When millions of tonnes of rock fell one kilometre into an Alaskan fiord last year, it set off one of the largest tsunamis ever recorded, a monstrous 481-metre wave higher than the tallest viewing platform of the CN Tower, a new study shows.

Dan Shugar, an associate professor at the University of Calgary and the corresponding author of the study, says the scale of the Tracy Arm Fjord tsunami shows the catastrophic potential of such waves and why their risk needs to be a stronger focus for policymakers, particularly in British Columbia.