This is the first systematic account of the Joint Arctic Weather Stations (JAWS), a collaborative science program between Canada and the United States that created a distinctive state presence in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from 1946-1972. These five meteorological stations, constructed at Eureka, Resolute, Isachsen, Mould Bay, and Alert, became remote hubs for science and sovereignty, revealing the possibilities and limits of modernity in the High Arctic.
Drawing on extensive archival evidence, unpublished personal memoirs, and interviews with former JAWS personnel, this book systematically analyzes the diplomatic, scientific, social, environmental, and civil-military dimensions of this binational program. From the corridors of power in Washington and Ottawa to everyday life at the small outposts, The Joint Arctic Weather Stations explores delicate statecraft, changing scientific practices, as well as the distinctive station cultures that emerged as humans coped with isolation in polar environments.
Author(s): Daniel Heidt, P. Whitney Lackenbauer
Series: Northern Lights, 20
Publisher: University of Calgary Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 600
City: Calgary
Front Cover
Half Title Page
Series Page
Full Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgements
Acronyms
Introduction
The State: Looking Down on JAWS
Experiencing JAWS: Views from Below
Overview of the Book
1 | Background: The Long Build-Up
Meteorology as Science in Nineteenth-Century North America
Meteorology and Arctic Stations
Weather, the Great War, and the Air Age
The Second World War, Meteorology, and a New Northern Focus
2 | Negotiating JAWS, 1945–47
Finding Funding
Canadian Concerns
Sovereignty, Security, and Science
Operation Nanook (1946)
Compromise and Cooperation
Reaching an Agreement
3 | Situating the First Stations, 1947–48
Slidre Fiord (Eureka Sound), Ellesmere Island, 80 15'N., 86 11'W.
Task Force 68 Ventures North
Resolute, Cornwallis Island, 74 70'N., 94 54'W.
4 | Finishing the Network, 1948–50
Isachsen, Ellef Ringnes Island, 78 46'40' N., 103 31'40' W.
Mould Bay, Prince Patrick Island, 76 14'16'N., 119 20'28'W.
Resupplying the Stations: The Trials of Task Force 80
Early Life at the Stations
Adapting to the Environment
Canadian Capabilities, Sovereignty, and the Resupply Missions of 1949–50
Alert, Ellesmere Island, 82 30'06'N., 62 19'47'W.
5 | Who Did the Stations Need… and Who Did TheyGet?
Incentives, Positions, and Recruitment
Training
Sovereignty Concerns
Who had the “Right Stuff”?
Getting There
6 | Science at the Stations
The Meteorological Program
Surface Observations
Upper Air Observations
Additional Scientific Observations at the Joint Arctic Weather Stations
Science Hubs
Scientific Cultures
7 | The Seasonal Cycle
Emerging from Winter
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
8 | Getting Along at the Top of the World
Keeping Busy
Breaking Up the Monotony
Animals
Food
Alcohol and Drugs
Sexuality
Coping with Isolation
Leadership
Shared Command and Canadian Sovereignty
9 | Canadianization: Getting Out of Joint?
Conceptualizing Canadianization: Breaking the Ice
The Stations, the DEW Line, and the ‘Delicate Balance of Manpowerin the Northern Arctic’
The High Arctic Relocations of Inuit: A Form of Canadianization?
Last Call for Canadianization
The End of a Bilateral Partnership
Conclusions
JAWS and Cold War Imperialism, Sovereignty, and Militarization
Scientific Colonies?
Stations as Spaces and Places of Everyday Scientific Life
From JAWS to HAWS
Notes
Bibliography
Archival Sources
Secondary Sources
Index
Back Cover
