Stuck in the Wild—The Hydrology of the Teklanika River (Alaska) in the Summer of 1992
In late spring of 1992, Christopher McCandless crossed the Teklanika River, west of Healy, Alaska (United States). His summer has been well documented both in the book and the movie ‘Into the Wild.’ In early summer of 1992, he attempted to cross back over the river, but was stopped by high waters an...
Published in: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.902226 https://doaj.org/article/15ea14c7204941b1949ddcdc1ff686c7 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:15ea14c7204941b1949ddcdc1ff686c7 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:15ea14c7204941b1949ddcdc1ff686c7 2023-05-15T16:20:37+02:00 Stuck in the Wild—The Hydrology of the Teklanika River (Alaska) in the Summer of 1992 David F. Hill Christina Aragon 2022-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.902226 https://doaj.org/article/15ea14c7204941b1949ddcdc1ff686c7 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.902226/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2022.902226 https://doaj.org/article/15ea14c7204941b1949ddcdc1ff686c7 Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 10 (2022) snow-melt energy-balance modeling glacier runoff Alaska river crossings Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.902226 2022-12-31T01:58:14Z In late spring of 1992, Christopher McCandless crossed the Teklanika River, west of Healy, Alaska (United States). His summer has been well documented both in the book and the movie ‘Into the Wild.’ In early summer of 1992, he attempted to cross back over the river, but was stopped by high waters and he died later that summer. This paper investigates the hydrologic conditions of the Teklanika River watershed. We consider both climatological conditions and also conditions during the summer of 1992. We run process-based snowpack and runoff models in order to estimate the river hydrograph at the point of Mr. McCandless’ attempted crossing. Our results demonstrate that the Teklanika river is very flashy during the summer, responding rapidly to strong episodic rainfall events. The main snowmelt signal occurred in mid-to-late May, after Mr. McCandless’ first crossing and before his second attempt. The specific day of his attempted re-crossing corresponded to a large runoff event, driven by rainfall. We conclude that Mr. McCandless had unfortunate timing and that, had he tried to cross a day or two earlier or later, the outcome may have been different. This paper is also an opportunity to explore the hydrologic compromises that must be made when trying to study ungauged, or poorly gauged, areas. There is a spectrum of choices regarding input datasets and methodological simplifications and the correct location on that spectrum will depend on the particular watershed the objectives and expectations of the study. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Earth Science 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
snow-melt energy-balance modeling glacier runoff Alaska river crossings Science Q |
spellingShingle |
snow-melt energy-balance modeling glacier runoff Alaska river crossings Science Q David F. Hill Christina Aragon Stuck in the Wild—The Hydrology of the Teklanika River (Alaska) in the Summer of 1992 |
topic_facet |
snow-melt energy-balance modeling glacier runoff Alaska river crossings Science Q |
description |
In late spring of 1992, Christopher McCandless crossed the Teklanika River, west of Healy, Alaska (United States). His summer has been well documented both in the book and the movie ‘Into the Wild.’ In early summer of 1992, he attempted to cross back over the river, but was stopped by high waters and he died later that summer. This paper investigates the hydrologic conditions of the Teklanika River watershed. We consider both climatological conditions and also conditions during the summer of 1992. We run process-based snowpack and runoff models in order to estimate the river hydrograph at the point of Mr. McCandless’ attempted crossing. Our results demonstrate that the Teklanika river is very flashy during the summer, responding rapidly to strong episodic rainfall events. The main snowmelt signal occurred in mid-to-late May, after Mr. McCandless’ first crossing and before his second attempt. The specific day of his attempted re-crossing corresponded to a large runoff event, driven by rainfall. We conclude that Mr. McCandless had unfortunate timing and that, had he tried to cross a day or two earlier or later, the outcome may have been different. This paper is also an opportunity to explore the hydrologic compromises that must be made when trying to study ungauged, or poorly gauged, areas. There is a spectrum of choices regarding input datasets and methodological simplifications and the correct location on that spectrum will depend on the particular watershed the objectives and expectations of the study. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
David F. Hill Christina Aragon |
author_facet |
David F. Hill Christina Aragon |
author_sort |
David F. Hill |
title |
Stuck in the Wild—The Hydrology of the Teklanika River (Alaska) in the Summer of 1992 |
title_short |
Stuck in the Wild—The Hydrology of the Teklanika River (Alaska) in the Summer of 1992 |
title_full |
Stuck in the Wild—The Hydrology of the Teklanika River (Alaska) in the Summer of 1992 |
title_fullStr |
Stuck in the Wild—The Hydrology of the Teklanika River (Alaska) in the Summer of 1992 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Stuck in the Wild—The Hydrology of the Teklanika River (Alaska) in the Summer of 1992 |
title_sort |
stuck in the wild—the hydrology of the teklanika river (alaska) in the summer of 1992 |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.902226 https://doaj.org/article/15ea14c7204941b1949ddcdc1ff686c7 |
genre |
glacier Alaska |
genre_facet |
glacier Alaska |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 10 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.902226/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2022.902226 https://doaj.org/article/15ea14c7204941b1949ddcdc1ff686c7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.902226 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
10 |
_version_ |
1766008557229047808 |