After two ethnographic missions in the desert of Hoggar, Malaurie left for a geological mission to [[Greenland in 1950.
He did geomorphologic work in the Big North of Greendland, where he explored of of the earth in Inglefield and north of the Humboldt Glacier. Here, he discovered fjords and unknown littoral zones, to which he gave French names, like the Fjord of Paris, or named after his Inuit companions.
Malaurie was the first European to reach the Geographic North Pole at 78 ° 29' N 68 ° 54' W, in two dog sleds accompanied by the Kutsikitsoq Inuit.
He led the first international expedition of the Siberian Tchoukotka in 1990, at the request of the Soviet Government. He was also the first Westerner to discover the path of whales in 1990. The Siberian northeast monument had been ignored when it was identified by the Soviet archaeologist Arutiunov in 1977.
Malaurie founded the Polar State Academy in Saint Petersburg in 1992. The Siberian school has six hundred on-campus pupils, with forty-five ethnic groups being represented. It has five faculties and the French language is the primary foreign, mandatory language spoken there.
Over the course of 31 missions, in Greenland and Siberia, Malaurie developed a controversial theory that says the history, rituals, and sociology of the Arctic people can only be understood in terms of their physical environment. Malaurie called them "Men of nature" or "naturalized."
Malaurie is a staunch defender of the rights of Arctic minorities, who are threatened by the industrial and oil emphasis of the Big North. He has been the consultant for four capital cities: Washington, Ottawa, Copenhagen, and Moscow. In 2007, he was named Ambassador of goodwill for the Arctic regions to UNESCO, where he was invited to prepare a 2009 environmental treaty and defence plan for the people for the Arctic. Since 2007, he has also been the honourary President of the Uummannaq Polar Institute - an institution that works to conserve Greenland's local culture and to promote educational programs from young Inuit people.
Malaurie edits the journal [Collection Terre Humaine|Terre Humaine]. As a writer, he notably published Les Derniers Rois de Thulé (1955), which has been translated into 23 languages. Along with ten books, he has published 450 scientific articles, which have been gathered into four volumes.
As a key figure in French polar research alonside the likes of Commander Charcot, the captain of Pourquoi-Pas?, from Dieppe, Normandy. He plans to live the rest of his life in Uummannaq, on the northwest coast of Greenland. Here, a museum honoring him was created in a peat house which reconstructs his work in the rainy season.
He was made Honourary Commander of the Legion, awarded the gold medal of the city of Saint Petersburg, and given the gold medal of Royal Geographic Society of London, which was awarded by the Queen. He has also received the medal of the Bear, high distinction from the government of Greenland and has other numerous foreign recognitions.
