Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik Research Station

Centre d'études nordiques (CEN) has a research station at Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik (55° 17' N, 77° 46' W), a small isolated community in subarctic Quebec, on the east coast of Hudson Bay at the mouth of the Great Whale River. It is only accessible by plane and in summer by boat.

The research station is the main infrastructure of CEN northern facilities. It is open year-round. It was built in the 1970's and includes accomodation, a cafeteria, a workshop and warehouses. A climatological station of CEN's SILA Network is in operation year round on the site.

Upstairs, rooms of 2 to 4 beds can accommodate 24 people. Sheets, pillows and blankets are available. Downstairs, there is a small lecture room for researchers to relax.

On the first floor of the residence building, there is a dry and a wet laboratory. The experimental greenhouse and growth chamber are located just outside the residence building.

The cafeteria can accommodate up to 40 people. In summertime, a cook prepares meals for lunch and dinner. Cafeteria users prepare their own breakfast with a variety of items available.

A logistical service is offered to CEN members and to other researchers from universities, colleges, government and private organizations working around the station and in a radius of about 350 km from it. Research teams establish temporary camps in the summer and sometimes even in the winter. The provision of supplies to camps is organized from the station.

At the station, room and board are offered. Researchers can use the laboratories, the greenhouse and have storage space. Internet, a fax and a photocopier are also available. It is possible to rent camping equipment, communication equipment (radio and satellite phone), motorboats (hard shell and inflatable), motorized vehicles (pick-up, ATV, snowmobile), and other field equipment. CEN also manages an aircraft rental service.

  

CEN welcomes students from high school, college, or university levels, conducting northern internships. The station can also accommodate small groups for workshops of a few days whose focus are on research or education.

Please contact the station manager for any information concerning logistical services offered by CEN research station.

Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik is located at the terrestrial boundary between the taiga and the tundra and at the maritime limit of James Bay and Hudson Bay. The community is built on a sandy headland, at the mouth of the Great Whale River, on the east coast of Hudson Bay.

This bicultural community represents the ancestral limit of the Cree and Inuit territories. It is both the northernmost Cree community and the southernmost Inuit community in Quebec. In the past, the English name Great Whale and the French name Poste-de-la-Baleine have been used to designate this community. The Hudson Bay Company established the first fur trade post here in 1750. In 1940-50, the establishment of a military base and a radar station at this site was the foundation for settlement of the two cultural groups.

Granites covered by a thick layer of sand characterize the soils of the region. South of the Great Whale River is found the taiga zone, while north of the river, the forest tundra zone progressively dominates the landscape.

The Manitounuk Islands, located just a little to the north along the coast, are part of the Hudsonian cuestas found on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay. Rocky beaches on the side facing the open sea and vertiginous cliffs on the coastal side characterize these islands.