American Polar Society

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The American Polar Society is a non-profit organization that for 90 years has been advancing interest in, knowledge about, and appreciation for the Earth’s polar regions — the Arctic and Antarctica.

On October 31st, 1956, an R4D Skytrain, the “Que Sera Sera” piloted by Lieutenant Commander Leon Conrad "Gus" Shinn, lan...
31/10/2026

On October 31st, 1956, an R4D Skytrain, the “Que Sera Sera” piloted by Lieutenant Commander Leon Conrad "Gus" Shinn, landed at the geographic South Pole at 8:34 p.m. becoming the first aircraft to do so. The seven man crew, led by Rear Admiral George Dufek, became the first American team ever to reach the Pole. Prior to the landing, no person had travelled to the Pole since Robert Falcon Scott's party in January 1912. Aided by its Jet Assisted Take Off after the skis became frozen in the snow, the “Que Sera Sera” departed at 9:23 p.m. after 49-minutes on the ground.

If you happen to be around Pensacola, Florida, you can see the “Que Sera Sera” on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum.

Interested in the polar regions? Follow the American Polar Society on Facebook and Instagram; or join us on the web @ www.americanpolar.org

On October 25th, 1975, the British Antarctic Survey began construction on Rothera Research Station at Rothera Point on A...
25/10/2026

On October 25th, 1975, the British Antarctic Survey began construction on Rothera Research Station at Rothera Point on Adelaide Island. The station would eventually replace the nearby Adelaide Island Station, whose ski-way had deteriorated. The construction of the station was phased with the initial party establishing a snow runway at the site to use in the 1975–76 summer along with a small hut later that season for use during the winter (4 personnel wintered that first season). More expansive construction occurred in the summer of 1976-77 with the addition of living quarters and a generator shed, bringing the station to a crew of 13 personnel. Though today’s station is a far cry from its humble beginnings, it continues to do what it has done for over 50 years - support Antarctic science by serving as a focal point for polar research by the British Antarctic Survey. Take a virtual tour of Rothera Research Station @ https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/rothera/

Interested in the learning more about the polar regions? Follow the American Polar Society on Facebook and Instagram. APS would like to thank the Rothera Group LTD for permission to use its collection of photos by George Harvey, who piloted some of the Twin Otter aircraft for the British Antarctic Survey during the station’s early days.


20/10/2026

On October 20th, 1911, Roald Amundsen and his party (Hanssen, Wisting, Hassel and Bjaaland) departed their base, Framheim, on the Bay of Whale for the South Pole with four sledges, fifty-two dogs, and provisions. The expedition would reach their first depot at 80°S three days later.

Interested in learning more about the polar regions? Follow American Polar Society on Instagram and Facebook.

(Video of sledge departure in 1911 from film “Roald Amundsens Sydpolsferd (1910-1912)” by Roald Amundsen; Kristian Prestrud; Hjalmar Fredrik Gjertsen; Thorvald Nilsen from the National Library of Norway on archive.org)

On October 19th, 1906, the Gjøa sailed through the Golden Gate arriving in San Francisco, California from Alaska after c...
19/10/2026

On October 19th, 1906, the Gjøa sailed through the Golden Gate arriving in San Francisco, California from Alaska after completing the first voyage though the Northwest Passage. Though Roald Amundsen had arrived several days earlier by train, the expedition was met with a hero's welcome. After her arrival, the Gjøa was donated to the city and displayed outdoors at the west end of Golden Gate Park from 1909 until 1972. In 1972, the Gjøa was returned to Norway and displayed by the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo. Today, the Gjøa is on permanent display at the Fram Museum.

Interested in learning more about the polar regions? Follow American Polar Society on Facebook and Instagram. Or join us on the web @ www.americanpolar.org

On October 17th, 1998, the Des Groseilliers, a Canadian icebreaker, arrived in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, concluding the Surfa...
17/10/2026

On October 17th, 1998, the Des Groseilliers, a Canadian icebreaker, arrived in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, concluding the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) project. Led by researchers from the University of Washington and the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, the team conducted a year-long drift of roughly 1,800 miles through the Arctic pack ice after Des Groseilliers was intentionally embedded in the ice. Funded by the National Science Foundation, with support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the Japanese government, the expedition’s results indicated the research year was warmer than normal, with ice breaking up earlier in spring and ocean surface water unusually low in salinity. The SHEBA researchers had an eventful year, including a floe breakup that briefly stranded one of the ice camps half a mile from the ship, thinning summer ice that repeatedly dropped researchers into the nearly-freezing water below, and periodic visits from curious polar bears.

Interested in the polar regions? Follow the American Polar Society on Facebook and Instagram or join us on the web @ www.americanpolar.org

On October 15th, 1960, the U.S. Army announced a portable nuclear power plant had begun operation at Camp Century, an in...
15/10/2026

On October 15th, 1960, the U.S. Army announced a portable nuclear power plant had begun operation at Camp Century, an installation built entirely beneath the surface of the Greenland ice cap roughly 800–900 miles from the North Pole. Camp Century was constructed using a unique method: snow plows dug a network of trenches — a 1,100-foot main thoroughfare and side streets ranging from 500 to 800 feet — which were then roofed with steel arches and covered over with snow, with prefabricated buildings assembled inside the resulting tunnels; men lived and worked entirely under the ice, the first time this had been attempted for a wintering station. The nuclear reactor, built by Alco Products, Inc. of Dunkirk, N.Y., was shipped to Greenland on June 23, 1960, and could supply a full year of heat and power using 200 pounds of nuclear fuel — work that would otherwise have required more than 850,000 gallons of diesel. It would be dismantled several years later when building under the ice proved too unstable for the safe use of nuclear power.

Interested in learning more about the polar regions? Follow the American Polar Society on Facebook and Instagram; or join us on the web @ www.americanpolar.org

On October 15th, 1959, The Antarctic Treaty Conference formally opened in Washington, D.C., in the auditorium of the Dep...
15/10/2026

On October 15th, 1959, The Antarctic Treaty Conference formally opened in Washington, D.C., in the auditorium of the Department of the Interior, with representatives from all twelve nations active in Antarctica — Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Soviet Union, the Union of South Africa, and the United States. Chief delegates from each nation delivered opening statements of policy, pledging to keep Antarctica free of war and indicating broad agreement on a treaty to that effect. The conference, opened roughly seventeen months after President Eisenhower's May 2, 1958 invitation to the eleven other nations, would conclude with the treaty's signing on December 1, 1959.

Interested in learning more about the polar regions? For over 90 years the American Polar Society has been sharing the Arctic and Antarctic with the world. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram; or join us on the web @ www.americanpolar.org

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