International Geophysical Year

Discussions of climate change reached a turning point toward the end of the 1950s, to some extent as a result of new data obtained from International Geophysical Year studies on the Earth s climate. By far the most important factor in this change, however, was the research of Gharles David Keeling (1928-2005), then a postdoctoral student at... 

Figure 48 illustrates the spatial distribution of chloride ions measured by the Swedish network in 1957 and 1958 (Junge, 1963). In this figure the results of a Czechoslovakian program performed during the International Geophysical Year (Macku et al., 1959) are also included. One can see that the isolines practically follow the contour of the continent which makes evident that in locally unpolluted air the atmospheric chloride is of maritime origin. In Scandinavia the concentration initially decreases exponentially with distance from the ocean and reaches a rather constant value. 

The magnetic pole in Antarctica was eventually discovered in 1909 by T.W. Edgeworth David at 72°025 S and 115°16 E in the interior of the continent behind the mountains of Victoria Land. David was a member of the so-called Nimrod Expedition of 1907-1909 that was led by Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922). Since its discovery in 1909, the magnetic pole in Antarctica has moved 900 km to its present position at 65°S and 139°E in the Indian Ocean off the Adelie Coast of East Antarctica (Stonehouse 2002, p. 169). However, nearly 50 years elapsed before the map of the magnetic field in Antarctica was completed during the International Geophysical Year that lasted from 1957-1958 (Victor 1964). 

At a dinner party on April 5 of 1950 in the home of Dr. James Van Allen in Silver Springs, Maryland, the suggestion was made that the time was ripe for another International Polar Year (IPY) even though the next one was not scheduled until 1982-1983. The first IPY had occurred in 1882-1883 followed 50 years later by the second IPY in 1932-1933. The proposal for a third IPY was submitted to the International Council of Scientific Unions which approved it in 1952 but expanded its scope to include geophysical studies of the whole Earth and of the space around the Earth. The resulting International Geophysical Year (IGY) extended from July 1 of 1957 to December 31 of 1958 and coincided with the maximum of the Sun-spot cycle. 

Convinced that the establishment of a firm foundation for the continuation and development of such cooperation on the basis of freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica as applied during the International Geophysical Year accords with the interests of science and the progress of all mankind ... 

Crary AP, Gould LM, Hurlbut EO, Odishaw H, Smith WE (eds) (1956) Antarctica in the International Geophysical Year. Geophysical Monograph No. 1. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC... 

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