Meteorological Operations at Cape Hatt in Support of the Baffin Island Oil Spill Project

Abstract

Climatological records for Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay indicate that the climate of the northern Baffin Island area lies between the cold, dry climate of the central Arctic and the slightly milder and moister climates of the western Beaufort Sea and the southeastern Baffin Island and Hudson Strait areas. A weather station was set up at Cape Hatt in late May 1980 to provide climatological data at the site of the Baffin Island Oil Spill Project. Daily precipitation and temperatures, hourly winds, rate of rainfall and hourly global solar radiation were measured. The station operated from late May to late June and from mid-July to the end of September in 1980 and from mid-July to the end of September in 1980 and from mid-July to early September in 1981. Temperature and precipitation data from the station were compared with those from Pond Inlet for the identical periods. Six outlying stations measured winds at representative locations in the area. Hour by hour comparisons were made of the winds at five shoreline stations with those at the camp station and those on a nearby mountain. These were used as one of the tools in forecasting winds for the oil releases. The weather forecasting system utilized one meteorologist at the site using weather charts and briefings from the Atmospheric Environment Service Arctic Weather Centre at Edmonton. The forecasts provided met all requirements for timing and accuracy.

Key words: climatological, Baffin Island, weather station, precipitation, temperature, winds, radiation, forecasting