List of Arctic expeditions
This is a list of Arctic expeditions.
15th century
1472: Didrik Pining and Hans Pothorst mark the first of the cartographic expeditions to Greenland1496: Grigory Istoma, venturing out of the White Sea, travels along the Murman Coast and the coast of northern Norway16th century
1553: English expedition led by Hugh Willoughby with Richard Chancellor as second in command searches for the Northeast Passage1557: English expedition led by Stephen Borough reaches the Kara Strait1576–1578: English expeditions led by Martin Frobisher reach Baffin Island1579: Danish-Norwegian expedition led by James Alday fails to reach Greenland due to ice1580: English expedition led by Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman reaches the Kara Sea1581: Danish-Norwegian expedition led by Magnus Heinason fails to reach Greenland due to ice1585–1587: English expeditions led by John Davis explore the Davis Strait–Baffin Bay region and reach Upernavik1594: Dutch expedition led by Willem Barentsz, Cornelis Nay and Brandt Tetgales reaches the Kara Sea via Yugorsky Strait1595: Dutch expedition led by Cornelis Nay fails to make further progress towards a Northeast Passage than in the previous year1596–1597: Dutch expedition piloted by Willem Barentsz discovers Spitsbergen and registered the first recorded Farthest North17th century
1605–1607: Danish-Norwegian king, Christian IV of Denmark, sends three expeditions led by John Cunningham, Godske Lindenov and Carsten Richardson, to search for the lost Eastern Settlement, one of the Norse colonies on Greenland1606: John Knight, who had captained the in 1605 with John Cunningham, dies commanding a joint Muscovy Company/East India Company expedition in search of the Northwest Passage1607: Henry Hudson explores Spitsbergen1608: Henry Hudson gets as far as Novaya Zemlya in his attempt to find the Northeast Passage1609: another unsuccessful attempt by Henry Hudson at finding the Northeast Passage1610: Jonas Poole thoroughly explores Spitsbergen's west coast, reporting that he saw a "great store of whales"; this report leads to the establishment of the English whaling trade1610: Russian Kondratiy Kurochkin explores the mouth of the Yenisei River and the adjoining coast1610–1611: Henry Hudson reaches Hudson Bay in an attempt to find the Northwest Passage1612: James Hall and William Baffin explore southwest Greenland1612–1613: Button expedition, commanded by Thomas Button, in search of the Northwest Passage1613: Several whaling expeditions, consisting of a total of at least thirty ships from England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands crowd Spitsbergen's west coast1614: Dutch and French expeditions discover Jan Mayen1615: Robert Fotherby, in the pinnace Richard, is the first English expedition to reach Jan Mayen1615: English expedition captained by Robert Bylot and piloted by William Baffin reaches the Foxe Basin in search of the Northwest Passage1616: English expedition captained by Robert Bylot and piloted by William Baffin explores the Davis Strait–Baffin Bay region1619–1620: Danish-Norwegian expedition led by Jens Munk in Enhiørningen and Lamprenen to discover the Northwest Passage penetrated Davis Strait as far north as 69°, found Frobisher Bay, spent a winter in Hudson Bay1633–1634: I. Rebrov explores the mouth of the Lena River1633–1635: Ilya Perfilyev explores the Lena and Yana Rivers and intervening coast1638: I. Rebrov explores coast between the Lena and Indigirka Rivers1641: Dimitry Zyryan and Mikhail Stadukhin explore the mouth of the Indigirka River and adjoining coast1646: I. Ignatyev explores the mouth of the Kolyma River and adjoining coast1648: Ya. Semyonov explores the mouth of Kotuy River and adjoining coast1648: Semyon Dezhnev and Fedot Alekseyevich Popov explore from the Kolyma River through the Bering Strait1649: Mikhail Stadukhin explores the coast from the Kolyma River to the Bering Strait1676: English expedition led by John Wood fails to find the Northeast Passage1686–1687: Ivan Tolstoukhov expedition explores the mouth of the Yenisey River and the coast of the Taymyr Peninsula18th century
1712: Merkury Vagin and Yakov Permyakov explore the vicinity of the mouth of the Yana River and adjoining coasts, both were murdered by mutineering expedition members1725–1730: Vitus Bering leads the First Kamchatka expedition1728: Claus Paarss attempts to cross Greenland's interior from the west in search of the old Norse Eastern Settlement1733–1743: Second Kamchatka expedition explores the north coast of Russia and discovers Alaska1751: Lars Dalager attempts to find the lost Eastern Settlement by crossing Greenland's ice sheet from the west1751–1753: Peder Olsen Walløe explores the east coast of Greenland from Cape Farewell in umiaks1760–1763: S. F. Loshkin explores Novaya Zemlya1765–1766: Vasily Chichagov explores the Kola Peninsula coast and Spitzbergen1768–1769: F. F. Rozmyslov explores Novaya Zemlya and the Matochkin Strait1770–1771: Samuel Hearne traces the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean1773: Ivan Lyakhov discovered Kotelny Island1773: The Phipps expedition towards the North Pole reaches 80° 37 N, north of Spitsbergen. This was the first Arctic expedition to carry out scientific research.1776–1780: James Cook charts the northwestern coast of America and sails through the Bering Strait during his third voyage in search of the Northwest Passage1785–1794: Russian expedition led by Joseph Billings explores Eastern Siberia, the Aleutian Islands, and the west coast of Alaska1789: Alexander Mackenzie traces the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean19th century
Early Period (1800–1818)
1800: Yakov Sannikov charts Stolbovoy Island1809–1811: Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom explore the New Siberian Islands1815–1818: Otto von Kotzebue explores the Bering Strait during the Rurik expeditionRoss">John Ross (Royal Navy officer)">Ross, Parry">William Edward Parry">Parry and Franklin">John Franklin">Franklin (1818–1846)
1818: Royal Navy expedition led by captain David Buchan sails north from Spitsbergen1818: Royal Navy expedition led by John Ross with his nephew James Clark Ross, sails north along the west coast of Greenland to Pituffik in search of the Northwest Passage and encounters the Inughuit of Cape York1819: Royal Navy expedition aboard and led by William Edward Parry in search of the Northwest Passage1819–1822: The Coppermine expedition in northern Canada, led by John Franklin, includes George Back and John Richardson1820s
1820–1824: Ferdinand von Wrangel and Fyodor Matyushkin explore the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea areas1821–1824: Fyodor Litke explores the eastern Barents Sea and the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, including Matochkin Strait1821–1823: Pyotr Anjou continues exploration of New Siberian Islands1822: William Scoresby lands in east Greenland near the mouth of the fjord system that would later be named for him – Scoresby Sound1823: Douglas Clavering and Edward Sabine explore East Greenland northwards to Clavering Island, where they get in contact with the now extinct Inuit of Northeast Greenland1825–1827: The Mackenzie River expedition descends the Mackenzie River and maps much of the Arctic coast1826: Frederick William Beechey aboard explores the Alaskan coast from Point Barrow to the Bering Strait1827: First Norwegian expedition to the Arctic, led by Baltazar Mathias Keilhau1827: Royal Navy expedition to Spitsbergen led by William Edward Parry reaches 82°45 N1828–1830: Danish expedition led by Wilhelm August Graah tries to locate the Eastern Settlement in southeast Greenland, but does not reach Ammassalik Island.1829–1833: Royal Navy expedition led by John Ross to search for the Northwest Passage explores James Ross Strait and King William Land, locates the North Magnetic Pole1830s and 1840s
1832–1835: Pyotr Pakhtusov explores the southern half of the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya1833–1835: Royal Navy expedition led by George Back from Fort Reliance to the mouth of the Back River at Chantrey Inlet1836: George Back attempts to ascertain if Boothia Peninsula is an island or a peninsula but his ship,, is trapped by ice near Southampton Island1837: Karl Ernst von Baer leads a natural history expedition to Novaya Zemlya1838–1839: Avgust Tsivolko leads an expedition to Novaya Zemlya, primarily for surveying1838–1840: La Recherche expedition, under the command of Joseph Paul Gaimard, a scientific venture to explore the islands in the North Atlantic1845: Franklin's Northwest Passage expedition is sent to map the remaining Northwest PassageSearch for Franklin">Franklin's lost expedition">Franklin (1846–1857)
1848: John Richardson and John Rae lead the Rae–Richardson Arctic expedition and search overland for Franklin's lost expedition1849: Henry Kellett discovers Herald Island searching for Franklin's lost expedition1850–1854: McClure Arctic expedition led by Robert McClure, a British search for the members of Franklin's lost expedition1850–1851: First Grinnell expedition led by Edwin De Haven, the first American search for the members of Franklin's lost expedition, finds the graves of crew members John Torrington, William Braine and John Hartnell on Beechey Island1851: William Kennedy leads a search expedition for Franklin in the Prince Albert, sponsored by Lady Franklin1852: Edward Augustus Inglefield sets out to search for Franklin's ill-fated expedition in the, also sponsored by Jane Franklin1853–1855: Second Grinnell expedition led by Elisha Kane looks for Franklin searching Grinnell Land1857–1859: McClintock Arctic expedition led by Francis Leopold McClintock is the fifth expedition sponsored by Lady Franklin and finds artefacts, a crew member's skeleton and the final written communications from the last survivors of the Franklin expeditionNordenskiöld">Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld">Nordenskiöld Period (1857–1879)
1858: Swedish expedition to Spitsbergen led by Otto Martin Torell1860s
- 1860: Paul A. Chadbourne, a Williams College professor, conducts the Williams College Lyceum of Natural History expedition to Greenland.1860–1861: American Arctic Expedition led by Isaac Israel Hayes who claims to see the Open Polar Sea1860–1862: First expedition led by American Charles Francis Hall searching for Franklin1861: Swedish expedition to Svalbard led by Otto Martin Torell explores Hinlopen Strait and the north coast of Nordaustlandet1861–1862: Otto Paul von Krusenstern's expedition through the Kara Sea on the Yermak1864: Swedish expedition to Svalbard led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld1864–1869: Charles Francis Hall leads his second expedition to determine the fate of Franklin, to King William Island1867: Edward Whymper and Robert Brown attempt to explore the inland ice of Greenland1868: First German North Polar Expedition led by Carl Koldewey along the east coast of Greenland1868: Swedish expedition led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld attempts farthest north from Svalbard1869–1870: Second German North Polar Expedition led by Carl Koldewey reaches Sabine Island
1870s
1870 Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld leads a short journey on the inland ice of Western Greenland1871: Benjamin Leigh Smith's first expedition explores the northeastern boundary of Svalbard1871–1873: Polaris expedition, known for the death of its commander, Charles Francis Hall1872: Benjamin Leigh Smith returns to Svalbard in his second expedition1872–1873: Swedish expedition to Svalbard led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld winters at Mosselbukta1872–1874: Austro-Hungarian [North Pole expedition] led by Captain Karl Weyprecht discovers Franz Josef Land1873: Benjamin Leigh Smith comes to Nordenskiöld's aid in Spitsbergen1875: Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld is the first to reach the Yenisey by sea1875–1876: British Arctic Expedition led by Captain George Nares1876: Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld repeats his voyage to the Yenisey1876–1878: Norwegian Northern Seas expedition in Vøringen explored the Northern Atlantic up to 80°N1877–1878: Henry W. Howgate leads the Howgate Preliminary Polar Expedition to promote scientific experiments, and whaling as a source of revenue1878: J. A. D. Jensen explores the inland ice sheet from west Greenland1878–1881: different voyages with Dutch polar schooner Willem Barents in the area around Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, organised by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society1878–1879: Swedish Vega expedition led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld completes the Northeast PassageRace for the Pole (1879–1900)
1879–1882: Jeannette expedition commanded by George W. De Long attempts to reach the North Pole by sea from the Bering Strait1880: Henry W. Howgate leads the Howgate Arctic expedition for scientific and geographical exploration of Greenland1880: Benjamin Leigh Smith's fourth expedition explores the southwestern area of Franz Josef Land1881–1882: Benjamin Leigh Smith's final expedition is shipwrecked in Franz Josef LandInternational Polar Year">First International Polar Year">International Polar Year
1881–1884: Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, US Army Signal Corps expedition led by Adolphus Greely1882–1883: The Danish Dijmphna expedition travels to the territory between Russia and the North Pole1883–1885: Umiak expedition, led by Gustav Frederik Holm and Thomas Vilhelm Garde along the southeastern coast of Greenland in the shallow waters between the coast and the sea ice1883: Failed attempt by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld to cross Greenland from the west1886: Failed attempt by Robert Peary to cross Greenland1888–1889: First successful crossing of the Greenland inland ice by the Norwegian expedition led by Fridtjof Nansen1890s
1891–1892: The East Greenland expedition on the Hekla led by Carl Ryder fails to get through the sea ice of east Greenland, but explores the Scoresby Sound system in detail1891–1892: Second Peary expedition to Greenland led by Peary to discover if Greenland is an island or a peninsula1892: Björling–Kallstenius Expedition led by Alfred Björling was eventually wrecked on the Carey Islands1893–1895: Third US Greenland expedition led by Peary1893–1896: Nansen's Fram expedition by Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen on the and over ice towards the North Pole1894 Failed attempt by Walter Wellman to reach the North Pole from Svalbard1894–1897: Jackson–Harmsworth expedition, led by Frederick George Jackson, explores Franz Josef Land hoping in vain to find more land polewards1895-1896: Ingolf expedition, hydrographical and biological studies in the waters around Greenland, Iceland and Jan Mayen1897: Salomon August Andrée leads a failed three man Arctic balloon expedition in an attempt to reach the Pole, Andrée along with Knut Frænkel and Nils Strindberg die1898–1899: Failed attempt by Walter Wellman to reach the North Pole from Franz Josef Land1898–1902: Second Fram voyage by Otto Sverdrup explores the North American Arctic around Ellesmere Island1898-1902: Peary's Sixth Expedition and first attempt at the North Pole1898–1900: The Carlsbergfund expedition to East Greenland led by Georg Carl Amdrup explores the Blosseville Coast1899: Alfred Gabriel Nathorst explores the fjords of northeast Greenland, in particular the King Oscar Fjord system1898–1902: The Swedish–Russian Arc-of-Meridian Expedition measures a meridian arc in Svalbard throughout five summer seasons and one winter season1899–1900: Italian North Pole expedition led by Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi on the renamed captained by Umberto Cagni20th century
Amundsen">Roald Amundsen">Amundsen and the Heroic Age (1900–1925)
1898, 1899, 1906, 1907: Albert I, Prince of Monaco leads four Arctic expeditions with Princesse Alice1900–1903: Russian polar expedition of 1900–1902 on-board is led by Eduard Toll1901–1902: Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition financed by US industrialist William Ziegler, led by Evelyn Baldwin1902–1904: The Literary expedition led by Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen together with Knud Rasmussen explores the northwest Greenland coast between Uummannaq and Thule1903–1906: Roald Amundsen's Gjøa expedition – first Northwest Passage traversal1903–1905: Ziegler Polar Expedition overland, led by Anthony Fiala1905–1906: North Pole expedition led by Robert Peary, from Ellesmere Island1906–1908: The Danmark Expedition led by Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, mapped the last unknown areas of Northeast Greenland, but ended fatally for the main exploring team1906, 1907, 1909: The airship and Walter Wellman1906–1908: Anglo-American Polar expedition 1907: Johan Peter Koch and Aage Bertelsen report seeing Fata Morgana Land, a phantom island off the coast of northeast GreenlandDisputed Polar Claims
1907–1909: US North Pole expedition led by Frederick Cook claims to be the first to reach the pole1908: expedition led by Charles Bénard explores Novaya Zemlya1908–1909: expedition led by Robert Peary also claims reaching the North Pole first1909–1912: The to northeast Greenland led by Ejnar Mikkelsen in an operation to recover bodies and logs of the ill-fated Danmark expedition1910–1915: Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition in and 1912: First Thule expedition – Knud Rasmussen and Peter Freuchen explores North Greenland and establishes that Peary Land is not an island1912: Swiss expedition led by Alfred de Quervain crosses Greenland by dog-sled- 1912: German Arctic Expedition to Spitsbergen, led by Herbert Schröder-Stranz1912–1913: Danish Expedition to Queen Louise Land – Johan Peter Koch and Alfred Wegener cross the inland ice in north Greenland1912–1914: Brusilov Expedition, ill-fated expedition led by Captain Georgy Brusilov1912–1914: Russian expedition aboard Foka, led by Georgy Sedov1913: Crocker Land Expedition to search for Crocker Island, a hoax reported by Robert Peary1913–1918: Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–1916 led by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, initially in which was lost in 1913 and explored land that was unknown to the Inuit1916–1918: Second Thule expedition – Knud Rasmussen and Lauge Koch explore North Greenland1918–1925: Roald Amundsen traverses the Northeast Passage with 1919: Third Thule expedition – Knud Rasmussen explores north Greenland and lays out depots for Roald Amundsen's polar drift in Maud1919–1920: Fourth Thule expedition – Knud Rasmussen explores east Greenland1921:Oxford University Spitsbergen expedition led by F. C. R. Jourdain1921–1923: Bicentenary Jubilee expedition led by Lauge Koch explores north Greenland1921–1923: Wrangel Island Expedition – a land claim and colonisation attempt conceived, but not led by Vilhjalmur Stefansson – all members die apart from Iñupiat seamstress and cook Ada Blackjack1921–1924: Fifth Thule expedition led by Knud Rasmussen crossing the Northwest Passage on dog sledges from Thule across Arctic Canada to Nome, Alaska demonstrates how Inuit culture could spread rapidly1924: Oxford University Arctic Expedition led by George Binney, uses a seaplane to assist in the first traverse of Nordaustlandet
Byrd">Richard E. Byrd">Byrd and the Aircraft Age (1925–1958)
1925: Flying boat expedition led by Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth1926: Aircraft flight by Richard E. Byrd and Floyd BennettPolar Conquest
1926: The airship becomes the first verified trip to the North Pole1928: Carl Ben Eielson–Hubert Wilkins Arctic Ocean crossing1928: The airship ; airship crashed, but Nobile was rescued1928: Roald Amundsen disappears in the Arctic aboard a Latham 47 while searching for Nobile1928: Marion expedition to Davis Strait and Baffin Bay1930–1931: Alfred Wegener's German Greenland Expedition that led to his death on the Greenland ice sheet, halfway between Eismitte and West Camp1930: Bratvaag Expedition, led by Gunnar Horn to Franz Josef Land, found long lost remains of Salomon August Andrée's expedition1930–1931: British Arctic Air Route Expedition was an expedition, led by Gino Watkins, that aimed to draw improved maps and charts of poorly surveyed sections of Greenland's coastline1931: Successful research trip by airship Graf Zeppelin led by Hugo Eckener1931: Sir Hubert Wilkins with submarine 1931: Sixth Thule expedition led by Knud Rasmussen explores northeast Greenland1931: Arne Høygaard and Martin Mehren cross Greenland by dog-sled1931–1934: The three-year expedition to East Greenland led by Lauge Koch explores northeast GreenlandSecond International Polar Year">International Polar Year#The Second International Polar Year (1932–1933)">Second International Polar Year
1932: Icebreaker makes the successful crossing of the Northern Sea Route in a single navigation without wintering1932: NSIU Expedition to East Greenland, Eirik Raudes Land, led by the Norwegian Hallvard Devold1932–1933: East Greenland expedition, also known as the Pan Am expedition, a four-man expedition to continue the work of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition1932–1933: Dalstroy expedition to the Kolyma River in a convoy headed by the icebreaker 1933: Russian steamship managed to get through most of the Northern Route before it was caught in the ice in September1934: British Trans-Greenland Expedition led by Martin Lindsay1935: Ushakov Island, the last piece of undiscovered territory in the Soviet Arctic, was found by Georgy Ushakov aboard the 1935: French expedition led by Paul-Émile Victor crosses Greenland by dog-sled1937: Soviet aircraft Tupolev ANT-25 made several transpolar flights1937: Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are, as of 2025, 43 scientific drift stations operating or were operating on drift ice- 1937–1938: German Spitsbergen Expedition led by Dr. Herbert Rieche1937–1938: MacGregor Arctic Expedition was led by Clifford J. MacGregor and overwintered at Etah, Greenland
- 1938: Fieseler Storch Expedition led by Ernst Herrmann, first expedition to film the arctic in color
- 1938: Cambridge Spitsbergen Expedition led by L.H.McCabe1938–1939: Mørkefjord expedition was an exploratory expedition to northeast Greenland led by Eigil Knuth