A glacier is retreating in the region. A mountain slope, having lost its support, can collapse into the fjord below.
Over the next 20 years, a landslide-induced megatsunami could occur in Alaska.
This warning was issued by a group of 14 American scientists back in May this year. Now their forecast is confirmed by NASA satellite observations of the Barry Arm fjord, Earth Observatory reports.
Scientists have used artificial intelligence to automatically search for potential landslide zones in the region. As it turned out, the entire slope of the mountain near the Barrie Glacier has been slowly and imperceptibly shifting for a long time. If it hits the narrow fjord below, it will cause an extremely strong tsunami, and the shape of the fjord will further amplify the wave. The collapse will release sixteen times more debris and eleven times more energy than the landslide and subsequent megatsunami in Lituya Bay in 1958.
During this natural disaster, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake caused a massive landslide to descend from the mountains. About 30 million cubic meters of rocks and ice fell into the waters of the bay. This led to the formation of a giant tsunami wave, which rose up the slope and reached the trees at an altitude of 524 meters. 5 people became victims of the natural disaster. In terms of the scale of destruction, eyewitnesses compared megatsunami with the explosion of an atomic bomb.
From 2010 to 2017, the slope of the mountain near the Barry Glacier moved forward about 120 meters, but in the past three years the shift has been almost imperceptible.
Researchers believe the shift began about 50 years ago and accelerated between 2009 and 2015, just as the Barry Glacier front receded. The glacier must have supported the base of the slope, scientists say. They are now working on tracking his movement.