Want pictures?  Okay then!



Arctic Palm Trees?  In Barrow, just like the rest of the North slope, including ANWR, HAS NO TREES.  Some yahoos put these 'palm trees' up.  The leaves are actually pieces of Baleen.  Baleen are pieces of "whale teeth", which is to say what they use to filter out the krill and other miniscopic sea life that they eat.  They such in the water, and many layers of these things that are like a comb/brush filter the food out which they swallow while the water is spit it.  Someone even went to the effort to attach a couple of coconuts to one.

Where is this?  Where am I?  Well, here is where I work.  Pt. Barrow LRRS (Long Range Radar Station), an Air Force facility manned by contracted civilians.  Look here.




Look between the four dark dish antennae, and you can just make out a Totem Pole, most northern Totem Pole in the US.  The golf ball is the dome that encloses the FPS-117 MAR Radar so the USAF and FAA can see just who is flying around out there.  We also maintain GAG (Ground-Air-Ground) radios so they can remotely talk to their planes.

In the second photo you can see the most Northern flying Government Flag IN THE USA that is.

On to the next post.

Okay, know what the Polar Bear Club is?  That's the exclusive club that denotes you have submerged yourself in the Arctic Ocean.  Here is a buddy of mine who took the plunge.  Note that he is standing next to a small iceberg, with more icebergs in the backround...Water was a balmy 38deg, but in the winter it is frozen over and is otherwise 30-34deg most of the time.  Yes, he is crazy.  But then again, I'm a member too...

Remember that polar bear from the other thread (Bear Day), well here he is walking around the corner of one of our facility 'trains', looking back.  Remember, this is not a big polar bear, they can get over 8' tall standing up, but the record is more than 11' IIRC.  This is just a young one.

Here some buddies that went hunting with some of the locals (Alaskan Natives, not Indians or Eskimo - they are very specific).  This was in the winter and they are pictured on an Ice Pac.  This is large ice like at the poles, miles wide.



Hmmm.  Polar Bear paw print, don't know if you can make it out.


Unfortunately for them, this pac ice broke off from the mainland, and drifted out to sea.  Not good.  Dumbasses did not have a radio that would reach anyone, but someone on land spotted them and called SAR (Search and Rescue).  SAR sent a chopper over to pick them up.



They were even nice enough to haul their snowmachines and sleds back...



Time to start a new thread...

Cool pic's! & the weather don't look to warm either.

POLAR BEARS RULE!