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Image # 12 of 18
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| Point Barrow |
Point Barrow or Nuvuk, is a headland on the Arctic coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, located 15 km (9 mi) northeast of Barrow. It is the northernmost point of the United States, at 71°23′20″N, 156°28′45″W.
The first European to discover the point was English geographer Frederick William Beechey, who encountered it in 1825. It is named for Sir John Barrow, a statesman and geographer of the British Admiralty. The water around the point is normally ice-free for only two or three months a year, but this period is increasing,[1] possibly due to global warming. Point Barrow has served as a jumping-off point for many Arctic expeditions, including the Wilkins-Detroit Arctic Expeditions and the April 15, 1928 Eielson-Wilkins flight across the Arctic Ocean to Spitsbergen.
Point Barrow is close to site of the airplane crash that on August 15, 1935 killed two famous personages, aviator Wiley Post and his sole passenger, the widely respected social commentator Will Rogers.
Between 1965 and 1972, the point was used as a launch site for Nike Cajun and Nike Apache sounding rockets. It is also the site of a Global Atmosphere Watch atmospheric monitoring station.
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