[Vision2020] North Pole is NOT in Alaska

[Chris Storhok]

Hi All,

To answer several emails at once:

 

The North Pole:

The North Pole (90 degrees North) is not in the US as the US only claims territory 200 miles north of Barrow.  Off and on through the last 100 years or so Canada, Norway, and Denmark (through Greenland) have claimed sovereignty over the Pole, however currently no one claims it.  That will probably change shortly as Canadian oil explorations north of Ellesmere Island have confirmed the presence of significant hydrocarbons in the deeper regions near the pole.   The Russians are working from their end north as well.

 

 

North Pole, Alaska:

Santa Claus House (with his Reindeer), the toy store, and the workshops are all okay and barring a sudden collapse of glaciers on Mount Wrangle, they will stay dry.  The City of North Pole, “Where the Spirit of Christmas lives year-round” is the fastest growing community within the Interior of Alaska.

 

We have just completed three round-a-bouts on our main street (note to those of you on the Moscow transportation planning committee – the round-a-bouts really do work, they slow traffic down, look really nice, and make it really easy for pedestrians to cross streets.  Instead of more traffic signals and wider roads, take a careful look at using round-a-bouts downtown (and yes I hated them at first but after driving through them over the last month and after our first big snowfall the other day I love now them)); are working on completing the theme city re-development plans, and are working on a new ice rink, new library, three new subdivisions, a new school, and several new parks.  Our bus service to Fairbanks, Eielson Air Force Base, and Fort Wainwright is top notch and very well used, and our pedestrian walk plan is under development.

 

 

Alaska Glaciers:

As for the melting glaciers within the Interior of Alaska, several of the big fields within the Alaska Range (including Denali) have retreated.  Some, like the Black Rapids glacier have retreated several miles, while others in Denali Nation Park such as the Toklat Glacier which retreating 24 meters/year while the Cantwell Glacier is retreating at 10 meters/year.  In Prince William Sound the famous Columbia Glacier has retreated 15 km in the last 25 years, the smaller Valdez Glacier has retreated several km in the last few years as well.  A little known fact about the wreck of the Exxon Valdez was that the ship had changed its course to avoid some huge icebergs which had calved from the Columbia Glacier a couple of days earlier.  We all know what happens to drunks when they have to change course……

 

Way up north, the McCall glacier in the Brooks Range has also retreated several miles in the last couple of decades, UAF scientists report that McCall’s retreat is due to a lack of precipitation and not a change in temperature.

 

I have on my office wall a really interesting photo of Tsaa Fjord in Icy Bay, the Guyot Glacier has retreated 30 miles since 1959 and leaving the new Tsaa Fjord and left behind a 200 foot high water fall and new seal habitat.  Cruise ships will probably start taking routes into Icy bay in the next few years.

 

Chris

 

________________________________

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of J Ford
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 6:50 AM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] North Pole is NOT in Alaska

 

Re: [Vision2020] Water Concern?‏

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com on behalf of Tom Ivie (the_ivies3 at yahoo.com) 

Sent: Thu 10/18/07 11:27 PM 

To: vision2020 at moscow.com 

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I don't know about the melting part, but Chris can tell you that North Pole is in Alaska -no Visa required, but I bet they take American Express!!


The North Pole is NOT in Alaska.  There is a "North Pole, Alaska" which is located just outside of Fairbanks, but it is a town, not the THE North Pole.

BTW, it is a great little town that houses "Santa's Village" once run by Lt. Gov. Terry Miller's family.  Really neat place to see.

J :]

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