Preface to the focus section on Arctic and Antarctic seismology

The Arctic and Antarctica have long been recognized as natural laboratories for geoscientists that also attract seismological research despite the challenges that remoteness, inaccessibility, and harsh climatic conditions impose on observation. Out of the 245 stations providing bulletins globally from the beginning of instrumental readings until the end of 1920, only two were reported in operation above the Arctic Circle and below the Antarctic Circle (Schweitzer and Lee, 2003): the Disko station in Greenland, from 1907 to 1912, and the Discovery station on Ross Island, Antarctica, from 1902 to 1903.