Abyss Lake is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. Lying on the eastern side of the

Brady Glacier Brady Glacier is a long glacier located in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in the U.S. state of Alaska. It begins at and trends south to Taylor Bay, 46 miles (74 km) northwest of Hoonah. It was named by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic S ...

, it receives

meltwater Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater can be ...

from it, which in turn flows into the Dundas River, Dundas Bay,

Cross Sound Cross Sound is a passage in the Alexander Archipelago in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Alaska, located between Chichagof Island to its south and the mainland to its north. It is long and extends from the Gulf of Alaska to Icy Strai ...

and thence into the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. A part of the

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is an American national park located in Southeast Alaska west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 26, 1925. C ...

, its water is regularly blocked by an

ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

dam. When such a dam breaks in a

glacial lake outburst flood A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a jö ...

, much of the lake's water is propelled into Dundas Bay, along with trees, ice chunks, and sediment. This has happened in 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, and again in September 2006.KINY Radio – Juneau Daily News – Latest Edition

References

External links

Ready to burst? Southeast and Southcentral Alaska lead the world in glacial floods
Bodies of water of Hoonah–Angoon Census Area, Alaska Lakes of Alaska {{HoonahAngoonAK-geo-stub