4 ms·

I was looking at North America as a whole, and noticed a very bright spot in Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. It's almost one of the biggest spots. Wikipedia tells me i

by giarc 6y ago

I was looking at North America as a whole, and noticed a very bright spot in Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. It's almost one of the biggest spots. Wikipedia tells me it has a population of basically 2000 people. Why is it so light?

steanne 6y ago
"...however, at any given time, several thousand transient workers support the Prudhoe Bay oil field."
- giarc 6y ago
  The bright spot is bigger than the bright spot over Paris and London though. Do they just leave the lights on 24/7 in the bay?
  - lifeformed 6y ago
    Oil flares.
  - ewhanley 6y ago
    Prudhoe is a massive oilfield. It's thousands of wells spread covering an area around 200k acres. Every well pad and facility has lighting. Oilfields operate 24/7 so the lights are always on. Of course there's ~24 hours of daylight for half the year on the North Slope and ~24 hours of darkness in winter.
  - afterburner 6y ago
    Oil installations are extremely well lit.
Pyrodogg 6y ago
Oil industry. Same reason western North Dakota looks like a major metropolitan area.
- toddsiegel 6y ago
  I saw this same thing. https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/01/16/169511949/a-mysterious-patch-of-light-shows-up-in-the-north-dakota-dark https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/01/16/169511949/a...
  - Scottopherson 6y ago
    "Many farmers in North Dakota can't prevent drillers from drilling — even if they'd like to. Decades ago, the rights to the minerals below those farms were separated from the rights to the land itself — which is why today, energy companies can move in, create drilling pads where they please, move in trucks and workers, without the farmers' consent." Am I reading this right? A company can just plop drilling operations on a farmer's land?
    - ewhanley 6y ago
      That's right. You can't prevent a mineral rights holder from accessing their resources - even if you hold the surface rights. The company developing the minerals has to compensate the surface owner for roads/pads/etc.
exhilaration 6y ago
Oilfield flaring, Google has videos: https://www.google.com/search?q=Prudhoe+Bay+gas+flaring https://www.google.com/search?q=Prudhoe+Bay+gas+flaring
stormbrew 6y ago
Go a little farther south and find Ft McMurray in Alberta, which isn't even traditional oil fields but oilsands excavation. Only about 70k people but it's basically as bright as the 1m people cities to the south of it (and the extra wide halo around Edmonton is likely related to refineries). Heavy industry is bright I guess.

by giarc 6y ago

steanne 6y ago

"...however, at any given time, several thousand transient workers support the Prudhoe Bay oil field."

giarc 6y ago
The bright spot is bigger than the bright spot over Paris and London though. Do they just leave the lights on 24/7 in the bay?
- lifeformed 6y ago
  Oil flares.
- ewhanley 6y ago
  Prudhoe is a massive oilfield. It's thousands of wells spread covering an area around 200k acres. Every well pad and facility has lighting. Oilfields operate 24/7 so the lights are always on. Of course there's ~24 hours of daylight for half the year on the North Slope and ~24 hours of darkness in winter.
- afterburner 6y ago
  Oil installations are extremely well lit.

Pyrodogg 6y ago

Oil industry. Same reason western North Dakota looks like a major metropolitan area.

toddsiegel 6y ago
I saw this same thing. https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/01/16/169511949/a-mysterious-patch-of-light-shows-up-in-the-north-dakota-dark https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/01/16/169511949/a...
- Scottopherson 6y ago
  "Many farmers in North Dakota can't prevent drillers from drilling — even if they'd like to. Decades ago, the rights to the minerals below those farms were separated from the rights to the land itself — which is why today, energy companies can move in, create drilling pads where they please, move in trucks and workers, without the farmers' consent." Am I reading this right? A company can just plop drilling operations on a farmer's land?
  - ewhanley 6y ago
    That's right. You can't prevent a mineral rights holder from accessing their resources - even if you hold the surface rights. The company developing the minerals has to compensate the surface owner for roads/pads/etc.

exhilaration 6y ago

Oilfield flaring, Google has videos: https://www.google.com/search?q=Prudhoe+Bay+gas+flaring https://www.google.com/search?q=Prudhoe+Bay+gas+flaring

stormbrew 6y ago

Go a little farther south and find Ft McMurray in Alberta, which isn't even traditional oil fields but oilsands excavation. Only about 70k people but it's basically as bright as the 1m people cities to the south of it (and the extra wide halo around Edmonton is likely related to refineries). Heavy industry is bright I guess.