Word: arctics
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Spongy Tundra. The Arctic, unlike land in temperate climates, does not easily recover from man-made disruptions. Because of the cold, orange peels do not decay for months. Twenty-five-year-old bulldozer tracks are still plainly visible on the tundra today, testimony to the slowness of the land's ability to heal itself. But the basic problem is that most of the Arctic lies on a hard foundation of permafrost-ever-frozen ground that prevents drainage. In the brief summer months, a thin cover of tundra soil thaws a foot deep. But if the ground is gouged...
...Federal Government says it will enforce water-quality standards in the area. Because it owns vast amounts of the North Slope as yet unopened to oil exploration, the Government is in a position to insist upon whatever guidelines it can devise to control development and minimize damage to the Arctic ecology...
Steam Screen. The great Alaska oil rush has been building momentum ever since January 1968, when an Atlantic Richfield Co. drilling crew struck pay dirt 8,700 feet below the tundra at Prudhoe Bay, on the Arctic Coast. Since then, 22 drilling rigs have been brought in, and their crews have sought to duplicate that feat, often working in minus 65° weather and braving 100-m.p.h. winds. The land that they explored was open range until last week's sale of leases, and maintaining secrecy was as important as keeping warm. Companies hired helicopters to spy on competitors...
...nearly five centuries, merchants and mariners have dreamed of opening a commercial sea lane across the top of Canada and Alaska. Venetian Explorer John Cabot, in search of a short trade route to the Orient, made the first unsuccessful attempt to sail through the frozen Arctic Ocean in 1498. Dozens of others-French, English and Portuguese-followed in his wake, but it was not until Norwegian Roald Amundsen piloted the small yacht Gjoa through the ice-choked waterway in 1906 that the Northwest Passage was finally discovered. Since then, only six vessels have completed the treacherous voyage, and the passage...
Frigid Vise. On its long voyage the Manhattan must negotiate some of the world's most hazardous waters. Temperatures in the Arctic drop as low as 75° below zero. Howling winds and raging seas build up pressure ridges of ice that tower 30 ft. above the surface and reach 100 ft. below. Grinding pack ice can lock an ordinary ship into a frigid vise for months or crush its hull like a beer...