WIPEOUT

Alaska Could Be Hit by Catastrophic Hundred-Foot Tsunami From Glacier Collapse at Any Time, Scientists Warn

Researchers raise alarms that a massive glacier collapse and avalanche is possible near Anchorage within a year.

A catastrophic tsunami could hit Alaska anytime because the climate crisis is causing the rapid shrinking of a huge glacier, scientists have warned. The New York Times reports that the glacier in question helps support a mile-long slope along the flank of a fjord—but if it continues to get smaller then it could lead to a sudden, massive collapse into the water. The researchers say that such a landslide was possible within a year and likely within two decades. “It could happen anytime, but the risk just goes way up as this glacier recedes,” said Anna Liljedahl, an Alaska-based hydrologist with the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. Computer modeling showed that a collapse of the entire slope could cause a tsunami several hundred feet high. Liljedahl said the findings are yet to be peer reviewed, but she added: “We realized we needed to let people know.”