Located 500 miles from the North Pole, Alert is a Canadian military and scientific base in the Nunavut territory that hosts a rotating population of roughly 55 people.
Just a couple of hundred miles south of the North Pole is one very cold town, covered in sea ice for most of the year. Tucked on the northern edge of Ellesmere Island in Canada’s Nunavut territory, it’s called Alert — and it’s the northernmost inhabited settlement on the entire planet.
Alert is a unique place surrounded by icy mountains and valleys. Rather than a traditional town of streets and neighborhoods, Alert, a Canadian Forces Station (CFS) consists of a series of buildings and structures that huddle together in the frigid wintery tundra.
It’s home to a couple of dozen people — largely military and civilian personnel, as well as some tourists — who must content with frigid temperatures, long, dark winters, and the threat of polar bears.
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Alert, Canada, in the 1980s. It was established as a weather station in the 1950s, and began to operate as a signals intelligence unit under the purview of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 1958.Royal Canadian Air Force
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The town of Alert, Canada in 2016. Roughly 55 military and civilian personnel live at Alert at any given time. Wikimedia Commons
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Multiple sign posts here indicate how far Alert is from other cities. It’s actually closer to Moscow than Ottawa. Johannes Zieckle/Flickr
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Danish sled dogs rest near Alert, Canada. Wikimedia Commons
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Some of the buildings in Alert, Canada.Jason Belliveau/Flickr
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Military personnel from Alert loading a plane. Royal Canadian Air Force/Facebook
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A helicopter landing at Alert during a military exercise.Canadian Armed Forces
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A plane landing at Alert in 2016. Royal Canadian Air Force
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Military firefighters in Alert. Canadian Fire and EMS/Facebook
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Alert is home to both military and civilian personnel, many of them scientists. Here, a scientist works to set up a monitoring beacon at the Ayles Ice Shelf. Canadian Armed Forces
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A member of a team testing out a virtual reality system in Alert, in hopes of “maintaining or even improving astronauts’ psychological health on long-duration space flights.”Geisel School of Medicine website
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The Alert sign at dark. Alert has many days of the year which are dark for almost 24 hours, and this photo was taken in the early afternoon. Sergeant Ronald Duchesne, Rideau Hall
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One of the maintenance vehicles at the CSF Alert station. Wikimedia Commons
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The Dr. Neil Trivett Global Atmosphere Watch Observatory in Alert in 2016.Wikimedia Commons
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David Jacobson, then the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, poses by the Alert sign in 2010.Wikimedia Commons
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The sunset in Alert, Canada. Jason Belliveau/Flickr
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The Alert observatory in 2003. Wikimedia Commons
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Canadian rangers camp near Alert, Canada.Wikimedia Commons
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It’s not unusual to see snow vehicles in Alert, Canada.Wikimedia Commons
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U.S. diplomat Laura Lochlan at Alert.US Mission Canada
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The Alert airfield is operated by Canada’s Department of Transportation.Wikimedia Commons
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Alert is surrounded by icy and snowy mountains and valleys.Jason Belliveau/Flickr
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NOAA’s observatory in Alert.NOAA
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An igloo near Alert, Canada.Wikimedia Commons
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Members of the American military visit Alert in 2019.Wikimedia Commons
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U.S. Ambassador Jacobson poses in front of a Canada sign in Alert.Wikimedia Commons
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Military exercise in Alert, Canada.Wikimedia Commons
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Alert, Canada: The Tiny Canadian Outpost That’s Considered The Northernmost Human Settlement On Earth
How Alert Came To Be The Northernmost Settlement On Earth
Alert gets its name from the HMS Alert, which was the first European vessel to arrive on the northern shore of Ellesmere Island between 1875 and 1876. Long before that, archaeological evidence suggests that ancient humans inhabited the island some 4,000 years ago.
Public DomainThe HMS Alert, packed in ice during its winter expedition in the 1870s.
But the modern settlement of Alert came into existence after World War II. In 1950, the United States and Canada established a weather station at Alert through the Joint Arctic Weather Station (JAWS) system. In 1958, Alert began to operate as a signals intelligence unit called Alert Wireless Station, which functioned under the purview of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
Then, in 2009, Alert came under the command of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). It continues to play both a military and scientific role. While research at Alert over the years has been focused in fields like the climate, the ozone-layer, wildlife, plants, and geology, it also remains a strategically important military base for Canada.
Wikimedia CommonsThe location of Alert, Nunavut, Canada.
So what is life like at the northernmost place on Earth?
A Look At Life At CFS Alert
Alert’s population hit a peak of 250 in the 1970s and 1980s, but technological advancements have resulted in far fewer personnel today. Today, roughly 55 people are at Alert at any given time, a mix of military and civilian personnel who are posted at the station for six month rotations. They represent diverse interests, including the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence, and Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Royal Canadian Air ForceMembers of the Canadian Armed Forces at Alert with the Toronto Raptors slogan “We The North,” ahead of the NBA Finals in 2019.
But they have one thing in common: figuring out life at Alert. There, personnel must grapple with temperatures that regularly plunge below freezing, days with hardly any sunlight — and some days with nothing but sunlight — and roaming polar bears. But most people make the best of it.
Master Cpl. Arthur Melanson told CBC in 2018 that most of his time at Alert was fairly structured, but that the station comes alive at night once most people have finished their work days.
“Every night there’s some sort of activity,” he said. “Sometimes it’s cards or there’s a movie, a talent show, sports, whatever you want.”
In his free time, Melanson also explored Alert’s tundra landscape, which he called “pretty awesome.”
“The landscape is pretty untouched, we go hiking a lot,” he said. “We’ve been up most of the mountains around here… It’s no different than being on exercise or being deployed anywhere else, other than the weather. It’s a bit cold in the summer, when the sun’s up, but that’s about it.”
Byron Felske, a contractor who worked as a global atmosphere watch lab operator for Alert’s weather station between 2009 and 2010, also remarked that there’s a good social culture at Alert where people band together.
Byron Felske/BlogspotByron Felske and friends doing a Polar Bear Plunge at Alert. The water was below freezing. Circa 2009-2010.
“No one is naturally from Alert, so there’s not like a proper city,” he told AccuWeather. “To be living in essentially a small settlement which is a few buildings all connected together with like 50 people, it was like its own unique small-town feel… We all have the common experience of living in this place that so few people get to, so it’s a little bit of a badge of honor.”
For a closer look at life at Alert, the northernmost settlement in the world, take a look in the gallery above.
After reading about Alert, Canada, the tiny Canadian outpost considered to be the northernmost settlement in the world, discover the story of Charles Francis Hall, the Arctic explorer who some believe was poisoned by his crew. Or, learn about Hans Island, the remote island which was disputed by Canada and Denmark for decades during the so-called “Whiskey War.”
