Entire lake vanished in days at Alaska national park — now officials have a warning

A lake that was 800 feet in elevation and 300-feet deep vanished days ago at one of the nation’s northernmost national parks and experts are waiting to see where and when all the water reappears.

Time lapse photos show the unnamed lake at Alaska’s Kenai Fjords National Park started shrinking around Nov. 4 and was gone by Nov. 13.

A crater marks the spot, 6.5 miles above the end of Bear Glacier, photos show.

“At this time, we are asking all visitors, commercial operators, and others to please stay alert to changing conditions when in the lagoon at Bear Glacier as well as throughout Kenai Fjords National Park,” the National Park Service said in a Nov. 9 news release. “We do not understand the timing or the causes that trigger the drainage events.”

The dynamic disappearance of the lake — followed by equally dynamic flooding miles away — is becoming a winter phenomenon at the park, about 125 miles south of Anchorage.

This year was different, however, in that it marks the first time cameras were there to catch the life and death of a true Phoenix among the world’s bodies of water, the park said in a Facebook post. The lake rises each year due to a dam created by glacial ice, and it apparently dies dramatically when the water becomes too robust to be held back, experts say.

The National Park Service says such “glacial lake outbursts” can often result in dramatic flooding 7 miles away at a lagoon beloved by vacationers, tour guides and kayakers from around the world. Among the worst of the floods was in October 2010, when the lagoon suddenly rose by nearly 6 feet, the NPS reported.

“Draining of the ice dammed lake can create hazardous boating conditions that might include: an increase in iceberg calving at the terminus of Bear Glacier, standing waves and strong currents,” the NPS says.

“Past glacial lake outburst floods have produced ice chunks as large as 6 x 6 feet above the water surface as well as small, less visible pieces which could cause significant damage and/or injury to boat traffic. Visitors are advised to always exercise caution in this very dynamic area.”

Scientists say they are trying to figure out what causes Glacial Lake Outburst Floods, which is why a camera was installed. Once the draining begins, the lake can release up to “2,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water per day,” the NPS says.

Previous floods appear to have been caused “when the ice-dammed lake’s surface water elevation reached 887 feet (2018) and 832 feet (2019),” the park said in a September Facebook post.

The lake that vanished last week topped 800 feet in elevation when the glacier dam broke, the park said.

This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 10:03 AM with the headline "Entire lake vanished in days at Alaska national park — now officials have a warning."