VIZE, VLADIMIR YULEVICH

(b. Tsarskoe Selo [now Pushkin], Russia, 5 March 1886; d. Leningrad, U. S. S. R., 19 February 1954), oceanography, meteorology, glaciology.

After graduating from the Gymnasium in St. Petersburg Vize studied at the universities of Göttingen and Halle, majoring in chemistry. He soon began to read books on polar expeditions and decided to become an Arctic explorer. In 1910 he returned to Russia, where he studied in the department of physics and mathematics of St. Petersburg University. While still a student (1910-1911) he traveled through the Lovozero and Khibiny tundras in northwestern Russia, studied the life of the Saamian (Lopari or Lapp) tribes, and discovered and mapped a number of lakes. In 1912-1914 he was a member of Sedov’s expedition to the North Pole. From the early 1920’s to the mid-1930’s he participated in the major Soviet Arctic expeditions, directing most of them.

Vize was responsible for the establishment of many polar stations in the Soviet Arctic and for the development and application of new methods of research, particularly in ice forecasting. In his works he developed the ideas of Carl Wilhelm Brennecke, Paul Gerhard Schott, Wilhelm Meinardus, and Fridtjof Nansen on the influence of atmospheric processes and hydrological conditions on the formation of ice in the Arctic seas. Continuing their work, Vize also investigated the influence of ice formation in Arctic seas on the circulation of the atmosphere. He applied the results of this research to forecast ice drift, ice conditions, hydrodynamics, temperature conditions, and other factors of substantial significance for scientific weather forecasting.

Vize strongly favored the exploitation of a sea route along the northern shore of the Soviet Union. In 1932, under his leadership, the first complete west-east through passage was made by the northern sea route. Two years later the same voyage was completed from east to west. In 1936-1937 Vize led research expeditions to high latitudes that gathered extensive hydrology, meteorlogy, glaciology, hydrochemistry, and other areas of oceanology.

Vize was a corresponding member of the Academy of Science of the U. S. S. R. from 1933, president of the scientific council of the Arctic Institute (later the Arctic and Antarctic Scientific Research Institute), Leningrad (1929-1950), and professor at Leningrad University from 1945. He was a member of the American and English geographical societies and the International Meteorological Committee.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Vize’s writings include Osnovy dolgosrochnykh ledovykh prognozov dlya arkticheskikh morey (“The Bases of Long-Term Ice Predictions for the Arctic Seas” ; Moscow, 1944); Na “Sibiryakove” i “Litke” cherez Ledovitye morya (“On the ‘Sibiryak’ and ‘Litke’ Across the Arctic Seas” ; Moscow, 1946); and Morya Sovetskoy arktiki. Ocherki po istorü issledovania (“The Seas of the Soviet Arctic. Sketches in the History of Research” ; Moscow, 1948).

II. Secondary Literature See V. K. Buynitsky, Vladimir Yulievich Vize (Leningrad, 1969); and A. F. Laktionov, “Vladimir Yulievich Vize,” in Otechestvennye fiziko-geografy i puteshestvenniki (“Native Physical Geographers and Travelers” ; Moscow, 1959), 759–765.

A. S. Fedorov