Campbell Scientific (Canada) Corp.
by Victoria JL Fisher
Campbell Scientific (Canada) was founded as a Canadian-owned subsidiary of the Utah company Campbell Scientific in 1978 by Claude Labine. Labine had encountered Campbell Scientific’s dataloggers during an oilsands project near Fort McMurray. Seeing the potential in the instruments, he negotiated the rights in 1978 to sell the dataloggers in Canada under the new company. Although Campbell Scientific (Canada) never manufactured the dataloggers, it did modify and repackage the imported models for use in Canadian environments, including protection against colder weather, and longer operation without being serviced.
Like Ontario company Guildine Instruments, Campbell Scientific (Canada) found an early niche in commercialising and improving existing instruments for broader sale. This CSMAL01 snow-depth sensor was initially developed based on an earlier design as a low-cost, reliable instrument by the Atmospheric Environment Services of Environment Canada to remotely monitor changes in snow depth. It works by measuring the time elapsed for echoes of ultrasonic sound pulses it emits and is intended to collect and transmit data for months unattended.
This is an example of the prototype model, licensed for production to Campbell Scientific (Canada) in 1988, and marking the first product developed by Campbell Scientific (Canada) independently. Following the production and first uses of of this model, the company made improvements to the prototype model to improve power efficiency, survive prolonged wet weather, and record even the lowest-density snow. This resulted in several later models; the instrument is still available for sale from Campbell Scientific (Canada) in 2024, alongside other weather and meteorological monitoring equipment.
Timeline
1974 – Campbell Scientific (USA), founded in Logan, Utah. (“Our History”)
1976 – Campbell Scientific (Canada) founded by Claude Labine. (“Company finds rugged new roles for data-sensing technology”)
1978 – Campbell Scientific (Canada) “officially begins operations” in Edmonton, Canada. (“Company History”)
1981 – Company opens a repair and servicing facility. (“Company History”)
1988 – Licences prototype of snow depth sensor from Hydrometeorology Division of the Canadian Atmospheric Environment Service which they developed into the first-generation sensor CSMAL01, and then later generations in the subsequent years. (Labine, C. “Automatic Monitoring of Snow Depth”)
1994 – Active and owned by Claude Labine; employing 23 employees. Manufacturing snow-depth sensors; “Labine started the business after working with compact machines used in a project at Suncor, the huge oilsands plant near For McMurray. The portable-radio-sized machines, called data loggers… convert and store signals from monitoring devices. In this case, trees and other plants were being checked to see how they would respond to being planed along Suncor’s tailings pond dams. Labine was so impressed with the portability and compactness of the data loggers that he negotiated exclusive rights to sell them in Canada. While the machines are still manufactured in Utah… Labine’s firm modifies and adds other components that make them work in the coldest parts of Canada… Labine’s company… has also begun selling its own technology – snow-depth sensors that check changes in snow levels.” (“Company finds rugged new roles for data-sensing technology”)
2007 – Company is active at 11564 149th Street. Edmonton, AB. (“Campbell Scientific Inc., “Weather Stations”)
2012 – Company is collaborating with UBC-Okanagan to commercialise sensors that were designed to detect pathogens (specifically cryptosporidium) in water. (“Collaborative research improves water quality and heating systems”)
2013 – Company moves into a new location at 14532 - 131 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB. (“Company History”)
2024 – Active at 14532 – 131st Ave NW, Edmonton, AB. (https://www.campbellsci.ca/about)
Snow Depth Sensor
Campbell Scientific (Canada) Corp.Sources
Caillet, A., D’Aillon, F.G., Zawadzki, I. “An ultrasound low power sonar for snow thickness measurements” Proceedings of the Eastern Snow Conference, (June 1979): 108-116
“Company finds rugged new roles for data-sensing technology” Calgary Herald, July 2, 1994: 77
Gubler, H. “An inexpensive remote snow depth gauge based on ultrasonic wave reflection from the snow surface” Journal of Glaciology Vol. 27, No. 95 (1981): 157-163
Labine, C. “Automatic Monitoring of Snow Depth” Instruments and Methods (1996): 179-183 (https://arc.lib.montana.edu/snow-science/objects/issw-1996-179-183.pdf [24-01-24])