Giant waves in Lituya Bay, Alaska

Abstract

Lituya Bay, on the northeast shore of the Gulf of Alaska, is an ice-scoured tidal inlet with a maximum depth of 720 feet and a sill depth, at the narrow entrance, of only 33 feet. The northeastward-trending stem of the T -shaped bay, 7 miles long and as much as 2 miles wide, transects the narrow coastal lowland and foothills belt flanking the Fairweather Range of the St. Elias Mountains. The two arn1s at the head of the bay, Gilbert and Crillon Inlets, are part of a great trench along the Fairweather fault. Gentle slopes border the outer part of the bay, but the walls of the inner, flordlike part rise steeply to altitudes of 2,200 feet to more than 6,000 feet.