A reconnaissance flight a few days after the tsunami captured this photo of Tracy Arm fjord, showing bare sections of slopes on the far side where the tsunami stripped away vegetationCyrus Read/U.S. Geological Survey
A massive landslide in August 2025 caused the second-biggest tsunami ever recorded, with waters rising over 480 metres inside an Alaskan fjord.
The tsunami sped down the fjord at a speed of at least 70 metres per second and created a seiche, or reflecting wave, that sloshed around in the fjord for 36 hours.
Only the 1958 Lituya Bay tsunami, also in Alaska, which spilled over a 530-metre-tall ridge, is known to be bigger.
The region near Juneau, Alaska, is home to stunning landscapes where glaciers break off into waters enclosed by steep-sided fjords, attracting over 1 million cruise ship passengers each year.
