Jokulhlaup, Mendenhall River, Juneau, Alaska #3356

Since 2011 the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area has been experiencing glacier lake outburst floods called jokulhlaups. A jokulhlaup is an Icelandic word describing a glacier event where a large body of water created by rainfall and glacier melt collects in a big lake behind a glacier ice dam. Eventually the water pressure gets too great and the ice dam breaks, flooding the lake and river. This summer the jokulhlaup started to peak on Friday, July 31. The level of Mendenhall Lake rose almost six feet to go above the moderate flood stage and crested at 11.53 feet in the early morning on Saturday, August 1. From Brotherhood Bridge I watched three full length trees ripped from their banks floating down the flooding Mendenhall River. The Mendenhall Campground was totally flooded but the flood waters had started to recede by the time I took this photo at 10am. Thank you for visiting and be well – Camera: Nikon D850, Lens: 24–70mm f/2.8 zoom, Digital capture, ISO 100, Hand-held – ©Mark Kelley