Mq, here is something about surging glaciers in Alaska...
Surging Glaciers
By Charles Wohlforth
Original Published in World Traveler Magazine (Northwest Airlines), October, 2001.
wohlforth.net
In 1986, Hubbard Glacier, near Yakutat, surged across Russell Fjord, turning the 34-mile-long inlet into a lake. As fresh water gathered behind the ice dam, concern rose nationally for seals, porpoises and sea lions trapped away from the salt-water habitat they needed to survive. Amid world media attention, biologists and volunteers mounted a rescue mission to catch the marine mammals and move them to salt water.
The intended heroics turned into farce, however, as the animals proved impossible to catch and the media outspent the would-be rescuers, even supplying them with materials to keep the story alive. The fresh water kept rising behind the ice dam until, 80 feet above sealevel, it broke through, releasing the captive animals unharmed but leaving behind sheepish rescuers and reporters who had accomplished little other than creating their own human circus. |
