This video shows the speed of the water under a tsunami potentially generated by a large and fast slope failure in Barry Arm, Alaska. More details about the potential landslide are given below. The simulation is performed using the wave model pCOULWAVE. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Melting glaciers, and potentially thawing permafrost, have destabilized a massive slope in Alaska’s Barry Arm, raising the risk of a landslide that could generate a tsunami hundreds of feet high, a coalition of scientists has warned. Discovery of the threat has led the scientists to issue an unusual warning in a public letter. The team has also launched an immediate effort to better understand what could trigger a landslide, to model what the ia time, including tourists, fishing crews, and hunters. While some slumping has been noted for decades, in recent years Barry Glacier has retreated from the slope’s foot, raising the risk of sudden collapse. The scientists say that collapse of 650 million cubic yards of the slope, potentially triggered by an earthquake, extreme rain, or heat wave, is plausible within the next year and likely within the next 20 years. In addition to the massive tsunami wave in the immediate vicinity of Barry Arm, the team’s analysis shows that about 20 minutes later the nearby community of Whittier would be in the danger zone for a possible surge of over 30 feet. Smaller ripple effects could be felt throughout Prince William Sound. Alaska has seen several massive landslide-generated tsunamis, including the 1958 Lituya Bay, 1967 Grewingk and 2015 Taan events. In Greenland, a 2017 landslide-caused tsunami killed four people. However, with the Barry Arm slump both significantly larger and higher in elevation, the team concludes its potential energy is significantly larger than any of those recent incidents. More information: https://whrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Letter-to-Stakeholders_-Barry-Arm-Landslide-Final.pdf Show more