In 1986 the Hubbard Glacier was a circus and Raven Radio covered it.  In May pressure from the Valorie Glacier, that feeds the Hubbard Glacier, Alaska’s biggest tidewater glacier, pushed the glacier forward.  The glacier pushed the glacial till of its terminal moraine across the entrance of Russell Fjord meaning that seawater was not washing the bottom of the glacier and the Hubbard rode over the till and closed off the entrance and Russell Fjord became Russell Lake in May.

The water in the lake behind the glacier rose to more than 25 meters (more than 80 feet) above sea level.  Seals and Purposes were stranded behind the ice dam.  Censors from the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute showed that the salinity of the water was dropping.  Animal experts feared that the fresh water would kill off the prey that the seal and porpoises lived on.  Nothing moves people to action more than charismatic mammals in peril.  A cry went out to rescue the animals.

Several organizations mobilized although both the Cousteau Society and Sea World declined to get involved because of the danger of the ice giving way and quickly emptying, harming the rescuers. The US Forest service was also skeptical.

Despite this an oil company allowed the animal rescue teams to use their wharf in Yakutat and the groups started raising money.   Activists caught herring in the ocean and got zodiacs to run on the newly formed lake to throw fish to the purposes to lure them into nets and allow them to be transported to salt water.  None of purposes seemed interested.  The Forest service was concerned of bears raiding the stock of fish stored on the shores of Lake Russell and posted guards.   The activists captured a few seals and moved them, but it appears that some of the seals figured things out for themselves, crossed the glacier and ended up on the other side.

Many Alaskans were amused by the attempts to save some porpoises and seals, especially since they are not endangered species.  Alaskans, and especially the people of Yakutat, were more concerned about Yakutat. Two outcomes disastrous for the community were possible.  The dam could burst and send a wave crashing into the town, or the water could rise, flood the Situk River, a rich salmon spawning ground, and wipe out the salmon on which the town depended.  Further, commercial fishermen didn’t much like seals, who raid their fishing gear.  There was resentment of the rescue effort among some of the town’s people.

The dam broke in October.  The University of Alaska theorizes that water started seeping through cervices in the glacier as the lake level rose and water pressure increased.  The ice dam burst, the water was released, Yakutat was not inundated, and the water never reached a point where it would dump into the Situk River.

In 2002 the glacier closed Russel Fjord again.  The dam formed in late June and broke on August 14.  The lake reached about 15 meters or 47 feet above sea level. 

Raven Radio has a local repeater in Yakutat and is the local news source for the town.  It is a story that I guess we may be covering again if the glacier starts advancing although currently geologists think it is stable.

We watched a lot of calving at the narrow point where the glacier could close off Russell Fjord.  Seawater moving back and forth with the tide, past the edge of the glacier seems to be eroding it, speeding its shedding.  (See previous post.)