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: Monday, 5/15/2025 at 3pm.

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 laser sensor data is active and there will be jumps or drops in the data from large ice bergs movement within the laser field of view.  

As of May 15th, the level within the basin is 1096 feet. For reference when the laser was installed last year, May 24, the surface elevation was 1119 feet. Check back for more updates on and how the conditions within the basin are changing.

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Images from the entire 2025 season can be viewed here.

Here is the NWS summary report from the major flooding event from the Suicide Basin glacier lake outburst flood in August 2024.

Additional Information available:

• Mendenhall River Inundation Maps (Follow the link, then scroll down to Gauge Location, select Activate MNDA2 FIM Gauge)
• Flood Safety Tips and Resources 
• Historical release data from Suicide Basin
• Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (AK CASC) Story Map "Hidden Water: The Suicide Basin Outburst Flood" 
• The Suicide Basin glacier outburst flood: 2023 and beyond (Recording of the Oct 27 2023 Evening at Egan)
• 2023 Season Time-Lapse Animations (Image and Vector)
• 2022 Season Time-Lapse Animations (Image and Vector)
• 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.

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.

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.

Full Season Viewer

Recent Timelapse (Last 15 images)

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.

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.

Alternate Basin Image

The 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.

Full Season Viewer

Recent Timelapse (Last 15 Images)