Environment

In September 2023, no human had witnessed it, no one was able to observe it, but a titanic landslide caused the collapse of a mountain in Greenland.

A 1.2-kilometer Greenlandic glacier collapsed into the Dickson Fjord. The shock raised the waters to a height of 200 meters, indicates Futura-sciences. A mega-tsunami then formed, with a wave 110 meters high which, in the minutes that followed, went down to 7 meters. Fortunately, no cruise ship was in the fjord at the time of the incident. A human disaster was avoided. Cultural and archaeological sites were nevertheless completely devastated.

This mega-tsunami made the earth's crust vibrate for 9 days. Seismometers in the four corners of the globe detected this singular vibration. In 15 countries, 68 scientists from 40 different institutions pooled their expertise to understand the phenomenon. According to a press release, they combined “seismometer and infrasound data, field measurements, terrestrial and satellite imagery, and tsunami wave simulations”. The tsunami was reported to have caused damage up to 70 kilometers from the epicenter, Futura-sciences specifies.

And as this phenomenon is likely to recur more and more often, scientists are calling for vigilance. Some regions, presented as stable at the time, must now be closely monitored. In addition, drastic measures must be taken to curb climate crisis.

(MH with AsD - Source: Futura-sciences - Illustration: Unsplash)