Iqaluit, Nunavut (CYFB) Enhanced Site for Canadian Arctic Weather Science (CAWS) Project

In 2015 as part of the Canadian Artic Weather Science (CAWS) project, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) established an enhanced monitoring reference site at Iqaluit, Nunavut (CYFB, 63°45N, 68°33W) in the eastern Canadian Arctic. The site was strategically selected at the loci of synoptic storm tracks and primary transportation corridors. CYFB is also a major aviation hub for the North. It is an operational upper air site with an existing office building and instrument test facility infrastructure with a co-located Double Fence International Reference for solid precipitation measurements. The site was to provide automated and continuous observations of altitude-resolved winds, clouds and aerosols, visibility, radiation fluxes, turbulence, and precipitation. The benefit of integrated measurement systems at the Iqaluit supersite are being investigated to: 1) Recommend the optimal cost-effective observing system for the Canadian Arctic that can complement existing radiosonde observations 2) Provide enhanced meteorological observations during the World Meteorological Organization’s Year of Polar Prediction (WMO YOPP). Instrumentation at Iqaluit includes a Ka-band radar, water vapour lidars (both in-house and commercial versions), multiple Doppler lidars, ceilometers, radiation flux and precipitation sensors, and others. Data collection for a subset of the instruments at Iqaluit began in March 2016.