science

Operation Hazen

Operation Hazen is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Operation Hazen rather than just read about it. In short: Operation Hazen was a Canadian programme of meteorological, glaciological and geological work undertaken as part of the International Geophysical Year. The investigations took place between 1957 and 1959 at Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada.

Key takeaways

Operation Hazen belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Operation Hazen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Operation Hazen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Operation Hazen was a Canadian programme of meteorological, glaciological and geological work undertaken as part of the International Geophysical Year. The investigations took place between 1957 and 1959 at Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. The programme was led by English-born geologist Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith. Organised by the Defence Research Board, twenty scientists took part in the operation, including officers from the Fisheries Research Board, the Geological Survey, the Human History and Natural History branches of the National Museum, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and members of McGill University, the University of Toronto, the University of Alberta, and Michigan State University.

Name In 1882 American polar explorer Adolphus Greely was the first European to discover Lake Hazen during his 1881–1883 expedition and named the lake in honour of General William Babcock Hazen who had organized the expedition. Operation Hazen took its name from the lake.

1957–58 Between 28 April and 3 May the Royal Canadian Air Force flew in seven members of the party. A bulldozer dropped from the first flight was used to clear nine inches of snow to form a 3,500 foot airstrip. Two tractors, two dog teams and 35 tonnes of supplies and equipment were then subsequently flown in by a C119 aircraft. A party of six carried out glaciological, glacial-meteorological, and seismic survey studies on Gilman Glacier between April and August 1957. Meanwhile, two geologists worked from Hazen Camp, the main camp established on the shores of Lake Hazen. The glaciological work used seismic and gravity methods to determine ice thickness. Four meteorologists wintered at the base camp from August 1957 to April 1958. From April to August 1958, studies continued on Gilman Glacier, and further studies took place on the ice cap to the north of Lake Hazen, the Lake Hazen basin and other parts of northern Ellesmere Island. Twelve members, stationed at the base camp, carried out meteorological, geological, limnological, geomorphological, botanical, zoological and archaeological investigations.

1959 Glaciological, meteorological and botanical research was conducted on Gilman Glacier in the summer of 1959. During the spring and autumn re-supply operations, the expedition was supported by the United States Coast Guard, the United States Navy, and the United States Air Force.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Operation Hazen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Operation Hazen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Operation Hazen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Operation Hazen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Operation Hazen

In research: Operation Hazen appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Operation Hazen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Operation Hazen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Ellesmere Island, Scientific expeditions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Operation Hazen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Operation Hazen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Operation Hazen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Operation Hazen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Operation Hazen in simple terms?

Why does Operation Hazen matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Operation Hazen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Operation Hazen.