ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

 I've previously been to Anchorage twice in my life, both during the period of the longest day, when the sun never did set.  The first time was around 40 years ago.  To quote from my 24June2018 blog.

I remember the previous and only other time I was here in Anchorage, maybe a third of a century ago, also around the longest day.  I participated in a hydrogen conference at the University of Alaska, and after that was over, joined a salmon fishing expedition.  Paid a fortune to be taken by van with eight others a two-hour ride away to be dropped off at a river.  It was a total disaster 

There was only about a 50-yard portion of a river, where there were a hundred or more fishermen.  Only native Americans can fish wherever they want.  We were provided a long pole, line and a hook with some cloth material attached to it.  At this time of year the salmon returning upstream do not eat.  You need to irritate them so that you just snag the fish.  The river water was white, and very cold.  You could not see an inch below the top of your rubber wader that went up to the chest.  You had to elbow yourself between two others, no doubt annoying them.  People were snapping their pole so that the hook flew by your ear.  While you could not see any fish, every so often a salmon would bump into you.  For sure they were there because every few minutes someone caught one.  I could only spend 15 minutes in that river for my toes got frozen.  You then had to go back up the bank and wait long enough so that you repeated the process.  I caught nothing.  After a few hours we were taken back to Anchorage.  There, you could purchase salmon, which they packed in dry ice and styrofoam.    Cost? Don't remember, but I'm sure it was more than $30/pound.  Then I had to carry it around before returning home.  Had salmon for dinner.  Next day went to the Safeway on Beretania and the same King Salmon was on sale for $3/pound.

I was again here in June of 2018.  You can read the details:

• FIVE HOURS TO LOS ANGELES?
• ALASKA: Earthquakes, Auroras and Cabbages
• THE BEST OF ANCHORAGE
• NOT DOING MUCH IN ANCHORAGE
• SIX HOURS TO ANCHORAGE: The Longest Night?

This was a trip I took to research details on what I thought would be an upcoming book dealing with a mega-tsunami emanating from part of the Big Island of Hawaii falling into the ocean.  Just so turns out that faults show the west side most vulnerable, meaning that the resultant mega-tsunami would head for the West Coast of North America.  Here is a summary from my 14June2018 posting.

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The inspiration for something so horrific as a mega-tsunami to destroy a thriving metropolis began, innocently enough, when I was a reservoir engineer for the Hawaii Geothermal Project in the mid-1970s.  To quote from this blog site almost a decade ago:

Large Waves, Tsunamis and Mega Tsunamis (Part 1)

The next set of postings have nothing to do with energy nor global warming. Much of the series will be excerpted from Chapter 6 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth. I added this topic because the genesis can be traced to the 1970's when I was on the team of the Hawaii Geothermal Project, and National Science Foundation funding supported an effort I led on geothermal reservoir engineering, where I noticed that a series of faults, if connected, could lead to a monstrous landslide. In those days, I was not aware that the result could be a cataclysmic tsunami. 

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What caught my attention thirty years later is that a major 9.0 undersea earthquake will not cause a tsunami greater than 10 meters in the far field. However, a huge chunk of an island falling quickly and deeply can be calculated to induce 100 meter and greater tsunamis.

So where will those mega-tsunamis come from?

o   Fogo Volcano, on Cape Verde, an Atlantic archipelago, located off the coast of Senegal, Africa, has been feared by Simon Day (right) of the University College London, to suffer flank instability, which, if a chunk slid into the sea, could create a mega tsunami.

o   Similarly, Cumbre Vieja Volcano on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, also off West Africa, is a particular concern for Simon Day and Steven Ward  (left) of the University of California. A combination eruption and landslide with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour would have an energy release equal to 6 months of electricity consumption in the U.S. Tsunami waves of up to 650 meters (2132 feet) would be created with a wavelength of 40 km (25 miles), traveling to West Saharan shores at an amplitude of 100 meters (328 feet), and Florida at up to 50 meter waves, eight hours later. On October 12, 2000, BBC2 showed, “Mega-tsunami: Wave of Destruction,” about this potential disaster, which became a most controversial TV program. This program is updated with regularity and again was shown in June of 2006.

o   The Cascadia Subduction Zone, stretching from Vancouver Island to northern California, is suspected of being able to produce a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which would almost surely produce something approaching a mega-tsunami. Yes, the reference is a novel, but this whole chapter started with a similar premise for Six Hours to Seattle, my future novel on this subject after The Venus Syndrome.

o California is a potential target from submarine landslides. A West Coast seeking tsunami created by Mauna Loa Volcano could run up to 18 meters (60 feet) according to Gary McMurtry of the University of Hawaii. Dr. McMurtry mentioned to me that he would speculate that the Nuuanu Landslide (I live on Nuuanu Avenue) should have created a much larger tsunami, but there is no physical evidence remaining.

That landslide sent a mega tsunami towards Seattle.  So in Six Hours to Seattle I will be combining my geothermal reservoir engineering experience with the reality of the fact that for 36 years now I have been living on Nuuanu Avenue.

The slide this time would be a huge chunk of the Big Island, more specifically, to include Hilo, where my wife and a couple of hundred relatives live, and that troubles me.  However, the odds of anything like this happening got be nanoscopic.  Yet, the current Lower Puna Eruptions and geophysical/bathymetry conditions surrounding Hilo are intriguing.

Anchorage, Alaska.

• A flight from Hilo to Anchorage takes about 9 hours, the same time it would take for a tsunami.
• Is the most populous city in Alaska, with around 400,000 in the Anchorage metropolitan area, around 54% of the state population.  
• In comparison, 989,000 live in Honolulu (Oahu, which is the city and county of Honolulu), or 68% of the state.  

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  However, the city itself sits on 1706 square miles, where Oahu has an area of 597 square miles.
• Here is a neat trick question.  Which state has the four largest cities by area?
• #1 Sitka
• #2 Juneau (capital of state)
• #3 Wrangell
• #4 Anchorage.
• All in Alaska.

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  Habitation of this area goes back 5000 years by a group of Alutiq people
• Not as far north as Reykjavik or Murmansk.
• The Russians came in the 19th century and killed off half the native population from diseases like small pox.

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  In 1867 Secretary of State William Seward purchased Alaska from Imperial Russia for $7.2 million, at that time was lampooned as Seward's folly.
• But gold was discovered just south of Anchorage.
• Was incorporated in 1915.

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  Alaska Railroad completed in 1923.
• U.S. Army's Fort Richardson came in 1940, and became the became the primary economic engine, until 1968 when ARCO and oil took over.

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  The Good Friday earthquake of 27March1964, magnitude 9.2, shook for nearly 5 minutes, nearly destroying the city.  Dozens of homes originally at 250-300 feet above sea level sunk to sea level.  Fourth largest earthquake in recorded history.

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  Is just about equidistant from New York City, Tokyo and Murmansk (Russia).
• Is 10 hours by air to nearly 90% of the inhabited global northern hemisphere.  For this reason, it is a common refueling stop for international cargo flights, home to a major FedEx hub, and the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the world's fourth busiest for cargo traffic.

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  Kiplinger has named it the U.S.'s most tax-friendly city.  Anchorage does not have a sales tax.
• The big sport is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, occurring on the first Saturday of March.  Has no professional sport teams.

Dinner was at Red Ginger.  Started wth edamame, Raymond Chardonnay, Wente Cabernet Sauvignon, Thom Kha Gai Thai soup, beef teriyaki, rack of lamb and yuzu ice cream.

Walked only 1794 steps because we went to bed early.

Our ship docked in Whittier, Alaska, located 60 miles southeast of Anchorage.  

Well, that sets the stage for my third trip to Anchorage, which I'll report on tomorrow.

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