Talk:Alert, Nunavut

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Contents 1 Alert's value as a military base 2 Edmonton 3 Polar Day/night 4 Merger 5 Darkness

[edit] Alert's value as a military base

Before the last major revamp of programming from Discovery channel Canada, there was a show that talked about Alert. I recall it mentioning that Alert is/was a monitoring station in the Arctic because the Arctic has relatively little signals being broadcast there, and is a very good place to have eavesdropping equipment to listen to reflected RF signals from the atmosphere. ECHELON has an antenna there (that's from the ECHELON article), and not surprisingly it was used to monitor the Russians. --Calyth 16:29, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Edmonton

"The nearest large Canadian city... is Edmonton".

What is the definition of a large city? ςפקιДИτς 19:22, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps it should be edited to refer to census metropolitan area or something objective, because you're right -- "large" is a relative and subjective term. --Skeezix1000 14:30, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

You call that near?!!? It's serval thousand miles away! Tobyk777 04:00, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

I think that's the point. Skeezix1000 14:30, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

The Edmonton thing comes from CFS Alert. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 18:39, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

The reason for saying "larg"e (I'm guessing) is otherwise you could possible claim that Iqaluit is the nearest city. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 18:43, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Polar Day/night

What are the dates?

The dates of 24-hr sun up/down are now listed. I removed the other statement about 24-hour daylight because normally "daylight" excludes anything when the sun is below the horizon (this being twilight). -User: Nightvid

I used the tables at US Naval Observatory (requires coordinates and setting of time zone to -5) and Canada's National Research Council (the first one works with just typing in Alert) and they both give the period March 24 - Sept 18/19 as 24 hours daylight as the sun is at that point above the twilight line. Although not quite as far north as Alert, we get the same effect here in Cambridge Bay but for a shorter period. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 16:32, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merger

I had been thinking about this for a few days. It seems silly to have two articles about one place. However, I would go with merging this into CFS Alert. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 02:51, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, it seems to me that CFS Alert is a military base in Alert, so merging CFS Alert into Alert might be a better idea. ςפקιДИτς ☺ ☻ 04:39, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

My contention is that Alert as such does not exist in the same way that Iqaluit, Nunavut or Cambridge Bay, Nunavut exists. Alert is a military station and not a community. All the personnel are posted to the station at Alert (military/weather) and don't choose to live there like I choose to live in Cambridge Bay. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:02, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't understand why you would merge them. Alert, Nunavut has a storied history on it's own as it's own place, but today exists as a military installation. The permanent population is zero (apparently the 2001 census lists 5 people living there, but when I visited, there wasn't a single permanent resident to be found). Having said that, it would be inappropriate to merge the Alert article into the CFS Alert one in that the history of both, although intertwined, are not equal. -Hauger, 05:35 7 April 2006 (UTC)

There never were any permenant residents in Alert or the area as no Inuit ever lived that far north. Was Alert ever anything other than a military base? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 06:10, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Is there any kind of civilian municipal government? I don't know the answer myself, but it can't be hard to verify. Peter Grey 06:15, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

The Canadian Forces state that the only people at Alert are military personnel and Envionment Canada employees here. Also it's not one of the communities recognized by the Govenment of Nunavut and thus the people stationed there don't vote in Territorial elections. The Canadian Encyclopedia has a short piece on it here. It looks as if I answered my own question Alert was only ever a weather station and then a military base. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 06:28, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

If Alert is not one of the communities recognized by the Govenment of Nunavut then I would say that Alert, Nunavet does not exist and this article should be merged into the other.

I would also advocate for a merger; AFAIK Alert is a military base and a weather station run by Environment Canada only. It is not a community. IMHO, the history of Alert is the history of the weather station and the military base. -Vectorchem, 17:27, 27 April 2006 (EST)

While it's nice to have someone agree with me I need to point out that their only edits are to this discussion. I find it embarrassing as it could lead to people suspecting that I am using sockpuppets to obtain my ends. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 06:36, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, one has to start somewhere. Not to worry, I am nobody's sockpuppet -Vectorchem 22:57, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

I support a merge as well but propose to merge CFS Alert into Alert, Nunavut, only because it is better known and IDENTIFIED ON MAPS as such. That way it will be listed under "A" in all the categories and this is an important consideration because we want people to find the article when searched for. -- P199 14:49, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Darkness

"From mid-October until the end of February the sun does not rise above the horizon and there is 24-hour darkness."

Since sunset is not synonymous with the onset of darkness, this is not accurate. 86.132.141.139 (talk) 03:50, 26 February 2008 (UTC)