News Article

Helping forecast the weather from Sable Island


3/24/2011 2:27:58 PM


by Diane Crocker

Reprinted with permission from The Western Star
(Published March 19, 2011)

When thinking about careers Carla Hartley says “you always hope that you could get a fun and interesting job.”

The 30-year-old former Corner Brook resident says she was lucky enough to do just that.

Hartley is an environmental monitoring technician with Environment Canada.

The interesting part lies not only in the type of work she does, but also where she does it.

Hartley works on Sable Island — the island sand bar, famous for its wild horses, located approximately 160 kilometres southeast of Canso, N.S.

Hartley has a degree in environmental studies from Sir Wilfred Grenfell College and a diploma in adventure tourism from College of the North Atlantic.

She was working in Halifax when she saw the Sable Island job advertised and thought it would be something she would be interested in.

She applied, was interviewed and stated working for Environment Canada on the island in 2007.

She spends three months at a time on the island and then it’s home to Pasadena where she now lives with her husband Justin Pittman. Her current tour on the island will end in May.

Hartley says Environment Canada conducts a number of programs on Sable Island including an aerology one which involves the daily release of weather balloons. Twice a day she releases weather balloons that have radiosondes, or small sensors, attached.

She says these balloons go up into the atmosphere and record things like temperature, humidity, pressure and wind speed and direction.

All the information gathered by the sensors is sent to the Environment Canada office in Dartmouth where Hartley says is used in forecasting the weather.

Staff at the station also collect and monitor data for climatology and meteorology programs. An airshed monitoring program looks at measuring ozone levels.

Hartley admits she was a bit nervous when she first went out to the island, not quite sure what to expect, and then seeing “the little” fixed-wing aircraft that takes workers to and from the island didn’t help.

“But it ended up being excellent.”

She really enjoys the schedule of the job. “The three months off are great.”

She says working on Sable Island is a fun and interesting job.

“Because it’s so unique out here, there’s always something new to be learning out here.”

While the island is isolated in geography, Hartley says the setup for workers is really good.

Every two weeks a plane comes in with food supplies and mail and other things from home.

There is satellite television, phone, Internet access and workout equipment all available for workers to make use of.

Hartley says it’s no trouble for her to keep in contact with her husband, parents Joe and Joan Hartley in Corner Brook and her friends during her time on the island. The weather on the island ranges from -5 C to 5 C during the winter and up to 25 C in the summer. There’s a lot of fog and some wind, but for the most part pretty pleasant conditions.

Anyone who wants to visit the island has to get permission from the Canadian Coast Guard and Hartley says people come for a variety of reasons, some just to photograph the island and its wild inhabitants and others to conduct research.

There are just five people living on the island right now, four working for Environment Canada and the the fifth is the island’s only permanent resident, researcher Zoe Lucas.

Hartley fills her off time by reading, walking on the beach and taking pictures.

And those famous horses provide for plenty of photo opportunities. The horses roam the island in total freedom.

“They’re wild, they’re on their own,” says Hartley.

“Sometimes you’ll be on the beach and the horses will just come down,” she says adding “sometimes you’re walking with the horses.

“It’s pretty amazing.”

She said the work done on the island is pretty interesting but there’s something else that really draws her interest.

“The nicest thing about being out here and the different thing is whenever you’re walking on the beach you never really know what you’re going to come across, what could be washing up on the beach.”

At the end of her three month tour though Hartley says she is “glad to get home.”

But when her time at home is over she’s ready to get back to the adventure of her job.

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