Volume 2, Issue 3, July 2026

Between 1999 and 2001, a traveling, immersive museum show about Sir Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance saga captured the public imagination. New books appeared on the subject and old accounts were reprinted. Shackleton’s leadership principles became mass-market fare. Feature films and documentaries were produced. Anything pertaining to “ice” was suddenly saleable. Then “Shackleton Mania” subsided, and once again the amazing, true stories of the explorers who sought to extend our knowledge of the Arctic and Antarctic were eclipsed by what can only be described as historical amnesia. 

To revive and celebrate the incredible exploits of the heroic figures who challenged the polar regions north and south in wooden ships and early airplanes, and with dog sleds and dirigibles, 2028 has been designated the first International Polar History Year (IPHY). The IPHY Steering Committee said the following in an initial announcement: 

“The great Roald Amundsen, first to set foot on the South Pole, navigate the Northwest and Northeast Passages and fly from Svalbard to Alaska by way of the North Pole, died on or about June 18, 1928, en route to the Pole on a search-and-rescue mission. Richard Byrd and Sir Hubert Wilkins embarked later that year on landmark Antarctic expeditions. We anticipate for 2028 a worldwide series of exhibitions, symposia, observances, and educational presentations commemorating the polar travels of Amundsen, Byrd, Wilkins and their contemporaries, and those who broke trail for them.”

Further details will be available at https://www.iphy.news/. 

Appreciation for the USS/USCGC Glacier

The APS Voices team recently had the opportunity to learn about the storied history of the USS / USCGC Glacier from Peter Hutchinson, LCDR USN (Ret.). The Glacier has both the USS and USCGC prefix since it was in operation in the U.S. Navy from its commissioning in 1955 to 1966 and with the U.S. Coast Guard from 1966 to its decommissioning in 1987 when that service assumed responsibilities for all icebreaking activities. The Glacier operated in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, including serving as the flag ship for Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd during the first Operation Deep Freeze from 1955 to 1956. The Glacier continued to operate in the polar regions, including during the International Geophysical Year (1957 to 1958) when the United States and eleven other countries demonstrated the success of international scientific cooperation in Antarctica, which led to the Antarctic Treaty that still governs the region. 

LCDR Hutchinson described to APS his experience on the Glacier in Antarctica and its Southern Ocean during his 1960 to 1962 cruise. The primary task of the Glacier, as it is for its successor, the USCGC Polar Star, is to break a channel in the Ross Sea so supply ships can access the U.S. McMurdo Station. As he said, “You have to break a channel through ice 4 and 5 feet thick for regular ships. That can take days if the ice is thick enough. Even for an icebreaker it can be challenging. We helped supply ships make the 15 mile trip, working through snowstorms and winds of over 50 knots. Our skipper, experienced in working through ice, developed a technique where we headed the ship to the left, then to the right. Its heaviness broke the ice and then provided a space for it to go, making a zig-zag progress.”

Photo from US Naval Institute 

LCDR Hutchinson described flying in a helicopter to plot and map the Saunders Coast of Marie Byrd Land, exploring an ice cave on a hill that one could enter and look down a crevasse hundreds of feet deep, and following the ridge of a crevasse until it became too narrow to proceed. He also described how the ship would support scientists and crew on land, including one time when a group had to stay two nights due to a sudden snowstorm and how one of the crew saved lives with his knowledge of building a snow hut. 

Of course, LCDR Hutchinson commented on the infamous Drake’s Passage, where he said, “the wind would get from 55 to 70 knots and the temperature to some 22 degrees below zero!” He also recounted an incident in the Bellinghausen Sea when the new captain was thrown out of his bunk onto the floor and suffered fifteen stitches to his forehead. Throughout his travels, he was particularly impressed by the petrels and albatross, Adelie and Emperor Penguins,  Ross Seals on the ice, Humpback and Orca (killer) whales, and ice, including a five miles long iceberg. 

For those who want to learn more about this history, please see LCDR Hutchinson’s piece for the US Naval Institute’s Naval History Journal and The Glacier Society, which provides a fascinating history of the “free world’s most powerful icebreaker”.

New Icebreakers Making Progress

Continuing with the icebreaker theme, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it had finalized a multi-billion contract to build six new icebreakers, with the first expected in 2028 and all six by 2031. Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard named Kodiak and Seward, Alaska as the homeports for three future Arctic Security Cutters that will be built under the ICE Pact between Canada, Finland, and the United States. This is particularly timely progress as China is reportedly sending four scientific vessels to operate in Arctic waters from July to October. (Image from MarineLog)

Past and Present of One Antarctic Peak

The APS Voices team also had the opportunity to talk with University of Minnesota assistant professor of glaciology, Dr. Peter Neff, about a time he learned the personal backstory of an Antarctic place name. Dr. Neff described meeting the nephew of U.S. Navy aviation electronics technician, Charles S. Miller, who was killed in a crash of a P2V Neptune airplane at McMurdo Sound on October 18, 1956. The naval aviators were the vanguard of U.S. research conducted during the International Geophysical Year. The nephew, Ethan Robison, shared memories and photos of Miller and his work as part of U.S. efforts to preserve Antarctica for peace and science. In addition to being remembered by his family, the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN) and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names agreed to memorialize Charles Miller and his fellow fallen naval aviators by naming a peak in the Sentinel Range in the Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica after him.

This interaction spurred Dr. Neff to research the crash and to post in 2020 the story on TikTok, which was just then reaching the heights of its social media influence. Dr. Neff admits to being nervous about that post since he was at that time relatively new to social media and due to the nature of the topic. However, as @Icy_Pete, Dr. Neff continues to post information about Antarctica and polar science via Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. His success at science communication led Columbia University to interview him about how to use social media to inform people about polar science. His advice is to know what your message will be and to post something catchy (and you never know what will be catchy) as the vehicle to relay that message.

Movie Review: The Eagle Soars

In the News …

The International Union for Conservation of Nature announced in April that Antarctic fur seals have joined the Emperor Penguin as being Endangered species. Despite this concerning news, the annual Antarctic Treaty meeting held in May did not provide additional protections to either species. On the same troubling theme but in the north, the Arctic Council Secretariat reported in April that thousands of seabirds, such as puffins, died in winter storms in incidents called “wrecks”. Climate change is cited as a contributing cause for all of these losses. 

The first of 10 drifts over the next 20 years in the Arctic Ocean will start in September. The Tara Polar Station, which will hold 12 people, will freeze itself into the Arctic ice to conduct scientific research in this rapidly changing and little known region. 

Scientists in the north are researching the Arctic Ocean now that it is easier to reach the geographic North Pole due to the 40% reduction in sea ice since the 1970s. In the south, scientists have a new explanation about why the Antarctic ice sheets developed millions of years before the northern polar ice cap.