Arctic Ocean Ice Crashes on Alaska Shores (20'high x100'wide ice tsunami)

ap ^ | Jan 27, 2006 | ap

[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.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

In this photo provided by Arctic Photo Safari, heavy equipment removes massive ice ridges being pushed from the frozen Beaufort Sea into Barrow, Alaska, Tuesday Jan. 24, 2006. Two ice surges, known to Alaska Natives as ivus, stunned residents who had never seen such large blocks of ice rammed ashore in nearly three decades. Ivus are like frozen tsunamis and crash ashore violently. They have killed hunters and are among the Arctic's most feared natural phenomena. (AP Photo/Arctic Photo Safari, John Tidwell)

[RedBloodedAmerican]

More evidence of global cooling.

[Neets]

Hot in here.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Streak!

[cmsgop]

Thats Cool

[VOA]

Bulldozers cleared the ice.

Boy are these folks going to have to answer to the environmentalists.
First they are running bulldozers, burning fossil fuels and
generating greenhouse gases.
Then they destroy natural ice formations.

[blam]

Anything to do with the earthquake around Indonesia?

[nmh]

Nah, it's warming, right?

;)

[TaMoDee]

Might be! Shaken and not stirred don't ya'know! (Or was it the other way around?)

[RightWhale]

Has to do with high winds, which is a fact of life on the north slope. If you look at a satellite image or even a USGS topo map of the region you will see it is covered with lakes in summer, and the lakes, which are sinkholes in the permafrost and would otherwise be round or at least of random shapes, are elongated in a direction. Wind does that.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Icy Stuntaz!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Makes you wonder what the cost of gas is in Barrow; right next to the wells...

[thackney]

Anything to do with the earthquake around Indonesia?

No, just the effect of the right combinations of winds and currents. A few journalist are using the term tsunami just to catch the eye, not a real comparison.

Frozen tsunami, Mountains of ice coming ashore called threat to property, lives

[RightWhale]

When the huge building and plant modules were barged in to Prudhoe, a couple of the barges were left at the shoreline because winter closed the route. The ice piled up around the barges, grabbed them, and broke them like they were graham crackers.

[cmsgop]

[43north]

There are no wells in Barrow. The nearest oilfield is about 200 miles to the SE. There is no refinery north of Fairbanks. There are no roads to Barrow. Fuel must be flown in (emergencies only) or barged in during the summer and stored.

Ergo, fuel is EXPEN$IVE in Barrow$$$ Same with food, building materials, etc., etc.

I've been to Barrow. If the universe has an anus, its in Barrow...

[Domestic Church]

Tsunamis seems to be a popular word these days....


http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Yale_Group_To_Study_Atmospheric_Tsunamis.html

[Eska]

You should see ice out on the upper Yukon. Down the village, the indians have a tripod set about 50 yards out on the river. They have fishin line from tripod stretched to a battery clock on post along shore. Everyone picks date and time, buck a shot. When river lets loose, fishin line jerks battery out of clock and everyone knows who won the pot.

Chunks of ice size of trucks & cabins tumblin over and over in a huge mass of water, ice, and whatever is in its way. Usually, it all backs up downriver a few miles then river & ice come up about 50 feet, sometimes ice gets pushed over the road and floods the village cabins. The natives pretty much take it in stride and party atmosphere for a few days. Usually by then, everyone can't wait for spring to arrive anyway. Been minus 50 something for lows last week or so, wish iceout was tomorrow.

[EastIdaho]

Isn't Barrow the end of the road? I heard Tom Bodett left there and moved to New England somewhere.

[Vince Ferrer]

Then they destroy natural ice formations.

And probably pristine old growth ice too.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

"Well I’m no expert, but it could be that the hydrothermal properties of this region produce hurricane force ice storms that cause the ocean to freeze, then melt, than refreeze, resulting in a semi-solid migrating land mass that would land a ship right around here."

[FreePaul]

... in quantities not seen in nearly three decades.

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.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

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.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Doesnt BP Arco do stuff in Barrow?

[43north]

Homer is the end of the road, about 900 air miles south of Barrow.

[sasportas]

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.

[RightWhale]

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.

[VadeRetro]

Never hears of this. Is "ivus" the plural of "ivu" or not?

[danamco]

More evidence of global cooling.


It's "global warming", stupid!!

Best regards,
alGore

[43north]

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.

[Diddle E. Squat]

"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 In the Morning!"

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It was a carom shot.

[muawiyah]

Got some distant cousins who live on the Tanana(sp?). Some of them own a beer joint of some kind. Fellow I used to ride to work with (he was at Commerce) told me about a visit he made to the place.

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.

[VOA]

pristine old growth ice

G-d, that's beautiful.
The environuts are just wonderful objects of derision.
Too bad they've got enough power to muck up normal humans' lives.

[Issaquahking]

I hate to disagree with you, but got to set the record straight. There is a small refinery on the slope! Right there at discovery well, it's a little cracker, with, get this, a wooden floor! Yuppers, did a refit there years ago. When we poured the electrical seal-offs in November, don't think they cured till June!

If you fly in to Barrow, there are two gas wells there that I could see in the 90's.

[moog]

Talk about a cold shower, then again maybe it was the cold shoulder.

[moog]

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:)

[nightdriver]

But, but! I thought all this was pristine wilderness, teaming with wildlife.

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.)

[43north]

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!

[Eska]

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.

[Eska]

We live 4 miles out of town between old and new villages. Ice out was the reason they built the new village to begin with, but indians don't enjoy living like white people and prefer the sense of family they find in their old village and I don't blame them either.

Did you do the boat from dawson? Actually, the river is great; reason we like the place. All borders should be like the one 10 miles upriver from eagle. I don't see all the problems with Canada everyone talks about; more moose on their side of border too.

[WaterDragon]

Good heavens! Sounds exciting!

[Bender2]

Re: Strong winds from Russia and eastward currents began pushing pack ice toward Barrow...

Tell the Russkies to stop those winds and currents or we shoot the dog!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Gotta make him talk, first!

[Bender2]

Re: Gotta make him talk, first!

No need, the baboon ratted him out...

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Oh thats disgusting and I *was* enjoying a nice cup of Seattle's Best Coffee up until then :)

[Bender2]

Re: ...I *was* enjoying a nice cup of Seattle's Best Coffee...

Okay, slowly put down the cup and step away...

Or we kill Cliff!

[Issaquahking]

Don't you eat that yellow snow where the Huskys' go!

Was it the 80's they shut the old cracker down? Man o' man, time does fly!

If you leave the Oly at home, you have less women chasing you...but they are sober, and, in much better shape...there coming!

[Cvengr]

IVUS IN THE MORNING!

[mvpel]

The phrase "threat to life and property" suggests that some Alaskan Congressman is going to slip through a billion-dollar program for the Corps of Engineers to deal with ivus.