National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Suicide Basin Monitoring and Current Conditions

There are no active NWS flood products for the Mendenhall Lake and River due to a basin release.
If there are any active flood products, they are not related to a basin release.

 

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 River annually with a record major flood event taking place on August 6, 2024. The latest release took place on October 20, 2024.

Current Status: Friday, 6/6/2025 at 11am.

Monitoring Equipment Status:

The USGS monitoring equipment is up and running. We will get one image from each of the 2 cameras per day. The USGS laser sensor data is active. There can be jumps or drops in the data from large ice bergs movement within the laser field of view.  

As of June 6nd, the laser level of the water level within the basin is reporting around 1126 feet. For reference the laser data last year was reporting a surface elevation of around 1134 feet which was nearly 100 feet lower than 2023 at the same time. Check back for more updates on and how the conditions within the basin are changing.



 

Visit the Juneau Glacial Flood Dashboard to learn more about Suicide Basin and flood impacts including: inundation maps, forecast data basics, history, and other FAQ!

Latest Basin Image - Scales

Most 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. Click on the links below the image to see a full-season viewer or recent timelapse.

Full Season Viewer

Recent Timelapse (Last 15 Images)

Latest Basin Image - Vectors

Most recent image from the basin (same as on the left) with vectors indicating ice motion direction and magnitude. Click on image to enlarge. Click on the links below the image to see a full-season viewer or recent timelapse.

Full Season Viewer

Recent Timelapse (Last 15 images)

Latest Basin Image - Front of Basin

Most recent image from the camera taking images with a view of the front of the basin. This image will be updated at daily to sub-daily intervals. Click on the image to enlarge. Click on the links below the image to see a full-season viewer or recent timelapse.

Full Season Viewer

Recent Timelapse (Last 15 images)

Suicide Basin Level (Pool Height)

Graph showing the current (blue) pool height of Suicide Basin. Click on the image for more details (NWPS).

At this time, values are from the USGS laser detection system.

Water levels on Mendenhall River

Mendenhall Lake Stage Level

Graph 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. Click on the image for more details (NWPS).

 

Water levels on Mendenhall River

Mendenhall Lake Forecast Scenarios

Graph showing a modeled near 100% release forecast (gray) and the current no-release forecast (blue). This image is updated once daily in the afternoon starting in late May / early June.

 

MNDA2 Scenario Forecast

 

Project Partners