Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Waiting to board ferry to Skagway
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Landslide in Glacier Bay
Massive landslide in Alaska sweeps over glacier
Posted: July 13, 2012 - 10:11am
ANCHORAGE — Even by Alaska standards, the rock slide in Glacier Bay National Park was a huge event.
It was a monumental geophysical event that was almost overlooked until a pilot happened to fly over where the cliff collapsed and snapped some photographs nearly a month later.
When the cliff collapsed in the national park in southeast Alaska on June 11, it sent rock and ice coursing down a valley and over a lovely white glacier in what perhaps was the largest landslide recorded in North America.
The rumbling was enough so that it showed up as a 3.4-magnitude earthquake in Alaska. The seismic event also was recorded in Canada. The massive landslide occurred in a remote valley beneath the 11,750-foot Lituya Mountain in the Fairweather Range about six miles from the border with British Columbia.
"I don't know of any that are bigger," Marten Geertsema, a research geomorphologist for the provincial Forest Service in British Columbia, said Thursday, when comparing the landslide to others in North America.
If someone had been standing in front of the slide, the air blast alone would have flattened that person, said Geertsema, who studies natural hazards resulting from geophysical processes on the earth's surface.
"I think they would be blown over by the air blast," he said.
Despite the extraordinary size of the landslide, which was estimated at a half-mile wide and 5 ½ miles long, it went virtually unnoticed until air taxi pilot Drake Olson flew over it on July 2. The landslide, which rolled over the glacier, is not very noticeable to the thousands of cruise ship passengers that visit Glacier Bay National Park near Juneau each summer. That is because it is about 12 to 15 miles up the glacier from the bay.
While this one was huge by North American standards, bigger ones have occurred, including a September 2002 landslide in Russia that extended for 20 miles, Geertsema said.
Lituya Mountain has been the scene of extraordinary geophysical events before. In 1958, a landslide on the other side of the mountain produced a wave estimated at 1,700 feet.
One fishing vessel was able to ride out the wave.
"They looked below them and they could see the tops of the Sitka spruce trees way below them. The other boat disappeared," Geertsema said.
Another boat with two people aboard disappeared.
One of Olson's photos of the June landslide shows a huge dent in the side of an ice-covered peak. Another shows a river of rock and ice that flowed out of a valley. The landslide triggered numerous avalanches.
Glacier Bay National Park Superintendent Susan Boudreau said visitors to the 3.2-million acre park won't notice anything different in the landscape this summer, but the rock and ice likened to a river of black syrup moving toward the bay is on the move. How fast it is moving is still the question, she said.
"It is going to come down but we don't know the speed of that," Boudreau said.
There are several factors that contribute to the likelihood of mountains collapsing, Geertsema said. Sometimes it is caused by a general weakening of the rock. Other times it could be due to a very large snowpack that melts quickly.
Scientists also are looking at the role of climate change.
"We are seeing an increase in rock slides in mountain areas throughout the world because of permafrost degradation," Geertsema said.
Permafrost is ground that stays perpetually frozen.
Geertsema said Swiss scientists are becoming increasingly convinced that climate change is playing a role in the frequency of rock slides after looking at data from instruments measuring temperature and the widening and narrowing of gaps in the rocks in the Alps.
"It plays an important role," Geertsema said, of climate change. "I think we have been underestimating the role it might play."
Park ecologist Lewis Sharman said the landslide is a reminder of why Glacier Bay National Park is special.
"These types of events to me are welcome reminders that this place is one of the coolest on earth," he said.
It was a monumental geophysical event that was almost overlooked until a pilot happened to fly over where the cliff collapsed and snapped some photographs nearly a month later.
When the cliff collapsed in the national park in southeast Alaska on June 11, it sent rock and ice coursing down a valley and over a lovely white glacier in what perhaps was the largest landslide recorded in North America.
The rumbling was enough so that it showed up as a 3.4-magnitude earthquake in Alaska. The seismic event also was recorded in Canada. The massive landslide occurred in a remote valley beneath the 11,750-foot Lituya Mountain in the Fairweather Range about six miles from the border with British Columbia.
"I don't know of any that are bigger," Marten Geertsema, a research geomorphologist for the provincial Forest Service in British Columbia, said Thursday, when comparing the landslide to others in North America.
If someone had been standing in front of the slide, the air blast alone would have flattened that person, said Geertsema, who studies natural hazards resulting from geophysical processes on the earth's surface.
"I think they would be blown over by the air blast," he said.
Despite the extraordinary size of the landslide, which was estimated at a half-mile wide and 5 ½ miles long, it went virtually unnoticed until air taxi pilot Drake Olson flew over it on July 2. The landslide, which rolled over the glacier, is not very noticeable to the thousands of cruise ship passengers that visit Glacier Bay National Park near Juneau each summer. That is because it is about 12 to 15 miles up the glacier from the bay.
While this one was huge by North American standards, bigger ones have occurred, including a September 2002 landslide in Russia that extended for 20 miles, Geertsema said.
Lituya Mountain has been the scene of extraordinary geophysical events before. In 1958, a landslide on the other side of the mountain produced a wave estimated at 1,700 feet.
One fishing vessel was able to ride out the wave.
"They looked below them and they could see the tops of the Sitka spruce trees way below them. The other boat disappeared," Geertsema said.
Another boat with two people aboard disappeared.
One of Olson's photos of the June landslide shows a huge dent in the side of an ice-covered peak. Another shows a river of rock and ice that flowed out of a valley. The landslide triggered numerous avalanches.
Glacier Bay National Park Superintendent Susan Boudreau said visitors to the 3.2-million acre park won't notice anything different in the landscape this summer, but the rock and ice likened to a river of black syrup moving toward the bay is on the move. How fast it is moving is still the question, she said.
"It is going to come down but we don't know the speed of that," Boudreau said.
There are several factors that contribute to the likelihood of mountains collapsing, Geertsema said. Sometimes it is caused by a general weakening of the rock. Other times it could be due to a very large snowpack that melts quickly.
Scientists also are looking at the role of climate change.
"We are seeing an increase in rock slides in mountain areas throughout the world because of permafrost degradation," Geertsema said.
Permafrost is ground that stays perpetually frozen.
Geertsema said Swiss scientists are becoming increasingly convinced that climate change is playing a role in the frequency of rock slides after looking at data from instruments measuring temperature and the widening and narrowing of gaps in the rocks in the Alps.
"It plays an important role," Geertsema said, of climate change. "I think we have been underestimating the role it might play."
Park ecologist Lewis Sharman said the landslide is a reminder of why Glacier Bay National Park is special.
"These types of events to me are welcome reminders that this place is one of the coolest on earth," he said.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Eagles
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| Bald eagles fight over the remains of a salmon carcass Wednesday morning at the Wayside Park on Channel Drive. |
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Abandoned cars
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| These cars are in the Walmart parking lot. The white car has been there quite a while (over 3 months) - originally with the driver's window down and the back bumper stuck through the hole. The other car I noticed recently. Just wondering.. |
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| Note: Two days after I took these pictures I went back to Walmart and the cars had been removed. :) |
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Flowers
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| Peony in the middle |
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| Not sure what this pretty thing is |
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Field trip
Monday, July 9, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Cruise ship video
I captured this cruise ship coming into Juneau up Gastineau Channel early one morning at Sandy Beach. I love how the clouds lay so low, and it was so quiet.
Monday, July 2, 2012
4th of July in Juneau
The 4th of July is a BIG EVENT in Juneau!! Fireworks begin just before midnight on the 3rd (into the 4th) as that is when it is dark :)
Should be fun!!
Juneau Events
July 3
• Community dance: International and ballroom dance, 8 to midnight at the JACC. Some teaching will be available. Families welcome. $5 for those 12 and over. Details: Bruce, 364-2334.
• Fireworks: 11:59 p.m. on the Gastineau Channel.
July 4
• Parade: 11 a.m., starting at Department of Labor Building heading downtown.
Should be fun!!
Schedule of Events: Fourth of July 2012 in Douglas and Juneau
Juneau Events
July 3
• Community dance: International and ballroom dance, 8 to midnight at the JACC. Some teaching will be available. Families welcome. $5 for those 12 and over. Details: Bruce, 364-2334.
• Fireworks: 11:59 p.m. on the Gastineau Channel.
July 4
• Parade: 11 a.m., starting at Department of Labor Building heading downtown.
Douglas: Music and more at Savikko Park, July 3, 4
July 3
• Dedication of cannon and bell, 5:30 p.m. at the Douglas Post Office with presentation by Mark Whitman.
• Soapbox Challenge: heat, trials and registration from 6-9 p.m. at St. Ann’s Ave. Divisions are ages 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10. This is to qualify for finals on July 4. Contact Hugh Dilbeck at 789-4803 or 723-7409 for pre-registration or other info.
• DVFD softball game: Fire Department vs. Community, 6 p.m. at Savikko Park, field 4. Details: Ray Roberts, 723-0943.
• Watermelon eating contest: after the DVFD game at Sandy Beach.
July 4
• Parade: 2 p.m. with grand marshals Jim and Arbe Williams.
• Fun run: Registration is from 12:30-1:20 p.m., with the race starting at 1:30 p.m. at the round-about side of the bridge. Finish is at Douglas Fire Hall; entrants count toward Empire Cup series. Details: Paul, 364-3265.
• Barbecue: Douglas Community United Methodist Church hosts is annual deep pit beef barbecue from noon-6 p.m., or until food runs out, at Third and E Streets.
• Hot Dog Sale: 1 p.m. in front of the Fire Hall.
• Annual Sandcastle Challenge: noon registration, Sandy Beach, awards given at 4 p.m. Details: Gerald, 586-3552.
• Field events: 3 p.m. at Savikko Park, field 2. They include 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, 60-yard dashes and a 3-legged race.
• Soapbox Challenge Finals: 3 p.m., with divisions for ages 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10. Details: Hugh Dilbeck, 789-4803.
• Society for Creative Anachronism: 3 p.m., field 4, main performance (weather permitting), medieval sword fighting and dancing. Details: Karl or Lisa 723-0993.
• Super dog frisbee contest: 3:30 p.m., field 3, registration $10. All dogs must be wearing a 2012 CBJ dog license. Details: Brandon at 789-0260.
• Make and Break: 4 p.m. in front of the Fire Hall, Olde Time Firemen’s Hose Race.
• Barefoot bouncers: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (weather permitting), $5 for 15 minutes, ages 3-12. Details: 789-0080.
• Bands on the Beach: 3-9 p.m., presented by Alaska Music One.
July 3
• Dedication of cannon and bell, 5:30 p.m. at the Douglas Post Office with presentation by Mark Whitman.
• Soapbox Challenge: heat, trials and registration from 6-9 p.m. at St. Ann’s Ave. Divisions are ages 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10. This is to qualify for finals on July 4. Contact Hugh Dilbeck at 789-4803 or 723-7409 for pre-registration or other info.
• DVFD softball game: Fire Department vs. Community, 6 p.m. at Savikko Park, field 4. Details: Ray Roberts, 723-0943.
• Watermelon eating contest: after the DVFD game at Sandy Beach.
July 4
• Parade: 2 p.m. with grand marshals Jim and Arbe Williams.
• Fun run: Registration is from 12:30-1:20 p.m., with the race starting at 1:30 p.m. at the round-about side of the bridge. Finish is at Douglas Fire Hall; entrants count toward Empire Cup series. Details: Paul, 364-3265.
• Barbecue: Douglas Community United Methodist Church hosts is annual deep pit beef barbecue from noon-6 p.m., or until food runs out, at Third and E Streets.
• Hot Dog Sale: 1 p.m. in front of the Fire Hall.
• Annual Sandcastle Challenge: noon registration, Sandy Beach, awards given at 4 p.m. Details: Gerald, 586-3552.
• Field events: 3 p.m. at Savikko Park, field 2. They include 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, 60-yard dashes and a 3-legged race.
• Soapbox Challenge Finals: 3 p.m., with divisions for ages 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10. Details: Hugh Dilbeck, 789-4803.
• Society for Creative Anachronism: 3 p.m., field 4, main performance (weather permitting), medieval sword fighting and dancing. Details: Karl or Lisa 723-0993.
• Super dog frisbee contest: 3:30 p.m., field 3, registration $10. All dogs must be wearing a 2012 CBJ dog license. Details: Brandon at 789-0260.
• Make and Break: 4 p.m. in front of the Fire Hall, Olde Time Firemen’s Hose Race.
• Barefoot bouncers: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (weather permitting), $5 for 15 minutes, ages 3-12. Details: 789-0080.
• Bands on the Beach: 3-9 p.m., presented by Alaska Music One.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
A break in the rain
This pretty shot was taken over Sandy Beach around noon. Most days it is rainy and cold again. 50's.
Sometimes it's just a misting rain. The other day, though, it was really coming down. I was at Sandy Beach and saw a guy in a rainsuit weedeating the park. Then I heard the crack of bat and realized two guys were having batting practice on one of the softball fields. In the pouring rain. Only in Juneau. :)
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