Bjarne Lorentzen (right) spreads good cheer during the 1951 Christmas celebrations at the base of the Norwegian–British–Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1949–1952). The base, known as Maudheim, was located on the floating ice shelf off Dronning Maud Land. This was the first Antarctic expedition comprising an international team of scientists. In addition to surveying and mapping the area, they carried out a wide range of scientific investigations. Journeys from the base camp included a geological mission that travelled nearly 500 km and a seismological expedition covering more than 1200 km.
The Norwegian Polar Institute's Photo Library preserves some 90000 polar-related images captured during the last 135 years, including glass plates and slides, stereo images, print photographs and modern digital photographs. Images documenting Norwegian activities in the Arctic and Antarctic comprise the bulk of the collection. Scanning the older images and registering newer digital ones is an ongoing endeavour. To date, digital versions of some 38000 pictures are available in a searchable online database at http://sivert.npolar.no/fotoweb/. Search words associated with the online images are mostly in the Norwegian language; please send an e-mail to [email protected] for assistance in searching the database.