The next deadly climate disaster could wipe out glacier-chasing cruise ships

It would take days for the scale of the split-second devastation to become clear, but experts say it was miraculous that no one was hurt or killed. The National Geographic cruise ship, in particular, was saved by the fact it was positioned behind an S-shaped bend in the fjord that blunted the impact of a wall of water rushing down the channel.

“That probably saved their lives,” said Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist and professor at Western Washington University, who was in touch with the ship’s captain and relayed the tale to CNN. 

But scientists who study these types of landslides are anxious it could happen again. Tracy Arm is a popular route for cruise ships packed with ice-chasing tourists eager for a glimpse of Arctic glaciers before they disappear.

“I’ve looked at the cruise ship schedules,” Caplan-Auerbach said. “On any given day, there are often a couple of cruise vessels with quite literally thousands of people aboard.”