View up ice-free Wright Valley showing vegetation-free, boulder-strewn, palor desert-glaciated terrain. The valley is 5000 feet indepth. McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. [T. L. Pewe, Arizona State University, Tempe]

29-30 December

Polar Deserts

Man's search for minerals and otherresources in the crust of the earth istaking him from the highest mountainsto the deepest oceans, and from the hottropics to the frigid poles. Explorationand search in polar areas and in the deepoceans has had to await technologicaladvances before they could be madein a safe and economical manner. Glo-bal population growth and the rise inthe standard of living for our masses iscausing a need to exploit resources no

matter where they are to be found.Technology is not yet advanced enoughto exploit the deep oceans, but it is nowfeasible to exploit the polar areas. Manis in increasing numbers beginning tomove into these last "frontier" areas as

minerals and other natural resources are

discovered. Perhaps the most habitableparts of the polar regions are the"desert" areas, and man will, withoutdoubt, disturb the delicate balance be-tween the climatological, geological, andbiological processes in operation in theseareas. Thus man's move in polardesert areas must be made with con-

siderable caution, otherwise he will re-

peat the same mistakes he has made inexploiting the temperate and tropiczone deserts.

Deserts are generally thought of as

being those arid or semiarid areas inthe tropic or temperate zones wherethere is an extreme shortage of water

I OCTOBER 1971

and, because of a lack of cloud cover,an oversupply of sunshine. Because thedevelopment of early civilization was inpart closely associated with these des-erts, they played a large role in thehistory of mankind. Polar deserts willundoubtedly play an increasing role inour future. For this symposium the fol-lowing somewhat arbitrary definition isproposed for a polar desert: a polardesert is a glacier-free terrestrial areawherein the mean annual precipitationis less than 25 centimeters, and the meantemperature for the warmest month ofthe year is less than 10°C. Tundra areaswhich essentially meet these conditionsare included in this definition; thus theArctic Slope of Alaska, for example, isconsidered a polar desert.The Sahara Desert generally re-

ceives approximately 17 to 18 centi-meters (7 inches) of precipitationwhereas Antarctica receives approxi-mately 15 centimeters (6 inches). The15-centimeter water equivalent receivedin Antarctica is, however, in a solidstate and, because of the prevailing lowtemperature over that continent, thereis very little melt. This allows the snowand ice to accumulate and practicallycover the continent with a thick blanketof ice. The Sahara area has prevailinghigh temperatures with "drying" winds,so that the moisture which it receives inthe liquid state is quickly lost back tothe atmosphere; thus the Sahara has anacute shortage of water. Perry Land innorthern Greenland has an annual pre-cipitation of approximately 10 to 12 cen-

timeters, and its relative humidity fre-quently drops below 20 percent duringthe summer months. Oases are found inPerry Land only where there are melt-ing snow drifts and rivers to provideample water. Other climatic factorswhich play a highly important role inthe polar environmental milieu withwhich man will have to contend are:permafrost; abrasion of surfaces bywind-driven snow, ice, and sand grains;widespread atmospheric inversion lay-ers; and a lack of diurnal temperaturechanges.

Man's ability to survive under a widevariety of conditions, often quite ad-verse, is entirely dependent upon hiscreating a microenvironment area suit-able to his needs, becauLse in actualitythe tolerance range within which mancan properly function is limited. Man'soccupation of hot deserts was madepossible by the domestication of thecamel and the invention of the portablewater bottle. His occupation of thepolar deserts is an entirely differentmatter. Tropic and temperate desertsare bounded by areas well populated byman; thus food and other products canbe easily transported in and out. Polardeserts are located far from centers ofcivilization, which causes many prob-lems in transportation, communications,and other aspects of modern living.The environment of polar deserts

places a stress on society, and societywill create a strong stress on the en-vironment. Recreation and social prob-lems will need to be "tailor-made" for

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each society because of its isolation. Ifman is not to do irrepairable harm tothe environment, he must develop astrong rapport with the physical andbiological processes that will either in-fluence or be influenced by any intensi-fied development.The coming years will see a great de-

velopment in the polar areas, and the

most habitable parts of those areas areprimarily of the "desert type." TheAAAS Committee on Arid Lands has,therefore, arranged a symposium onpolar deserts to be held on 29 and30 December 1971. Participants fromCanada and the United States willexamine various aspects of the naturalenvironment of polar desert areas-the

indigenous people who have inhabitedthese areas, the economic base for thedevelopment of resources, and severalof the problems which will confrontpeople moving to those areas.

TERAH L. SMILEYJAMES H. ZUMBERGE

College of Earth Sciences,University of Arizona, Tucson 85721

Topics and Speakers

Arranged by Terah L. Smiley, De-partment of Geosciences, and James H.Zumberge, College of Earth Sciences,University of Arizona, Tucson.

29 December

Introduction, James H. Zumberge(Dean, College of Earth Sciences, Uni-versity of Arizona, Tucson)

Energy and Precipitation Regimes ofIce-Free Areas in Polar Deserts, MarioB. Giovinetto (Associate Professor, De-partment of Geography, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley)

Geologic and Geomorphic Processesof Polar Deserts, Troy L. Pewe (Chair-man, Department of Geology, ArizonaState University, Tempe)

Hydrology of Polar Deserts, RobertS. Sigafoos (Research Botanist, U.S.Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.)

Soil.s of the High Arctic Landscapes,

J. C. F. Tedrow (Professor, Depart-ment of Soils and Crops, Rutgers Uni-versity, New Brunswick, N.J.)

Application of Low Latitude Micro-bial Ecology to High Latitude Deserts,Roy E. Cameron (Technical Staff, Bio-sciences Section, Jet Propulsion Labora-tory, California Institute of Technology,Pasadena)

Macrobiology and Ecology in PolarDeserts, William S. Benninghoff (Pro-fessor, Department of Botany, Uni-versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor)

Indigenous Peoples of Polar Deserts,Graham W. Rowley (Scientific Advi-ser, Department of Indian Affairs andNorthern Development, Ottawa)

30 December

Processes and Costs Imposed by En-vironmental Stress, Arlon Tussing (Pro-fessor, Institute of Social, Economic,and Governmental Research, Univer-sity of Alaska, College)

Review of Development of ArcticResources, John C. Reed (InstituteSenior Scientist, Arctic Institute ofNorth America, Washington, D.C.)

Current Aspects of Resource Devel-opment, George Jacobsen (Arctic Con-sultant, Montreal)

Prospects for Future Development,Fred G. Armstrong (Executive Direc-tor, New York Academy of Sciences,New York)Communication and Transportation

in the Arctic (the speaker to be an-nounced)

Health and Sanitation Problems inthe Arctic, J. W. Grainge, RegionalEngineer, and John W. Shaw, RegionalEngineer (Public Health EngineeringDivision, Department of NationalHealth and Welfare, Edmonton)

Behavioral Design of Habitats forMan in Polar Deserts, William M. Smith(Regional Analysis, College of Com-munity Sciences, University of Wiscon-sin, Green Bay)

27 December

Experimental Manipulations of Natural Systems

Considerable interest is developing inthe analysis of natural ecosystems. Re-search of this scale is not undertakenlightly. Substantial expenditures oftime, effort, and monies are requiredfor this form of ecological research. Thetheoretical base required for the de-velopment of relevant and testable hy-potheses and the technologies requiredto evaluate such constructs are receiv-ing more and more attention in severallaboratories. The role of experimentalmanipulations as a mechanism for hy-pothesis testing in natural ecosystems isincreasing in importance.

This symposium is designed to en-

able a comparison of an array of re-

search programs which have success-

fully utilized experimental manipula-tions of natural ecosystem components.

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Emphasis will be given to the develop-ment of the theoretical basis for thespecific hypothesis to be tested, theformulation and implementation of theexperimental design, the data analysis,and resulting inferences concerning theoriginal hypothesis. The trade off be-tween the specificity of the original hy-pothesis and *the degree of constraintimposed on the behavior of the systemis of great importance. The compara-tive feasibility of manipulations in var-

ious ecosystems willbe indicated by thedistribution of programs represented.

Ivan Valiela and John Teal will dis-cuss their nutrient- and sewage-enrich-ment experiments in a salt marsh eco-

system at Woods Hole. Paul Daytonwill present his experiments of marinebenthos manipulations in the Antarctic.

Ken Cummins and Robert Boling willpresent an integrated systems and ex-perimental manipulation approach tothe analysis of a temperate woodlandstream ecosystem. Robin Vannote willpresent the experimental stream eco-system program at the PhiladelphiaAcademy of Science. Dave Schindlerwill present the experimental eutrophi-cation of lakes with phosphate and ni-trate. Herb Bormann will discuss thetheoretical developments that haveemerged from the Hubbard Brook pro-gram. Dan Simberloff will discuss ex-periments with islands and their insectcommunities. Dave Reichle and RobertVan Hook will present the design andanalysis of a manipulated forest eco-system at the Oak Ridge NationalLaboratories.

WILLiAM E. COOPERCenter for Environmental Quality,Michigan State University,East Lansing 48823

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29-30 December Polar DesertsTerah L. Smiley and James H. Zumberge

DOI: 10.1126/science.174.4004.79 (4004), 79-80.174Science 

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© 1971 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

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