The 2019 Jokulhlaup: Alaska Whitewater During a Glacial Flood
As whitewater boaters in Wrangell St. Elias National Park, our work is dictated by the powerful geologic forces at work. In general, geology is a slow force that shapes the earth over thousands or millions of years. But every once in a while, the earth conspires to alter a landscape in a sudden, cataclysmic event. Earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes are all examples of the abrupt, sometimes violent nature of the earth. Meet the jokulhlaup. Pronounced "yo-kull-hop", this Icelandic word literally means "glacier