All articles tagged with #tracy arm
A gradual retreat of the South Sawyer Glacier exposed unstable rock above Alaska’s Tracy Arm Fjord, triggering a sudden rockfall on Aug 10, 2025 that generated a 481-meter tsunami—the second-largest on record and the largest not caused by an earthquake—amplified by the fjord’s narrow geometry and a lingering seiche; scientists warn this climate-linked hazard could rise as more infrastructure enters vulnerable areas.
A near-record landslide at Tracy Arm, Alaska in August 2025 unleashed a tsunami that sent water 1,580 feet up the fjord wall—the second-highest on record—stripping rock from the walls as it moved down the arm. A new study from the Alaska Earthquake Center ties glacier retreat, warm ocean waters, heavy rain, and thousands of seismic tremors to this event and argues for the development of a tiered alert system that could provide time-based warnings for ships and nearby communities, though such large-scale landslide monitoring does not yet exist in the U.S. and would require cross-agency cooperation.