Barrow

• 1. A promontory, a deserted northernmost point of the US territory, Alaska. It separates the Chukchi Sea in the west from the Beaufort Sea in the east. Near B. the shelf is cut into three deep-sea trenches, the biggest of which is called Alaska trench and is 45 km wide. The promontory is thermo-abrasive. Icy aleurites, sands, and gritstone underlying the littoral tundra plain are subject to abrasion. The thermo-abrasive projection, accompanied by soliflual shelf along the foot, is 4–6 m high. The shore retreat velocity ranges from 1.7 to 3.3 m and even up to 10 m a year.

  In winter and spring, B. is home to polar bears. On the way to the promontory, there is College Ilisagvik conducting natural research together with the Arctic scientific consortium of Barrow. The history of the promontory is closely connected to numerous Arctic expeditions. In 1926, R. Amundsen’s expedition on the airship “Norge” reached Point B. having flown over the North Pole.

  The promontory was discovered by the...