User Engagement in Developing Use-Inspired Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Decision Support Tools in Juneau and the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Dina Abdel-Fattah,Eran Hood,Sarah Trainor,Regine Hock,Christian Kienholz

doi:10.3389/feart.2021.635163

Abstract

Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) significantly affect downstream communities in Alaska. Notably, GLOFs originating from Suicide Basin, adjacent to Mendenhall Glacier, have impacted populated areas in Juneau, Alaska since 2011. On the Kenai Peninsula, records of GLOFs from Snow Glacier date as far back as 1949, affecting downstream communities and infrastructure along the Kenai and Snow river systems. The US National Weather Service, US Geological Survey, and University of Alaska Southeast (for Suicide Basin) provide informational products to aid the public in monitoring both glacial dammed lakes as well as the ensuing GLOFs. This 2 year study (2018–2019) analyzed how communities affected by the aforementioned GLOFs utilize these various products. The participants in this project represented a variety of different sectors and backgrounds to capture a diverse set of perspectives and insights, including those of homeowners, emergency responders, tour operators, and staff at federal and state agencies. In addition, feedback and suggestions were collected from interviewees to facilitate improvements or modifications by the relevant entities to make the informational products more usable. Findings from this study were also used to inform changes to the US National Weather Service monitoring websites for both Suicide Basin and Snow Glacier. This paper’s findings on GLOF information use are relevant for other GLOF-affected communities, from both an information user and information developer perspective.

Highlights

Climate change is directly and immediately impacting the state of the cryosphere in Alaska (USGCRP, 2018; Meredith et al, 2019)
For the Juneau case study, there was a higher selfreported understanding of the concept compared to the Kenai Peninsula case study
This difference can possibly be due to fewer Kenai Peninsula interviewees having experienced a Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) compared to the Juneau interviewees

Summary

Introduction

Climate change is directly and immediately impacting the state of the cryosphere in Alaska (USGCRP, 2018; Meredith et al, 2019). Glacier outburst floods vary in terms of their origins, with a few notable examples being moraine-dammed glacial lakes, ice-dammed glacial lakes, and englacial conduits. A GLOF is characterized by the rapid release of water from within or under a glacier or from a moraine-dammed or an ice-dammed lake due to unstable glacial dynamics (Hambrey and Alean, 2004). They can drastically and severely impact downstream ecosystems, human systems, and infrastructure. GLOFs in Alaska, though not as destructive in terms of life and property as in other parts of the world due to low population density, can result in material and non-material damage to downstream homes, infrastructure, riverbank stability, and local economies. After peak flow is achieved, the drainage system is wide open, and the descending limb of the hydrograph is extremely steep such that the GLOFs taper off much more rapidly, within minutes or hours, than floods generated by precipitation events (Hambrey and Alean, 2004)

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