Earthquake Causes Glacial Avalanche (After)
On July 17, 2014, a magnitude earthquake struck beneath Seward Glacier in northwestern Canada, 99 kilometers (62 miles) north-northwest of Yakutat, Alaska. High-altitude NASA flights over the region just before and after the event provided an uncommon view of an earthquake's effect on the snow-and-ice covered landscape. Rocks and debris from a previous landslide were littered across the young, steep slopes alongside Seward Glacier (see image taken on July 16). When scientists flew back over the site on July 21 (this image), snow from a large avalanche had cascaded down the mountainside and obscured remnants of the older slide. Images also suggest that the earthquake also might have prompted the draining of a supraglacial lake. Images from July 16 and 21 show dramatic changes in the amount of melt water pooled on top of the ice adjacent to Seward Glacier. The July 21 photo suggests that much of the lake drained through a moulin, a vertical shaft down through the glacier. Possible moulins appear in the lake's center and to the left of the lake.
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