A survey of breeding birds was carried out during the summer 1997-98 in several localities of the northern Danco Coast, Antarctic Peninsula. A total of 10 species were recorded: Pygoscelis antarctica (3234 pairs), P. papua (1888), Macronectes giganteus (76), Daption capense (61), Oceanites oceanicus (104), Phalacrocorax bransfieldensis (92), Ononis alba (15), Catharacta maccormicki (168), Lams dominicanus (583) and Sterna vittata (160 pairs).

This paper presents some preliminary data on the quantitative distribution of Tanaidacea in Admiralty Bay, mainly in its Ezcurra Inlet. On the soft bottom of this inlet, and especially its small glacial lagoon, Herve Cove, the highest abundance but the lowest species richness of Tanaidacea was found. In the central basin of Admiralty Bay, much higher species richness was observed along with much lower tanaid abundance.

This bibliography presents a list of 169 papers of Polish authors, treating on the Antarctic zooplankton. The majority of these papers (67%) concern Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana), mainly its biology, ecology and physiology. Quite numerous papers by Polish authors concerning the biochemistry of krill as well as its fishing technique and food - processing are here omitted.

Heartbeat and respiration of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) and Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) were monitored simultaneously using a visual and non-intrusive method, at King George Island, South Shetland Islands. All three species demonstrated sleep apnoea with reduced heart rate. In adult elephant seals, heartbeat fell 18% in apnoea; spells lasted up to nine min, usually ending in disturbance from conspecifics or human visitors. Slight human disturbance (notably slight noise) reduced time spent in apnoea from over 40% to 4%, significantly reducing the frequency of falling into apnoea and increasing mean heartbeat. Further disturbance resulted in head raising, aggression, scratching, rolling and movement away. The visual monitoring of heartbeat and respiration can be used with resting or slightly disturbed animals but not when major body movements occur.

Concentration and dispersion distributions of mineral suspension and crude-oil particles in waters of the Kongsfiord (Spitsbergen) were examined in 1997. Most suspension occurs at glacier margins and decreases towards a fiord outlet.

Studies of a snow cover on the Waldemar Glacier have been carried out during three spring seasons. In spite of its small area, there is considerable spatial variation in snow deposition on the Waldemar Glacier, different during successive seasons. Winter snow accumulation was the highest in 1995/96 (75 cm in water equivalent), but almost similar in 1996/97 and 1997/98, equal to 48 cm and 42 cm w.e., respectively. Snow cover shows specific physico-chemical features, with many sorts of snow different in its structure, hardness, density and moistening. All analysed snow profiles comprised layers of different grain size and hardness. Volume of water trapped in naledies was estimated to about 457,000 m3 in May 1998. The average winter runoff from the glacier was estimated to 0.024 m3/s i.e. about 91/s.km2.

In summer 1998 detailed measurements of ablation were carried out on the Waldemar Glacier in order to determine its spatial and time variation. Five-days' average ablation was equal to 14.7 cm water equivalent (w.e.), with maximum total ablation of 160-180 cm w.e. at 200 m a.s.l., and the lowest ablation of 106 cm w.e. at 350 m a.s.l. Total ablation for the whole glacier was estimated at 120.5 cm w.e. Simplified scheme of changes of summer ablation with altitude was exampled by this glacier. Relation between discharge from individual fragments of the Waldemar Glacier and their ablation was examined. Discharge of the Waldemar River was analysed: from about 4,800,000 m3 of water in the stream, 67% came from surface ablation of the Waldemar Glacier.

Polar stations became subject of keen interest of law-makers as the most effective manifestation of human activities in Antarctica. Legal procedures governing the establishment and regulations on operation and decommission of Antarctic stations are presented in this paper.

Drilling operations of the Cape Roberts Project took place between 1997 and 1999 offshore of Cape Roberts in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica. These were made possible due to a group effort by geoscientists from Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the United States. The major goal of this undertaking was the recovery and analysis of sediment core, which was expected to provide a first East Antarctic record of the Early Cenozoic hothouse to icehouse climatic transition. This goal was not attained. Nevertheless, over the three seasons, a 1500 m long composite section was recovered, including a predominantly Early Oligocene to Early Miocene (34—17 Ma) glaciomarine succession. It was analyzed in terms of sediment physical properties, paleontology, tectonic structures and geophysics. This multidisciplinary investigation allowed detailed reconstruction of a significant portion of local environmental history, spanning a period of highly variable environmental conditions strongly affected by local glacier advance and retreat across the Victoria Land Basin margin.

The checklist of Admiralty Bay polychaetes elaborated on the basis of historical and current data includes 120 benthic and 5 pelagic species. Admiralty Bay is the most intensively sampled area in the Antarctic, taking into account polychaete fauna, and the checklist of Polychaeta may be therefore considered as a rather comprehensive one. In the sublittoral soft bottom three dominant species: Leitoscoloplos kerguelensis, Tauberia gracilis and Ophelina syringopyge constitute almost 50% of all collected polychaetes (20%, 16% and 13% respectively). Rhodine intermedia, Tharyx cincinnatus, Aricidea (Acesta) strelzovi, Apistobranchus sp., Cirrophorus brevicirratus, Microspio moorei, Maldane sarsi antarctica, Aglaophamus ornatus and Asychis amphiglypta make up a group of species of considerable abundance (a further 30% of author's collection). The average abundance of polychaetes of the sublittoral soft bottom was estimated at 120 individuals per 0.1 m2, with the observed maximum 390 individuals per 0.1 m2.

Two species of Amphipoda (Hyperiidae), Themisto libellula (Mandt, 1822) and Themisto abyssorum (Boeck, 1870), were collected with the use of a WP-2 net from the area be­tween Nordkapp and Spitsbergen (73° to 78° N) in July of 1993,1996,1997 and 1998. Densities ranged from 6 to 992 ind. 100 m-3 (T. abyssorum) and from 8 to 448 ind. 100 m-3 (r. libellula) and respective total biomass of T. abyssorum from 65.6 to 81.2 mg d.w. 100 m-3 and T. libellula from 59.9 to 131.5 mg d.w. 100 m-3.

In the years 1987-1995 studies were carried out on the content of Cu, Mn, Zn, Pb and Cd in plants and soil in the Bellsund area, Western Spitsbergen. For the studies the author used predominating species of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens collected from beaches littoral planes, valleys, slopes and mountain peaks. Some plant species, largely bryophytes and lichens, were shown to contain increased amounts of Zn, Pb and Cd, whilst in others Cu deficiency was found. This paper is summing up studies concerning the content of Cu, Mn, Zn, Pb and Cd in plants of Western Spitsbergen, which were conducted over many years.

Investigations of the snow cover at the end of the winter 1990/1991 were carried out in several areas in West Spitsbergen, namely, Lomonosovfonna, Kongsvegen, Fridtjovbreen, Amundsenisen and that north of the Hornsund Fjord. The physical properties and chemical nature of precipitation and the snow cover were determined. The studies revealed high variation in the precipitation and the thickness of the snow cover: 317 mm w.e. (water equivalent) in the Hornsund area, 659 mm w.e. at Lomonosovfonna, 1076 mm w.e. at Fridtjovbreen and 1716 mm w.e. at Amundsenisen. The salt loads deposited in the snow cover in different parts of West Spitsbergen were also calculated (2.8 t/km2 at Lomonosovfonna, 15.8 t/km2 at Kongsvegen and 43.2 t/km2 at Amundsenisen). An intensive process of demineralisation during the conversion of snow to firn was revealed, reaching as much as 90% during the first summer. An attempt to determine the anthropogenic element content using the pH values for the precipitation and snow cover was also made. A distinct correlation between the physico-chemical characteristic of snow layer and falling snow was found. On the basis of the quality of the precipitation and snow cover, West Spitsbergen has been classified into following provinces: (1) northern situated within Arctic High (Lomonosovfonna and Kongsvegen), (2) southern ndergoing mainly moving air masses from the Arctic High and Greenland Low (Amundsenisen and Hornsund region).