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The McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS) was established in 1960 at Expedition Fjord on Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian high Arctic. MARS is one of the longest-operating seasonal field research facilities in the high Arctic and has the longest continuous mass balance record for any high Arctic glacier (White Glacier). The station consists of a small research hut, a cook house and 2 temporary structures. It can comfortably accommodate 8-12 persons and provides access to glacier, ice cap and polar desert environments. Current research activities include glaciology, climate change, permafrost hydrology, geology, geomorphology, limnology, planetary analogues and microbiology.
information from the
McGill University web site.
Page header photo above courtesy of: NASA Visible Earth. |
| Location | ||||
| Description: | This high arctic field station is located 8 km (5 miles) inland at Expedition Fjord, on Central Axel Heiberg Island. Mountainous and glaciated, the area can be characterized as a polar desert. Some of the most detailed environmental information in the Arctic, including topographic map data, has been collected at this station. Besides McGill, recent users have included other universities, NASA, the Polar Continental Shelf Project, Geological Survey of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Nature. | |||
| Country: | Canada | |||
| State/Province/Region: | Nunavut | |||
| Altitude in feet: | 577 | |||
| Altitude in meters: | 176 | |||
| Latitude (Decimal, Degreesºmm'ss") : | 79º26' N 79.433º N | |||
| Longitude (Decimal, Degreesºmm'ss") : | 90º46' W 90.766º W | |||
| Environment Types Accessible at this Location | ||||
| Glacier, Coastal, Desert | ||||
| Tundra : | ||||
| Local History and Culture | ||||
| Description: | Axel Heiberg Island, in Canada's High Arctic, Nunavut, was discovered by Otto Sverdrup during his Norwegian Polar Expedition of 1898-1902. He named it after one of the Expedition sponsors, an Oslo brewer. Peary and Cook were brief visitors to the island. D.B. Macmillan made more extensive journeys around the coast in 1916-17, as did Stallworthy and Hamilton of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1932 and Haig-Thomas in 1938, but its interior was all but unknown until the first systematic aerial photography in the late 1940s. The U.S. Army Air Force's Operation Polaris yielded extensive, but not cloudless, coverage of Axel Heiberg Island by oblique air photos in 1947 and 1948. The first scientific investigations were conducted in the 1950s. In 1955 two geologists of the Geological Survey of Canada, N.J. McMillan and Souther, traversed the interior as part of Operation Franklin. McMillan's observations of Bunde Glacier, in northwest Axel Heiberg Island, are the earliest glaciological observations on the ground to have found their way into a scientific publication (McMillan, N.J., 1998, Observations of the terminus of Bunde Glacier, Axel Heiberg Island, Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1955 and 1983, Arctic ,51, 55-57). In 1959, Peter Adams, then beginning graduate studies at McGill University, assisted Fritz Müller in a reconnaissance of the Expedition Fiord (previously Sør Fjord or South Fiord) area of central Axel Heiberg Island. The reconnaissance set the stage for the Jacobsen-McGill Arctic Research Expedition, a scientific venture having broad interests across the natural sciences with a concentration on glaciology. It was based at what became the McGill Arctic Research Station at Colour Lake, near the terminus of Thompson Glacier. The years of most intense Expedition activity were 1960 to 1962, although scientific work has continued at the Research Station until today. In each of 1960 and 1961 the personnel of the Expedition numbered more than 20. The programme of glaciological measurement and investigation was maintained by the Centre for Northern Studies and Research, McGill University, Montreal, which published a series of "Axel Heiberg Island Research Reports" containing much of the scientific contribution made by the Expedition. | |||
| Primary Logistics Provider | ||||
| Organization: | McGill University | |||
| Name and title of contact person: | Dr. Wayne Pollard Director, McGill Northern Research Stations | |||
| Address: | McGill University, Department of Geography 805 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, PQ Canada H3A 2K6 | |||
| Telephone: | (514) 398-4454 | |||
| Fax: | (514) 398-7437 | |||
| E-mail: | pollard@felix.geog.mcgill.ca | |||
| Contact person or agency web page: | http://www.geog.mcgill.ca/ | |||
| Availability and Cost | ||||
| Availability: | From Mid April to August only to qualified researchers, and subject to limitations of space. Can be used for an emergency shelter at any time. | |||
| User fee: | Currently there is no formal user fee structure applied to non-McGill users. However, internal R&B charges of $30.00/day are used to maintain food stores and replace tools, kitchen utensils and research equipment. | |||
| Permits and Legal Issues | ||||
| Courtesy contacts: | The Grise Fiord Hamlet Council is a courtesy contact. It is a good idea to contact Polar Continental Shelf Project (PCSP), as a courtesy, even if they are not directly providing support for your project. | |||
| Permit(s) required: | All users are required to obtain their own research licences, NIRB approval and other permits. Users must confirm schedules with the Base Director to book access. As most field parties are supported by Polar Continental Shelf Project, they must therefore conform to PCSP protocols. Each group is responsible for obtaining their own permits and licences. Firearm use is discouraged, wildlife sightings are logged, basic recycling and waste protocols are in place to protect environmental quality. | |||
| Physical Access | ||||
| Airstrip description: | The station is served by a rough landing strip capable of handling a Twin Otter. | |||
| Accessibility: | Accessible by air charter only - all users are currently supported by Polar Continental Shelf Project. | |||
| Communications and Data Systems | ||||
| Network: | All communications are through High Frequency radios licensed to Polar Continental Shelf Project (PCSP). | |||
| Buildings | ||||
| Food service, Lodging, Storage | ||||
| Buildings: | 2 permanent, winterized structures established in 1959-60- [1] a small heated (coleman diesel stove) cook house~20'X12' with a 3 burner propane stove, eating area for 8-9 persons, fully equipped with pans, pots, utensils, plates and a considerable store of dry food. The cook house is located next to Colour Lake which provides fresh water (please note that Colour Lake is naturally acidic with a pH close to 3); [2] a heated (coleman diesel stove) research/sleeping hut~40'X18', divided into 2 rooms, a sleeping area with 4 bunk beds and a research/work area while the second room is a well-equipped work room with radio and laboratory equipment. Basic accommodation for 8-10 persons. The facility also includes 1 shack tent used for storage, a permanent 30' radio mast with a fixed HF antenna, outhouse toilet facilities and grey water sump. A "weather station" located near the radio antenna is equipped with a variety of Stevenson screens and gauge stands. | |||
| Science Support Equipment | ||||
| Science support equipment: | Personal gear is stored on site - including cold weather clothing, sleeping bags, climbing equipment, and camping equipment. In addition, Polar Continental Shelf Project (PCSP) equipment is sometimes left on site (e.g.generator, snow machines..). | |||
| Supplies Available at or Near the Facility | ||||
| Comments: | Users are responsible for their own food, equipment, etc. | |||
| Fuel: | Fuel is generally not available. However, Polar Continental Shelf Project has cached fuel on site which includes: small amounts of propane, iosol, diesel, and mogas. 2 wobble pumps are also on site. Polar Continental Shelf Project has a small quantity of aircraft fuel on site for operational use and therefore, it may be possible to make arrangements for fuel caches by contacting PCSP at 867-252-3872. | |||
| Medical Facilities/Services Available | ||||
| Distance to nearest medical facility in miles: | 311 | |||
| Hospital: | The nearest hospital is in Iqaluit, 2100 km (1305 miles) via Resolute: Baffin Regional General Hospital has 34 beds with 22 beds for adults, 12 for children and 8 units for newborn babies. Specialists fly in once or twice a year. Patients come from all over Baffin and sometimes from northern Quebec, Box 200,, Iqaluit, NU, Canada X0A 0H0 (Tel.: 867-979-7300) | |||
| Health clinic: | The nearest health center is in Resolute, 500 km (311 miles) away: Resolute Health Centre, Box 180, Resolute (Tel.: 867-252-3844. Fax: 867-252-3601) | |||
| Distance to nearest medical facility (km): | 500 | |||
| Nearest medical facility: | Hospital is in Iqaluit, 2100 km (1305 miles) via Resolute. Health center is in Resolute, 500 km (311 miles) away. | |||
| Current Projects and Research History | ||||
| Comments: | A research team led by Dr. Wayne Pollard at McGill university has spent a number of seasons doing research on Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian high arctic. According to Pollard's website his team's primary research activities are "concerned with the investigation of the nature and origin of massive ground ice in the Canadian High Arctic and in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, its role in landscape evolution, and an assessment of its response to global warming. Another focus is the investigation of polar hydrologic systems with respect to groundwater processes like the formation of travertines, frost mounds and icings. One aspect of this research is the investigation of perennial springs on Axel Heiberg Island and their possible application as an analogue for past microbial life on Mars." Web: http://www.geog.mcgill.ca/faculty/pollard/ PUBLICATIONS: Axel Heiberg Island Research Reports , McGill University, and numerous journal articles. RECENT PROJECTS/CURRENT RESEARCH: Mass balance of glaciers with 30 year records available, geochemical and other studies of Colour Lake. Opportunities for wildlife (flora and fauna) and archaeological studies. | |||
| Research sources: | Click here for information on research in the vicinity of Expedition Fiord from the database of Veco Polar Resources. | |||