What Greenland’s nine-day mega-tsunami tells us about climate change
A seismic signal heard across the world last September for nine days has been traced back to a trapped tsunami triggered by a landslide in the remote fjords of Greenland. Climate scientists say that the collapse seems to have been set off by melting glaciers – a phenomenon that is more and more common in the face of the man-made climate crisis.
Did you feel the Earth move beneath your feet last September? For nine days, sensors across the world registered the same rhythmic shudder, every 90 seconds, regular as a heartbeat.
Scientists standing by their sensors were baffled. The seismic signal didn’t seem like an earthquake – and besides, what kind of tremor pounds the earth in minute-and-a-half intervals for more than a week?
Soon, researchers across the world were sharing theories in a global group chat. A team in Denmark had a lead – reports of a landslide in the far-off fjords of Greenland. Satellite images soon showed what looked like a cloud of dust hanging over a gully in the remote Dickson Fjord.
Read moreMelting ice caps slow Earth's spin, lengthening days at 'unprecedented' rate
Julienne Stroeve, professor of polar modelling and observation at University College London, said that the plight of the world’s glaciers was having deadly consequences.
Read more on FRANCE 24 English
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