| Alert, Nunavut |
Article Index for Alert |
Website Links For Alert |
Information AboutAlert, Nunavut |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ALERT, NUNAVUT | |
| communities in qikiqtaaluk region | |
| northernmost settlements | |
| extreme points of the world | |
|
air chemistry observatory]] Alert is the west of Cape Sheridan , the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island , on the shore of ice-covered Lincoln Sea , in the territory of Nunavut in Canada . Alert lies just 840 km (522 Mile s) from the North Pole . It is named after HMS Alert, a British ship which wintered about 10 km away in 1875-76. Alert had five permanent inhabitants in the (CFS Alert), as well as a co-located Environment Canada weather station, a GAW Atmosphere monitoring laboratory, and the Alert Airport . The settlement is surrounded by a rugged terrain of hills and valleys. The shore is composed primarily of Slate and Shale , and the sea is covered with pack Ice year-round. The local climate is actually Semi-arid . However, evaporation rates are also very low, as average monthly temperatures are above freezing only in July and August. There is 24-hour daylight from the last week of March until the middle of September and the sun is above the horizon from mid-April through August. From mid-October through the end of February the sun does not rise above the horizon and there is 24-hour darkness. Sir George Nares was the first known person to reach the northern end of Ellesmere Island; he arrived on ''HMS Alert'' in 1875 – 1876 . The weather station was established in 1950 , and the military station in 1958 . Other places on Ellesmere Island are the research base at Eureka and the Inuit community of Grise Fiord . The nearest large Canadian city to Alert is Edmonton, Alberta , which at 3,578 km (2,223 miles) is more distant than Oslo , Norway at 3,192 km (1,983 miles) and Reykjavík , Iceland at 2,300 km (1,430 miles). Nine crew members of an RCAF Lancaster died in a crash while making an airdrop of supplies to the station in 1950. A , were written, and a film, "Ordeal in the arctic", starring Richard Chamberlain , was based on the event. As of April 13, 2006 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was reporting 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.http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/04/13/north-alert-military060413.html In early April 2006 the Roly McLenahan Torch that will be used to light the flame in Whitehorse , Yukon for the 2007 Canada Games passed through Alert. In August 2007, the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper , made a visit to Alert as part of his campaign to promote Canadian sovereignty in the north. SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|