decades, however, many meteorologists in Europe
turned their attention to the Iceland region as an impor-
tant “center of action” in the generation of EuropeV
weather, and meteorological expeditions were sent to
Iceland and Greenland.
By 1930, regular trans-Atlantic air communications
via Iceland were becoming an attractive possibility and
were a prime reason behing the organizing of a new
Polar Year effort half a century after the first one.
In the Second International Polar Year, a field station
was erected at 820 m altitude near the Snæfellsjökull
glacier in Westem Iceland by Danish and Swiss institu-
tions in collaboration with the Icelandic Meteorological
Office. The station was in operation for 10 months,
collecting meteorological and other geophysical data as
well as running a short-wave radio transmitter.
Also in 1932-33, Dutch meteorologists collected
valuable data on atmospheric conditions over Reykja-
vik by two biplanes and balloon observations. German
scientists made extensive meteorological and oceano-
graphic observations in the Iceland area, in close con-
nection with the 1932-33 Polar Yeai' activities. Additio-
nally, geomagnetic variations were recorded by Th.
Thorkelsson in Reykjavik for a while at this time, but a
permanent magnetic observatory was not set up in
Iceland until 1957.
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