On Polar Tides

In 1981, Nigel Foster flew to Canada’s Baffin Island to begin a solo kayak trip south toward northern Labrador. After crossing the 40-mile wide Hudson Strait in howling winds and fighting a 10 knot tide race, Foster crash-landed on a small island in the dark. He had frostbitten fingers and was 300 miles from the closest village. With unimaginable good fortune, eight days later he ran across an oil tanker and hitched a ride south. He had survived—marking one of the most notable solo crossings in history—but the failure of the second portion of the trip he had originally planned haunted him. In 2004, Foster returned to northern Labrador with his then girlfriend (now wife) Kristin Nelson. Launching from Kuujjuaq in Northern Quebec, the couple paddled the Ungava Bay coast—which has one of the largest tidal variances in the world—to the place Foster had boarded the oil tanker 23 years earlier. From this remote location, the couple completed the trip to Nain that Foster originally planned for 1981. They encountered more polar bears than people. The story of the two trips forms the backbone for On Polar Tides—Originally self-published as Stepping Stones in 2009—which offers an intimate and insightful view of Ungava and Labrador. The new, revised edition includes gripping recollections of the polar adventures and 54 color photographs.

Excerpt from Arctic Tides In preparing this paper one of the principal aims has been to bring together in one form or another practically all available results pertaining to tides in Arctic waters. Although the quality of the results varies widely, the advantages of having all important tidal evidence in one publication are self-evident. In connection with the work, numerous harmonic analyses have been made, and considerable labor has been expended unifying nonharmonic results taken from various sources. Harmonic analyses thus recently made are for the following stations: Cape Bryant, Cape Sheridan, Polaris Bay, Fort Conger, Point Aldrich, Van Rensselaer Harbor, Port Foulke, Port Kennedy, Northumberland Sound, Winter Harbor, Flaxman Island, Treurenberg, and Port Virgo. The remarkably accurate tidal observations along the northern coast of Grant Land and Greenland made by the recent expedition of Robert E. Peary, U. S. N., are published in considerable detail. The tidal observations at Flaxman Island and vicinity made by the expedition under Messrs. Mikkelsen and Leffingwell to the northern coast of Alaska, although not so extensive as those of the Peary expedition, are nevertheless of great value and are likewise published in considerable detail. Undoubtedly many explorers have neglected their opportunities for observing and recording Arctic tides because the amount of rise and fall is generally inconsiderable, and because the possible bearing of this phenomenon upon polar problems was not fully realized. At the present time observations are especially desired in the following regions or localities: The outer coasts of Prince Patrick Island and Banks Land, the coasts of Mackenzie Province, the northwestern coast of Alaska, Wrangell Island, and the Arctic coasts of Siberia. The Russian Government has recently made tidal observations in Taimur Bay and on one of the New Siberian Islands; but, unfortunately for this discussion, the results are not as yet at hand. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Polar motion is an important geophysical process, and difficult to understand given the various parameters involved. But it is of key importance to our climate and climate change. Understanding and modeling also has implications on key technologies such as space geodesy and satellite navigation. Additionally, long term polar motion has close links to decadal climate change and ice cap development. It also reflects the global circulation in the hydro-atmospheric layers and the internal properties of the Earth. Therefore the topic is of primary interest for geophysics as well as climatology.