Trip to Barrow in northen arctic Alaska. Pictures of Barrow.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT BARROW

Barrow is the Alaska’a and USA’s northernmost community and is located north of parallel 71° on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The polulation is of about 3000 inhabitants and part of them are Eskimo living thanks to the natural resources and to a limited tourism. In Barrow there are 3 hotels of good standard, an hospital, a mall, several restourants, recreational centers, school of any grade, a naval base and an airport equipped for any-weather operations which can be reached by 10 minutes walk from the town’s center. Well 3 daily Alaska airlines’ Boeing 737 jets connect Barrow to Fairbanks, Anchorage and Deadhorse (to Deadhorse the service is seasonally only), in addition, many smaller planes serve the nearby communities. All the roads are unpaved, the typical vehicles used for in-town tranposrtation are buses, cars, taxies, four trakcs and snowmobiles. As the underground is permanently frozen year-round (permafrost) all the buildings must be built like lake dwellings, in order to compensate the ice’s assestment. Because of the northen latitude, Barrow enjoys the midnight sun from May 17th to August 4th and most of the spring and summer is any case featured by 24 hours no stop light. Instead from November 17th to February 4th, the Sun never comes up and the town receives just reflected light in the middle of the day. During the “polar night” and for the earlier spring, the temperature is permanently under freezing point, averaging from -15 to -35 °C with occasional peaks down to -40 and -50. Cold winds with very low windchill factors are also very frequent, in any season. On summertime the temperature is usually above freezing point in July and August, but snow and icy conditions are always possible year-round. The sea is normally frozen from December to April, but large drifting ice floes may be present on summertime also. The flora is represented by very low vegetation (tundra) composed of mosses and lichens. There aren’t trees and the highest plant is no more than 25 centimetres tall. The wildlife is quite rich and includes seals, whales, polar bears, arctic foxes, caribou, and many species of birds. Walking around Barrow it isn’t rare to see “Polard Bear” danger signs.