A Polar Expedition Fridjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer, was in of the great Artic explorers of his time and made leaps in the field of Oceanography. “Nansen a well-known athlete, zoologist, and explorer was interested in the currents of the polar seas” (Sverdrup 2014 pg. 14). He was a clear headed man who didn’t let other’s opinions influence him and was willing to take risks in his work. It was his theory that the current would take him to the North Pole and then south toward Greenland (Adams 2014). While his name may never become a common household name without his brave and successful journey the world of oceanography may not be where it is today. All of these combined make him an excellent topic for an oceanography paper. Fridjof Nansen was more however then just an oceanographer. Before the Fram expedition he was already a well-recognized zoologist, and had been made the curator of zoology at eh Bergen Museum. As stated by Harald Sverdrup, “He wrote papers on zoological and histological subjects, illustrated by excellent drawings” (Sverdrup 2013). Shortly after this his interests moved to the physical side of oceanography. He became an oceanography instructor at the University of Kristina and on his two most successful artic expeditions most of the data was collected by Nansen himself (Sverdrup 2013). Before going on his famous expedition to the Arctic Ocean he had already began his work in oceanography by taking a group of five other men to Greenland’s icecaps to gain further knowledge on continental glaciers. Friftjof Nansen and his team of five men were successful in their expedition and became the first person to cross Greenland’s ice cap, and provided support to the isostatic rebound theory. This theory suggests that “when the Earth's crust sinks under a heavy weight, it will slowly return to its original position when that weight is removed.” His observations showed that glaciers “are thick and heavy enough to depress the Earth’s crust beneath their weight” (Adams 2014). Perhaps the most famous “polar adventures” (Bazilchuk 2013) of Nansen’s oceanography career was his Fram expedition. On June 24, 1893 set off on his journey with thirteen other men to try and reach were no man or vessel had been able to go before, the North Pole. Nansen and his team lodged the ship into a patch of ice and used the drift to, what they believed, take them to the North Pole (Sverdrup 2014 pg. 14-15). This was not to be an easy journey however. They remained in the ice for thirty five months taking measurements and readings through hole they found in the ice. What they discovered was that instead of it being shallow as they had first hypnotized it was actually as deep as an ocean. According to Sverdrup, “Water and air temperatures were recorded, water chemistry was analyzed, and the great plankton blooms of the area were observed” (Sverdrup 2014 pg. 15).
After the many months spend lodged in the ice Fridjof Nansen grew impatient with how slow they were moving toward the North Pole. He left the ship along with F.H. Johnsen and left on dog sled to ready the pole. However they were not as close as they had thought. To reach the North Pole they would still have to travel three hundred kilometers. They soon became low on previsions and the dog’s health was deteriorating. They were forced to turn away and spent the winter stranded “living on seals and walrus.” Luckily a polar expedition from Britain found them a couple of months later and brought them back to Norway. The Fram continued to drift for several more months until they freed themselves from the ice and sailed back home. While he never made it all the way to the North Pole he was the closed anyone had ever been and is still considered to be the first man to reach the North Pole (Sverdrup 2014 pg. 14-15). Some may consider his journey to be less than successful since he never made it to the actual pole but, “his findings helped lay the foundations for the modern disciplines of oceanography and meteorology. Researchers are still mining the data he collected to better understand the ocean’s secrets” (Bazilchuk 2013).
After the expedition Nansen was still very active in oceanography. However in 1905, he turned more o being a statesman helping in the separation of Norway from Sweden. He even received a Nobel peace prize in 1922 for his work on the League of Nations to resettle refugees (Sverdrup 2014 pg. 14-15). While oceanography was not the only center in Fridjof’s career his finds and scientific works still shape modern oceanography today. While his name may never become a common household name without his brave and successful journey the world of oceanography may not be where it is today.

References
Adams, Barbara. (2014). Nansen, Fridjof: Norwegian Artic Explorer and Oceanographer 1861-1930. Water Encyclopedia: Science and issues. Retrieved from http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Mi-Oc/Nansen-Fridtjof.html
Bazilchuk, Nancy. "Frozen in the ice - polar research then and now." sciencenordic.com. N.p., 12 June 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. Retrieved From http://sciencenordic.com/frozen-ice-polar-research-then-and-now
Sverdrup, Harald. "Scientific work." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 July 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. Retrieved From http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/402678/Fridtjof-Nansen/5118/Scientific-work
Sverdrup, Keith A., Kudelam Raphael M. (2014). Investigating Oceanography. New York: McGraw. Print.