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D93 10.5885/45735XD-011EA11523034D87 Published
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Climate station data from Purple Valley at the head of Milne Fiord, northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada.

Luke Copland 1 Derek Mueller 2
1Laboratory for Cryospheric Research, Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
2Water and Ice Research Laboratory, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

Abstract

This dataset provides a long-term weather record from Purple Valley, Ellesmere Island. This location is near the head of Milne Fiord and can serve as an index location for the region adjacent to the ice shelves of northern Ellesmere Island. Weather data were observed every 4 minutes by an automated weather station, averaged and recorded hourly and transmitted daily using a satellite data connection. The station was a 3 m tripod with a Hobo Energy Pro logger, an Iridium satellite transceiver, a solar panel/battery bank, and the following data are available: air temperature at 1 m above surface, air temperature at 2 m above surface, relative humidity at 2 m above surface, wind direction and wind speed at 4 m above surface, incoming radiation at 3 m above surface, atmospheric pressure, and snow depth. The station is located at the east end of Purple Valley (82.483986°N, 80.7881122°W at 20 m asl) above the valley floor and a few hundred metres south of a little bay in Milne Fiord. It is on a small area of level ground at the top of a bench along the slope of an arrete that borders Milne Fiord. The immediate surroundings are bare, flat ground with sparse polar desert vegetation. Note that the snow conditions at this site are not representative of the general area as the bench where the station was located is exposed and often blows clear.

Data citation

Copland, L., Mueller, D. 2021. Climate station data from Purple Valley at the head of Milne Fiord, northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada., v. 1. Nordicana D93, doi: 10.5885/45735XD-011EA11523034D87.

Location map

Key references

  • White, A., & Copland, L. (2018). Area change of glaciers across Northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, between ~1999 and ~2015. Journal of Glaciology, 64(246), 609–623. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2018.49
    DOI: 10.1017/jog.2018.49
  • Bonneau, J. (2020). Winter Dynamics in an Epishelf Lake (MASc thesis). University of British Columbia, Department of Civil Engineering, Vancouver, BC. https://doi.org/10.14288/1.0392852
    DOI: 10.14288/1.0392852
  • Bonneau, J., Laval, B. E., Mueller, D., Hamilton, A. K., Friedrichs, A. M., & Forrest, A. L. (2021). Winter dynamics in an epishelf lake: Quantitative mixing estimates and ice shelf basal channel considerations. Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans, In revision.
  • Hamilton, A. K. (2016). Ice-ocean interactions in Milne Fiord (PhD Dissertation). University of British Columbia, Department of Civil Engineering, Vancouver, BC. https://doi.org/10.14288/1.0314106
    DOI: 10.14288/1.0314106
  • Hamilton, Andrew K., Laval, B. E., Mueller, D. R., Vincent, W. F., & Copland, L. (2017). Dynamic response of an Arctic epishelf lake to seasonal and long-term forcing: implications for ice shelf thickness. The Cryosphere, 11(5), 2189–2211. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2189-2017
    DOI: 10.5194/tc-11-2189-2017
  • Mortimer, C. (2011). Quantification of volume changes for the Milne Ice Shelf, Nunavut, 1950-2009 (MSc thesis). University of Ottawa, Department of Geography. http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-4428
    DOI: 10.20381/ruor-4428
  • Mortimer, C. A., Copland, L., & Mueller, D. R. (2012). Volume and area changes of the Milne Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, since 1950. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117(F4), F04011. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JF002074
    DOI: 10.1029/2011JF002074
  • Pope, S. (2010). Changes in Multiyear Landfast Sea Ice in the Northern Canadian Arctic Archipelago (MSc thesis). University of Ottawa, Department of Geography.
  • Pope, S., Copland, L., & Mueller, D. (2012). Loss of multiyear landfast sea ice from Yelverton Bay, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 44(2), 210–221. https://doi.org/10.1657/1938-4246-44.2.210
    DOI: 10.1657/1938-4246-44.2.210
  • Richer-McCallum, M. (2015). Analysis of ice types along the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, and their relationship to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) backscatter (MSc thesis). Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. https://doi.org/10.22215/etd/2015-10920
    DOI: 10.22215/etd/2015-10920
  • White, A. (2012). Dynamics and historical changes of the Petersen Ice Shelf and epishelf lake, Nunavut, Canada, since 1959. University of Ottawa. http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-6251
    DOI: 10.20381/ruor-6251
  • White, A., & Copland, L. (2019). Loss of floating glacier tongues from the Yelverton Bay region, Ellesmere Island, Canada. Journal of Glaciology, 65(251), 376–394. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.15
    DOI: 10.1017/jog.2019.15
  • White, A., Copland, L., Mueller, D., & Van Wychen, W. (2015). Assessment of historical changes (1959–2012) and the causes of recent break-ups of the Petersen Ice Shelf, Nunavut, Canada. Annals of Glaciology, 56(69), 65–76. https://doi.org/10.3189/2015AoG69A687
    DOI: 10.3189/2015AoG69A687
  • White, A. C. (2019). Glacier changes across northern Ellesmere Island (PhD Dissertation). Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-23350
    DOI: 10.20381/ruor-23350

Contributors

White, Adrienne Laboratory for Cryospheric Research, Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa Hamilton, Andrew Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of British Columbia

Acknowledgements

We thank the following funding and logistics agencies for support: Polar Continental Shelf Program, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, ArcticNet Network of Centres of Excellence, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Research Fund, University of Ottawa. The following individuals helped to maintain the station: Sierra Pope, Colleen Mortimer, Adrienne White, Andrew Hamilton, Miriam Richer-McCallum, Tyler de Jong, Nat Wilson, Kelly Graves, Sam Brenner, Kevin Xu, Jill Rajewicz, Adam Garbo, Gregory Crocker, Dorota Medrzycka, Peter Wray, Jinsuk Kim, Drew Friedrichs, Yulia Antropova, Jérémie Bonneau. We thank the pilots and staff of the Polar Continental Shelf Program for their assistance getting our teams in and out of the field. We acknowledge the communities of Resolute (Qausuittuq) and Grise Fiord (Aujuittuq) for providing their permission for us to conduct our research and are grateful for the support of the Nunavut Research Institute for their assistance with research licences.

Version history

You can request an older version by contacting nordicana@cen.ulaval.ca

Measurement sites

Site Latitude Longitude Altitude (m)
Purple Valley Weather Station 82.483986 -80.7881122 20 More info

Supplementary material

Download

Data available for download are in ZIP format. Please properly cite the data when using it.

PurpleValley_20090530-20191024.txt Get file
File: ds_000601682.zip Size: 5.36 KB
Sites
Purple Valley Weather Station
Data
air_temperature_2m_C 05/2009 – 10/2019
DateTime 05/2009 – 10/2019
air_temperature_1m_C 05/2009 – 10/2019
relative_humidity_percent 05/2009 – 10/2019
surface_downwelling_shortwave_flux_in_air_Wm2 05/2009 – 10/2019
wind_speed_ms 05/2009 – 10/2019
wind_speed_of_gust_ms 05/2009 – 10/2019
wind_from_direction_deg 05/2009 – 10/2019
air_pressure_Pa 05/2009 – 10/2019
surface_snow_thickness_m 05/2009 – 10/2019