Breaking Ice for Arctic Oil

Breaking Ice for Arctic Oil

Author: Ross Coen

Publisher: University of Alaska Press

Published: 2012-04-15

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1602231702

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In 1969, an icebreaking tanker, the SS Manhattan, was commissioned by Humble Oil to transit the Northwest Passage in order to test the logistical and economic feasibility of an all-marine transportation system for Alaska North Slope crude oil. Proposed as an alternative to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the Manhattan made two voyages to the North American Arctic and collected volumes of scientific data on ice conditions and the behavior of ships in ice. Although the Manhattan successfully navigated the Northwest Passage—closing a five-hundred-year chapter of Arctic exploration by becoming the first commercial vessel to do so—the expedition ultimately demonstrated the impracticality of moving crude oil using icebreaking ships. Breaking Ice for Arctic Oil details this historic voyage, establishing its significant impact on the future of marine traffic and resource development in the Arctic and setting the stage for the current oil crisis.


Alaska Dinosaurs

Alaska Dinosaurs

Author: Anthony R. Fiorillo

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2018-01-02

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1351669338

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Anthony Fiorillo has been exploring the Arctic since 1998. For him, like many others, the Arctic holds the romance of uncharted territory, extreme conditions, and the inevitable epic challenges that arise. For Fiorillo, however, the Arctic also holds the secrets of the history of life on Earth, and its fossils bring him back field season after field season in pursuit of improving human understanding of ancient history. His studies of the rocks and fossils of the Arctic shed light on a world that once was, and provide insight into what might be.


History of Alaska , Volume II

History of Alaska , Volume II

Author: Jonathan M. Nielson, Ph.D.

Publisher: Academica Press

Published: 2018-03-01

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1680530593

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The most significant military development to touch Alaska during the interwar years was the advent of air power, an innovation that completely altered Alaska's strategic position. Suddenly the world became smaller as areas once thought safely distant from potential enemies became vulnerable. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Pacific, whose countless islands became potential advanced air bases. As air technology improved, the ability of long-range bombers and, by the 1930s, of carrier aircraft, to penetrate American airspace was a development of far reaching significance. While such warnings were largely limited to a handful of air-power advocates their vocal advocacy constituted nothing less than an “insurrection”, a revolution in military thinking fought against entrenched military conservatism, cultural aversion to change, fears of budget cuts, and War Department lethargy. Indeed it was the air power crusader General Billy Mitchell who aggressively fought to convince the War and Navy Departments to embrace the new doctrine of offensive air power. Mitchell came to understand Alaska's strategic importance early on. Consequently, he saw the Aleutians as a vulnerability: if left unguarded Japan could “creep up” and, by establishing air dominance, take Alaska and Canada’s West Coast. But he also saw Alaska as a strategic base from which American planes could “reduce Tokyo to powder.” Prophetically, in 1923 Mitchell forecast precisely the military threat and strategic arguments that would shape military thinking almost twenty years later: “I am thinking of Alaska. In an air war, if we were unprepared Japan could take it away from us, first by dominating the sky and creeping up the Aleutians." By the mid-to late 1930s military and civilian advocates of air power and more visionary strategists were beginning to make their voices heard in Congress and elsewhere, decrying Alaska’s military vulnerability. Between 1933 and 1944 no one was more adamant than Alaska’s Delegate in Congress, Anthony Joseph “Tony” Dimond, who challenged the nation to defend itself by defending Alaska. To Dimond, it seemed poor strategy to fortify one pacific base, Hawaii, while ignoring another, Alaska. Dimond’s campaign was strengthened by passage of the Wilcox Bill, sponsored by Representative J. Mark Wilcox (D-Florida), officially known as the National Air Defense Act. This truly significant legislation authorized the location and construction of military airfields throughout the United States as a general defense preparedness measure. Alaska was recognized as one of the nation’s six strategic regions, and two bases, one at Anchorage, the other at Fairbanks, were recommended in part, “because Alaska was closer to Japan than it is to the center of [the] continental United States.” Fortuitously for Alaska defense advocates, General Douglas MacArthur stepped down as Chief of Staff of the Army and was replaced by Major General Malin Craig in October 1935. Craig and Brigadier General Stanley D. Embick advocated a substantial reconfiguration of Plan Orange arguing that the Philippines presented an invitation to attack and should be “neutralized” in favor defending the “Alaska-Hawaii-Panama Triangle.” Both the Army and Navy were charged with defending Alaska as far west as Dutch Harbor, and the army pledged to mobilize 6,600 troops in Alaska within a month of attack by Japan. In contemplating the defense of Alaska the Army General Staff formulated five priority objectives: first, increase the Alaska garrison; second, establish a major base for Army operations near Anchorage; third, develop a network of air bases within Alaska; fourth, garrison these bases with combat troops; and fifth, protect the naval installations at Sitka, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. Alaska was about to go to war.


Shadow Moon

Shadow Moon

Author: Chris Claremont

Publisher: Spectra

Published: 2018-04-17

Total Pages: 547

ISBN-13: 1984800035

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From two of the greatest imaginations of our time comes a magnificent novel of adventure and magic...SHADOW MOON: First in the Chronicles of the Shadow War. The genius of Star Wars(r) creator George Lucas and the vision of Chris Claremont, the author of the phenomenally bestselling The Uncanny X-Men adventures, merge in what must be the fantasy event of the year. In Shadow Moon, war and chaos have gripped the land of Tir Asleen. An ancient prophecy reveals one hope: a savior princess who will ascend to the throne when the time is right. But first, a Nelwyn wanderer must face forces of unimaginable malevolence and dangerous, forbidden rites of necromancy that could bring back a powerful warrior from soulless sleep. George Lucas reshaped filmmaking in the '70s and '80s with his Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. When Bantam Books asked Lucas if he had any stories he would like to develop as novels rather than as films, Lucas turned to his 1988 fantasy film, Willow. "When I wrote the story for Willow, I began with the pre-story," Lucas said, "but the full story was yet to be told." Now, Lucas's vision is being fulfilled with the talented help of Chris Claremont. Having previously taken the reins of what was for a decade the bestselling comic in the western hemisphere (The Uncanny X-Men) Claremont assumes the reponsibility of foster parent to Lucas's creation. On sale in hardcover now, and available on BDD Audio Cassette as well, SHADOW MOON is a momentous new adventure for readers looking to spend part of this summer in a fantastic world. SHADOW MOON is one of Bantam Spectra's most exciting publishing events in 1995, the year we celebrate our 10th Anniversary as the premiere publishing imprint of books of speculative fiction.


Lunar Science: A Post - Apollo View

Lunar Science: A Post - Apollo View

Author: Stuart Ross Taylor

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2016-06-06

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1483136906

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Lunar Science: A Post-Apollo View: Scientific Results and Insights from the Lunar Samples explains the scientific results and discoveries of the manned Apollo lunar missions as they are understood. The emphasis is less on sample description and data and more on the interpretative aspects of the study, with the aim of providing a coherent story of the evolution of the moon and its origin as revealed by the lunar samples and the Apollo missions. This text has seven chapters; the first of which provides a historical background of efforts to study the moon prior to the Apollo missions, including lunar photogeologic mapping and direct exploration by spacecraft. Attention then turns to the Apollo missions and the lunar samples collected, beginning with Apollo 11 that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969 and followed by more missions. The next chapter describes the geology of the moon, with emphasis on craters, central peaks and peak rings, the large ringed basins, rilles, and maria lava flows. The reader is also introduced to the nature of the lunar surface material, the maria basalts, the highlands, and the moon's interior. This book concludes with a discussion on the evidence that has been gathered by the Apollo missions that offers insights into the origin and evolution of the moon. An epilogue reflects on the usefulness of manned space flight. This book will appeal to lunar scientists as well as to those with an interest in astronomy and space exploration.


The Lost City of the Monkey God

The Lost City of the Monkey God

Author: Douglas Preston

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: 2017-01-03

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1455540021

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The #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe and National Geographic: acclaimed journalist Douglas Preston takes readers on a true adventure deep into the Honduran rainforest in this riveting narrative about the discovery of a lost civilization -- culminating in a stunning medical mystery. Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location. Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization. Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn't until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease. Suspenseful and shocking, filled with colorful history, hair-raising adventure, and dramatic twists of fortune, THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD is the absolutely true, eyewitness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century.