Eureka (Nunavut)

Eureka
Climate diagram
	Temperature in ° C , precipitation in mm
	Source: wetterkontor.de

Location in Canada

Eureka (Nunavut) is the northernmost civil weather station on earth and also a scientific research station as well as a military base and training camp for all branches of the Canadian army . The place is only about 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole on Ellesmere Island and 83 meters above sea level on the north side of the Slidre Fiord, which - branching off from Eureka Sound - extends about 25 kilometers east into the Fosheim Peninsula. Eureka is located in the arctic climate zone (extremely cold winters and short, cool summers); the polar night begins on October 21st and ends on February 19th; the polar day lasts from 14 April to August 29th.

"Astrolab" (Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Observatory)

Eureka weather station as seen from the airfield - in the background (beyond the Slidre Fjord) the coastal mountains of the Fosheim Peninsula (Ellesmere Island)

Slidre Fiord with Eureka weather station - in the background Fosheim peninsula and Sawtooth mountain range (Ellesmere Island)

Eureka was founded on April 11, 1947 as part of a program to set up weather stations in the Arctic . After the Alert station, also on Ellesmere Island (on the north coast), and the Nord station on Greenland, the Eureka weather station is the third most northerly human settlement on earth. Their facilities are staffed with a varying number of people all year round, but very limited in the deep polar winter.

Eureka has an airfield with a fairly extensive airfield that is also designed for landing large transport planes such as Lockheed Hercules ; it is a stopover for charter flights to the Quttinirpaaq National Park . There is also "Fort Eureka", a small military facility from which the communications facilities on Ellesmere Island are maintained.

The station is supplied with fresh goods and mail from the air every two weeks. Once a year in late summer there is a basic supply with the supply ship.

1992 ten kilometers was removed on a 645 meter high ridge a highly modern, internationally-used research laboratory, the "Astrolab" - Observatory taken (Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Observatory) with a production cost of five million dollars in business whose main task investigations to modify the ozone layer above the Are north pole.

In the vicinity of Eureka one can find an unusually rich fauna in these high latitudes: especially musk ox , arctic wolf , arctic fox , arctic hare and lemming .

Climate table

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Eureka

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C )	−33.1	−35.0	−34.1	−23.9	−7.6	4.4	8.4	5.4	−5.5	−18.6	−28.6	−31.0	O	−16.5
Min. Temperature (° C)	−40.3	−42.0	−40.9	−32.2	−14.5	−0.7	2.4	0.6	−11.4	−26.1	−35.6	−38.1	O	−23.1

Precipitation ( mm )	3	3	2	4th	3	7th	11	12	10	8th	3	3	Σ	69

Hours of sunshine ( h / d )	0.0	0.0	3.7	12.0	16.5	13.6	11.5	7.8	3.2	0.2	0.0	0.0	O	5.7

Rainy days ( d )	1	1	1	1	1	2	3	4th	3	2	1	1	Σ	21st

Humidity ( % )	73	71	71	72	80	76	73	80	85	79	74	71	O	75.4

Source: wetterkontor.de

literature

JK Stager, Harry Swain: Canada North: Journey to the High Arctic , Rutgers University Press, Brunswick 1992, pages 125-128, ISBN 0-8135-1891-1
Ansgar Walk: Nordflug , Pendragon Verlag, Bielefeld 2000, pages 85-100, ISBN 3-929096-95-1

Web links

Commons : Eureka (Nunavut) - collection of images, videos and audio files

79.988888888889 -85.940277777778Coordinates: 79 ° 59 ′ N , 85 ° 56 ′ W