Deadhorse, Alaska | |
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Location in the United States of America | |
Coordinates: 70°12′20″N148°30′42″W / 70.20556°N 148.51167°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Alaska |
Borough | North Slope |
Government | |
• Borough mayor | Harry K. Brower, Jr. |
• State senator | Donny Olson (D) |
• State rep. | Tom Baker (R) |
Elevation | 49 ft (15 m) |
Time zone | UTC-9 (Alaska (AKST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-8 (AKDT) |
GNIS ID | 1866941 [1] |
Deadhorse is an unincorporated community located within the CDP of Prudhoe Bay in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States, along the North Slope near the Arctic Ocean. The town consists mainly of facilities for the workers and companies that operate at the nearby Prudhoe Bay Oil Field. Deadhorse is accessible via the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks, 495 mi (797 km) south, or Deadhorse Airport. Limited accommodation is also available for tourists.
The permanent population is variously listed as being between 25 and 50 residents. Temporary residents (employed by various firms with local interests) can range as high as 3,000.[ citation needed ]
Companies with facilities in Deadhorse service Prudhoe Bay, nearby oil fields, and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), which brings oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez on the south-central Alaska coast. Facilities in Deadhorse are built entirely on man-made gravel pads and usually consist of pre-fabricated modules shipped to Deadhorse via barge or air cargo.
The Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, area was developed to house personnel, provide support for drilling operations, and transport oil to the Alaskan pipeline. [2] Prior to 1977, oil seeps (small pores or fissure networks through which liquid petroleum emerges at the surface of the land) [3] on the Arctic coastal plain had caught the attention of the U.S. petroleum interests. [2] The U.S. Navy drilled for oil between 1944 and 1953 with little success. [2] In 1967, after several attempts at drilling for oil, oil company mergers, and competitive bidding for state lease sales, the Prudhoe Bay oil field was discovered. [2]
Sources conflict on the origin of the area's name. The most cited theory appears to be that the area takes its name from a local business prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s, the "Dead Horse Haulers" trucking company. How the trucking company got its name remains in dispute. [4]
In February 2023, a "high altitude object" about the size of a small car was shot down near the area after a decision by President Joe Biden. [5]
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1970 | 163 | — | |
1980 | 64 | −60.7% | |
1990 | 26 | −59.4% | |
U.S. Decennial Census [6] |
Deadhorse first appeared on the 1970 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It was made a census-designated place (CDP) in 1980. It appeared last on the 1990 census. After 2000, it was merged into the Prudhoe Bay CDP.
Tourists traveling to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay typically take tour buses from Fairbanks via the James Dalton Highway, a two-day journey with an overnight stop in Coldfoot. During the summer months, visitors can arrange for tours to the Arctic Ocean via a guided tour only. There is no longer any public Arctic Ocean access from Deadhorse. All tours must be booked 24 hours in advance to allow time for background checks on all passengers going through the oilfield check point. Tourists can also experience the midnight sun due to Deadhorse's location above the Arctic Circle. In winter, the opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs.
The area often features large herds of caribou and over 200 bird and waterfowl species, including geese, swans, gulls and eagles. [7] Other indigenous wildlife include Arctic foxes, Arctic ground squirrels, grizzly bears, polar bears, musk oxen, and Arctic hares. [7]
Because alcoholic beverages are not sold in Deadhorse, a humorous slogan for the town is "All that far and still no bar." [8]
The town serves as a start/end or turn-around point of several motorcycle-riding challenges offered by the Iron Butt Association. One of these, the Ultimate Coast to Coast, gives riders 30 days to travel between Deadhorse and Key West (the southernmost city in the contiguous United States) in either direction. [9]
Like all of the North Slope, Deadhorse features a cold and dry tundra climate (Köppen ET), as even the hottest month, July, has a daily average temperature of only 48 °F (9 °C), although Deadhorse reaches 80 °F (27 °C) on average once every four years. Deadhorse averages four days per year where temperatures reach 70 °F (21 °C) or more. Since 1968, the only years that failed to reach that mark were 1972 and 1980. [10] Precipitation is very light, averaging only 5.70 in (144.8 mm), including only 23.73 in (60.3 cm) of snow – less snowfall than even the warmest places in the Alaska Panhandle like Ketchikan. The mean annual temperature is 14 °F (−10 °C), with maximum temperatures reliably remaining below freezing from early/mid October to late April. As the area is located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 2, [11] temperatures below −40 °F (−40 °C) can be expected during the height of winter.
Climate data for Deadhorse Airport, Alaska, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1968–present | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 40 (4) | 40 (4) | 37 (3) | 43 (6) | 55 (13) | 83 (28) | 85 (29) | 89 (32) | 70 (21) | 54 (12) | 39 (4) | 39 (4) | 89 (32) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 21.0 (−6.1) | 17.3 (−8.2) | 17.8 (−7.9) | 29.3 (−1.5) | 42.5 (5.8) | 69.2 (20.7) | 73.7 (23.2) | 70.3 (21.3) | 58.3 (14.6) | 38.0 (3.3) | 26.8 (−2.9) | 20.4 (−6.4) | 77.4 (25.2) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | −8.0 (−22.2) | −7.7 (−22.1) | −6.6 (−21.4) | 10.2 (−12.1) | 28.5 (−1.9) | 46.2 (7.9) | 55.0 (12.8) | 49.7 (9.8) | 39.3 (4.1) | 23.8 (−4.6) | 8.3 (−13.2) | −2.8 (−19.3) | 19.7 (−6.8) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | −14.9 (−26.1) | −14.8 (−26.0) | −13.8 (−25.4) | 2.8 (−16.2) | 23.6 (−4.7) | 39.9 (4.4) | 47.3 (8.5) | 43.5 (6.4) | 34.6 (1.4) | 18.3 (−7.6) | 1.7 (−16.8) | −9.2 (−22.9) | 13.3 (−10.4) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | −21.7 (−29.8) | −21.8 (−29.9) | −21.0 (−29.4) | −4.5 (−20.3) | 18.7 (−7.4) | 33.6 (0.9) | 39.7 (4.3) | 37.4 (3.0) | 30.0 (−1.1) | 12.8 (−10.7) | −4.9 (−20.5) | −15.7 (−26.5) | 6.9 (−13.9) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | −43.3 (−41.8) | −44.9 (−42.7) | −40.6 (−40.3) | −26.6 (−32.6) | −2.6 (−19.2) | 25.4 (−3.7) | 32.1 (0.1) | 29.2 (−1.6) | 17.7 (−7.9) | −10.6 (−23.7) | −25.6 (−32.0) | −37.1 (−38.4) | −47.2 (−44.0) |
Record low °F (°C) | −62 (−52) | −58 (−50) | −54 (−48) | −47 (−44) | −24 (−31) | 18 (−8) | 28 (−2) | 23 (−5) | −4 (−20) | −30 (−34) | −45 (−43) | −53 (−47) | −62 (−52) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.25 (6.4) | 0.13 (3.3) | 0.14 (3.6) | 0.21 (5.3) | 0.30 (7.6) | 0.57 (14) | 1.00 (25) | 1.37 (35) | 0.64 (16) | 0.40 (10) | 0.33 (8.4) | 0.36 (9.1) | 5.70 (145) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 4.8 | 8.5 | 10.6 | 8.7 | 6.3 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 54.7 |
Source 1: NOAA [12] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: National Weather Service [13] [14] |
Deadhorse (including Prudhoe Bay) is classified as an isolated town/Sub-Regional Center. It is found in EMS Region 6A in the North Slope Region. Emergency Services have limited highway, coastal, and airport access. Emergency service is provided by paid EMS service and Fairweather Deadhorse Medical Clinic. Auxiliary health care is provided by oil company medical staff and the Greater Prudhoe Bay Fire Dept. Individuals requiring hospital care are usually transported to the nearest hospital/medical center, Sammuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital, in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Because no roads connect Deadhorse to Utqiagvik, individuals are transported by plane or helicopter (an approximately 45 minute flight). [15]
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the population of the city proper at 32,515 and the population of the Fairbanks North Star Borough at 95,655, making it the second most populous metropolitan area in Alaska after Anchorage. The Metropolitan Statistical Area encompasses all of the Fairbanks North Star Borough and is the northernmost Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States, located 196 miles by road south of the Arctic Circle.
Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the world and the northernmost in the United States, with nearby Point Barrow as the country's northernmost point.
Prudhoe Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population of the CDP was 1,310 people, down from 2,174 residents in the 2010 census, and up from just 5 residents in 2000; however, at any given time, several thousand transient workers support the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field. The airport, lodging and general store are located in Deadhorse, and the rigs and processing facilities are located on scattered gravel pads laid atop the tundra. It is only during winter that the surface is hard enough to support heavy equipment, and new construction happens at that time.
Coldfoot is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 34 at the 2020 census. It is said that the name was derived from travelers getting "cold feet" about making the 240-some-mile journey north to Deadhorse.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 12 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems. The core pipeline itself, which is commonly called the Alaska pipeline, trans-Alaska pipeline, or Alyeska pipeline,, is an 800-mile (1,287 km) long, 48-inch (1.22 m) diameter pipeline that conveys oil from Prudhoe Bay, on Alaska's North Slope, south to Valdez, on the shores of Prince William Sound in southcentral Alaska. The crude oil pipeline is privately owned by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
The James W. Dalton Highway, usually referred to as the Dalton Highway, is a 414-mile (666 km) road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Fields. Once called the North Slope Haul Road, it was built as a supply road to support the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1974. It is named after James Dalton, a lifelong Alaskan and an engineer who supervised construction of the Distant Early Warning Line in Alaska and, as an expert in Arctic engineering, served as a consultant in early oil exploration in northern Alaska. It is also the subject of the second episode of America's Toughest Jobs and the first episode of the BBC's World's Most Dangerous Roads.
The Alaska North Slope is the region of the U.S. state of Alaska located on the northern slope of the Brooks Range along the coast of two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi Sea being on the western side of Point Barrow, and the Beaufort Sea on the eastern. With the exception of the highway connecting Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay, the region is disconnected from the rest of the Alaskan road system and relies mostly on waterways and small airports for transportation due to the Brooks Range secluding the region from the rest of the state.
Deadhorse Airport is a public airport located in Deadhorse on the North Slope of Alaska. It can be accessed from Fairbanks via the Elliott and Dalton highways. It is near Prudhoe Bay and is sometimes also called Prudhoe Airport.
The Alaska gas pipeline is a joint project of TransCanada Corp. and ExxonMobil Corp. to develop a natural gas pipeline under the AGIA, a.k.a. the Alaska Gas Inducement Act, adopted by Alaska Legislature in 2007. The project originally proposed two options during its open season offering over a three-month period from April 30 to July 30, 2010. An 'open season' in layman's terms is when a company conducts a non-binding show of interest or poll in the marketplace, they ask potential customers "if we build it, will you come?".
The Sagavanirktok River or Sag River is a stream in the North Slope Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is about 180 miles (290 km) long and originates on the north slope of the Brooks Range, flowing north to the Beaufort Sea near Prudhoe Bay. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and Dalton Highway roughly parallel it from Atigun Pass to Deadhorse.
Arctic Alaska or Far North Alaska is a region of the U.S. state of Alaska generally referring to the northern areas on or close to the Arctic Ocean.
Umiat (OO-mee-yat) is an unincorporated community in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. It is located on the Colville River, 140 miles southwest of Deadhorse in the Arctic Circle. The town is not accessible by road or rail, only by air or river.
Dead Horse, Dead Horses, or Deadhorse may refer to
The climate of Alaska is determined by average temperatures and precipitation received statewide over many years. The extratropical storm track runs along the Aleutian Island chain, across the Alaska Peninsula, and along the coastal area of the Gulf of Alaska which exposes these parts of the state to a large majority of the storms crossing the North Pacific. The climate in Juneau and the southeast panhandle is a mid-latitude oceanic climate, in the southern sections and a subarctic oceanic climate in the northern parts. The climate in Southcentral Alaska is a subarctic climate due to its short, cool summers. The climate of the interior of Alaska is best described as extreme and is the best example of a true subarctic climate, as the highest and lowest recorded temperatures in Alaska have both occurred in the interior. The climate in the extreme north of Alaska is an Arctic climate with long, cold winters, and cool summers where snow is possible year-round.
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. It is the largest oil field in North America, covering 213,543 acres (86,418 ha) and originally contained approximately 25 billion barrels (4.0×109 m3) of oil. The amount of recoverable oil in the field is more than double that of the next largest field in the United States by acreage (the East Texas Oil Field), while the largest by reserves is the Permian Basin (North America). The field was operated by BP; partners were ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips until August 2019; when BP sold all its Alaska assets to Hilcorp.
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