Vessels are lined up in Whittier’s harbor on July 16, 2025. The harbor look out onto western Prince WIlliam Sound, which is packed with melting glaciers and narrow fjords, where steep slopes are at risk of tsunami-generating landslides. Whittier, a 60-mile drive from Anchorage, is one of the sites most at risk, scientists say. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
In the spring of 2024, a group of scientists attending a national seismology conference in Anchorage purposely sailed into danger.
Chartering a tour boat, they sailed into Prince William Sound and lingered in a fjord lined by unstable slopes that they recognized could collapse at any moment, triggering localized but massive tsunamis…