Bandung, IndonesiaSentinel.com — A megatsunami occurred in Greenland, but the event went unnoticed until a year after it happened, in September 2023. The massive wave, which was triggered by a landslide in Greenland’s fjords, sent a towering 200-meter wall of water crashing through the area, according to a report from IFL Science on Friday, September 13, 2024.
The delayed discovery of the megatsunami has left scientists puzzled, as the event went completely undetected when it occurred. Researchers were initially baffled by the lack of real-time information on such a significant natural disaster.
“When we first embarked on this scientific adventure, everyone was confused, and nobody really understood what had happened,” said Kristian Svennevig from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
“We knew it was linked to a landslide, but we managed to piece together the puzzle through a major interdisciplinary and international effort,” he added.
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In a recent paper published by Svennevig and his team, it was revealed that the megatsunami lasted for nearly a week. The waves generated by the landslide were perpendicular to the direction of the initial tsunami.
The researchers believe that the landslide was likely triggered by climate change. Extreme temperature fluctuations between summer and winter made the spring season particularly vulnerable to landslides in Greenland. Melting ice, the weakening of ice supports, and shifting precipitation patterns also contributed to the landslide.
Their calculations estimate that around 25 million cubic meters of rock and ice fell from a 45-degree slope that stretched between 600 and 900 meters into the fjord. To put it in perspective, the volume of debris was nearly twice the size of the world’s largest building.
Satellite imagery later revealed four new landslides in the same region, as well as evidence of a prior, undetected landslide.
Svennevig, Gabriel, and over 60 co-authors from 15 countries modeled the behavior of the original megatsunami as it traveled through the unique shape of the fjord in Greenland, observing how it transformed into a seiche. This phenomenon occurs when the speed of the wave and the size of the body of water create a resonance effect, similar to the sound produced by blowing into a musical instrument.
Though small in comparison to other consequences of a warming planet, the authors noted that the situation could have been far more catastrophic. As cruise ships often venture into the fjord’s mouth, A tsunami coming from the fjord at the wrong time, even highly reduced in size by its passage, could have been definitely sinking a giant ships
(Raidi/Agung)
