The Story of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory（海军北极研究实验室的故事）.pdf

The Story of the Naval Arctic ResearchLaboratory JOHN C. REED1 It was 6 August 1947 -a heavily laden C-46 lumbered over the pierced-metal surface laid on the coarse beach sand and rolled to a stop. Out from the load of freight climbed seven men led by Professor Laurence Irving of Swarthmore Col- lege. The sun was still high, for the days were long, it being only about six weeks past the twenty-first of June, and even at midnight the sun was just beginning to touch the northern horizon. For a change the sky was clear, the wind calm, and the sea was free of ice as far as the eye could see.The dull greenish-brown tundra relieved by the myriad of lakes, large and small, stretched southward seemingly without limit toward the Brooks Range over which the aircraft had come. Thus the Arctic welcomed to Point Barrow the first group of scientists that formed the nucleus of what was to become the Arctic Research Laboratory, and later (1967) the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL) of the Office of Naval Research. It was a historic occasion, although the little group sweltering in unfamiliar Navy-issued cold-weather clothing did not realize it as they gazed around at the strange environment. The temperature was in the iifties and all around were the noise and hustle of an oil-exploration camp. Tractors churned the soft sand as they hauled equipment to storage areas. Weasels, those small tracked vehicles, so useful in the Arctic, seemed to be scooting in all directions on a variety of missions. The landscape was dotted with fuel drums, that ubiquitous trade-mark of the American developer in out-of-the-way places all over the world. At the beach lay power barges ready for their mission of lightering freight ashore. Not much attention was paid to the small group of scientists for this was the main supply camp of the Navy’s exploration for oil in Naval Pet