For nine full days, scientists recorded seismic vibrations without knowing where they were coming from. At first, they thought it was an earthquake, but a recent investigation revealed that it was a megatsunami.
For nine long days, the Earth vibrated without stopping, the product of a megatsunami that almost no one in the world noticed. It was September 2023 when, in a remote region of Greenland, A 200-meter-high wave formed and hit a fjord again and again with such violence. which caused a sudden movement of the surface.
So, without knowing what was happening at that precise moment, Scientists in other parts of the world have begun to detect the vibrations using seismic sensors. At first they did not know where they came from or what had caused them, we read in A recent study published in the journal Science .
SO, They insisted on investigating the origin of these continuous and strange movements, which lasted for nine full days, and made an unexpected discovery. which had never been recorded in the history of the planet.
“When my colleagues detected this signal last year, it did not appear to be an earthquake. At that time we called it an “unidentified seismic object.” said to BBC World Stephen Hicks, Ph.D. University College in London and one of the scientists who investigated the event.
This is what they found.
What caused the megatsunami in Greenland?
No one witnessed this impressive event directly. what happened in East Greenland.
But after much research, Scientists have discovered how this megatsunami began, generating a gigantic wave 200 meters high and which was the “culprit” of the earthquakes on the Earth for nine consecutive days.
It all started in Dickson Fjord, east of Greenland. There, The top of a 1.2-kilometer-high mountain collapsed and fell into the water, causing it to “splash” up to 200 meters into the air.
To give you an idea, The tip of the fallen mountain contained 25 million cubic meters of rock, a volume equivalent to 25 buildings like the Empire State Building. have they assured since BBC World.
Due to the impact, A wave formed that reached 110 meters in height and began to move in a back and forth motion that traveled 10 kilometers of the fjord back and forth. It was a megatsunami that, although its height diminished after a few minutes, continued to hit the fjord for nine days.
And that’s it The colossal energy of the tsunami was “trapped” inside the place.
According to the study, this giant and powerful body of water It moved every 90 seconds, a movement that matches exactly the recordings of seismic waves that shook the entire crust of the planet.
At the same time, scientists were detecting the vibrations but did not know where they were coming from. Then, a group of Danish researchers who were doing field work in Greenland received a report that A tsunami occurred in an isolated fjord.
“This is how we joined forces” said Hicks.
After collecting all the necessary clues, such as satellite images and photographs of the fjord, They found a cloud of dust coming from a ravine and, after comparing images from before and after the event, realized that the mountain had collapsed.
Scientists were stunned by the megatsunami. “We have never seen water movements on such a large scale and for such a long time.”
The reason for the megatsunami in a Greenland fjord
As the study’s researchers explain, The first landslide that triggered this colossal event was the result of the thinning of the glacier at the foot of the mountain. He was so weak that he could not hold the rock wall above him.
In this line, The glacier is believed to have shrunk due to climate change and global warming, Well, rising temperatures in Greenland would have melted the glacier at the foot of the mountain.
“This glacier was supporting the mountain, but it became so thin that it simply stopped supporting it. “This shows how climate change is affecting these regions.” ” said scientist Hicks.
In other words, this megatsunami would be a further demonstration of the consequences that are occurring across the entire planet, even in the most remote places, due to the pollution and contamination produced by greenhouse gases.
And everything indicates that, day by day, the situation is getting worse.
For Hicks, This unprecedented megatsunami “could be the first time that a climate change-related event has affected the crust beneath our feet across the world.”
“Our study of this event strikingly highlights the complex interconnections between climate change in the atmosphere, the destabilization of glacial ice in the cryosphere, the movements of water masses in the hydrosphere and the solid crust of the Earth in the lithosphere. “This is the first time that water splashes have been recorded as vibrations through the Earth’s crust, traveling around the world and lasting several days.”
For his part, the principal researcher, Kristian Svennevig, from National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland , This is an increasingly common phenomenon in the Arctic: “We are seeing an increase in giant landslides that cause tsunamis, particularly in Greenland.”
“Although the events in Dickson Fjord alone do not confirm this trend, “Its unprecedented scale highlights the need for further research.” he said BBCNews.
Source: Latercera
I am David Jack and I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years. As an experienced journalist, I specialize in covering sports news with a focus on golf. My articles have been published by some of the most respected publications in the world including The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.
