Charles B. Hitchcock · 1966
American Geographical Society director Charles B. Hitchcock recounts the planning and early production of the Antarctic Map Folio Series, supported financially and advised by the National Science Foundation. An atlas proposal made in 1958 led to questionnaires circulated in 1959–1960, which received 178 responses. Intended for scientists and students seriously interested in Antarctica, the project adopted separately issued, single-subject folios so that completed material could be published without waiting for a bound atlas. The Society received the production contract in November 1962 and appointed Vivian Bushnell executive editor. Hitchcock describes her use of a classified file of some 3,000 scientific reports from 1957–1963, research-program lists, and consultations with scientists to plan the contents. Specialist advisers and international contributors assisted with individual subjects. Coverage and presentation varied with the evidence: flowering-plant maps would show every known locality, while lichen maps would illustrate selected distribution patterns; sparse marine-invertebrate records required contributors to assess what could meaningfully be mapped. At the time of writing, the aeronomy, ice-sheet characteristics, and maps-and-surveys folios had appeared. Hitchcock outlined a series covering 17 subjects, sometimes with two folios per subject, and reported further cartographic work in progress. Publication order initially depended on when authors completed their material.
Vivian C. Bushnell · 1969
Vivian C. Bushnell reports on the three Antarctic Map Folio Series folios nearest completion among five undergoing cartographic and editorial work. The Antarctic bedrock-geology folio, scheduled for publication before year-end, contains 18 regional maps at 1:1,000,000 with accompanying texts, compiled by 24 geologists from eight nations specializing in the areas mapped. Campbell Craddock contributed a continent-wide geological map and explanatory text, and Robert Nichols mapped and described widespread geomorphic features. Bushnell calls the folio an important achievement in compilation and cartography. The forthcoming Circumpolar Characteristics of Antarctic Waters, by Arnold L. Gordon, Robert D. Goldberg and Kenneth Hunkins, extends coverage to all surrounding ocean areas northward to 40°S. Its plates distinguish observation stations by historical period and present temperature, salinity and oxygen through depth-specific isolines, averages for 5° × 10° areas, and vertical meridional sections, alongside summer and winter sound velocities along the SOFAR-channel axis. The bird folio plots sightings, specimen records and known breeding localities for about 50 species. Its mapping data were assembled from extensive published and unpublished records under George Watson’s supervision, with William J. L. Sladen assisting in planning.
Vivian C. Bushnell · 1970
Vivian C. Bushnell reports on published and planned folios in the American Geographical Society’s Antarctic Map Folio Series. Folios 12 and 13 appeared in August. Geologic Maps of Antarctica, prepared since 1965 with contributions from 25 geologists in eight countries, contains 17 regional plates, mostly at 1:1,000,000, five continent-wide plates, and a Gondwanaland map. Bushnell argues that geological similarities between Antarctica and other southern landmasses support the Gondwanaland hypothesis. Folio 13 combines A. L. Gordon and R. D. Goldberg’s 18 plates on circumpolar waters—standard-level temperature, salinity and oxygen distributions, a station map, and meridional profiles—with K. Hunkins’s plate showing seasonal sound-channel velocities and variations in channel depth. Bird and fish folios are scheduled for the next few months. The bird maps, compiled under George Watson’s supervision, show breeding sites and specimen and sighting records; a bibliography will document breeding localities and northernmost records, and some southernmost records, while Watson will supply explanatory text. Hugh DeWitt’s fish maps locate coastal and deep-water occurrences, with other researchers’ data still to be added. Further folios in preparation cover bathymetry and subglacial topography, marine sediments and fossil foraminiferal localities, exploration and scientific investigation, and Antarctic mammals.
