Operations and maintenance support for the CEN Network of Northern Field Stations

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The Centre d’études nordiques (CEN) Network of 8 field stations is a unique national facility that extends along a 3300-km gradient throughout the eastern Canadian Arctic, from the James Bay region in northern Québec to the northern limit of Canada in Nunavut. A key sub-component of the CEN Network is the SILA network of 110 automated climate and environmental monitoring systems that are largely clustered near the field stations. The stations provide critical access and essential logistical support for high latitude research by scientists throughout Canada and internationally. The network has been built up and managed by the CEN for the past 50 years and has always received considerable support from Université Laval. Our facilities were renovated and upgraded in 2008-2011 ($11M in investment). The stations are heavily used (4245 researcher-days per year in recent years) by a broad spectrum of users from academia, northern organisations, and government agencies. The CEN network is a member of national and international networks such as the CNNRO (Canadian Network of Northern Research Operators), SAON (Sustaining Arctic Observing Network), and INTERACT (International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic). Several major research programs including the Network of Centers of Excellence ArcticNet, the NSERC project Arctic Development and Adaptation to Permafrost in Transition (ADAPT), the Canada-France Arctic research programs Takuvik and OHMI-Nunavik, and soon Sentinel North funded by the Apogee/CFREF program, rely on our facility, as well as the NSERC-funded Discovery research programs of many researchers. The CEN plays a leading role in Arctic research and has a long history of supporting the best innovative northern science in Canada as evidenced by publications (>1100 refereed publications since 2012 by our researchers), training of highly qualified personnel, prizes awarded, and research grant success. Since 2010, CEN members have supervised 436 graduate students and 30 postdoctoral fellows and a high proportion (72%) of them worked at the CEN field stations or used data from the SILA network. Our stations also host several summer schools for undergraduate and graduate students and we are actively involved in outreach and knowledge transfer with Inuit and First Nations communities, especially through our new Community Science Centre in Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik. The NSERC support requested here will provide essential core funding for the continued operation of this major resource for northern research, training and knowledge transfer. Loss of access to the facilities would be catastrophic for Canadian northern researchers and would deeply harm Canada’s standing in the circumpolar world by putting an end to our commitments with international partners such as INTERACT.