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  5. Global seismic event solved: Scientists attribute mysterious nine-day tremors to rare ocean phenomenon

Global seismic event solved: Scientists attribute mysterious nine-day tremors to rare ocean phenomenon

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A landslide in a Greenland fjord triggered a 200m wave that caused a seismic signal detected globally, lasting for nine days. The signal was initially thought to be a unique phenomenon, but researchers have since attributed it to the landslide, with mathematical modeling and experiments confirming the explanation. The signal was characterized by a 92-second period and was detected at multiple monitoring stations worldwide.

  1. DK
    Rudolf Widmer-Schnidrig
    National Geological Surveys for Denmark and Greenland
    1. This is really a very extraordinary occasion to work on such a signal.
    2. If you want to study the Earth's interior, if you want to understand the planet on which we live, you cannot start recording when the [event] has happened.
  2. DK
    Kristian Svennevig
    National Geological Surveys for Denmark and Greenland
    1. We are witnessing a rise in giant, tsunami-causing landslides, particularly in Greenland.
    2. While the Dickson Fjord event alone doesn't confirm this trend, its unprecedented scale underscores the need to carry out more research.
  3. GB
    Stephen Hicks
    University College London
    1. For the first time this event is showing us that to look at the impacts of climate change, we should also be looking beneath our feet.
    2. That glacier was supporting this mountain, and it got so thin that it just stopped holding it up.
    3. This glacier at the base had been thinning by up to 30 metres over the past couple of decades.
    4. Tourist cruise ships often travel up into these particular fields and thankfully at the time there were no cruise ships in the area, otherwise the results could have been far more devastating.
    5. You could theoretically have similar scale events, particularly as climate change continues.
    6. It shows how climate change is now impacting these areas.
    7. That landslide was just able to pick up more momentum, more material from the ice, and then make a giant splash into the water.
    8. They saw their signal individually, and thought, 'Oh, it's some air pressure effect in our vault'.
    9. And these fjord systems are really complex, so the wave couldn't dissipate its energy.
    10. When colleagues first spotted this signal last year, it looked nothing like an earthquake. We called it an 'unidentified seismic object'.
    11. Get ready to be surprised by the plethora of behaviour the Earth has in its store.
    12. At the same time, colleagues from Denmark, who do a lot of fieldwork in Greenland, received reports of a tsunami that happened in a remote fjord.
    13. It kept appearing - every 90 seconds for nine days.
    14. This landslide happened about 200km inland from the open ocean.
    15. It was really like putting a lot of puzzle pieces together.
    16. We've never seen such a large scale movement of water over such a long period.

sources

  1. 1.ABC News (Australia)
  2. 2.BBC
  3. 3.The Times
  4. 4.ABC News

perspectives

  1. 1.Climate Change
  2. 2.Earthquakes
  3. 3.Geology
  4. 4.Melting Glaciers

countries

  1. 1.AustraliaAU
  2. 2.GermanyDE
  3. 3.DenmarkDK
  4. 4.GreenlandGL

organizations

  1. 1.Danish Navy
  2. 2.University College London
  3. 3.Black Forest Observatory
  4. 4.National Geological Surveys for Denmark and Greenland
  5. 5.USO

persons

  1. 1.Stephen HicksGB
  2. 2.Carl Smith
  3. 3.Hrvoje Tka
  4. 4.Kristian SvennevigDK
  5. 5.Rudolf Widmer-SchnidrigDK
  6. 6.Soren Rysgaard

technicals

  1. 1.Dickson Fjord
  2. 2.Arctic
  3. 3.Antarctica
  4. 4.Empire State Building
Global seismic event solved: Scientists attribute mysterious nine-day tremors to rare ocean phenomenon