Eureka is the strange and wonderful place that I visited each
winter during my graduate studies in physics (1994-1999)
to conduct investigations of atmospheric dynamics using a laser
radar (or lidar). Eureka is located in the Canadian High
Arctic (80°N, 86°W) on Slidre Fjord on Ellesmere Island; it's
position is shown on the map to the right. I have put together this
collection of pictures from Eureka for your interest. Enjoy!
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Landing at Eureka, you quickly understand just how isolated you are
from the rest of the world. Pictured on the left is the main base
camp, a rather lonely place! In fact, there are no communities in
Canada as far North as Eureka (although the military base of CFS Alert
is closer to the pole at 82°N). About 8 to 10 people weather the winter
months in this distant place.
And how inhospitable it is! During the winter, it's dark 24 hours/day x 7 days/week. The total lack of solar heating results in severly cold temperatures, usually in the neighbourhood of -40 °C during February. In the photo at the left, it is so cold that the cup of hot water I tossed into the air quickly vapourized into millions of ice crystals! Most of the pictures shown in this tour were taken in late March (after the polar sunrise), when the temperatures are somewhat warmer.