The sixth Norwegian Antarctic Expedition (1956–60) was a scientific expedition to Queen Maud Land, intended as part of Norway's participation in the International Geophysical Year, 1957-58. The crew set sail from Oslo on board two whaling ships, the Polarsirkel and Polarbjørn, on November 10, 1956.[1] They were based at Norway Station (). The expedition was led by Sigurd Gunnarson Helle, a geodesist at Norsk Polarinstitutt, and it included 14 researchers.[2] Among their activities were topological mapping of the region.