Alaska Pipeline-Panorama Borealis

Panorama Borealis, by G. Donald Bain — An Exhibition of Panoramic Photography, Palmela, Portugal, Summer 2011

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23	Elevated Section of the Alaska Pipeline
		Yukon River Crossing on the Dalton Highway, Alaska, USA
		September 2, 2010



	The Alaska Pipeline was built in 1974-77 in response to the 1973 oil crisis. It carries crude oil from the Prudhoe Bay Oil field on the Arctic Coast of Alaska to the marine shipping terminal at Valdez, a total length of 800 miles. North of Fairbanks it is paralleled by the Dalton Highway, originally the Haul Road. South of Fairbanks it follows the Richardson Highway. The pipeline is 48 inches (122 cm) in diameter plus a layer of insulation and a stainless steel outer skin. . Eleven pump stations move the oil, which takes twelve days to reach the terminus. To date it has transported more than 16 billion barrels of oil. About half the pipeline is buried, the rest raised on stilts as seen here. The oil itself is hot, and if buried in permafrost (permanently frozen ground) would melt it to mud and settle. Even on stilts this is a problem, solved by the distinctive radiators that disperse heat from the ground.

	Type: 360° panorama
	Printed dimensions: 120.0 cm wide, 40.0 cm high
	Interactive version: VirtualGuidebooks.com/borealis/23.html
	Virtual Guidebooks locality page: Yukon Crossing

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