Posted on 01/27/2006 6:22:19 PM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
ANCHORAGE, Alaska Jan 27, 2006 Ridges of Arctic Ocean sea ice were shoved onto a Barrow road in quantities not seen in nearly three decades.
Two ice surges, known to Alaska Natives as ivus, stunned residents who had never seen large blocks of ice rammed ashore.
"It just looked like a big old mountain of ice," said L.A. Leavitt, 19, who left his nightshift job at the city early Tuesday to check out the ridges.
Ivus are like frozen tsunamis and crash ashore violently. They have killed hunters and are among the Arctic's most feared natural phenomena.
Residents said the northernmost ivu, about 20 feet high and 100 feet long, contained car-size blocks and left coastal Stevenson Road with only one lane.
The ice stopped about 30 feet short of a borough pump station that provides access to Barrow's underground water and sewer system, said North Slope Borough disaster coordinator Rob Elkins.
Strong winds from Russia and eastward currents began pushing pack ice toward Barrow on Saturday, Elkins said.
By late Monday night, thick, old sea ice, called multiyear ice, had shoved younger, thinner ice onto shore.
Elkins, who got a 5 a.m. Tuesday wake-up call from police, said a second ivu on the south side of town came to rest near a smaller coastal road and an empty playground. That ridge stretched about 200 feet.
"It was just an amazing sight," said Elkins, a five-year Barrow resident. "It looks like huge stacks of huge ice cubes."
The ivus, about two miles apart, had stopped moving when Elkins arrived. Bulldozers cleared the ice.
Winds from the west slowed Tuesday afternoon. Whalers also noted that a protective pressure ridge had formed more than a mile offshore.
Whaling captain Charlie Hopson, who coordinates oil spill responses in the area, said he could see blocks of ice churning slowly in the frozen ocean.
Whalers were happy to see the approach of multiyear ice. A solid platform of nearshore ice means safer travel and butchering.
"We always want this thing to happen before the whaling season to help get the ice solid and safe to travel on and then we can pick our way out to the lead," Hopson said.
Whaling co-captain Lloyd Leavitt said he had not seen such a big ivu since 1978, when winds peaked at 80 mph and blocks of multiyear ice about 12 feet thick slid ashore like pancakes from a frying pan.
"It knocked down all the power poles on the beach front, every last one from the Barrow mechanical building to Browerville," he said.
So clean it off and wait another thirty years to write the next article. Well, maybe thirty one years if global warming isn't the hoax it appears to be.
Wow. How much of the year do you spend in the area? That would be something I would like to see but dont know if I could live in it yr round.
Doesnt BP Arco do stuff in Barrow?
Homer is the end of the road, about 900 air miles south of Barrow.
Eska, you must be somewhere near Eagle sounds like. Beautiful town on the Yukon, was over there a few years ago. In the summer, however.
The ice cap gets kind of lumpy near shore. Farther out it may be smooth as a superhighway, but it piles up when it meets land. Even walking through that can be a chore.
More evidence of global cooling.
It's "global warming", stupid!!
Best regards,
alGore
They send PR types there on "hearts and minds" missions but all of the current major oil development is far to the east of Barrow.
Barrow is a little closer to the Naval Petroleum Reserve if any development ever takes place there.
The two big operators on "the Slope" are BP and Conoco-Phillips. BP acquired Arco years ago although they still use the brand on some service stations.
"Ivus In the Morning!"
He was in Alaska on business. Went to this beer joint. Got drunk. They (my cousins) tossed him out in the snow when it was WAY BELOW ZERO!
He never forgot it.
Talk about a cold shower, then again maybe it was the cold shoulder.
If you fly in to Barrow, there are two gas wells there that I could see in the 90's.
Probably lots of people congregated near them then if they were that hot. (yes, I know what you meant:)
Isn't that what all the intelligentia and MSM have been telling us? They wouldn't be trying to pull one over on us, would they?
(/naivete, /sarc.)
If it is true that there are still functional gas wells in Barrow, I stand corrected. I would not doubt it. Just never saw them while I was there (too busy trying to avoid snow blindness and horny Inupiat females).
As for the "refinery" at the Slope, I believe it was shut down in the mid-80's. As I recall, it was near the ARCO main camp and was used to produce Diesel for well work. They tried to use it as fuel in vehicles but blew up too many engines so they started bringing up real fuel from the refinery in North Pole outside of Fairbanks.
ANYTHING you poured in November would have been frozen until AT LEAST late June, probably mid-July. Remember getting snowed on at the July 4th barbecues just about every year? It was an interesting place to work during my youth but now that I'm no longer young, I'm happy not to be there. Especially with the weather they've been having this past week (-40's and -50's - Global Warming of course...).
Did you see the forecast for Valdez last weekend? 60" of snow in 36 hours. Whew!
We live here year around. Real nice in summer, stays in 80's and the river is kinda everything. Winters are pretty tough. Road closes in Oct and doesn't open until Apr, May but that's the best thing about winter here. Something I like about everyone else locked out. By feb alot of the whites are getting somewhat squirrely. Don't seem to bother natives. Wife and I have taught in several other villages, came here wife as prin, bought a place and plan on spending our summers here down the road. Life is much better in urban alaska, but somehow can't bring ourselves to face locking doors, taking keys out of ignition, or seeing people we don't know. I'm getting as antisocial as all the other nutty whites here, ha.
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