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The Alaska Pipeline

The Alaska Pipeline passes by Fairbanks. Much of it is below ground, but there's a bit above ground just north of Fairbanks. We stopped by there and took some pictures.

Click on the thumbnail images to get larger ones (around 100-300K). Click on the "huge" link to get the full size pictures (around 3M). 14 pictures included.

Alaska Pictures
Part I: The Trip Out and Fairbanks
Part II: Farmer's Market, Univeristy, Museum
Part III: Midnight Sun Run
Part IV: The Alaska Pipeline
Part V: Bug Collecting in the Tundra
Part VI: Ester Dome
Part VII: Chena Hot Springs
Part VIII: Eagle Summit
Part IX: Denali
Part X: Seward
Part XI: Exit Glacier
Part XII: Anchorage B&B's
Part XIII: Flattop Mountain, Anchorage
Part XIV: Flying in Fairbanks
Part XV: The Trip Home

The Pipeline

The Alaska Pipeline is an impressive engineering project. 850 miles from Prudhoe Bay in the north to Valdez in the south. Operational since 1977. The oil is fairly hot, so there are lots of other engineering considerations that had to be designed into the system.

[Information on the pipeline]
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[Information on the pipeline]
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A couple shots of some informational signs. You can look at the high resolution pictures to read all the details.

[Pipeline]
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[Signpost by the pipeline]
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[Pipeline]
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Shots of the pipeline looking left (north), center, and right (south). In the center is a signpost that describes how far some towns are from this spot.

[More pipeline]
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[Warning sign]
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[Pipeline and little hut]
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More shots of the piplineline, plus a warning sign. They describe some of the warning signs of a leak, the last one being "flames." Generally the advice is to get out of there and call help. There's a small hut that wasn't open, that I presume had more information.

[Still more pipeline]
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[Information about the pipeline]
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[Another warning sign]
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Another view looking south. Note the cooling fins coming up from the support tower. A picture providing information about the pipeline designer, and another warning sign behind a fence.

[Pipeline going into the ground]
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[Pipeline going into the ground]
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[Pipeline going into the ground]
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Just a bit to the north, it goes underground again. A lot of the pipeline is underground. The designers had to handles lots of permafrost issues (i.e., not having the hot oil in the pipeline melt it). The pipes sit on the "H"-shaped support towers and can move on them as required by thermal expansion or even earthquakes.

Alaska Pictures
Part I: The Trip Out and Fairbanks
Part II: Farmer's Market, Univeristy, Museum
Part III: Midnight Sun Run
Part IV: The Alaska Pipeline
Part V: Bug Collecting in the Tundra
Part VI: Ester Dome
Part VII: Chena Hot Springs
Part VIII: Eagle Summit
Part IX: Denali
Part X: Seward
Part XI: Exit Glacier
Part XII: Anchorage B&B's
Part XIII: Flattop Mountain, Anchorage
Part XIV: Flying in Fairbanks
Part XV: The Trip Home



This page last modified Jul 27, 2011.
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