CRYONET Site Questionnaire: Polar Environment Atmospheric Research
Laboratory (PEARL), Eureka, Canada
Site specific metadata:
Name of site: Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL). Site includes the PEARL
Ridge Laboratory, 0PAL, the Zero Altitude PEARL Auxiliary Laboratory, and SAFIRE, the Surface and
Atmospheric Flux and Irradiance Extension site.
Latitude/Longitude/Altitude: 80N 86W, from 10m to 610m above sea level
Landscape type (e.g. arctic coastal, tundra, alpine…): arctic tundra, alpine, near coast, but not on
shoreline.
Onsite technical staff: Staff were continuously on site from 06-2005 to 11-2011. Currently the site has
technical support on 2-3 occasions per year. Much of the equipment is automated.
All-year round observations y/n: Yes
Year established: 2005
Link to website if available: http://www.candac.ca
Station manager (Email): pierre.fogal@utoronto.ca
Organisation in charge of station: Canadian Network for Detection of Atmospheric Change (CANDAC)
Other information: CANDAC PEARL Principal Investigator is James Drummond, james.drummond@dal.ca
Monitoring of the atmosphere:
Solid precipitation: yes
Snowfall: occurrence but not amount
Trace gases: yes via Fourier Transform (FTIR) solar measurements and atmospheric emission radiation
measurements. Gases include: O3, NO, NO2, HNO3, N2O5, NO3, N2O, ClONO2, HCl, OClO,BrO, HF, CFCs,
CH4, H2O, CO, OCS,
Aerosols: yes, via lidar, Cimel sunphotometer, starphotometer and aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS)
UV, stratospheric ozone: yes via Brewer spectrophotometer, UV-visibule grating spectrometers. Lidar
(ozone),
Radiation (longwave, shortwave): Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) type instrumentation.
Others: upper atmospheric winds and temperature, clouds, wind radar, 10m flux tower. Environment
Canada Eureka weather station provides meteorological measurements, radio-sonde and ozone sonde
flights.
Snow cover
Physical parameters: Some parameters available from flux tower
Chemical parameters:
Others:
Glaciers and ice caps (N/A)
Mass balance (measured parameters):
Ice flow (measured parameters):
Basal water pressure (measured parameters):
Others:
Sea ice (N/A)
Mass balance (measured parameters):
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters):
Snow on ice (measured parameters):
Ice chemistry (measured parameters):
Others:
Permafrost
Borehole measurements (measured parameters): temperature probe
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters): surface parameters measured at flux tower on tundra and a laboratory on ridge (610m)
Snow on ground (measured parameters):
Active layer thickness (measured parameters):
GST:
Others:
Ice sheet (N/A)
Mass balance (measured parameters):
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters):
Snow on ice (measured parameters):
Ice chemistry (measured parameters):
Others:
Other measurements (hydrological, ecological, oceanographic, etc)
Hydrology (measured parameters):
Ecology (measured parameters)
Oceanography (measured parameters):
Other thematic linkages:
Linkages to satellite data (describe validation programs, applications of satellite data, etc.)
ACE Arctic validation campaign occurs every sunrise to validate ACE satellite instruments
Millimeter cloud radar, lidars, Cimels contribute to the validation of Cloudsat and CALIPSO
FTIR measurements through TCCON contribute to the validation of GOSAT
The location at 80N provides a very high overpass frequency which facilitates satellite validation. Many
satellite validation studies have used PEARL data, either taken for the purpose or archived from regular
measurements.
Participation in international monitoring programmes such as GAW, GTN-G, GTN-P, ….
Networks and start of contribution: NDACC since mid nineties. TCCON since 2010, MUSICA since 2010