Alert, Nunavut
Alert | |
|---|---|
Weather station and signals intelligence base | |
 Environment Canada air chemistry observatory | |
| Motto: Inuit Nunangata Ungata (Beyond the Inuit Land) | |
| Country |  Canada |
| Territory | Nunavut |
| Region | Qikiqtaaluk Region |
| Population (2006) | |
• Total | 5[1] |
Alert, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, is the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world,[2] 817 kilometres (508 mi) from the North Pole.[3] It takes its name from HMS Alert, which wintered 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the present station, off what is now Cape Sheridan, in 1875–1876.
Alert was reported to have five permanent inhabitants according to the 2006 census[1] (but owing to the way the Canadian Census is compiled, the true population of Alert could be between 1 and 10 inhabitants.[4]) It also has many temporary inhabitants as it hosts a military signals intelligence radio receiving facility at Canadian Forces Station Alert (CFS Alert), as well as a co-located Environment Canada weather station, a Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) atmosphere monitoring laboratory, and the Alert Airport.
History
Alert is named after HMS Alert, a British ship which wintered about 10 km (6.2 mi) away in 1875–76.[5] Sir George Nares was the first known person to reach the northern end of Ellesmere Island; he arrived in HMS Alert in 1875–1876. The weather station was established in 1950, and the military station in 1958.
Shortly after the close of World War II, Charles J Hubbard began to rouse interest in the United States and Canada for the establishment of a network of Arctic stations. His plan, in broad perspective, envisaged the establishment of two main stations, one in Greenland and the other within the Archipelago, which could be reached by sea supply. These main stations would then serve as advance bases from which a number of smaller stations would be established by air. The immediate plans contemplated the establishment of weather stations only, but it was felt that a system of weather stations would also provide a nucleus of transportation, communications and settlements which would greatly aid programmes of research in many other fields of science. It was recognized that ultimate action would depend on international co-operation since the land masses involved were under Canadian and Danish control.
Nine crew members of a Royal Canadian Air Force Lancaster died in a crash while making an airdrop of supplies to the station in 1950.
A C-130 Hercules, part of Operation Boxtop 22, crashed about 30 km (19 mi) short of the runway on October 30, 1991. Of the 18 aboard, four died in the crash, while the pilot died during the 30 hours that it took search and rescue teams to reach the crash site under blizzard conditions. The crash was the subject of several books, including Death and Deliverance: The True Story of an Airplane Crash at the North Pole by Robert Mason Lee, as well as a film, Ordeal In The Arctic, starring Richard Chamberlain.the air is hot there
Current events
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported in April 2006 that the heating costs for the station had risen. As a result of the rising costs the Canadian Forces proposed cutbacks to support jobs by using private contractors.[6]
Also in April 2006, the Roly McLenahan Torch, used to light the flame in Whitehorse, Yukon for the 2007 Canada Games, passed through Alert.
In August 2006, the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, made a visit to Alert as part of his campaign to promote Canadian sovereignty in the north.
The Olympic Torch en route to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver passed through Alert on 9 November 2009.[citation needed]
Geography
Alert is located 12 km (7.5 mi) west of Cape Sheridan, the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island, on the shore of the ice-covered Lincoln Sea. Alert lies just 817 km (508 mi) from the North Pole; the nearest Canadian city is Iqaluit, 2,092 km (1,300 mi) away.
The settlement is surrounded by a rugged hills and valleys. The shore is composed primarily of slate and shale. The sea is covered with pack ice for most of the year but the ice pack does move out in the summer months, leaving open water. Evaporation rates are also very low, as average monthly temperatures are above freezing only in July and August.
Other places on Ellesmere Island are the research base at Eureka and the Inuit community of Grise Fiord.
Climate
Alert has a polar climate. This means it is very cold and, on average, has snow cover for 10 months of the year. The warmest month, July, has an average temperature of just 3.3 °C (37.9 °F). The polar climate also means that Alert is very dry, averaging only 153.8 mm (6.06 in) of precipitation per year. Most of the precipitation is snow and occurs during the months of July, August and September. On average there is 16.1 mm (0.63 in) of rain which occurs between June and September. Alert sees very little snowfall during the rest of the year. September is usually the month with the heaviest snowfall. February is the coldest month of the year. Snowfall can occur during any month of the year although there might be about 20 frost free days in an average summer.[7] Alert experiences polar night from the middle of October until the end of February. From the first week of April until the first week of September Alert sees the midnight sun. There are two relatively short periods of twilight. The first from about 13 February to 22 March and the second from 19 September to 22 October.[8]
| Climate data for Alert | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high humidex | 0 | 0 | −2.4 | −1.1 | 6.6 | 18.1 | 19.4 | 23.8 | 8.4 | 3.9 | −1.1 | 1.4 | 23.8 |
| Record high °C (°F) | 0.0 (32.0) |
1.1 (34.0) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
7.8 (46.0) |
18.2 (64.8) |
20.0 (68.0) |
19.5 (67.1) |
11.2 (52.2) |
4.4 (39.9) |
0.6 (33.1) |
3.2 (37.8) |
20.0 (68.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −28.8 (−19.8) |
−29.8 (−21.6) |
−28.7 (−19.7) |
−20.5 (−4.9) |
−8.7 (16.3) |
1.6 (34.9) |
5.9 (42.6) |
3.3 (37.9) |
−6.0 (21.2) |
−15.8 (3.6) |
−22.8 (−9.0) |
−26.4 (−15.5) |
−14.7 (5.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −32.4 (−26.3) |
−33.4 (−28.1) |
−32.4 (−26.3) |
−24.4 (−11.9) |
−11.8 (10.8) |
−0.8 (30.6) |
3.3 (37.9) |
0.8 (33.4) |
−9.2 (15.4) |
−19.4 (−2.9) |
−26.4 (−15.5) |
−30.1 (−22.2) |
−18.0 (−0.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −35.9 (−32.6) |
−37.0 (−34.6) |
−36.1 (−33.0) |
−28.2 (−18.8) |
−14.9 (5.2) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
0.7 (33.3) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
−12.2 (10.0) |
−22.8 (−9.0) |
−30.0 (−22.0) |
−33.7 (−28.7) |
−21.3 (−6.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −48.9 (−56.0) |
−50.0 (−58.0) |
−49.4 (−56.9) |
−45.6 (−50.1) |
−29.0 (−20.2) |
−13.9 (7.0) |
−6.3 (20.7) |
−15.0 (5.0) |
−28.2 (−18.8) |
−39.4 (−38.9) |
−43.5 (−46.3) |
−46.1 (−51.0) |
−50.0 (−58.0) |
| Record low wind chill | −64.7 | −60.5 | −59.5 | −56.8 | −40.8 | −21.1 | −10.3 | −19.2 | −36.9 | −49.4 | −53.7 | −57.3 | −64.7 |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 6.8 (0.27) |
6.3 (0.25) |
7.0 (0.28) |
10.3 (0.41) |
11.0 (0.43) |
11.1 (0.44) |
27.8 (1.09) |
21.2 (0.83) |
23.4 (0.92) |
12.3 (0.48) |
9.7 (0.38) |
6.8 (0.27) |
153.8 (6.06) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.8 (0.03) |
11.1 (0.44) |
4.0 (0.16) |
0.1 (0.00) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
16.1 (0.63) |
| Average snowfall cm (inches) | 8.5 (3.3) |
7.5 (3.0) |
8.1 (3.2) |
11.7 (4.6) |
16.6 (6.5) |
12.3 (4.8) |
17.3 (6.8) |
18.0 (7.1) |
33.6 (13.2) |
18.0 (7.1) |
13.1 (5.2) |
8.7 (3.4) |
173.3 (68.2) |
| Average precipitation days | 8.1 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 8.3 | 6.6 | 10.3 | 10.2 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 8.7 | 8.9 | 105.5 |
| Average rainy days | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.03 | 0.93 | 6 | 3 | 0.28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.3 |
| Average snowy days | 8.8 | 7.8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 8.2 | 11.5 | 11.3 | 9.3 | 9.3 | 103.5 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | — | — | — | 345.3 | 418.4 | 321.4 | 293.4 | 239.5 | 92.0 | — | — | — | — |
| Source 1: 1971-2000 Environment Canada[7] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Sunshine data from 1961-1990 Environment Canada[9] | |||||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ a b Statistics Canada
- ^ Reynolds, Lindor (August 31, 2000). "Life is cold and hard and desolate at Alert, Nunavut". Guelph Mercury. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) ("Twice a year, the military resupply Alert, the world's northernmost settlement.") - ^ "Alert, Nunavut". Government of Canada. Retrieved 2008-08-09. article mirror
- ^ [1]
- ^ A History of the Canadian Coast Guard and Marine Services
- ^ "Costly fuel prompts cuts at northern military station". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2006-04-13. Retrieved 2008-08-09. article mirror
- ^ a b Environment Canada—Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ Sunrise/Sunset/Sun Angle Calculator
- ^ Environment Canada—Canadian Climate Normals 1961–1990. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
Further reading
- Bottenheim, Jan W, Hacene Boudries, Peter C Brickell, and Elliot Atlas. 2002. "Alkenes in the Arctic Boundary Layer at Alert, Nunavut, Canada". Atmospheric Environment. 36, no. 15: 2585.
- Diggle, Dennis A., and David G. Otto. Drilling of an Arctic Protected Cable Route, Alert, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T. [Victoria, B.C.]: Defence Research Establishment Pacific, Research and Development Branch, Dept. of National Defence, 1994.
- Morrison, R. I. G., N. C. Davidson, and Theunis Piersma. Daily Energy Expenditure and Water Turnover of Shorebirds at Alert, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T. Progress notes (Canadian Wildlife Service), no. 211. Ottawa: Canadian Wildlife Service, 1997. ISBN 0662257952
External links
