Considered one of the most important Arctic research labs in the world, it was the subject of international media attention when it almost closed due to funding cuts by the Canadian Federal Government in 2012.

[3] It consists of 3 facilities: the Ridge Lab building, originally built by the Meteorological Service of Canada in 1992 to hold the Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Observatory (AStrO), the Zero (0) Altitude PEARL Auxiliary Laboratory (0PAL) and the Surface Atmospheric Flux and IRradiation Extension (SAFIRE).

[4][7] The closure of PEARL, along with the closing of the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, provoked an outcry from Canadian and International scientists.

[1][9] Critics pointed our that closing PEARL and opening CHARS made little financial sense, and charged said the new base would be "a command and control center for resource extraction and sovereignty.

"[7] The scientific journal Nature said that the "move comes just as data from the fast-changing Arctic climate are most needed" and that it "is hard to believe that finance is the true reason" for the closure.

[2] In addition, during the 2012 funding cuts the lab lost its trained operators and observations were no longer taken continuously, which reduced researchers' confidence in their data.