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126-508: Since no roads lead into the park, visitors arrive via chartered air taxi from Nome , Bettles , or Kotzebue . Flights are available year-round, but are weather dependent. The park is one of the least-visited American national parks, along with others inaccessible by road, including the neighboring Gates of the Arctic , Isle Royale in the middle of Lake Superior , the Dry Tortugas at the end of

252-471: A tundra , with long, very cold winters, and short, cool summers. However, conditions in both winter and summer are moderated by the city's coastal location; winters are less severe than in the Interior , and conversely, summers are lukewarm. For example, Fairbanks at a similar parallel quite far inland has much greater temperature swings with both very warm and cold temperatures throughout the year. Even so, Nome

378-481: A 3,025 ft (922 m) breakwater east of the existing Causeway and a 270 ft (82 m) spur on the end of the Causeway making it to a total of 2,982 feet (909 m). The City Dock (south) on the Causeway is equipped with marine headers to handle the community's bulk cargo and fuel deliveries. The City Dock is approximately 200 feet (61 m) in length with a depth of 22.5 feet (MLLW). The WestGold Dock (north)

504-491: A day. In 1899, Charles D. Lane founded Wild Goose Mining & Trading Co. His company constructed the Wild Goose Railroad from Nome to Dexter Discovery; it was extended (1906-1908) to the village of Shelton, also known as Lanes Landing. Many late-comers tried to "jump" the original claims by filing mining claims covering the same ground. The federal judge for the area ruled the original claims valid, but some of

630-438: A geomagnetic connection comes from the statistics of auroral observations. Elias Loomis (1860), and later Hermann Fritz (1881) and Sophus Tromholt (1881) in more detail, established that the aurora appeared mainly in the auroral zone. In northern latitudes , the effect is known as the aurora borealis or the northern lights. The southern counterpart, the aurora australis or the southern lights, has features almost identical to

756-401: A geomagnetic storm temporarily enlarges the auroral oval. Large geomagnetic storms are most common during the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle or during the three years after the peak. An electron spirals (gyrates) about a field line at an angle that is determined by its velocity vectors, parallel and perpendicular, respectively, to the local geomagnetic field vector B. This angle is known as

882-533: A major source of employment and revenue for Nome through to the present day. Mining's contribution to the town was estimated at $ 6 million a year in 1990 (~$ 12.4 million in 2023), before a major increase in the price of gold brought renewed interest to offshore leases (where 1,000,000 ounces of gold were estimated to be in reserve ) and a subsequent boom in revenues and employment. The Discovery Channel has featured 15 seasons of "Bering Sea Gold" concerning offshore efforts to dredge gold both in summer and winter; in

1008-432: A particle depends on the particle's pitch angle : the angle between its direction of motion and the local magnetic field. An aurora is created by processes that decrease the pitch angle of many individual electrons, freeing them from the magnetic trap and causing them to hit the atmosphere. In the case of diffuse auroras, the electron pitch angles are altered by their interaction with various plasma waves . Each interaction

1134-510: A southward component of the IMF, which can then directly connect to the high latitude geomagnetic field lines. The flow pattern of magnetospheric plasma is mainly from the magnetotail toward Earth, around Earth and back into the solar wind through the magnetopause on the day-side. In addition to moving perpendicular to Earth's magnetic field, some magnetospheric plasma travels down along Earth's magnetic field lines, gains additional energy and loses it to

1260-529: A toponym in several places in Norway . A second theory is that Nome received its name through an error: allegedly when a British cartographer copied an ambiguous annotation made by a British officer on a nautical chart, while on a voyage up the Bering Strait. The officer had written "? Name" next to the unnamed cape. The mapmaker misread the annotation as "C. Nome", or Cape Nome , and used that name on his own chart;

1386-568: A transition zone between boreal forest and tundra . The fish and wildlife in the park are typical of arctic and subarctic fauna. The major economic species are caribou , moose , and fish species such as salmon and sheefish . The most visible animals are the 400,000 caribou of the Western Arctic herd. The herd migrates annually between their winter breeding grounds, south of the Waring Mountains, and their summer calving grounds, north of

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1512-480: A variety of voles . Fish species include chinook , chum , pink and sockeye salmon , with other salmonids including Dolly Varden , Arctic char , lake trout and Arctic grayling . Other species include burbot , Arctic lamprey , round , broad and humpback whitefish, and pond and rainbow smelt. Human habitation in Kobuk Valley is believed to extend back at least 12,500 years. The present inhabitants of

1638-501: A velocity typically around 400 km/s, a density of around 5 ions/cm and a magnetic field intensity of around 2–5 nT (for comparison, Earth's surface field is typically 30,000–50,000 nT). During magnetic storms , in particular, flows can be several times faster; the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) may also be much stronger. Joan Feynman deduced in the 1970s that the long-term averages of solar wind speed correlated with geomagnetic activity. Her work resulted from data collected by

1764-595: A weak glow (often deep red) observed around the two polar cusps, the field lines separating the ones that close through Earth from those that are swept into the tail and close remotely. Early work on the imaging of the auroras was done in 1949 by the University of Saskatchewan using the SCR-270 radar. The altitudes where auroral emissions occur were revealed by Carl Størmer and his colleagues, who used cameras to triangulate more than 12,000 auroras. They discovered that most of

1890-535: A year. These factors combined can lead to minor cyclical changes in the detailed way that the IMF links to the magnetosphere. In turn, this affects the average probability of opening a door through which energy from the solar wind can reach Earth's inner magnetosphere and thereby enhance auroras. Recent evidence in 2021 has shown that individual separate substorms may in fact be correlated networked communities. Just as there are many types of aurora, there are many different mechanisms that accelerate auroral particles into

2016-404: Is 190 feet (58 m) in length with the same depth of 22.5 feet (ML, LW). The Westgold dock handles nearly all of the exported rock/gravel for this region and is the primary location to load/unload heavy equipment. The opening between the new breakwater and the Causeway (Outer Harbor Entrance) is approximately 500 feet (150 m) in width and serves as access to both Causeway deep water docks and

2142-620: Is a qualified acute care facility and medevac service. Long-term care is provided by Quyaana Care Center (a unit of the hospital). Specialized care is available through facilities such as Norton Sound Community Mental Health Center, Turning Point – Saquigvik (transitional living), and XYZ Senior Center. Nome is classified as a large town/Regional Center, it is found in EMS Region 5A in the Norton Sound Region. Emergency Services have limited highway, coastal and airport access. Emergency service

2268-584: Is an inholding of the NANA Regional Corporation , an Alaskan native corporation with rights in the park. The first human inhabitants of the Kobuk Valley were people of the Paleo-Arctic tradition , who hunted caribou at Onion Portage. The region was apparently deserted for about 2,000 years until people of the Archaic tradition appeared in the valley from the south and east. By about 4,000 years before

2394-528: Is entirely national park land, with only subsistence hunting by local residents permitted. No part of the park is designated as a national preserve , which would allow sport hunting. Nome, Alaska Nome ( / ˈ n oʊ m / ; ( Inupiaq : Sitŋasuaq , pronounced [sitŋɐsuɑq] , also Sitŋazuaq , Siqnazuaq )) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of

2520-443: Is essentially wave-particle scattering ; the electron energy after interacting with the wave is similar to its energy before interaction, but the direction of motion is altered. If the final direction of motion after scattering is close to the field line (specifically, if it falls within the loss cone ) then the electron will hit the atmosphere. Diffuse auroras are caused by the collective effect of many such scattered electrons hitting

2646-444: Is generally accompanied by decreasing peak emission heights of about 8 km for blue and green emissions and above average solar wind speeds ( c.  500   km/s ). In addition, the aurora and associated currents produce a strong radio emission around 150 kHz known as auroral kilometric radiation (AKR), discovered in 1972. Ionospheric absorption makes AKR only observable from space. X-ray emissions, originating from

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2772-411: Is greatest in the summer months, and averages 17.22 inches (437.4 mm) per year. The annual average temperature is 28.0 °F (−2.2 °C). Extreme temperatures range from −54 °F (−48 °C) on January 27–28, 1989 up to 86 °F (30 °C) on June 19, 2013, and July 31, 1977; the record cold daily maximum is −40 °F (−40 °C), set on January 28–29, 1919, while, conversely,

2898-659: Is home to Alaska's oldest newspaper, the Nome Nugget . Nome is a regional center of transportation for surrounding villages. There are two state-owned airports: Nome seaport is used by freight ships and cruise ships, located at 64.5°N and 165.4°W on the southern side of the Seward Peninsula in Norton Sound . The Corps of Engineers completed the Nome Harbor Improvements Project in the summer of 2006 adding

3024-520: Is induced within the conductor. The strength of the current depends on a) the rate of relative motion, b) the strength of the magnetic field, c) the number of conductors ganged together and d) the distance between the conductor and the magnetic field, while the direction of flow is dependent upon the direction of relative motion. Dynamos make use of this basic process ("the dynamo effect "), any and all conductors, solid or otherwise are so affected, including plasmas and other fluids. The IMF originates on

3150-556: Is influenced by Far East Russia 's cold landmass and as a result the climate is much colder than in coastal Scandinavia at similar latitudes. The coldest month is January, averaging 5.6 °F (−14.7 °C), although highs on average breach the freezing point on 2–4 days per month from December to March and there are 76 days annually of 0 °F (−17.8 °C) or lower temperatures, which have been recorded as early as October 12 in 1996 and as late as May 5 in 1984. Average highs stay below freezing from late October until late April, and

3276-513: Is located at 64°30′14″N 165°23′58″W  /  64.50389°N 165.39944°W  / 64.50389; -165.39944 (64.503889, −165.399444). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 21.6 square miles (56 km ), of which 12.5 square miles (32 km ) is land and 9.1 square miles (23.6 km ) (41.99%) is water. Nome has a subarctic climate ( Köppen Dfc ), closely bordering on

3402-484: Is more effectively transferred by the temporary magnetic connection between the field lines of the solar wind and those of the magnetosphere. Unsurprisingly this process is known as magnetic reconnection . As already mentioned, it happens most readily when the interplanetary field is directed southward, in a similar direction to the geomagnetic field in the inner regions of both the north magnetic pole and south magnetic pole . Auroras are more frequent and brighter during

3528-678: Is provided by 911 Telephone Service and by Nome Volunteer Ambulance Dept. The reality television series Bering Sea Gold is set and filmed in Nome. Nome is referenced in the songs "Marry the Man Today" from the 1950 Frank Loesser / Jo Swerling / Abe Burrows musical Guys and Dolls ; in "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" from the 1955 Richard Adler and Jerry Ross musical Damn Yankees ; and in "Ah, Paree!" from Stephen Sondheim 's 1971 musical Follies . Aurora borealis An aurora ( pl. aurorae or auroras ), also commonly known as

3654-407: Is regularly derived from ground data and serves as a general measure of auroral activity. Kristian Birkeland deduced that the currents flowed in the east–west directions along the auroral arc, and such currents, flowing from the dayside toward (approximately) midnight were later named "auroral electrojets" (see also Birkeland currents ). Ionosphere can contribute to the formation of auroral arcs via

3780-522: Is why there is a color differential with altitude; at high altitudes oxygen red dominates, then oxygen green and nitrogen blue/purple/red, then finally nitrogen blue/purple/red when collisions prevent oxygen from emitting anything. Green is the most common colour. Then comes pink, a mixture of light green and red, followed by pure red, then yellow (a mixture of red and green), and finally, pure blue. Precipitating protons generally produce optical emissions as incident hydrogen atoms after gaining electrons from

3906-525: The 2000 United States Census , there were 3,505 people, 1,184 households, and 749 families in the city. The population density was 279.7 inhabitants per square mile (108.0/km ). There were 1,356 housing units at an average density of 108.2 per square mile (41.8/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 51.0% Native American , 37.9% White , 1.5% Asian , 0.9% Black or African American , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 0.4% from other races , and 8.2% from two or more races, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.2% of

Kobuk Valley National Park - Misplaced Pages Continue

4032-471: The Distant Early Warning system that are visible from the city but are no longer in use. Total gold production for the Nome district has been at least 3.6 million troy ounces (110,000 kg). Nome's population decline continued after 1910 although at a fairly slow rate. By 1950 Nome had 1,852 inhabitants. By 1960 the population of Nome had climbed to 2,316. At this point placer gold mining

4158-476: The Explorer 33 spacecraft. The solar wind and magnetosphere consist of plasma (ionized gas), which conducts electricity. It is well known (since Michael Faraday 's work around 1830) that when an electrical conductor is placed within a magnetic field while relative motion occurs in a direction that the conductor cuts across (or is cut by ), rather than along , the lines of the magnetic field, an electric current

4284-689: The Florida Keys , as well as Katmai and Lake Clark in southern Alaska. The park is the center of a vast ecosystem between Selawik National Wildlife Refuge and the Noatak National Preserve . It is over 75 miles (121 km) by river to the Chukchi Sea . The Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve lie 32 miles (51 km) to the east. The park includes about 81,000 acres (33,000 ha) of lands owned by native corporations and

4410-776: The Kougarok River , and Teller : the Nome-Council , Nome-Taylor , and Nome-Teller Highways , respectively. There are also smaller roads to communities up to 87 miles (140 km) from Nome, yet no road connection to the other major cities of Alaska. There are no railroads going to or from Nome. A 500-mile (800 km) road project ( Manley Hot Springs–Nome ) is being discussed in Alaska. It has been estimated (as of 2010) to cost $ 2.3 to $ 2.7 billion, or approximately $ 5 million per mile. Local hospitals and medical centers include Norton Sound Regional Hospital and Nome Health Center. The hospital

4536-487: The Köppen climate classification system, Kobuk Valley National Park has a Subarctic climate ( Dfc ) with cool summers and year around precipitation. Dfc climates are defined by their coldest month averaging below 0 °C (32 °F), 1–3 months averaging above 10 °C (50 °F), all months with average temperatures below 22 °C (71.6 °F), and no significant precipitation difference between seasons. According to

4662-660: The United States Department of Agriculture , the Plant Hardiness zone at Kallarichuck at 13 ft (4 m) elevation is 2a with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -47.1 °F (-43.9 °C). Weather in the park is subject to extremes. Average low temperatures in January are −8 °F (−22 °C), and can reach nighttime lows of −50 °F (−46 °C). Summer temperatures average around 65 °F (18 °C), and can reach 85 °F (29 °C). Since

4788-476: The Western Federation of Miners for all unemployed workers to stay away, saying that "All the rich mines are practically worked out." Fires in 1905 and 1934, as well as violent storms in 1900, 1913, 1945 and 1974, destroyed much of Nome's gold rush -era architecture. The pre-fire " Discovery Saloon " is now a private residence and is being slowly restored as a landmark. The Black Wolf Squadron , under

4914-464: The feedback instability under high ionospheric resistance conditions, observed at night time and in dark Winter hemisphere. Earth is constantly immersed in the solar wind , a flow of magnetized hot plasma (a gas of free electrons and positive ions) emitted by the Sun in all directions, a result of the two-million-degree temperature of the Sun's outermost layer, the corona . The solar wind reaches Earth with

5040-411: The mesosphere in presence of electron precipitation . Horse-collar auroras (HCA) are auroral features in which the auroral ellipse shifts poleward during the dawn and dusk portions and the polar cap becomes teardrop-shaped. They form during periods when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is permanently northward, when the IMF clock angle is small. Their formation is associated with the closure of

5166-579: The northern lights ( aurora borealis ) or southern lights ( aurora australis ), is a natural light display in Earth 's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic ). Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky. Auroras are the result of disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere caused by

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5292-488: The solar wind . Major disturbances result from enhancements in the speed of the solar wind from coronal holes and coronal mass ejections . These disturbances alter the trajectories of charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma . These particles, mainly electrons and protons , precipitate into the upper atmosphere ( thermosphere / exosphere ). The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emit light of varying colour and complexity. The form of

5418-455: The "pitch angle" of the particle. The distance, or radius, of the electron from the field line at any time is known as its Larmor radius. The pitch angle increases as the electron travels to a region of greater field strength nearer to the atmosphere. Thus, it is possible for some particles to return, or mirror, if the angle becomes 90° before entering the atmosphere to collide with the denser molecules there. Other particles that do not mirror enter

5544-729: The 1925 serum run to Nome. One of his dogs, Togo , is considered the forgotten hero of the Great Race of Mercy; another of his dogs, Fritz, is preserved and on display at the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum in Nome. During World War II, Nome was the last stop on the ferry system for planes flying from the United States to the Soviet Union for the Lend-lease program. The airstrip currently in use

5670-409: The 1960s by many research teams using rockets and satellites to traverse the auroral zone. The main findings have been that auroral arcs and other bright forms are due to electrons that have been accelerated during the final few 10,000 km or so of their plunge into the atmosphere. These electrons often, but not always, exhibit a peak in their energy distribution, and are preferentially aligned along

5796-521: The 21st century, Nome's economy remains based around gold mining, which is now mostly carried out offshore. The city of Nome also claims to be home to the world's largest gold pan , although this claim has been disputed by the Canadian city of Quesnel, British Columbia . The origin of the city's name "Nome" is debated; there are three theories. The first is that the name was given by Nome's founder, Jafet Lindeberg , an immigrant from Norway. Nome appears as

5922-679: The 2nd and 3rd largest places. The demographics for 1900 included 12,395 Whites, 42 Natives, 41 Asians and 10 Blacks. It was incorporated as a city in 1901. By 1910, it had fallen to 2,600 residents. Of those, 2,311 were White, 235 were Natives and 54 for all other races. It dropped to the 2nd largest city in Alaska behind Fairbanks. By 1920, it dropped to 9th place, with just 852 residents. In 1930, it rose to 6th largest with 1,213 residents (882 Whites, 326 Natives, 5 others). In 1940, it remained in 6th place with 1,559 residents. It dropped to 10th place in 1950 with 1,876 residents. In 1960, it rose to 8th place with 2,316 residents (with 1,608 "other", which

6048-595: The Akunirmiut and Kuuvaum Kangiamirnuit. One of their villages was located in the present park at the mouth of the Hunt River. Their descendants, now known as the Kuuvangmiit, have mostly moved out of park lands. About 32 prospectors' camps were established during a short gold rush in 1899–1900. Surveys have not yet located them, although debris associated with the miners' boats has been found. Kobuk Valley National Park

6174-604: The Baird Mountains. The herd's annual crossing of the Kobuk River is central to the Inupiaq people's subsistence hunting. Large mammals in the park include wolf packs, Arctic and red foxes , caribou, and moose. Black bears , brown bears , beavers , river otters , Canadian lynxes , and Dall sheep exist in the park as well. Smaller mammals include wolverines , martens , minks , porcupines , muskrats , snowshoe hares and

6300-520: The Dexter Saloon, the city's first two-story wooden building and its largest and most luxurious saloon out of more than 60 saloons. During the period from 1900 to 1909, estimates of Nome's population reached as high as 20,000. The highest recorded population of Nome, in the 1900 United States Census, was 12,488. At this time, Nome was the largest city in the Alaska Territory . Early in this period,

6426-581: The Kobuk River, from just above Kiana to just below Ambler , is included in the park, as are several of its major tributaries such as the Salmon River and the Hunt River . The valley floor is mainly covered by glacial drift . Much of the southern portion of the park, south of the Kobuk River, is managed as the Kobuk Valley Wilderness of 174,545 acres (70,636 ha). The Selawik Wilderness lies to

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6552-578: The State of Alaska. The park consists of the broad wetlands valley of the Kobuk River which runs along the southern edge of the western Brooks Range , which is known as the Baird Mountains . The boundary of the park runs along the height-of-land of the Baird Mountains in the north and the shorter Waring Mountains in the south that form a ring, defining and enclosing the Kobuk Valley. The middle two-thirds of

6678-515: The Sun, linked to the sunspots , and its field lines (lines of force) are dragged out by the solar wind. That alone would tend to line them up in the Sun-Earth direction, but the rotation of the Sun angles them at Earth by about 45 degrees forming a spiral in the ecliptic plane, known as the Parker spiral . The field lines passing Earth are therefore usually linked to those near the western edge ("limb") of

6804-629: The U.S. Army policed the area, and expelled any inhabitant each autumn who did not have shelter (or the resources to pay for shelter) for the harsh winter. By 1910 Nome's population had fallen to 2,600, and by 1934, to less than 1,500. In May 1910, the Industrial Worker , the newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), published a notice from the Nome Miners' Union and Local 240 of

6930-595: The US state of Alaska . The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea . It had a population of 3,699 recorded in the 2020 census , up from 3,598 in 2010. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901. It was once the most-populous city in Alaska. Nome lies within the region of the Bering Straits Native Corporation , which is headquartered in Nome. In prehistory, Nome

7056-443: The annual mean temperature has ranged from 21.1 °F (−6.1 °C) in 1920 to 32.5 °F (0.3 °C) in 2016. Bering Sea water temperatures around Nome vary during summer from 34 to 48 °F (1.1 to 8.9 °C). See or edit raw graph data . Nome first appeared on the 1900 US Census as an unincorporated village of 12,488 residents. At the time, it was the largest community in Alaska, ahead of Skagway and Juneau ,

7182-486: The atmosphere and contribute to the auroral display over a range of altitudes. Other types of auroras have been observed from space; for example, "poleward arcs" stretching sunward across the polar cap, the related "theta aurora", and "dayside arcs" near noon. These are relatively infrequent and poorly understood. Other interesting effects occur such as pulsating aurora, "black aurora" and their rarer companion "anti-black aurora" and subvisual red arcs. In addition to all these,

7308-423: The atmosphere in the auroral zones. The cusps of the magnetosphere, separating geomagnetic field lines that close through Earth from those that close remotely allow a small amount of solar wind to directly reach the top of the atmosphere, producing an auroral glow. On 26 February 2008, THEMIS probes were able to determine, for the first time, the triggering event for the onset of magnetospheric substorms . Two of

7434-456: The atmosphere. Electron aurora in Earth's auroral zone (i.e. commonly visible aurora) can be split into two main categories with different immediate causes: diffuse and discrete aurora. Diffuse aurora appear relatively structureless to an observer on the ground, with indistinct edges and amorphous forms. Discrete aurora are structured into distinct features with well-defined edges such as arcs, rays and coronas; they also tend to be much brighter than

7560-447: The atmosphere. Proton auroras are usually observed at lower latitudes. Bright auroras are generally associated with Birkeland currents (Schield et al., 1969; Zmuda and Armstrong, 1973 ), which flow down into the ionosphere on one side of the pole and out on the other. In between, some of the current connects directly through the ionospheric E layer (125 km); the rest ("region 2") detours, leaving again through field lines closer to

7686-439: The atmosphere. The process is mediated by the plasma waves, which become stronger during periods of high geomagnetic activity , leading to increased diffuse aurora at those times. In the case of discrete auroras, the trapped electrons are accelerated toward Earth by electric fields that form at an altitude of about 4000–12000 km in the "auroral acceleration region". The electric fields point away from Earth (i.e. upward) along

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7812-659: The aurora borealis and changes simultaneously with changes in the northern auroral zone. The aurora australis is visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica , the Southern Cone , South Africa , Australasia and under exceptional circumstances as far north as Uruguay . The aurora borealis is visible from areas around the Arctic such as Alaska , Canada , Iceland , Greenland , the Faroe Islands , Scandinavia , Finland , Scotland , and Russia . A geomagnetic storm causes

7938-581: The aurora, occurring within bands around both polar regions, is also dependent on the amount of acceleration imparted to the precipitating particles. Most of the planets in the Solar System , some natural satellites , brown dwarfs , and even comets also host auroras. The term aurora borealis was coined by Galileo in 1619, from the Roman Aurora, goddess of the dawn , and the Greek Boreas, god of

8064-518: The auroral oval to active displays along the darkside and after 1–3 hours they gradually change back. Changes in auroras over time are commonly visualized using keograms . At shorter time scales, auroras can change their appearances and intensity, sometimes so slowly as to be difficult to notice, and at other times rapidly down to the sub-second scale. The phenomenon of pulsating auroras is an example of intensity variations over short timescales, typically with periods of 2–20 seconds. This type of aurora

8190-650: The auroral ovals (north and south) to expand, bringing the aurora to lower latitudes. On rare occasions, the aurora borealis can be seen as far south as the Mediterranean and the southern states of the US while the aurora australis can be seen as far north as New Caledonia and the Pilbara region in Western Australia . During the Carrington Event , the greatest geomagnetic storm ever observed, auroras were seen even in

8316-404: The average family size was 3.45. The city population contained 31.9% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 59,402, and

8442-610: The average first and last dates of freezing lows are August 30 and June 9, respectively, a freeze-free period of 81 days. The warmest month is July, with an average of 52.0 °F (11.1 °C); temperatures rarely reach 80 °F (27 °C) or remain above 60 °F (16 °C) the whole night. Snow averages 82.8 inches (210 cm) per season, with the average first and last dates of measurable (≥0.1 inches or 0.25 centimetres) snowfall being October 4 and May 16; accumulating snow has not been officially observed in July or August. Precipitation

8568-412: The background magnetic field (comparable to the electron inertial length or ion gyroradius ), Alfvén waves develop a significant electric field parallel to the background magnetic field. This electric field can accelerate electrons to keV energies, significant to produce auroral arcs. If the electrons have a speed close to that of the wave's phase velocity, they are accelerated in a manner analogous to

8694-481: The city in turn took its name from the cape. Noted toponymist and historian George R. Stewart favored this explanation, citing a letter from the British Admiralty which allegedly confirmed the story from historical records. The third proposed origin of the name is from a misunderstanding of the local Inupiaq word for "Where at?", Naami . In February 1899, some local miners and merchants voted to change

8820-437: The claim jumpers agreed to share their invalid claims with influential Washington politicians. Alexander McKenzie took an interest in the gold rush and secured the appointment of Arthur Noyes as the federal district judge for the Nome region for the purpose of taking control of gold placer mines in Nome. McKenzie seized mining claims with an unlawfully procured receivership granted by Judge Noyes. McKenzie's claim-jumping scheme

8946-517: The cold north wind . The word aurora is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora , who travelled from east to west announcing the coming of the Sun . Ancient Greek poets used the corresponding name " Eos " metaphorically to refer to dawn, often mentioning its play of colours across the otherwise dark sky (e.g., "rosy-fingered dawn"). The words borealis and australis are derived from

9072-465: The collision of particles precipitated into the atmosphere. Both incoming electrons and protons may be involved. Excitation energy is lost within the atmosphere by the emission of a photon, or by collision with another atom or molecule: Oxygen is unusual in terms of its return to ground state: it can take 0.7 seconds to emit the 557.7 nm green light and up to two minutes for the red 630.0 nm emission. Collisions with other atoms or molecules absorb

9198-470: The command of Capt. St. Clair Streett , landed here on August 23, 1920, after the culmination of a 4527-mile flight from Mitchel Field . Noel Wien and Gene Miller based their air services from Nome in June 1927. In 1925, Nome was the destination of the famous Great Race of Mercy , in which dog sleds played a large part in transporting diphtheria antitoxin serum through harsh conditions. In 1973, Nome became

9324-556: The community. A federally recognized tribe is located in the community, the Nome Eskimo Community. Former villagers from King Island also live in Nome. The ANCSA village corporation in Nome is Sitnasuak Native Corporation. Inupiat hunted for game on the west coast of Alaska from prehistoric times and there is recent archeological evidence to suggest that there was an Inupiat settlement at Nome, known in Inupiat as Sitnasuak, before

9450-468: The currents are the direct result of electron acceleration into the atmosphere by wave/particle interactions. Ionospheric resistance has a complex nature, and leads to a secondary Hall current flow. By a strange twist of physics, the magnetic disturbance on the ground due to the main current almost cancels out, so most of the observed effect of auroras is due to a secondary current, the auroral electrojet . An auroral electrojet index (measured in nanotesla)

9576-416: The diffuse aurora. In both cases, the electrons that eventually cause the aurora start out as electrons trapped by the magnetic field in Earth's magnetosphere . These trapped particles bounce back and forth along magnetic field lines and are prevented from hitting the atmosphere by the magnetic mirror formed by the increasing magnetic field strength closer to Earth. The magnetic mirror's ability to trap

9702-468: The discovery of gold. In the summer of 1898, the "Three Lucky Swedes": Norwegian-American Jafet Lindeberg , and two naturalized American citizens of Swedish birth, Erik Lindblom and John Brynteson , discovered gold on Anvil Creek. News of the discovery reached the outside world that winter. By 1899, Nome had a population of 10,000 and the area was organized as the Nome mining district . In that year, gold

9828-404: The dune aurora phenomenon was discovered by Finnish citizen scientists . It consists of regularly-spaced, parallel stripes of brighter emission in the green diffuse aurora which give the impression of sand dunes. The phenomenon is believed to be caused by the modulation of atomic oxygen density by a large-scale atmospheric wave travelling horizontally in a waveguide through an inversion layer in

9954-646: The east, west and south inner harbor sheet pile docks, east beach landing and west barge ramp for delivery in the region. An addition to the Nome facility in 2005 was a 60-foot-wide (18 m) concrete barge ramp located inside the inner harbor just west of the Snake River entrance. The ramp provides the bulk cargo carriers with a location closer to the causeway to trans-load freight to landing craft and roll equipment on and off barges. This location also has 2 acres (8,100 m ) of uplands to be used for container, vessel and equipment storage. Local roads lead to Council ,

10080-458: The electric field increases the kinetic energy of all of the electrons transiting downward through the acceleration region by the same amount. This accelerates electrons starting from the magnetosphere with initially low energies (tens of eV or less) to energies required to create an aurora (100s of eV or greater), allowing that large source of particles to contribute to creating auroral light. The accelerated electrons carry an electric current along

10206-601: The ending point of the 1,049+ mi (1,600+ km) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race . The latter part of its route was used in the serum run. The sled driver of the final leg of the relay was the Norwegian-born Gunnar Kaasen ; his lead sled dog was Balto . A statue of Balto by F.G. Roth stands near the Central Park Zoo in Central Park , New York City. Leonhard Seppala ran the penultimate, and longest, leg of

10332-454: The equator and closing through the "partial ring current" carried by magnetically trapped plasma. The ionosphere is an ohmic conductor , so some consider that such currents require a driving voltage, which an, as yet unspecified, dynamo mechanism can supply. Electric field probes in orbit above the polar cap suggest voltages of the order of 40,000 volts, rising up to more than 200,000 volts during intense magnetic storms. In another interpretation,

10458-490: The excitation energy and prevent emission; this process is called collisional quenching . Because the highest parts of the atmosphere contain a higher percentage of oxygen and lower particle densities, such collisions are rare enough to allow time for oxygen to emit red light. Collisions become more frequent progressing down into the atmosphere due to increasing density, so that red emissions do not have time to happen, and eventually, even green light emissions are prevented. This

10584-461: The five probes, positioned approximately one third the distance to the Moon, measured events suggesting a magnetic reconnection event 96 seconds prior to auroral intensification. Geomagnetic storms that ignite auroras may occur more often during the months around the equinoxes . It is not well understood, but geomagnetic storms may vary with Earth's seasons. Two factors to consider are the tilt of both

10710-447: The geomagnetic pole (not the geographic pole) in the noon direction and 23° away in the midnight direction. The peak equatorward extent of the oval is displaced slightly from geographic midnight. It is centered about 3–5° nightward of the magnetic pole, so that auroral arcs reach furthest toward the equator when the magnetic pole in question is in between the observer and the Sun , which is called magnetic midnight . Early evidence for

10836-643: The glaciers and strong winds created the field, which is now mostly covered by forest and tundra. In present times the active dune fields cover about 20,500 acres (8,300 ha). The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes comprise the largest active Arctic dune field in North America. NASA has funded their study as an analog for Martian polar dunes. The park's headquarters are at the Northwest Arctic Heritage Center in Kotzebue , about 100 miles (160 km) west of

10962-430: The intense phase of the solar cycle when coronal mass ejections increase the intensity of the solar wind. Earth's magnetosphere is shaped by the impact of the solar wind on Earth's magnetic field. This forms an obstacle to the flow, diverting it, at an average distance of about 70,000 km (11 Earth radii or Re), producing a bow shock 12,000 km to 15,000 km (1.9 to 2.4 Re) further upstream. The width of

11088-401: The interaction of the solar wind with Earth's magnetosphere . The varying intensity of the solar wind produces effects of different magnitudes but includes one or more of the following physical scenarios. The details of these phenomena are not fully understood. However, it is clear that the prime source of auroral particles is the solar wind feeding the magnetosphere, the reservoir containing

11214-474: The latter season access is gained by making holes in the ice and sending a diver beneath to dredge the sea floor. The University of Alaska Fairbanks operates a regional satellite facility in Nome called the Northwest Campus (formerly known as Northwest Community College). Nome is served by Nome Public Schools and the following public schools attended by over 720 students: Nome's airwaves are filled by

11340-509: The light is produced between 90 and 150 km (56 and 93 mi) above the ground, while extending at times to more than 1,000 km (620 mi). According to Clark (2007), there are five main forms that can be seen from the ground, from least to most visible: Brekke (1994) also described some auroras as "curtains". The similarity to curtains is often enhanced by folds within the arcs. Arcs can fragment or break up into separate, at times rapidly changing, often rayed features that may fill

11466-762: The local direction of the magnetic field. Electrons mainly responsible for diffuse and pulsating auroras have, in contrast, a smoothly falling energy distribution, and an angular (pitch-angle) distribution favouring directions perpendicular to the local magnetic field. Pulsations were discovered to originate at or close to the equatorial crossing point of auroral zone magnetic field lines. Protons are also associated with auroras, both discrete and diffuse. Auroras result from emissions of photons in Earth's upper atmosphere , above 80 km (50 mi), from ionized nitrogen atoms regaining an electron, and oxygen atoms and nitrogen based molecules returning from an excited state to ground state . They are ionized or excited by

11592-426: The magnetic field line. Electrons moving downward through these fields gain a substantial amount of energy (on the order of a few keV ) in the direction along the magnetic field line toward Earth. This field-aligned acceleration decreases the pitch angle for all of the electrons passing through the region, causing many of them to hit the upper atmosphere. In contrast to the scattering process leading to diffuse auroras,

11718-432: The magnetic field lines (a Birkeland current ). Since the electric field points in the same direction as the current, there is a net conversion of electromagnetic energy into particle energy in the auroral acceleration region (an electric load ). The energy to power this load is eventually supplied by the magnetized solar wind flowing around the obstacle of Earth's magnetic field, although exactly how that power flows through

11844-422: The magnetic flux at the top of the dayside magnetosphere by the double lobe reconnection (DLR). There are approximately 8 HCA events per month, with no seasonal dependence, and that the IMF must be within 30 degrees of northwards. Conjugate auroras are nearly exact mirror-image auroras found at conjugate points in the northern and southern hemispheres on the same geomagnetic field lines. These generally happen at

11970-413: The magnetosphere abreast of Earth is typically 190,000 km (30 Re), and on the night side a long "magnetotail" of stretched field lines extends to great distances (> 200 Re). The high latitude magnetosphere is filled with plasma as the solar wind passes Earth. The flow of plasma into the magnetosphere increases with additional turbulence, density, and speed in the solar wind. This flow is favoured by

12096-490: The magnetosphere is still an active area of research. While the energy to power the aurora is ultimately derived from the solar wind, the electrons themselves do not travel directly from the solar wind into Earth's auroral zone; magnetic field lines from these regions do not connect to the solar wind, so there is no direct access for solar wind electrons. Some auroral features are also created by electrons accelerated by dispersive Alfvén waves . At small wavelengths transverse to

12222-469: The median income for a family was $ 68,804. Males had a median income of $ 50,521 versus $ 35,804 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 23,402. About 5.4% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 4.3% under the age of 18 and 6.9% ages 65 or older. The population of Nome is a mixture of Inupiat Eskimos and non-Natives. Although some employment opportunities are available, subsistence activities are prevalent in

12348-525: The name from Nome to Anvil City, because of the confusion with Cape Nome, 12 miles (19 km) east, and the Nome River , the mouth of which is 4 mi (6.4 km) east of Nome. The United States Post Office in Nome refused to accept the change. Fearing a move of the post office to Nome City, a mining camp on the Nome River, the merchants unhappily agreed to change the name of Anvil City back to Nome. Nome

12474-467: The names of the ancient gods of the north wind ( Boreas ) and the south wind ( Auster ) in Greco-Roman mythology . Auroras are most commonly observed in the "auroral zone", a band approximately 6° (~660 km) wide in latitude centered on 67° north and south. The region that currently displays an aurora is called the "auroral oval". The oval is displaced by the solar wind, pushing it about 15° away from

12600-550: The new Snake River entrance that leads into the Small Boat Harbor. The old entrance along the seawall has been filled in and is no longer navigable (see photos on website). Buoys outline the navigation channel from the outer harbor entrance into the inner harbor. The Nome Small Boat Harbor has a depth of 10 feet (MLLW) and offers protected mooring for recreational and fishing vessels alongside two floating docks. Smaller cargo vessels and landing craft load village freight and fuel at

12726-498: The opposite order. Until about 1963, it was thought that these changes are due to the rotation of the Earth under a pattern fixed with respect to the Sun. Later, it was found by comparing all-sky films of auroras from different places (collected during the International Geophysical Year ) that they often undergo global changes in a process called auroral substorm . They change in a few minutes from quiet arcs all along

12852-512: The park is above the Arctic Circle, the sun does not set from June 3 to July 9, and the sun is visible for only 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours on the winter solstice, with long periods of twilight on either side of sunrise and sunset. As is the case over all of northern Alaska, the aurora borealis is often visible on winter nights when solar activity is high. Snow can happen at any time of the year. Wind and rain are common in summer. The park lies in

12978-586: The park on the Bering Sea coast. Seasonal ranger stations are operated along the Kobuk River at Kallarichuk, at the west end of the park, and at Onion Portage at the east end of the park. Offices and visitor services for Cape Krusenstern National Monument and Noatak National Preserve are in the same facility. The units are managed together as the Western Arctic National Parklands , with a single Park Service superintendent in charge. According to

13104-456: The particles associated with auroras, have also been detected. Aurora noise , similar to a crackling noise, begins about 70 m (230 ft) above Earth's surface and is caused by charged particles in an inversion layer of the atmosphere formed during a cold night. The charged particles discharge when particles from the Sun hit the inversion layer, creating the noise. In 2016, more than fifty citizen science observations described what

13230-406: The population. There were 1,184 households, out of which 38.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.7% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and

13356-531: The present, people of the Arctic Small Tool tradition arrived, but departed between 1,500 and 1,000 years ago, again leaving the valley unoccupied. New people arrived by about 1200 AD, as documented by the Ahteut site 25 miles (40 km) downriver from Onion Portage. People remained in the valley until the mid-19th century, when the caribou population declined and people moved closer to the coast. These people were

13482-589: The radiation zones and temporarily magnetically trapped particles confined by the geomagnetic field, coupled with particle acceleration processes. The immediate cause of the ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents leading to auroral emissions was discovered in 1960, when a pioneering rocket flight from Fort Churchill in Canada revealed a flux of electrons entering the atmosphere from above. Since then an extensive collection of measurements has been acquired painstakingly and with steadily improving resolution since

13608-483: The radio stations KNOM (780 AM, 96.1 FM) and KICY ( 850 AM , 100.3 FM ), plus a repeater of Fairbanks' KUAC , K217CK, on 91.3 FM. Cable television and broadband in Nome is serviced by GCI , which offers all popular cable channels, plus most of Anchorage's television stations. Nome also has three local low-powered stations, K09OW channel 9 and K13UG channel 13 (both carrying programming from ARCS ), plus K11TH channel 11 (a 3ABN owned and operated translator). Nome

13734-418: The record warm daily minimum is 64 °F (18 °C) on July 20, 1993, and August 14, 1926. The coldest day of the year averaged −17 °F (−27 °C) in the 1991 to 2020 normals, while the warmest night average was at 57 °F (14 °C). The coldest has been February 1990 with a mean temperature of −17.2 °F (−27.3 °C), while the warmest month was August 1977 at 56.3 °F (13.5 °C);

13860-431: The ribbon). The processes that cause STEVE are also associated with a picket-fence aurora, although the latter can be seen without STEVE. It is an aurora because it is caused by precipitation of electrons in the atmosphere but it appears outside the auroral oval, closer to the equator than typical auroras. When the picket-fence aurora appears with STEVE, it is below. First reported in 2020, and confirmed in 2021,

13986-416: The solar and Earth's axis to the ecliptic plane. As Earth orbits throughout a year, it experiences an interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) from different latitudes of the Sun, which is tilted at 8 degrees. Similarly, the 23-degree tilt of Earth's axis about which the geomagnetic pole rotates with a diurnal variation changes the daily average angle that the geomagnetic field presents to the incident IMF throughout

14112-459: The south, in the adjoining Selawik National Wildlife Refuge. Three sets of sand dune fields are located on the south side of the Kobuk River. The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, Little Kobuk Sand Dunes and the Hunt River Dunes are remnants of dune fields that covered as many as 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) immediately after the retreat of Pleistocene glaciation. A combination of outwash deposits from

14238-409: The time of the equinoxes , when there is little difference in the orientation of the north and south geomagnetic poles to the sun. Attempts were made to image conjugate auroras by aircraft from Alaska and New Zealand in 1967, 1968, 1970, and 1971, with some success. A full understanding of the physical processes which lead to different types of auroras is still incomplete, but the basic cause involves

14364-414: The tropics. Auroras seen within the auroral oval may be directly overhead. From farther away, they illuminate the poleward horizon as a greenish glow, or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. Auroras also occur poleward of the auroral zone as either diffuse patches or arcs, which can be subvisual. Auroras are occasionally seen in latitudes below the auroral zone, when

14490-457: The valley are the Inupiat people , who subsist on hunting and fishing in the region. The Onion Portage Archeological District is a National Historic Landmark district at the east end of the Kobuk River's course through the park. The site, strategically located at a major caribou river crossing, documents nine cultural complexes spanning from 8,000–6,000 BC to about 1000–1700 AD. The site

14616-406: The visible Sun at any time. The solar wind and the magnetosphere, being two electrically conducting fluids in relative motion, should be able in principle to generate electric currents by dynamo action and impart energy from the flow of the solar wind. However, this process is hampered by the fact that plasmas conduct readily along magnetic field lines, but less readily perpendicular to them. Energy

14742-506: The whole sky. These are also known as discrete auroras , which are at times bright enough to read a newspaper by at night. These forms are consistent with auroras being shaped by Earth's magnetic field. The appearances of arcs, rays, curtains, and coronas are determined by the shapes of the luminous parts of the atmosphere and a viewer's position . Auroras change with time. Over the night they begin with glows and progress toward coronas, although they may not reach them. They tend to fade in

14868-507: The winter of 1925, a diphtheria epidemic raged among Alaska Natives in the Nome area. Fierce territory-wide blizzard conditions prevented the delivery of a life-saving diphtheria antitoxin serum by airplane from Anchorage . A relay of dog sled teams was organized to deliver the serum , which was successfully led by Balto and Togo . Today, the Iditarod Dog Sled Race follows the same route they took and ends in Nome. In

14994-403: Was built and troops were stationed there. One "Birchwood" hangar remains and has been transferred to a local group with hopes to restore it. It is not located on the former Marks Air Force Base (now the primary Nome Airport ); rather it is a remnant of an auxiliary landing field a mile or so away: "Satellite Field". In the hills north of the city, there were auxiliary facilities associated with

15120-651: Was established as one of fifteen new National Park Service properties established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980. It was first declared a national monument by President Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978 using his authority under the Antiquities Act when Congressional negotiations on the proposed ANILCA bill were stalled. ANILCA was finally passed in 1980, and signed by Carter on December 2, 1980. Unlike many Park Service units in Alaska, Kobuk Valley

15246-589: Was eventually stopped by the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the episode provided the plot for Rex Beach 's best-selling novel The Spoilers (1906), which was made into a stage play, then five times into movies, including two versions starring John Wayne : The Spoilers (co-starring Marlene Dietrich ) and North to Alaska (1960, the theme of which mentions Nome. ) Wyatt Earp , of Tombstone, Arizona, fame, lived in Nome during gold-rush days - in September 1899, Earp and partner Charles E. Hoxie built

15372-425: Was found in the beach sands for dozens of miles along the coast at Nome, which spurred the stampede to new heights. Thousands more people poured into Nome during the spring of 1900 aboard steamships from the ports of Seattle and San Francisco. By 1900, a tent city on the beaches and on the treeless coast reached 48 km (30 mi), from Cape Rodney to Cape Nome . In June of that year, Nome averaged 1000 newcomers

15498-550: Was home to Iñupiat natives. The area came to Western attention in 1898, when three Nordic-Americans discovered gold on the ocean shores of Nome, prompting the Nome Gold Rush . Within a year the city went from non-existent to a population of some 10,000. Gold mining continued to attract settlers into the early 1900s, but the city's population had fallen considerably by 1910. A series of fires and violent storms destroyed most of Nome's Gold Rush era buildings between 1905 and 1974. In

15624-430: Was mostly Native; 705 Whites and 3 Blacks). By 1970, Nome had fallen out of the top 10 places to 18th largest community (although 9th largest incorporated city). In 1980, it was 15th largest (12th largest incorporated city). In 1990, it was 16th largest (12th largest incorporated city). In 2000, it was 25th largest (16th largest incorporated city). In 2010, it was now the 30th largest (16th largest incorporated city). As of

15750-518: Was still the leading economic activity. The local Alaska Native population was involved in ivory carving and the U.S. military had stationed troops in the city also contributing to the local economy. In 1995, Nome was "connected to the Internet." The Hope Sled Dog Race was run between Anadyr, Russia, and Nome after the fall of the Soviet Union. The race continued for more than a decade, but has not been run since approximately 2004. Gold mining has been

15876-424: Was to them an unknown type of aurora which they named " STEVE ", for "Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement". STEVE is not an aurora but is caused by a 25 km (16 mi) wide ribbon of hot plasma at an altitude of 450 km (280 mi), with a temperature of 3,000 °C (3,270 K; 5,430 °F) and flowing at a speed of 6 km/s (3.7 mi/s) (compared to 10 m/s (33 ft/s) outside

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