One of Southeast Alaska’s few advancing glaciers continues to threaten the river that produces most of Yakutat’s salmon. The Hubbard Glacier came within a few hundred feet of closing off nearby Russell Fjord this summer. That could have created a giant lake that would have overflowed into the Situk River. The ice has since retreated, but the threat remains. Engineers have considered tunnels, dams and diversion channels to protect the river, but they say none of the projects are feasible.
Images provided by George Kalli, USACE; Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska; US Geological Survey
- Hubbard Glacier Research & Monitoring -- U.S. Army Cold Regions Research & Engineering Lab (CRREL)
- Hubbard Glacier, Alaska: Growing and Advancing in Spite of Global Climate Change and the 1986 and 2002 Russell Lake Outburst Floods -- USGS publication (PDF, 4MB)
- New England District engineers travel to Alaska for Hubbard Glacier work -- U.S Army Corps of Engineers
Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska - Juneau