Bear Glacier, Alaska October 2025 Lake Outburst

Bear Glacier ice dammed lake filled on Oct. 10th and drained on Oct. 17th, 2025. The Sentinel images also illustrated rifts. Bear Glacier, Alaska on the Kenai Peninsual due to retreat developed an ice dammed proglacial that periodically drains. An August drainage in 2014 and 2018 were noted by Kurtz and Wolken (2019). Recent increases in kayaking and standup paddle boarding has led to this lakes drainage posing a recreational hazard. In 2024 the lake drained between 8/14 and 9/7. It then had filled by July and remained filled into October. On October 10th the lake had an area of 0.85 km2. On October 17th, the lake had drained to an area less than 0.18 km2. Their are a series of rifts extending across the glacier that represents flexure of the ice due to water level/flotation changes of this ice tongue. The ice is lifted when the lake is full and then is let down during drainage. Bear Glacier ice dammed lake filled on Aug. 14th and drained on Sept. 7th, 2024 The Sentinel images indiate…