The Cambridge Bay community observatory hosts an evolving suite of instruments, helps support community education programs, and is used as a laboratory to study ice conditions.

Visit the Cambridge Bay Community Observatory Page

What is included in a community observatory?

The underwater instrument platform is located on the ocean floor at a depth of approximately six metres, and linked by cable to a wharf connection. The instrument platform hosts an HD video underwater camera and underwater microphone, a suite of sensors to measure seawater properties, plus an instrument to measure ice thickness. On the wharf, a second camera monitors surface ice formation and a small weather station provides information on current atmospheric conditions. From the wharf, data are transmitted over a wireless link to the school. An Internet connection is required to make data available beyond Cambridge Bay.

ONC thanks the Nunavut Government for hosting the observatory equipment at their facility in Cambridge Bay.

More information

• Explore more of Cambridge Bay by reading the Introduction to Cambridge Bay
• Read about the 2014 expedition to Cambridge Bay, in Northward Ho!
• Learn more about sea ice in A Year of Arctic Sea Ice