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Photographing Canada's First Sun Of The Millennium
On the morning of February 28, 2000 I stood on Crystal Mountain near Canadian Forces Base Alert,
Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, some 480 miles south of the North
Pole. I waited for the sun that would mark the conclusion of
the long Polar Night in the year 2000 to rise. Here at the northerly
tip of the island, the sun was finally showing and with this
light the sun now covered the entire country.
Because of its strategic location and the
effect of Polar Night, the sunrise at Alert is truly the first
day of the millennium when the sun finally covered Canada.
I am indebted to the Canadian Department of
National Defence for its material support of the project. The
Canadian Armed Services flew me in a Hercules transport plane
from Trenton, Ontario to Alert, on Ellesmere Island. For three
weeks I was housed at Canadian Forces Station Alert and guided
in the field by Army personnel.This station is a small Army base
housing some 70 Canadian soldiers, who maintain the outpost,
as well as numerous scientists who conduct research studies and
technicians who daily monitor climatic conditions at the weather
station.
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