Man Who Disappeared 28 Years Ago Found Dead After Falling into Glacier Crack During Snowstorm

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world

Yahoo

11 hours ago

Yahoo

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world

Each summer in the mountains above Juneau, Alaska, meltwater from the massive Mendenhall Glacier flows into mountain lakes and into the Mendenhall River, which runs through town. Since 2011, scientists and local officials have kept a close eye on one lake in particular: Suicide Basin, an ice-dammed bowl on an arm of the glacier. The glacier once covered this area, but as the ice retreated in recent decades, it left behind a large, deep depression. In the summers of 2023 and 2024, meltwater filled Suicide Basin, overflowed its rim and escaped through tunnels in the ice, sending surges of water downstream that flooded neighborhoods along the river. On Aug. 12-13, 2025, Suicide Basin flooded again. The surge of water from Suicide Basin reached record levels at Mendenhall Lake on Aug. 13 on its way toward Juneau. Officials urged some neighborhoods to evacuate. As the water rose, new emergency flood barriers appeared to have limited the damage. The glacial flood risks that Juneau is now experiencing each summer are becoming a growing problem in communities around the world. As an Earth scientist and a mountain geographer, we study the impact that ice loss can have on the stability of the surrounding mountain slopes and glacial lakes, and we see several reasons for increasing concern. The growing risk of glacial floods In many mountain ranges, glaciers are melting as global temperatures rise. Europe's Alps and Pyrenees lost 40% of their glacier volume from 2000 to 2023. These and other icy regions have provided freshwater for people living downstream for centuries – almost 2 billion people rely on glaciers today. But as glaciers melt faster, they also pose potentially lethal risks. Water from the melting ice often drains into depressions once occupied by the glacier, creating large lakes. Many of these expanding lakes are held in place by precarious ice dams or rock moraines deposited by the glacier over centuries. Too much water behind these dams or a landslide or large ice discharge into the lake can break the dam, sending huge volumes of water and debris sweeping down the mountain valleys, wiping out everything in the way. The Mendenhall Glacier floods, where glacial ice holds back the water, are classic jökulhlaup, or 'glacier leap' floods, first described in Iceland and now characteristic of Alaska and other northern latitude regions. Erupting ice dams and landslides Most glacial lakes began forming over a century ago as a result of warming trends since the 1860s, but their abundance and rates of growth have risen rapidly since the 1960s. Many people living in the Himalayas, Andes, Alps, Rocky Mountains, Iceland and Alaska have experienced glacial lake outburst floods of one type or another. A glacial lake outburst flood in the Sikkim Himalayas in October 2023 damaged more than 30 bridges and destroyed a 200-foot-high (60 meters) hydropower plant. Residents had little warning. By the time the disaster was over, more than 50 people had died. Avalanches, rockfalls and slope failures can also trigger glacial lake outburst floods. These are growing more common as frozen ground known as permafrost thaws, robbing mountain landscapes of the cryospheric glue that formerly held them together. These slides can create massive waves when they plummet into a lake. The waves can then rupture the ice dam or moraine, unleashing a flood of water, sediment and debris. That dangerous mix can rush downstream at speeds of 20-60 mph (30-100 kph), destroying homes and anything else in its path. The casualties of such an event can be staggering. In 1941, a huge wave caused by a snow and ice avalanche that fell into Laguna Palcacocha, a glacial lake in the Peruvian Andes, overtopped the moraine dam that had contained the lake for decades. The resulting flood destroyed one-third of the downstream city of Huaraz and killed between 1,800 and 5,000 people. In the years since, the danger there has only increased. Laguna Palcacocha has grown to more than 14 times its size in 1941. At the same time, the population of Huaraz has risen to over 120,000 inhabitants. A glacial lake outburst flood today could threaten the lives of an estimated 35,000 people living in the water's path. Governments have responded to this widespread and growing threat by developing early warning systems and programs to identify potentially dangerous glacial lakes. In Juneau, the U.S. Geological Survey starts monitoring Suicide Basin closely when it begins to fill. Some governments have taken steps to lower water levels in the lakes or built flood-diversion structures, such as walls of rock-filled wire cages, known as gabions, that divert floodwaters from villages, infrastructure or agricultural fields. Where the risks can't be managed, communities have been encouraged to use zoning that prohibits building in flood-prone areas. Public education has helped build awareness of the flood risk, but the disasters continue. Flooding from inside and thawing permafrost The dramatic nature of glacial lake outburst floods captures headlines, but those aren't the only risks. Englacial conduit floods originate inside of glaciers, commonly on steep slopes. Meltwater can collect inside massive systems of ice caves, or conduits. A sudden surge of water from one cave to another, perhaps triggered by the rapid drainage of a surface pond, can set off a chain reaction that bursts out of the ice as a full-fledged flood. Thawing mountain permafrost can also trigger floods. This permanently frozen mass of rock, ice and soil has been a fixture at altitudes above 19,685 feet (6,000 meters) for millennia. As permafrost thaws, even solid rock becomes less stable and is more prone to breaking, while ice and debris are more likely to become detached and turn into destructive and dangerous debris flows. Thawing permafrost has been increasingly implicated in glacial lake outburst floods because of these new sources of potential triggers. How mountain regions can reduce the risk A study published in 2024 counted more than 110,000 glacial lakes around the world and determined 10 million people's lives and homes are at risk from glacial lake outburst floods. To help prepare and protect communities, our research points to some key lessons: Some of the most effective early warning systems have proven to be cellphone alerts. If combined with apps showing real-time water levels at a dangerous glacial lake, residents could more easily assess the danger. Projects to lower glacier lakes aren't always effective. In the past, at least two glacial lakes in the Himalayas have been lowered by about 10 feet (3 meters) when studies indicated that closer to 65 feet (20 meters) was needed. In some cases, draining small, emerging lakes before they develop could be more cost effective than waiting until a large and dangerous lake threatens downstream communities. People living in remote mountain regions threatened by glacial lakes need a reliable source of information that can provide regular updates with monitoring technology. Recently it has become clear that even tiny glacial lakes can be dangerous given the right combination of cascading events. These need to be included in any list of potentially dangerous glacial lakes to warn communities downstream. The U.N. declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation and 2025-2034 the decade of action in cryospheric sciences. Scientists on several continents will be working to understand the risks and find ways to help communities respond to and mitigate the dangers. This is an update to an article originally published March 19, 2025, to include the latest Alaska flooding. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Alton C. Byers, University of Colorado Boulder and Suzanne OConnell, Wesleyan University Read more: We've been studying a glacier in Peru for 14 years – and it may reach the point of no return in the next 30 The water cycle is intensifying as the climate warms, IPCC report warns – that means more intense storms and flooding Where America's CO2 emissions come from – what you need to know, in charts Suzanne OConnell receives funding from The National Science Foundation Alton C. Byers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Yahoo

12 hours ago

Yahoo

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world

Each summer in the mountains above Juneau, Alaska, meltwater from the massive Mendenhall Glacier flows into mountain lakes and into the Mendenhall River, which runs through town. Since 2011, scientists and local officials have kept a close eye on one lake in particular: Suicide Basin, an ice-dammed bowl on an arm of the glacier. The glacier once covered this area, but as the ice retreated in recent decades, it left behind a large, deep depression. In the summers of 2023 and 2024, meltwater filled Suicide Basin, overflowed its rim and escaped through tunnels in the ice, sending surges of water downstream that flooded neighborhoods along the river. On Aug. 12-13, 2025, Suicide Basin flooded again. The surge of water from Suicide Basin reached record levels at Mendenhall Lake on Aug. 13 on its way toward Juneau. Officials urged some neighborhoods to evacuate. As the water rose, new emergency flood barriers appeared to have limited the damage. The glacial flood risks that Juneau is now experiencing each summer are becoming a growing problem in communities around the world. As an Earth scientist and a mountain geographer, we study the impact that ice loss can have on the stability of the surrounding mountain slopes and glacial lakes, and we see several reasons for increasing concern. The growing risk of glacial floods In many mountain ranges, glaciers are melting as global temperatures rise. Europe's Alps and Pyrenees lost 40% of their glacier volume from 2000 to 2023. These and other icy regions have provided freshwater for people living downstream for centuries – almost 2 billion people rely on glaciers today. But as glaciers melt faster, they also pose potentially lethal risks. Water from the melting ice often drains into depressions once occupied by the glacier, creating large lakes. Many of these expanding lakes are held in place by precarious ice dams or rock moraines deposited by the glacier over centuries. Too much water behind these dams or a landslide or large ice discharge into the lake can break the dam, sending huge volumes of water and debris sweeping down the mountain valleys, wiping out everything in the way. The Mendenhall Glacier floods, where glacial ice holds back the water, are classic jökulhlaup, or 'glacier leap' floods, first described in Iceland and now characteristic of Alaska and other northern latitude regions. Erupting ice dams and landslides Most glacial lakes began forming over a century ago as a result of warming trends since the 1860s, but their abundance and rates of growth have risen rapidly since the 1960s. Many people living in the Himalayas, Andes, Alps, Rocky Mountains, Iceland and Alaska have experienced glacial lake outburst floods of one type or another. A glacial lake outburst flood in the Sikkim Himalayas in October 2023 damaged more than 30 bridges and destroyed a 200-foot-high (60 meters) hydropower plant. Residents had little warning. By the time the disaster was over, more than 50 people had died. Avalanches, rockfalls and slope failures can also trigger glacial lake outburst floods. These are growing more common as frozen ground known as permafrost thaws, robbing mountain landscapes of the cryospheric glue that formerly held them together. These slides can create massive waves when they plummet into a lake. The waves can then rupture the ice dam or moraine, unleashing a flood of water, sediment and debris. That dangerous mix can rush downstream at speeds of 20-60 mph (30-100 kph), destroying homes and anything else in its path. The casualties of such an event can be staggering. In 1941, a huge wave caused by a snow and ice avalanche that fell into Laguna Palcacocha, a glacial lake in the Peruvian Andes, overtopped the moraine dam that had contained the lake for decades. The resulting flood destroyed one-third of the downstream city of Huaraz and killed between 1,800 and 5,000 people. In the years since, the danger there has only increased. Laguna Palcacocha has grown to more than 14 times its size in 1941. At the same time, the population of Huaraz has risen to over 120,000 inhabitants. A glacial lake outburst flood today could threaten the lives of an estimated 35,000 people living in the water's path. Governments have responded to this widespread and growing threat by developing early warning systems and programs to identify potentially dangerous glacial lakes. In Juneau, the U.S. Geological Survey starts monitoring Suicide Basin closely when it begins to fill. Some governments have taken steps to lower water levels in the lakes or built flood-diversion structures, such as walls of rock-filled wire cages, known as gabions, that divert floodwaters from villages, infrastructure or agricultural fields. Where the risks can't be managed, communities have been encouraged to use zoning that prohibits building in flood-prone areas. Public education has helped build awareness of the flood risk, but the disasters continue. Flooding from inside and thawing permafrost The dramatic nature of glacial lake outburst floods captures headlines, but those aren't the only risks. Englacial conduit floods originate inside of glaciers, commonly on steep slopes. Meltwater can collect inside massive systems of ice caves, or conduits. A sudden surge of water from one cave to another, perhaps triggered by the rapid drainage of a surface pond, can set off a chain reaction that bursts out of the ice as a full-fledged flood. Thawing mountain permafrost can also trigger floods. This permanently frozen mass of rock, ice and soil has been a fixture at altitudes above 19,685 feet (6,000 meters) for millennia. As permafrost thaws, even solid rock becomes less stable and is more prone to breaking, while ice and debris are more likely to become detached and turn into destructive and dangerous debris flows. Thawing permafrost has been increasingly implicated in glacial lake outburst floods because of these new sources of potential triggers. How mountain regions can reduce the risk A study published in 2024 counted more than 110,000 glacial lakes around the world and determined 10 million people's lives and homes are at risk from glacial lake outburst floods. To help prepare and protect communities, our research points to some key lessons: Some of the most effective early warning systems have proven to be cellphone alerts. If combined with apps showing real-time water levels at a dangerous glacial lake, residents could more easily assess the danger. Projects to lower glacier lakes aren't always effective. In the past, at least two glacial lakes in the Himalayas have been lowered by about 10 feet (3 meters) when studies indicated that closer to 65 feet (20 meters) was needed. In some cases, draining small, emerging lakes before they develop could be more cost effective than waiting until a large and dangerous lake threatens downstream communities. People living in remote mountain regions threatened by glacial lakes need a reliable source of information that can provide regular updates with monitoring technology. Recently it has become clear that even tiny glacial lakes can be dangerous given the right combination of cascading events. These need to be included in any list of potentially dangerous glacial lakes to warn communities downstream. The U.N. declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation and 2025-2034 the decade of action in cryospheric sciences. Scientists on several continents will be working to understand the risks and find ways to help communities respond to and mitigate the dangers. This is an update to an article originally published March 19, 2025, to include the latest Alaska flooding. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Alton C. Byers, University of Colorado Boulder and Suzanne OConnell, Wesleyan University Read more: We've been studying a glacier in Peru for 14 years – and it may reach the point of no return in the next 30 The water cycle is intensifying as the climate warms, IPCC report warns – that means more intense storms and flooding Where America's CO2 emissions come from – what you need to know, in charts Suzanne OConnell receives funding from The National Science Foundation Alton C. Byers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Antarctica's Ghost Hunters: Inside the World's Biggest Neutrino Detector

Gizmodo

19 hours ago

Gizmodo

Antarctica's Ghost Hunters: Inside the World's Biggest Neutrino Detector

Neutrinos are strange little things. This tiny, enigmatic particle with no charge exists in virtually every corner of the universe, but without powerfully sensitive, sophisticated instruments, physicists would have no way of knowing they exist. In fact, trillions are passing through you every second. Physicists devise all sorts of ways to coax neutrinos into the detection range. But IceCube—which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year—stands out in particular for its unique setup: 5,160 digital sensors latched onto a gigantic Antarctic glacier. Recently, the IceCube Collaboration set the most stringent upper limits on a key statistic for ultra-high-energy neutrinos, often found inside cosmic rays. It's also slated to receive some major technological updates later this year, which will make the detector—already one of the largest neutrino experiments on Earth—even larger and stronger than ever. Gizmodo reached out to Carlos Argüelles-Delgado, an astrophysicist at Harvard University and a neutrino expert who's been with IceCube since 2011, when the experiment began its physical operations in Antarctica. We spoke to Argüelles-Delgado about why IceCube is, well, in Antarctica, some highlights from the experiment's 20-year run, and what we can expect from the forthcoming IceCube-Gen2. The following conversation has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity. Gayoung Lee, Gizmodo: Let's begin with the elephant in the room. Why did physicists decide Antarctica was a good place to find neutrinos? Argüelles-Delgado: Yeah. You have a combination of two very difficult problems. You're looking for something that's very rare that produces very small signals, relatively speaking. You want an environment that is very controlled and can produce a large signal at a small background. The IceCube project—kind of a crazy project if you think about it—the idea is we're going to take a glacier about 2.5 kilometers [1.5 miles] tall, which is one of the most transparent mediums that exists on the planet. We're going to deploy these very sensitive light sensors [called digital optical modules] that can detect single light particles known as photons. And so, you have this array of light detectors covering 1 cubic kilometer [0.24 cubic miles] of essentially pitch-dark space. When a neutrino comes from outer space, it can eventually interact with something in the ice and make light, and that's what we see. Gizmodo: It's really difficult to understand what neutrinos actually are. They sound like something churned by particle physicists, but at other times they're discussed in the context of experiments like IceCube, which searches for neutrinos from space. What exactly are neutrinos? Why does it feel like they appear in every niche of physics? Argüelles-Delgado: That's a good question. One reason that neutrinos appear in very different contexts—from particle physics to cosmology or astrophysics—is because neutrinos are fundamental particles. They are particles that cannot be split into smaller pieces, like the electrons. Like we use electrons in laboratories, we also use electrons in detecting physical phenomena. Neutrinos are special because we have open questions about their behaviors and properties [and] about the universe in the highest energy regime, where we observe cosmic rays. So, observing neutrinos in a new setting on a new energy scale is always very exciting. When you try to understand something with a mystery, you look at it from every angle. When there's a new angle, you then ask, 'Is that what we expected to see? Is that not what we expected to see?' Gizmodo: In the spirit of attempting new angles to solve mysteries, what sets IceCube apart from other neutrino detectors? Argüelles-Delgado: It's huge! IceCube is a million times larger than the next neutrino experiment that we have built in the laboratory. It's just huge. Since the interaction rate depends on how many things you're surveying, the larger the volume, the more likely you are to see something. For ultra-high-energy neutrinos [which originate in space], you're always thinking about natural environments—mountains, glaciers, lakes—landscapes converted into experiments. Gizmodo: Antarctica isn't exactly somewhere you can just fly to with a plane ticket. What challenges come from the unique conditions at this remote location? Argüelles-Delgado: You're right. The logistics are very complicated. You have to ship all of these components, and you have to be sure that when you put something in the ice, it will work. It's like when you put something on a satellite on a spaceship. Once it's there, you cannot fix it. It is just there. So the quality requirements are very high, and there are multiple challenges. One of them is drilling the actual holes, through two steps. A mechanical drill makes the first guiding hole. Then we use a custom-made, high-pressure hot water drill that then pumps water to [carve the glacier]. The other part is the cable. The cables in IceCubes are quite special, [holding] the instruments that digitalize the modules, which allows you to have better quality of signal processing. Gizmodo: What are the upcoming upgrades to IceCube, and why are they needed? Argüelles-Delgado: The upgrade has two functions. One of them is that we need to better understand the glacier where IceCube is embedded. Obviously, we didn't make that glacier. We just put things on the glacier. And the better we understand the glacier and its optical properties—how light travels in that glacier—the better we can actually do neutrino physics. So we're going to install a bunch of cameras and light sources to try to sort of survey the glacier better. We're also installing a bunch of new sensors [for] a larger version of IceCube, called IceCube-Gen2. When you do science, you want to test new things but also measure things. We are not going to be able to extend the detector volume, but instead we're going to put [sensors] in the innermost part of the detector to allow us to better measure lower-energy neutrinos in IceCube. Low-energy neutrinos are important because at low energies, the neutrinos experience something known as flavor oscillation, which means that the neutrinos, as they travel from one side of the planet to the other, change in type. That is actually a quantum mechanical phenomenon of microscopic scales. IceCube shows one of the best measurements of that physics. Gizmodo: You've been a part of IceCube's journey since the beginning. In your view, what are some of the main highlights the experiment has accomplished? Argüelles-Delgado: First, we discovered that there are ultra-high-energy neutrinos in the universe. These are difficult to detect but not that rare in terms of the universe's energy density, or how much energy per unit volume exists in the universe between protons, neutrinos, and light—they're actually very similar—and IceCube established [this relationship]. A few years ago we saw the first photo of our galaxy in neutrinos. Something very close to my heart is flavor conversion in quantum mechanics. We think neutrinos are produced primarily as electron- and muon-type neutrinos. Now as they travel through space, because of these quantum mechanical effects, they can transform into tau neutrinos, which are not initially there at production. In IceCube, we have found significant evidence of various tau neutrinos at high energy levels. What's amazing about this is that those neutrinos can only be produced and can get to us if quantum mechanics is operating at these extremely long distances. Gizmodo: Given these highlights, what are some things that you are most looking forward to next? Argüelles-Delgado: There are two things that I find very exciting in neutrino astrophysics. One is the neutrinos' quantum behavior, and we do not understand how they acquire their masses. Most particles, when they have mass, have two states that interact with the Higgs boson to produce their masses. Neutrinos, for some reason, we only see one of these states. What I'm excited about is looking for new flavor transformations of very high-energy neutrinos. In some of these scenarios, we could actually have some idea about neutrino mass mechanisms. The second thing is, we have seen neutrinos that are 1,000 times more energetic than the product of the LHC [particle beam]. So are there more at the higher end of neutrinos? Is this where the story ends? What's interesting is that an experiment called KM3NeT in the Mediterranean has reported observations of a neutrino that's [100,000] times more energetic than the LHC beams. I think that is weird. You know, when you see weird things happening, it often means you don't understand something. And so we need to understand that puzzle. Gizmodo: On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it that we'll solve these mysteries? Argüelles-Delgado: If we discover the nature of neutrino masses is due to this quantum oscillation phenomenon of the high energies, this will be like a Nobel Prize discovery. Because it's such a big thing, I'll give you at best 1%. Gizmodo: I'd say that's actually pretty good. Argüelles-Delgado: I'd say that's pretty good, yeah. Let's say 1%. I think we'll solve the puzzle of the ultra-high-energy regime; that's a matter of time. That's going to take us easily another 15 years, but it's going to be, again, completely new land. We will see what awaits us. When IceCube started seeing the first neutrinos, we were so confused because we were not expecting to see them [like] this, right? And if all the confusion keeps happening, we'll find more interesting results

Man Who Disappeared 28 Years Ago Found Dead After Falling into Glacier Crack During Snowstorm

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Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world

Antarctica's Ghost Hunters: Inside the World's Biggest Neutrino Detector

Man Who Disappeared 28 Years Ago Found Dead After Falling into Glacier Crack During Snowstorm

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Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world

Antarctica's Ghost Hunters: Inside the World's Biggest Neutrino Detector

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