Park Service warns of ice collapse and tsunami waves at Aialik Glacier

The National Park Service has posted a danger alert for the terminus of Aialik Glacier, where the ice meets the sea in Kenai Fjords National Park.

The agency calls the terminus a high-risk area where unstable ice can fall in blocks or columns, generating localized tsunami waves over newly deglaciated and nearby beaches, with rapid collapse and breakage capable of causing severe injury or death.

Entering such zones, marked with signs, fences or rope barriers, is already barred under federal regulations governing Kenai Fjords. The alert announces no new closure, names no boundary and sets no end date.

Park guidance from April 2025 tells paddlers to stay at least a half mile from tidewater glacier termini and land or camp at least two miles away, warning that "even kayaks and gear stored well above the high tide line can be swept away."

Separately, on Aug. 7, 2024, a landslide-triggered tsunami hit Pedersen Lagoon near Aialik Bay, damaging a lodge boardwalk and a park campsite food locker. No injuries were reported. The park said it had no certainty about future tsunami risk there, and told visitors to watch for sounds of rockfall, rapid lowering of water levels, and unusual currents or wave behavior. The new alert does not cite that event.

The park takes questions at 907-318-2040.