North Slope

These are a few pictures from the North Slope of Alaska where I've been working lately.  The North Slope is a vast tidal plain that extends north of the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean.  The area which I work in is known as Prudhoe Bay and is adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR).

The landscape is stark, yet subtly beautiful.  Like the desert, it takes a little time and attention to detail to appreciate the beauty.  In general, it is flat, with small hummocks and hills that maybe are the result of frost heave.  There are no trees.  The whole area is marshy and covered with fresh water from small puddles to sizable lakes.  For about two months the area is lush with green grass and tiny white and purple wildflowers.  In these pictures, taken at the end of August, you can see it's already fall on the slope.  The first hard frost had already occurred by August 20th or so.  There is a lot of wildlife in general.  I've see lots of waterfowl, musk ox, caribou, vermin, weasel, arctic owl, arctic fox, and even saw a polar bear with cubs.

In the summer, when the snow melts off the land is marshy and hard to walk in.  In addition to the lakes and ponds, there are at least three sizable rivers that cut through the area.  They tend to be broad and gravelly.  Due to the swampy nature of the slope, the roads, buildings and processing facilities are constructed on engineered gravel pads.  There is an open pit gravel quarry on site.  The lease itself is approximately 40 square miles and is operated by BP, Exxon, and Arco, I believe. 

This is looking out on the Arctic Ocean.  It seems like it should be more dramatic but it isn't.  The one thing I like is the driftwood since it must have come from hundreds of miles away.

This is a very typical view driving around the field.  These pipelines are variously filled with crude oil, natural gas, salt water, glycol or any combination thereof.  We do lots of inspection on these pipes for corrosion, as well as stripping insulation and re-insulating the pipes.  The ones I work on personally are 20' to 50' in the air.  These ones would be worked on by ground crews. 


The photo below is where I was working last time.  It is a man-made island a few miles out in the shallow shelf.