Meteorology and soil temperatures, Hot Weather Creek, Ellesmere Island, NWT, Canada, Version 1

The instrumentation was installed in June 1988 and was initially maintained by the Arctic Adaptation Division Canadian Climate Centre, Atmospheric Environment Service (CCC/AES) with field support by Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). It consists of a Campbell Scientific CR10 micrologger with meteorological sensors for air temperature an relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and solar incoming radiation. It also supports a snow depth sensor, an experimental vegetation temperature and four ground temperatures. It is powered by a 25-AH, 12-volt gel cell (a second gel cell was added in 1989) charged by a 10-watt solar panel. Hourly and Daily sampling was carried out. Data have been quality controlled and fully documented (see documentation files accompanying the data). The High Arctic Integrated Research and Monitoring Area (IRMA) of the GSC was established on Fosheim Peninsula to support interdisciplinary studies related to environmental change. Research carried out between 1989 and 1994, had as primary objective to determine relationships between geomorphic processes and climate in order to help predict the potential geologic impact of global change. Establishment of detailed paleoclimatic records for this region has also been considered essential to provide a context for ongoing climate change. Paleoecological studies (records of peat cores, lakes cores, ice cores, sea cores and archeological records) in concert with other methodologies have been used to outline climatic variability (short, middle or long-term variabilities) and are a primary research component in the region. A major compilation of 20 papers has been produced (see Garneau in press) involving 34 participants from government, universities and industry. The synthesis includes the results from studies of modern conditions (climate, flora and fauna), quaternary geology and glacial history, paleoenvironmental records (i.e. ice cores, ocean, lakes, peat, archeological sites), permafrost dynamics and hydrologic systems. Nine appendices complete the document including a comprehensive bibliography and various data series (climate, vegetation, insects, geophysics, plant and arthropod macrofossils and radiocarbon dates) to provide background forfuture projects in the area. These data are on the CAPS Version 1.0 CD-ROM, and were identified for inclusion through the efforts of Kathy Young, Ph.D. graduate of Department of Geography, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.