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Five Finger Lighthouse Alaska

Information and historical picture reprinted with permission of Juneau Lighthouse Association

Five Finger Light Station - Click to Enlarge

Five Finger Light Station is currently operated as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Coastal Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) Station.

C-MAN was established by National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) for the National Weather Service (NWS) in the early 1980’s. The development of C-MAN was in response to a need to maintain meteorological observations in U. S. coastal areas. Such observations, which had been made previously by USCG personnel, would have been lost as many USCG navigational aids were automated under the Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Program (LAMPS). In all, approximately 60 stations make up C-MAN.

C-MAN stations have been installed on lighthouses, at capes and beaches, on near shore islands, and on offshore platforms.

Five finger Light Station is one of the two oldest light stations established in Alaska. Increased shipping in Alaska’s Inside Passage, due to the discovery of gold in the Yukon just five years before, caused the Federal Government to appropriate a little over $425,000 to establish the territory’s first six light stations. Lit for the first time on March 1, 1902, the lighthouse on Five Finger Island was constructed to guide vessels into the bustling frontier town of Juneau. The original structure (seen below) was burned to the ground on December 8th, 1933. The station keepers were able to save the boathouse and the carpenter’s shop, but the tower, dwelling and the radio-beacon were destroyed. A Public Works appropriation of $92,000, made under the Roosevelt administration during the “Great Depression”, enabled Five Finger Light Station to be rebuilt to its current concrete structure.

Five Finger Light Station - Click to Enlarge
Five Finger Light Station - Click to Enlarge

A renovation project is currently in progress which will eventually enable the lighthouse to be open to the public and overnight guests. Visit the website: http://www.5fingerlighthouse.com

C-MAN station data typically include barometric pressure, wind direction, speed and gust, and air temperature; however, some C-MAN stations are designed to also measure sea water temperature, water level, waves, relative humidity, precipitation, and visibility. These data are processed and transmitted hourly to users in a manner almost identical to moored buoy data. In addition to the conventional method of data transmission, certain C-MAN stations are equipped with telephone modems that allow more frequent data acquisition, data quality checking, and remote payload reconfiguration or restarting.

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