For more information about PEARL Weather Station Suite and data, please, contact CANDAC/PEARL site manager Dr. Pierre Fogal
Surface weather observations have always been a part of the PEARL measurement program since the beginning. Monitoring of ambient air temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction provides critical information about current weather conditions at PEARL and is useful for climate studies in the High Arctic.
Additionally, PEARL scientists and staff rely on the data from the PEARL weather monitoring instruments and systems to make sure all travel and field operations can be carried out safely.
Instrument Description
At PEARL, surface weather observations are conducted at three locations.
The first location is the PEARL Ridge Lab site at 610 m a.s.l. (see Fig. 1). On the PEARL Ridge Lab the primary weather station (PEARL Weather Station, PWS) consists of a Vaisala ultra-sonic anemometer, Campbell Scientific temperature and humidity sensors and a Setra high precision barometer. The data is recorded using a Campbell Scientific data logger. Also present is a Vaisala WXT-520 (Penthouse Weather Station, PHWS).
Another Vaisala WXT-520 weather transmitter is installed at the Safehut (Safehut Weather Station, SHWS), a small container size building constructed ~80 m away from the PEARL Ridge Lab for the personnel evacuation purposes in case of emergency at the main lab.
Figure 1. Aerial photo of the PEARL Ridge Lab site: SHWS – Safehut Weather Station, PHWS – Penthosue Weather Station, PWS – PEARL Weather Station.
A Vaisala WXT-510 is located at ØPAL at 10 m a.s.l. and ~160 m north of the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) Eureka Weather Station main facility complex (see Fig. 2) to provide wind speed information to the CANDAC Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar operator. The Vaisala units have web accessible interfaces and provide near real-time data on the weather conditions specific to their locations with 1 minute temporal resolution.
Temperature, wind speed and direction, and pressure measurements are also conducted on a 10 m tall Flux Tower, located near the Eureka runway at 83 m a.s.l. and ~3.3 km north-east of the ECCC main facility complex.
In Eureka, standardized meteorological observations are also conducted by ECCC at its Eureka Climate meteorological site (WMO ID: 71613, see Fig. 2).
Useful Links
Environment and Climate Change Canada Weather Station at Eureka
Environment and Climate Change Canada Historical Climate Data Archive
Eureka Flux Tower, NOAA Web Page