Eureka, Nunavut

Last updated
Eureka
Research / weather station
Eureka Weather Station 1997-08-04.jpg
Eureka seen from its airfield
Canada Nunavut location map-lambert proj3.svg
Red pog.svg
Eureka
Canada location map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Eureka
Coordinates: 79°59′N085°57′W / 79.983°N 85.950°W / 79.983; -85.950 [1]
CountryCanada
Territory Nunavut
Region Qikiqtaaluk Region
Island group Queen Elizabeth Islands
FoundedApril 11, 1947
Elevation
[3]
83 m (272 ft)
Population
  Total8 [4]
Time zone UTC−05:00 (EST)
Postal code
X0A 0G0. [5]
Area code 867 [6]
Elevation is at Eureka Aerodrome.

Eureka is a small research base on Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Qikiqtaaluk Region, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is located on the north side of Slidre Fiord, which enters Eureka Sound farther west. It is the third-northernmost permanent research community in the world. The only two farther north are Alert, which is also on Ellesmere Island, and Nord, in Greenland. Eureka has the lowest average annual temperature [7] and the lowest amount of precipitation of any weather station in Canada.

Contents

Eureka's postal code is X0A 0G0 and the area code is 867. [5] [6]

Divisions

The base consists of three areas:[ citation needed ]

"PEARL", Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (Canadian Network for Detection of Atmospheric Change) Astro-Lab (04-08-97).jpg
"PEARL", Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (Canadian Network for Detection of Atmospheric Change)

PEARL is operated by a consortium of Canadian university researchers and government agencies known as the Canadian Network for Detection of Atmospheric Change. [9] PEARL announced it would cease full-time year-round operation as of April 30, 2012, due to lack of funding, but this decision was reversed in May 2013 with the announcement of new funds. [10]

History

Eureka was founded on April 7, 1947, as part of an initiative to set up a network of Arctic weather stations. [11] On this date, 100 t (98 long tons; 110 short tons) of supplies were airlifted to a promising spot on Ellesmere Island, and five prefabricated Jamesway huts were constructed. Regular weather observations began on January 1, 1948. The station has expanded over the years. At its peak, in the 1970s, at least fifteen staff were on site; in 2005, it reported a permanent population of zero with at least eight staff on a continuous rotational basis.[ citation needed ]

Several generations of buildings have been developed. The latest operations centre, with work areas and staff quarters in one large structure, was completed in 2005.[ citation needed ]

Location and accessibility

Eureka from the air, 2007 Eureka station.jpg
Eureka from the air, 2007

The complex is powered by diesel generators. The station is supplied once every six weeks with fresh food and mail by air, and annually in the late summer, a supply ship from Montreal brings heavy supplies. On July 3, 2009, a Danish Challenger 604 MMA jet landed at Eureka's aerodrome. [12] The jet is a military observation aircraft based on the Challenger executive jet. This jet visited Eureka on a familiarization trip, in order to prepare for the possibility of Danish aircraft assisting in search and rescue missions over Canadian territory. The Canadian American Strategic Review noted critically that the first jet to fly a mission to Eureka was not Canadian.[ citation needed ]

At Eureka's latitude, a geosynchronous communications satellite, if due south, would require an antenna to be pointed nearly horizontally; satellites farther east or west along that orbit would be below the horizon. Telephone access and television broadcasts arrived in 1982 when Operation Hurricane resulted in the establishment of a satellite receiving station at nearby Skull Point, which has an open view to the south. The low-power Channel 9 TV transmitter at Skull Point was the world's most northern TV station at the time. In the 1980s, TV audio was often connected to the telephone to feed CBC-TV news to CHAR-FM in isolated CFS Alert. More recently, CANDAC has installed what is likely the world's most northerly geosynchronous satellite ground-station to provide Internet-based communications to PEARL.[ citation needed ]

Other inhabited places on Ellesmere Island include Alert [13] and Grise Fiord.

Flora and fauna

Eureka has been described as "The Garden Spot of the Arctic" due to the flora and fauna abundant around the Eureka area, more so than anywhere else in the High Arctic. Fauna include polar bears, muskox, Arctic wolves, Arctic foxes, Arctic hares, and lemmings. In addition, summer nesting geese, ducks, owls, loons, ravens, gulls and many other smaller birds nest, raise their young, and return south in August.[ citation needed ]

Climate

Eureka experiences a polar climate ( ET ). The settlement sees the midnight sun between April 10 and August 29, with no sunlight at all between mid-October and late February. Eureka has the lowest average annual temperature and least precipitation of any weather station in Canada with an annual mean temperature of −18.1 °C (−0.6 °F). Average winter temperatures are almost comparable to those found in northeastern Siberia. However, summers are slightly warmer than other places in the Canadian Arctic because Eureka is somewhat landlocked, being near the centre of Ellesmere Island. Even so, since record keeping began, the temperature has never exceeded 20.9 °C (69.6 °F), first reached on July 14, 2009. [14] Although a polar desert, evaporation is also very low, which allows the limited moisture to be made available for plants and wildlife.[ citation needed ] Its frost-free season averages 56 days, much longer than many other places nearby. [14]

Climate data for Eureka (Eureka Aerodrome)
WMO ID: 71917; coordinates 79°59′N85°56′W / 79.983°N 85.933°W / 79.983; -85.933 (Eureka Aerodrome) ; elevation: 10.4 m (34 ft); 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1947–present
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Record high °C (°F)−1.1
(30.0)
−1.1
(30.0)
−8.0
(17.6)
−2.8
(27.0)
7.5
(45.5)
18.5
(65.3)
20.9
(69.6)
17.6
(63.7)
9.3
(48.7)
5.0
(41.0)
−1.7
(28.9)
−2.1
(28.2)
20.9
(69.6)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)−32.3
(−26.1)
−33.0
(−27.4)
−32.3
(−26.1)
−21.9
(−7.4)
−6.7
(19.9)
5.8
(42.4)
10.1
(50.2)
5.7
(42.3)
−3.3
(26.1)
−15.9
(3.4)
−24.3
(−11.7)
−29.2
(−20.6)
−14.8
(5.4)
Daily mean °C (°F)−35.9
(−32.6)
−36.8
(−34.2)
−35.9
(−32.6)
−25.9
(−14.6)
−9.9
(14.2)
3.1
(37.6)
6.8
(44.2)
3.4
(38.1)
−5.8
(21.6)
−19.5
(−3.1)
−28.0
(−18.4)
−32.8
(−27.0)
−18.1
(−0.6)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)−39.5
(−39.1)
−40.5
(−40.9)
−39.4
(−38.9)
−29.8
(−21.6)
−13.1
(8.4)
0.5
(32.9)
3.5
(38.3)
1.2
(34.2)
−8.2
(17.2)
−23.1
(−9.6)
−31.6
(−24.9)
−36.3
(−33.3)
−21.4
(−6.5)
Record low °C (°F)−53.3
(−63.9)
−55.3
(−67.5)
−52.8
(−63.0)
−48.9
(−56.0)
−31.1
(−24.0)
−13.9
(7.0)
−2.2
(28.0)
−12.9
(8.8)
−31.7
(−25.1)
−41.7
(−43.1)
−48.2
(−54.8)
−51.7
(−61.1)
−55.3
(−67.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches)2.6
(0.10)
2.6
(0.10)
2.6
(0.10)
3.6
(0.14)
3.3
(0.13)
8.6
(0.34)
14.4
(0.57)
17.9
(0.70)
8.2
(0.32)
6.6
(0.26)
3.7
(0.15)
3.5
(0.14)
77.6
(3.06)
Average rainfall mm (inches)0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
5.3
(0.21)
14.5
(0.57)
11.7
(0.46)
1.0
(0.04)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
32.5
(1.28)
Average snowfall cm (inches)3.1
(1.2)
3.9
(1.5)
2.8
(1.1)
4.6
(1.8)
4.2
(1.7)
3.0
(1.2)
0.7
(0.3)
4.8
(1.9)
11.3
(4.4)
10.9
(4.3)
5.7
(2.2)
5.4
(2.1)
60.3
(23.7)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)4.44.45.34.93.95.27.87.96.88.65.95.470.6
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)0.00.00.00.00.03.17.75.90.60.00.00.017.3
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)4.74.74.25.24.02.40.72.97.99.66.05.057.4
Average relative humidity (%)63.466.365.867.275.071.169.376.282.074.365.864.670.1
Mean monthly sunshine hours 0.00.0120.2353.8486.3386.4360.5238.998.412.50.00.02,057
Percent possible sunshine 0.00.034.954.565.453.748.532.221.48.40.00.039.9
Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

    See also

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellesmere Island</span> Island of the Arctic Archipelago in Nunavut, Canada

    Ellesmere Island is Canada's northernmost and third largest island, and the tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of 196,236 km2 (75,767 sq mi), slightly smaller than Great Britain, and the total length of the island is 830 km (520 mi).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Grise Fiord</span> Hamlet in Nunavut, Canada

    Grise Fiord is an Inuit hamlet on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of three populated places on the island; despite its low population, it is the largest community on Ellesmere Island. Created by the Canadian Government in 1953 through a relocation of Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec, it is Canada's northernmost public community. It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of −16.5 °C (2.3 °F).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Quttinirpaaq National Park</span> National park in Nunavut, Canada

    Quttinirpaaq National Park is located on the northeastern corner of Ellesmere Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is the second most northerly park on Earth after Northeast Greenland National Park. In Inuktitut, Quttinirpaaq means "top of the world". It was established as Ellesmere Island National Park Reserve in 1988, and the name was changed to Quttinirpaaq in 1999, when Nunavut was created, and became a national park in 2000. The reserve covers 37,775 km2 (14,585 sq mi), making it the second largest park in Canada, after Wood Buffalo National Park.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Alert, Nunavut</span> Weather station and military facility in Nunavut, Canada

    Alert, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, is the northernmost continuously inhabited place in the world. The location is on Ellesmere Island at latitude 82°30'05" north, 817 km (508 mi) from the North Pole. It takes its name from the HMS Alert, which wintered 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the present station off what is now Cape Sheridan in 1875–1876.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Isachsen</span> Weather station in Nunavut, Canada

    Isachsen is a remote Arctic research-weather station named after the Norwegian explorer of the Arctic, Gunnar Isachsen. It is on the western shore of Ellef Ringnes Island in the Sverdrup Islands, in the territory of Nunavut in Canada. Isachsen Station was established to participate in a joint Canadian-American weather observation program. Isachsen Station operated from April 3, 1948, through September 19, 1978. Regular weather observations began on May 3, 1948. In October 1949, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain crash-landed near the station. No one was killed, but three on board were injured. The wreckage has been preserved by the cold weather and dry conditions.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Elizabeth Islands</span> Northernmost group of islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

    The Queen Elizabeth Islands are the northernmost cluster of islands in Canada's Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada. The Queen Elizabeth Islands contain approximately 14% of the global glacier and ice cap area. The southern islands are called the Parry Islands or Parry Archipelago.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornwallis Island (Nunavut)</span> Island in northern Canada

    Cornwallis Island is one of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, part of the Arctic Archipelago, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic. It lies to the west of Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island in the world, and at its greatest length is about 113 km (70 mi). At 6,995 km2 (2,701 sq mi) in size, it is the 96th largest island in the world, and Canada's 21st largest island. Cornwallis Island is separated by the Wellington Channel from Devon Island, and by the Parry Channel from Somerset Island to the south. Northwest of Cornwallis Island lies Little Cornwallis Island, the biggest of a group of small islands at the north end of McDougall Sound, which separates Cornwallis Island from nearby Bathurst Island.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 867</span> Telephone area code for the northern Canadian territories

    Area code 867 is the area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the three Canadian territories, all of which are in Northern Canada. The area code was created on October 21, 1997, by combining regions that were previously served with area code 403 and area code 819 in one numbering plan area (NPA). As the least populated NPA in mainland North America, serving about 130,000 people, it is geographically the largest, at 3,921,739 km2 (1,514,192 sq mi), with Alaska (907) a distant second.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Resolute, Nunavut</span> Place in Nunavut, Canada

    Resolute or Resolute Bay is an Inuit hamlet on Cornwallis Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is at the northern end of Resolute Bay and the Northwest Passage and is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region.

    The Canadian territory of Nunavut covers about 1.9 million square kilometres of land and water including part of the mainland, most of the Arctic islands, and all of the islands in Hudson Bay, James Bay, and Ungava Bay which belonged to the Northwest Territories. This makes it the fifth largest country subdivision in the world. If Nunavut were a country, it would rank 13th in area, after the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nunavut has land borders with Manitoba, the Northwest Territories on several islands as well as the mainland, and a tiny land border with Newfoundland and Labrador on Killiniq Island. Additionally, Nunavut has a land border with Greenland on Hans Island.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Nunavut</span> Territory of Canada

    Nunavut is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, which provided this territory to the Inuit for self-government. The boundaries had been drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map in half a century since the province of Newfoundland was admitted in 1949.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Arctic Cordillera</span> Terrestrial ecozone in northern Canada

    The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial ecozone in northern Canada characterized by a vast, deeply dissected chain of mountain ranges extending along the northeastern flank of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from Ellesmere Island to the northeasternmost part of the Labrador Peninsula in northern Labrador and northern Quebec, Canada. It spans most of the eastern coast of Nunavut with high glaciated peaks rising through ice fields and some of Canada's largest ice caps, including the Penny Ice Cap on Baffin Island. It is bounded to the east by Baffin Bay, Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea while its northern portion is bounded by the Arctic Ocean.

    Alexandra Fiord is a natural inlet on the Johan Peninsula of Ellesmere Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. To the east, it opens into Buchanan Bay.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Nirjutiqavvik National Wildlife Area</span> National Wildlife Area site in Nunavut, Canada

    Nirjutiqavvik National Wildlife Area is a National Wildlife Area on Coburg Island within the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Baffin Bay's Lady Ann Strait between Ellesmere Island, to the north, and Devon Island to the south. The NWA includes Coburg Island and its surrounding marine area.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanquary Fiord</span> Fjord on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

    Tanquary Fiord is a fjord on the north coast of the Arctic Archipelago's Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the Quttinirpaaq National Park and extends 48 km (30 mi) in a north-westerly direction from Greely Fiord.

    Strathcona Fiord is a fiord on the west central coast of Ellesmere Island, the most northern island within the Arctic Archipelago, Nunavut, Canada.

    McGill Arctic Research Station (Expedition Fiord) (MARS) is a small research station operated by McGill University located near the centre of Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut. It is located approximately 115 km (71 mi) southwest of Eureka, a weather and research station. It was first established in 1959 after scientists explored South Fiord (Expedition Fiord). The station contains a small hut, a cook house and two temporary structures. It can support 8-12 people and gives them access to the research activities. The current activities are glaciology, climate change, permafrost, hydrology, geology, geomorphology, limnology, planetary analogues, and microbiology. Today, the station is only used in the summer months so there would be enough power generated from the solar panels.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Dr. Neil Trivett Global Atmosphere Watch Observatory</span> Observatory

    The Dr. Neil Trivett Global Atmosphere Watch Observatory is an atmospheric baseline station operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada located about 6 km (3.7 mi) south south-west of Alert, Nunavut, on the north-eastern tip of Ellesmere Island, about 800 km (500 mi) south of the geographic North Pole.

    Kimberly "Kim" E. Strong is an atmospheric physicist and the first woman to serve as chair of the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto. Her research involves studying stratospheric ozone chemistry, climate, and air quality using ground-based, balloon-borne and satellite instruments.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory</span>

    The Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) is an atmospheric research facility in the Canadian High Arctic, located on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. Considered one of the most important Arctic research labs in the world, it was the subject of international media attention when it almost closed due to funding cuts by the Canadian Federal Government in 2012.

    References

    1. "Eureka". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
    2. "Eureka". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
    3. Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 16 July 2020 to 0901Z 10 September 2020.
    4. Otis, Daniel (19 December 2016). "Welcome to Eureka, Nunavut: the coldest settlement in Canada". CTV. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
    5. 1 2 "Eureka Postal Code". Canada Postal Code. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
    6. 1 2 "Emergency Plan for Storage Tank Systems of Petroleum and Allied Petroleum Products at Eureka High Arctic Weather Station". Archived from the original on 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
    7. Cold Places in Canada
    8. "Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory". Archived from the original on 2017-06-19. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
    9. "CANDAC".
    10. "High Arctic research station saved by new funding". 17 May 2013.
    11. "Eureka Weather Station". Government of Canada. 22 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
    12. "Update: Denmark's Arctic Assets and Canada's Response — Danish Air Force Aircraft on a Mission over Canada's High Arctic". Canadian American Strategic Review. July 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
    13. "High Arctic Weather Stations". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2006-12-13. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
    14. 1 2 3 "Eureka A". Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010. Environment and Climate Change Canada . Retrieved 12 May 2016.
    15. "Daily Data Report for August 2011". Canadian Climate Data. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
    16. "Daily Data Report for August 2013". Canadian Climate Data. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
    17. "Hourly Data Report for February 04, 2022". Canadian Climate Data. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Retrieved 11 Feb 2022.
    18. "Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020 Data". Canadian Climate Normals. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Retrieved 1 October 2023.

    Bibliography