Up Next
Back to Show
American Experience
The Alaska Pipeline's Permafrost Challenge
The oilmen planned to build the Alaska pipeline the same way they'd built every other pipeline in the world -- dig a ditch and bury it. This would not work in the arctic. Beneath a thin, insulating cover of tundra and vegetation, much of Alaska sits on permanently frozen ground called permafrost. In some places, it's mostly gravel, but in others it's mostly ice.
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:50:24
Follow LBJ from rural Texas to his ascendancy to the presidency after the assassination of JFK.
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:50:37
Part of the award-winning The Presidents collection.