Sitnews -Stories in the News - Ketchikan, Alaska

Russell Fiord Returns
Forest Service Team of Specialists Continues Work

August 16, 2002
Friday : 12:45 pm

Yakutat, AK - Once again a water connection has been established between Russell "Lake" and Disenchantment Bay in the vicinity of the Hubbard Glacier closure site. In the early

August 14 - Heavy rains raised the water level in Russell Lake to 61 feet above sea level before the pressure washed out much of the terminal moraine. This photo was taken at about noon on August 14th. The day before the channel ran along the right edge of the opening in the heavy shadow at the base of the cliff. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.)

hours of August 14th the channel of water connecting the two bodies of water became a raging torrent. Observers have hypothesized that the pressure of rising water in Lake Russell, which registered at over 60 feet above sea level on Tuesday night was sufficient to wash away 90 percent of the glacier's terminal moraine, composed of sediment, rocks, and boulders that had served to close off the water within the lake only hours before. The outwash was rapid and complete. By noon on the 15th aerial photographs revealed a 300 foot opening where a closure had been.

Despite the fact that the closure is a thing of the past this season, Yakutat District Ranger Tricia O'Connor will continue to work with the team of specialists gathered to assess potential impacts from long term closure and potential inundation of the greater Situk watershed. "We continue to be proactive in our approach to this incident," said O'Connor. "This team was assembled to take advantage of the breadth of knowledge from glaciologists, community leaders and residents of Yakutat, land managers that worked on the last glacier closure in 1986, and those specialists throughout the Tongass National Forest and other local, state and federal agencies that are stakeholders in this event." Incident coordinator Brian Goettler, an engineer currently stationed at the Forest Service Regional Office in Juneau, has been hired to coordinate the team's efforts and work with multiple agency and community representatives.

Initial efforts concentrated on getting information out to the Yakutat community, to the general public, and to recreationists about the conditions in and around the closure area. Information on the incident is available locally in Yakutat at the Forest Service District Office

August 14 - About five hours after the photo at the top was taken, the surging water has removed the last of the moraine showing at mid-channel and broken off more of the glacier face. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.)

and the Post Office. Information can be found online on the Tongass Natiional Forest's website. The web site is updated weekly with news and photographs of the glacier by scientists and managers using fixed wing planes. District Ranger O'Connor has been meeting with concerned citizens and community leaders to discuss the potential socioeconomic effects of the Hubbard Glacier events and the opportunities for relief and support they can provide to an area that has experienced significant economic decline over the last few years. The Forest Service is leading contingency planning with involved agencies, including the local city and borough leadership, the US Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Coast Guard, and the State Departments of Fish and Game.

Aerial monitoring is the most cost effective and least hazardous way to monitor the vast area that includes the Russell Lake basin, and the movement of glacial ice and sediment and rock in the adjacent moraines. Glaciologists depend on these multiple aerial views for monitoring the rapidly changing events at Hubbard Glacier and adjacent glaciers in the Valerie and Variegated systems. Forest Service and other agency officials fly over the glacier regularly to assess conditions.

The team members are spending countless field hours in surveying and ground truthing the micro-topography and re-establishing monitoring points to examine the rising water levels

August 14 - Water pouring from Russell Lake/Fiord creates a dangerous whitewater tumble between glacier and cliff. This photo was taken at about 5 p.m. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.)

in the lake basin and greater Situk watershed. They are also examining the density and types of vegetation that may contribute to debris dams that could divert water as it flows through the greater Situk River watershed. Soil scientists and hydrologists are examining the water table in the potentially affected inundation area, as well as the erosion potential of water that could flow at 10,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). The current flow in the Situk River is 1200 feet per second. Hydraulic engineers have been working with the mapping crews to examine the most likely scenarios for the lake overtopping the basin at the south end, and the potential routes for that water as it flows towards the sea. Other resource specialists have been examining infrastructural effects to Forest Highway 10, culverts, trails and recreational developments that could be within potential inundation zones.

The US Geological Survey remote gauging station in the lake shows that the lake level continues to drop, and is registering water levels within the fiord at less than 20 feet above mean sea level. Scientists are approaching predictions with caution regarding whether a more permanent closure will occur this season or in the near future. Should a stable ice dam form and the lake level rise to an elevation of about 131 feet, Russell Fiord could drain southward into the Situk River drainage, altering a world-class fishery, and inundating national forest and private land, The Situk River is a world-renowned steelhead and salmon stream and the most productive stream for its size in Alaska. It is a primary subsistence and commercial stream, and has a popular sport fishery with many lodges to support

August 14 - The speed of the current pushes water into the curving face of Hubbard Glacier, where it bounces back into the turbulent channel. Photo taken about 7 p.m. (Photo courtesy of the US Forest Service)

visitation. Because of the cultural, environmental and economic consequences of Russell Lake draining into the Situk River, Federal, Tribal, State, and local officials and citizens are closely following the glacier's activities.

Current information and photographs of Hubbard Glacier can be found on the Tongass Natiional Forest's website and the US Geological Survey website.

A new Hubbard Hotline has also been installed at the Yakutat Ranger District Office in the evenings and on weekends at 907-784-3440. This hotline will contain the most up to date information about the Hubbard glacier in a short, three minute message. Requests for further information on Hubbard event may also be left at the Hubbard Hotline number.

Photo Gallery

Gallery of Hubbard and Glacier Photos

Related Information:

U.S. Coast Guard Information
Safety Recommendations in Disenchantment Bay