Sable Island - Sable Island Station

Sable Island Station

The Sable Island Station, managed and staffed by Environment Canada, is the only permanently staffed facility on the Island. Climatological record-keeping on Sable Island began in 1871 with the establishment of the Meteorological Service of Canada, and has been continuous since 1891.

Sable Island is the subject of extensive scientific research. A wide range of manual and automated instruments are used at the Station, including the Automated Weather Observing System operated by the Meteorological Service of Canada, an aerology program measuring conditions in the upper atmosphere using a radiosonde carried aloft by a hydrogen-filled weather balloon to altitudes beyond 40 km (25 mi), and a program collecting data on background levels of carbon dioxide, which began there in 1974. Research is done to monitor the long-range transport of pollution aerosols. Fog chemistry is studied, examining the transport and composition of atmospheric toxins it carries. Tropospheric ozone is measured and analyzed by researchers in Canada and the United States along with 20 other North American sites.

The installation of the BGS Magnetic Observatory on Sable Island was funded as a joint venture between the British Geological Survey, Sperry-Sun Drilling Services, and Sable Offshore Energy. The data it collects aid scientific research into rates of change of the Earth's magnetic field and increase the accuracy of the BGS Global Geomagnetic Model. Data from the geomagnetic observatory is used by the offshore energy industry for precise positioning activities such as directional drilling.

Supplies are delivered to the Sable Island Station approximately twice a month by Maritime Air Charter. Although the island has a heliport, there is no runway for fixed wing aircraft, which land instead on south beach in an area designated as the Sable Island Aerodrome. Prior permission is required to land, as the area is often unusable due to changing sand conditions.

In the 2006 Canadian federal election media coverage, the Canadian Press reported a 100% voter turnout for Sable Island, with ballots from all six permanent residents retrieved by Coast Guard helicopter.