Oblique aerial photography and videography of the August 10, 2025 Tracy Arm landslide and tsunami, southeast Alaska

On 10 August 2025, a landslide in Tracy Arm, southeast Alaska, approximately 95 km southeast of Juneau, generated a tsunami with regional effects. Because of poor weather, low visibility, and inaccessible conditions in the water, little was immediately known about the landslide or the total extent and magnitude of the tsunami. On Wednesday, 13 August 2025, USGS scientists Cyrus Read and John Lyons conducted an aerial reconnaissance of the area, which revealed the extent of the shoreline damage from the landslide generated wave. Their initial reconnaissance confirmed the location of the landslide and identified tremendous scouring of shoreline vegetation throughout Tracy Arm and adjacent bays. Using GPS and altimeter readings from the helicopter, they estimated tsunami run-up on the hillslope opposite the landslide to be between 470 to 500 meters (1,500-1,600 feet) high. To the west, tsunami run-up patterns were complex, with damage to vegetation extending more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the landslide source.

This data release includes aerial photos and videos taken from a small aircraft for reconnaissance purposes. Photos and videos were taken over a period of one day (13 August 2025) to obtain general situational awareness of the extent of landsliding and tsunami-impacted zones. The one-day survey flights were intended to cover a broad swath of the affected areas (Figure 1). These photos and videos are non-interpretive and may include images of landslides that existed prior to the Tracy Arm landslide and tsunami as well as other ground features.

The photos and videos were taken with two different types of cameras (Nikon Z 6_2 and Canon EOS 6D). Camera attributes can be found in the EXIF data associated with each file. Photos are provided in JPG and videos in QuickTime Movie (.mov) formats. Photos with the _Lyons suffix contain geolocation data that indicate the general location of the aircraft when the photo was taken. GPS accuracy is not guaranteed or specified. Lighting conditions and aircraft speed varied, which may affect photo and video quality. In addition, this data release contains location data of the aircraft track in GPX and KMZ formats.


Files contained in this data release include:

ReadEtAl2025_TracyArm_AerialReconDataRelease_Summary_V2.docx: Word document containing the summary for this page and Figure 1.

2025-08-13_All.zip: zip file containing images from aerial reconnaissance.

ReadEtAl2025_TracyArm_AerialReconDataRelease_Summary_V2.xml: Metadata for this data release. 

Media_description.xlsx: Excel file with specific location information for select photographs and video.

Figure1_OverviewMap.png: overview map of the landslide location and region containing the area impacted by the tsunami.

TracyArm_Recon_20250813.zip: Zip file containing GPX and shapefile of aerial reconnaissance flightline.