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Suicide Basin is a side basin of the Mendenhall Glacier above Juneau, Alaska. Since 2011, Suicide Basin has released glacier lake outburst floods that cause inundation along Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River multiple times each year with a record major flood event in the summer of 2023.
If you missed the 6/3 townhall meeting with local experts explaining improvements to the monitoring and forecasting programs for the 2024 season, Click here to view the recording.
Current Status: 7/24/2024: The basin water level rose approximately 40ft in the past week. Some of that rise was due to a large calving event that occurred on 7/19, which added a significant amount of ice to the basin. The jump in water level from the calving event can be seen in the laser data below. The water level in the basin is now ~40ft lower than at the same time in 2023. Assuming a fill rate of 30ft per week, the basin will be full the first week of August. For reference, in 2023 the basin reached capacity 7/29. Continue to check back for updates on basin status. Images from the entire 2024 season can be viewed here. The USGS installed new equipment this year (temperature, precipitation, laser water level, pressure transducer) and a second camera. The laser water level data is shown below. Small jumps or drops in the data is from the movement of the ice within the laser field of view. The second camera looking at the glacier-basin interface is now operational, with images below. The USGS installed a pressure transducer gauge about 60ft above the water level on 7/8. The water level has likely reached the sensor and data will be available soon. This will provide additional awareness and redundancy of the water levels in the basin. Here is the NWS summary report from the major flooding event from the Suicide Basin glacier lake outburst flood in August 2023. Additional Information available:
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Latest Basin Image - ScalesMost recent image from the basin, updated at daily to sub-daily intervals (see time-stamp bottom right). The camera is placed at the basin entrance and faces northeast, into the basin. Click on image to enlarge and read basin levels.
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Latest Basin Image - VectorsMost recent image from the basin (same as on the left) with vectors indicating ice motion direction and magnitude. Click on image to enlarge.
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Mendenhall Lake Stage LevelGraph showing the current (blue) and predicted (purple) stage level at Mendenhall Lake. Stage levels are annotated on the left y-axis on the graph. The graph also shows the Mendenhall River discharge (right y-axis), which is derived from the Mendenhall Lake stage level via rating curve.
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Suicide Basin Level (Pool Height)Graph showing the current (blue) pool height of Suicide Basin. At this time (7/10), values are from the laser detection system.
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Alternate Basin ImageThe USGS installed a second camera taking images with a view of the glacier-basin interface. This image will be updated at daily to sub-daily intervals. Click on the image to enlarge.
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Suicide Basin Scenario Forecast GraphicGraph showing the official (worst case) forecast (gray), the range of release volumes most often observed in previous events (purple shading), and the no-release forecast (blue). The range is based on percent volume released in past events since 2016. Ten of the past 14 events have released 20-60% of the volume stored in the basin. This image will be issued once with current values when a release starts. It will not be updated during the event.  |
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