Science: Northward, Ho!

On the "upper" hemisphere of our earth, north of Siberia and Alaska, northwest of Axel Heiberg Land and northeast of Lenin Land (formerly Nicholas II Land), lies a vast area incognita. No one knows if it is aqua incognita or terra incognita. It seems important to find out, not merely to satisfy human curiosity, but because, with aviation advancing, a nation finding land there might have an air base, for purposes military or commercial, within 24 hours' flight of nearly all cities in the Northern Hemisphere....