Cape Lisburne ( Iñupiaq: ''Uivvaq'') is a

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

located at the northwest point of the

Lisburne Peninsula The Lisburne Peninsula is a peninsula jutting out into the Chukchi Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located at the westernmost point of the North Slope Borough. It is roughly trapezoid-shaped, having two points, the northw ...

on the

Chukchi Sea Chukchi Sea ( rus, Чуко́тское мо́ре, r=Chukotskoye more, p=tɕʊˈkotskəjə ˈmorʲɪ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west b ...

coast in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. It is northeast of the village of

Point Hope Point Hope ( ik, Tikiġaq, ) is a city in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 674, down from 757 in 2000. In the 2020 Census, population rose to 830. Like many isolated communities in Alaska, the c ...

, part of the Arctic Slope. It is a part of the Chukchi Sea unit of

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (often shortened to Alaska Maritime or AMNWR) is a United States National Wildlife Refuge comprising 2,400 islands, headlands, rocks, islets, spires and reefs in Alaska, with a total area of , of whic ...

History

The first European to sight this cape was

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

. He named it on August 21, 1778, and wrote: ''"The southern extreme seemed to form a point which was named Cape Lisburne."'' An early Inupiaq name for the cape was "Uivvaq," generally spelled " Wevok" or "Wevuk". Cape Lisburne was often referred to as "Uivaq Ungasiktoq" meaning "distant cape" as opposed to "Uivaq Qanitoq" (

Cape Thompson Cape Thompson is a headland on the Chukchi Sea coast of Alaska. It is located 26 miles (42 km) to the southeast of Point Hope, Arctic Slope. It is part of the Chukchi Sea unit of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. Early Inuit ...

) meaning "near cape." Wildflowers on Cape Lisburne by Dave Kuehn USFWS

The native Inupiaq who lived there were struck by an deadly epidemic and many died along with an Episcopal missionary named John Driggs. From 1951 to 1983, the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

maintained a long-range radar and communication facility at Cape Lisburne Air Force Station that was part of the

DEW Line The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska (see Proj ...

network of radar sites along the

Alaska North Slope The Alaska North Slope ( Iñupiaq: ''Siḷaliñiq'') is the region of the U.S. state of Alaska located on the northern slope of the Brooks Range along the coast of two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi Sea being on the western sid ...

. The

Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center The Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center, formerly the 611th Air Support Group, is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the Eleventh Air Force, stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The center is responsible ...

maintains the radar installation today.

References

External links

* Lisburne Landforms of North Slope Borough, Alaska Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Protected areas of North Slope Borough, Alaska {{NorthSlopeAK-geo-stub