INUVIK - Since late August Inuvik has been the home of the Canadian Arctic's only remote sensing satellite receiver that's able to pick up images from all around the globe, and is thought to be an important tool in sustainable development research.

The dish has a 31-ton antenna located at the Upper Air site. It is part of a global network of three such stations in the world. The other stations are located in Sweden and Norway.

A team of workers assembles the remote sensing satellite receiver at the Upper Air site, last August. - photo courtesy of Peter Clarkson

The Natural Resources Canada is a major stakeholder in the ground station which involves both public and private investment.

Stuart Salter, the department's director general for the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, said Inuvik was chosen as the site for the dish because it's in a perfect location to receive the images from remote sensing satellites that fly in near-polar orbit, about 600 to 800 km from the Earth.

"They download an enormous amount of data," said Salter. "What we really, really care about is information about Canada.

"Inuvik is almost ideal in its geographic location. It's a long way north, it has road access, it has power. It has all the things that you need."

The ground station is used for a variety of purposes, including record keeping of permafrost levels, ice coverage and changes in ecosystems.

"We have ice maps that go back to 1970," he said. "We can go back over time and look at it scientifically and it validates information. Then we make predictions of where ice cover is going. You need to have this long time series of information. You can look at biodiversity and that's really important for climate change."

In the next decade, Salter predicts another 300 satellites will be launched and he said he expects The Inuvik station will be a large international facility where different countries and companies would be able to put its receivers at the site. The data received by the station is processed at another receiving station. But Salter said he hopes to work with Aurora College to eventually process data at the institution.

He said the site helps diversify Inuvik's economy, and site maintenance generates revenue for the town.