A 300 foot wide frozen debris flow has been moving towards an important Alaska highway and the Trans-Alaska pipeline at a rate of about 1-cm per day…and it seems to be accelerating. The ‘Frozen Debris Lobe’ as it is referred to by some researchers is now abot 150 feet from the highway, the pipeline is another 700 feet past that. This is a fascinating problem, and one that poses a real threat to the transportation and oil infrastructure of Alaska. But it seems like it will be playing out in slow motion over the coming years. [Source: ADN.com. Image: Guido Grosse / ADN.com]
A debris flow and flash flood warning system developed jointly by NOAA’s National Weather Service and the U.S. Geological Survey will help protect Southern Californians from potentially devastating debris flows-commonly known as mud slides- and flash floods in and around burn areas created by the recent wildfires.