Janice R. Andrews
A landslide in East Greenland’s Dickson Fjord in September 2023 caused a huge 650-foot tsunami. This was a frightening event that was linked to climate change. A glacier melting because of the rising temperature caused this collapse, which dumped over 25 million cubic meters of rock and ice into the sea. That’s enough to fill 10,000 Olympic-sized pools.
The landslide’s impact caused a rare seismic wave that lasted for nine days and puzzled experts until they found out where it came from. The event, known as a “seiche,” happened because the water in the fjord was moving back and forth, sending out seismic waves that topped out every 92 seconds, which is a lot longer than a normal earthquake.
An international group of experts, led by Kristian Svennevig from GEUS, used advanced computer models to connect the seismic data to the landslide. This showed what caused the deadly wave. People didn’t have much of an effect on the area because it wasn’t inhabited, but a study station on nearby Ella Island was damaged for $200,000.
Scientists like Alice Gabriel and Carl Ebeling say that these kinds of events may happen more often as climate change speeds up the melting of the polar ice caps, changing the scenery and raising the risk of natural disasters. As warming continues to affect Earth’s geological processes, the results call for closer tracking in areas that are more likely to be affected.
