CFS Alert... Lonely Outpost

CFS Alert is the most northern permanently inhabited settlement in the world.

It is situated on the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, at 82 degrees, 30 minutes, 06 seconds N latitude and 62 degrees, 19 minutes, 47 seconds W longitude. 

This is approximately the same longitude as Charlottetown P.E.I.  The station is 676 miles from Thule AFB, Greenland, its major resupply hub, and about 817 km (450 nautical miles) from the geographic North Pole.

The closest Inuit settlement is Grise Fjord, located about 725 km to the south. Although Edmonton is the nearest Canadian city at 3475 km, Stockholm, Sweden is only 3282 km away.

Military personnel, and employees of the Federal Department of the Environment comprise the entire population of CFS Alert. They operate and maintain signals intelligence collection and geolocation facilities in support of Canadian Military Operations. 

Alert personnel also operate and maintain radio HFDF facilities in support of SAR and other ops and provide support services to DOE weather services and Arctic Researchers, both civilian and military 
Narrative courtesy of the Canadian Department of National Defence

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Comments (6)

• |2010-05-27 18:25:30 Boyd McDaniel  - Alert
  

  I wrote in my visit to Alert and misnamed my Squardron as 2119ISS it was the
  1983rd. The 2119ISS was my station in England.
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• |2010-05-27 18:26:20 Boyd McDaniel  - Visiting Alert
  

  I visited Alert on a resupply mission for fuels- I was stationed at Thule in
  1987/88 at the 2119ISS. Alert just had a polar bear attack and it was freshly
  skinned. The experience is one that I'll never forget.
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• |2010-01-12 00:38:42 London Dunham  - Retired Veteran
  

  It was an experience to remember when I first took sight of Alert. I had my
  first visit with this station while working at the Thule Greenland site (Det 3),
  I went on a supply run with the station, a run that will always be in my memory.
  I miss visiting the remote sites. well, here's to all of us that have enjoyed an
  experience, not few can speak of.
  
  
  
  London Dunham
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• |2009-09-25 16:10:33 Larry Rodrigues  - What a rare experience.
  

  It was a rare experience to visit such a unique place on our planet. I feel very
  honored to have had the opportunity getting in and out of Alert in 1968.
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• |2009-09-03 08:54:33 2/Lt Roger E. Hammerli
  

  In 1955 while stationed with the 55th Air Rescue Squdron, I made several trips
  to Alert. We did direct resupply for them and also air drops from our B 17,
  careful not the hit the structures, as it seems, had happened before. I can
  clearly remember the row of white crosses across the north end of the runway,
  commerating the deaths of a Canadian Lancaster the crashed during just that sort
  of resupply mission
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• |2009-09-03 08:56:57 Bill Rogers
  

  Enjoy reading entries of those who were stationed or passing through Thule. My
  first trip to Thule was mid February 1958, was stationed at Resolute Bay doing a
  test in conjunction with Alert to determine where the wireless station would be,
  I was on a shopping trip to the PX, the weather was closing in so had to stay
  with the North Star aircraft and continue on to Alert. We were fortunate enough
  to get back to Thule and I spent an enjoyable evening in the NCO,s mess.
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