Where is the Northernmost Inhabited Place in the World?

NUNAVUT in the northernmost region of Canada is the northernmost inhabited place in the world. Alert is a Canadian military installation near the northern tip of Ellesmere Island. It is located a little over five hundred miles (817 km) from the North Pole on the 82nd parallel.

Alert was named after HMS Alert, the first ship to land on the north shores of Ellesmere Island in the 19th century. The area was originally inhabited by the Inuit. A weather station was established here in 1950 and a military station in 1958. While its main function is military communication, the station also plays an important role in scientific research.

Alert experiences freezing temperatures and remains under snow for ten months of the year. The coldest month is February, when the temperature dips to – 40°C. It becomes so cold that a cup of hot water splashed into the air immediately descends in a shower of ice crystals. The warmest month, July, has an average temperature of 3.3°C. As it lies north of the Arctic Circle, it sees the midnight sun from April to September and remains in darkness from October to March.

While Alert is technically the world's northernmost permanent settlement, Ny Ålesund in the Svalbard archipelago of Norway is considered the northernmost settlement that is home to a civilian population.