Word: yakutat
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Alarmed, most of the 500 residents of the nearby fishing village of Yakutat gathered in the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall for a briefing by scientists who have flocked to study what the U.S. Geological Survey has called a "world-class natural event." By last week, waters of the stream-fed fjord, renamed Russell Lake, had risen more than 62 ft., and were still climbing, covering the beaches and then the steep, alder-lined banks...
...immediate danger, explained USGS Glaciologist Larry Mayo, is that the lake, now rising about 1 ft. a day, will spill out of its southern end into the Situk River (see chart), a salmon-spawning stream that is the economic lifeblood of Yakutat. If the lake overflows, the clear Situk could become a destructive torrent of silty water about 20 times its present volume, unfit for salmon and fishermen. "In another 500 to 1,000 years," says Mayo, "Hubbard Glacier could fill Yakutat Bay, as it did in about 1130." Susie Abraham, 85, a silver-haired elder of Yakutat's native...
...factors like how fast the terminus melts or breaks off into the sea. Although glaciologists can describe a glacier's movements and predict its effects, they cannot explain why the Hubbard Glacier or any of the 15 or so smaller frozen masses that are also surging in the Yakutat area -- albeit harmlessly -- began to speed up, while others nearby have slowed. Some factors scientists think cause glaciers to advance and retreat: the amount of snowfall at high altitudes and changes in global temperature and in the local climatic conditions at each glacier...
While the surging glacier may bring disaster to Yakutat, it provides a rare opportunity for scientists to study a major geophysical event. Mayo sympathizes with the villagers yet can scarcely contain his excitement. "This is probably the largest natural alteration in oceans, glaciers, lakes and rivers to occur in our lifetimes," he says, and it offers "unprecedented opportunities" for research. The villagers do not share his enthusiasm. Says Yakutat Grocer and Planning Official Caroline Powell: "We are people, not some scientist's experiment or opportunity. Everyone seems content to watch this happen, and if they feel sympathy...
...husband, Yakutat Mayor Larry Powell, agrees. While it is possible that the ice dam will give way under mounting water pressure behind it, there is no guarantee. He suggests that a channel be dug from the lake to the sea, bypassing the Situk so that the trapped water can escape without affecting the river. Others propose bombing the glacier: controlled explosions could blast a trench through the ice itself. But speed may be essential. Says Powell: "We're just now entering the rainy season, and at the rate it's filling, the lake could be ready to make its jump...