To study the glacial and environmental history of East Greenland dating back to late Quaternary time, the polar research vessel Polarstern took its third cruise to the East Greenland Sea from August 17 to October 6, 1994, where it served as a platform for shipboard investigations and field observations. A variety of techniques were employed: sediment coring and seismic profiling were carried out in the fjords as well as on the continental shelf and slope. And, for the first time, these investigations were supplemented by profiling and coring in periglacial lakes. ©1995. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.