Otto Nordenskiöld
Encyclopedia
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
geologist, geographer, and polar explorer.
Biography
Nordenskjöld was born in Hässelby in SmålandSmåland
' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...
in eastern Sweden, in a Finland Swedish family that included his maternal uncle Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Freiherr Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld , also known as A. E. Nordenskioeld was a Finnish baron, geologist, mineralogist and arctic explorer of Finnish-Swedish origin. He was a member of the prominent Finland-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists...
(a noted polar explorer) and cousin Gustaf Nordenskiöld
Gustaf Nordenskiöld
Gustaf Nordenskiöld , Swedish scholar of Finnish descent, a member of the Nordenskiöld family of scientists and the eldest son of polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and Anna Maria Mannerheim...
. His father and mother were cousins, but his father's family name was "Nordenskjöld", while his mother's family name was spelled "Nordenskiöld".
He studied at Uppsala University
Uppsala University
Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...
, obtaining a doctorate in geology in 1894, and later became a lecturer and then associate professor in the university's geology department.
Otto Nordenskjöld led mineralogical expeditions to Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
in the 1890s, and to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and the Klondike
Klondike, Yukon
The Klondike is a region of the Yukon in northwest Canada, east of the Alaska border. It lies around the Klondike River, a small river that enters the Yukon from the east at Dawson....
area in 1898.
He led the 1901-1904 Swedish Antarctic Expedition
Swedish Antarctic Expedition
The Swedish Antarctic Expedition was led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen.-Background:Otto Nordenskjöld, a Swedish geologist and geographer, organized and lead a scientific expedition of the Antarctic Peninsula...
, aboard the ship Antarctic
Antarctic (ship)
The Antarctic was a Swedish steamship built in Drammen, Norway in 1871. She was used on several research expeditions to the Arctic region and to Antarctica through 1898-1903. In 1895 the first confirmed landing on the mainland of Antarctica was made from this ship.-The ship:Antarctic was a barque...
. The expedition visited the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
before the ship, commanded by seasoned Antarctic sailer Carl Anton Larsen
Carl Anton Larsen
Carl Anton Larsen was a Norwegian Antarctic Explorer, who made important contributions to the exploration of Antarctica, the most significant being the first discovery of fossils, for which he received the Back Grant from the Royal Geographical Society...
, dropped Nordenskjöld's party off at Snow Hill Island
Snow Hill Island
Snow Hill Island is an almost completely snowcapped island, long and wide, lying off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from James Ross Island to the northeast by Admiralty Sound...
, a small island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....
. Nordenskiöld overwintered at Snow Hill Island, while Antarctic returned to the Falklands. The following summer Larsen brought her south, intending to retrieve the Nordenskiöld party, but she became trapped in ice which eventually crushed her hull, forcing Larsen and his crew to overwinter in a hastily-constructed shelter on Paulet Island
Paulet Island
Paulet Island is a circular island about in diameter, lying southeast of Dundee Island, off the northeastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is composed of lava flows capped by a cinder cone with a small summit crater. Geothermal heat keeps parts of the island ice-free, and the youthful...
. Larsen and Nordenskjöld finally rendezvoused at their fall-back rescue hut at Hope Bay
Hope Bay
Hope Bay on Trinity Peninsula, is long and wide, indenting the tip of Antarctic Peninsula and opening on Antarctic Sound....
in late 1903, where they were picked up by the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
corvette ARA Uruguay
ARA Uruguay
The corbeta ARA Uruguay, built in England, is the largest ship afloat of its age in the Armada de la República Argentina , with more than 135 years passed since its official incorporation in September 1874...
(commanded by Julián Irízar
Julián Irízar
Admiral Julián Irízar was an officer of the Argentine Navy. He became a key figure in the modernization of the navy's fleet, the commander of the First Division of the Navy and later Naval Center President, but his most memorable action was as commander of the corvette Uruguay in the 1903 rescue...
), which had been dispatched when Antarctic had failed to make her appointed return to South America the previous year. Despite its end and the great hardships endured, the expedition was considered a scientific success, with the parties having explored much of the eastern coast of Graham Land
Graham Land
Graham Land is that portion of the Antarctic Peninsula which lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, in...
, including Cape Longing
Cape Longing
Cape Longing is a rocky cape on the east coast of Graham Land, forming the south end of a large ice-covered promontory which marks the west side of the south entrance to Prince Gustav Channel...
, James Ross Island
James Ross Island
James Ross Island is a large island off the southeast side and near the northeastern extremity of Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Prince Gustav Channel. Rising to , it is irregularly shaped and extends in a north-south direction. It was charted in October 1903 by the Swedish...
, the Joinville Island group
Joinville Island group
Joinville Island group is a group of antarctic islands, lying off the northeastern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which Joinville Island group is separated by the Antarctic Sound. Joinville Island, being located at , is the largest island of the Joinville Island group...
, and the Palmer Archipelago
Palmer Archipelago
Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula....
. The expedition, which also recovered valuable geological samples and samples of marine animals, earned Nordenskjöld lasting fame at home, but its huge cost left him greatly in debt.
In 1905 he was appointed professor of geography (with commercial geography) and ethnography at University of Gothenburg.
Nordenskjöld later explored Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
in 1909 and returned to South America to explore Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
in the early 1920s (many samples from this expedition are now displayed at the Natural History Museum in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
). He was killed in a traffic accident at the age of 59, when he was hit by a bus, in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
where he was also buried.
Nordenskjöld also studied the effects of winter on alpine climate
Alpine climate
Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....
, and his formula is one of the means used to classify the polar climatic zone.
Legacy
A number of geographical features have been named after Otto Nordenskiöld, including:- Nordenskjöld LakeNordenskjöld LakeThe Lake Nordenskjöld is a lake located in Torres del Paine National Park in the Magallanes Region, southern Chile. The lake is named after the Swede Otto Nordenskiöld who discovered the lake in the beginning of the 20th century. The outfall of Nordenskjöld Lake consists of a waterfall known as...
, an alpine lake in Chile's Torres del Paine National ParkTorres del Paine National ParkTorres del Paine National Park is a national park encompassing mountains, a glacier, a lake, and river-rich areas in southern Chilean Patagonia. The Cordillera del Paine is the centerpiece of the park. It lies in a transition area between the Magellanic subpolar forests and the Patagonian Steppes... - Nordenskjold CoastNordenskjold CoastNordenskjold Coast is that portion of the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula between Cape Longing and Cape Fairweather. The name was proposed in 1909 by Edwin Swift Balch, for Otto Nordenskiöld, Swedish geographer and leader of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1901-04, who explored this coast...
, a section of the cost of the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula - Nordenskjold BasinNordenskjold BasinNordenskjold Basin is an undersea basin named in association with the Nordenskjold Ice Tongue . Name approved 4/80 ....
, an undersea basin - Nordenskjold Ice TongueNordenskjold Ice TongueNordenskjold Ice Tongue is a broad glacier tongue extending eastward from the Mawson Glacier into the Ross Sea in Antarctica.Discovered by the Discovery expedition and named for Otto Nordenskiöld. Although this feature is a glacier tongue, the generic term ice tongue is retained in the name to...
, a glacial ice tongueIce tongueAn ice tongue is a long and narrow sheet of ice projecting out from the coastline. An ice tongue forms when a valley glacier moves very rapidly out into the ocean or a lake....
extending over the Ross Sea - Nordenskjold GlacierNordenskjold GlacierNordenskjold Glacier is a large glacier flowing north to the head of Cumberland East Bay, on the north coast of South Georgia. It was charted by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition and named for Otto Nordenskiöld, leader of the expedition.-External links:*...
, a glacier on South Georgia - Nordenskjold OutcropsNordenskjold OutcropsNordenskjold Outcrops is a rock outcrops on the west side of Longing Peninsula at the northeast end of Nordenskjold Coast. The feature extends south for 2 miles from the vicinity of Longing Gap and is the type locality for the geologic Nordenskjold Formation...
, rocky outcrops on the Antarctic Peninsula - Nordenskjold PeakNordenskjold PeakNordenskjold Peak is a conspicuous, partly snow-covered mountain, 2,355 m, which rises at the head of Nordenskjold Glacier and stands close east of Mount Roots in the Allardyce Range of South Georgia...
, a mountain on South Georgia - Nordenskjöld Land, Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard
- Nordenskjöldtoppen, Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard
- Nordenskjöldbreen, Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard
Publications
- Antarctica: Or, Two years amongst the ice of the South Pole ISBN 0208016422
- S A Duse (1905), Bland pingvinar ock sälar, minnen från Svenska sydpolarexpeditionen 1901-03.