Breaking: Greenland Landslide Sparks 650-Foot Mega-Tsunami, Followed by Mysterious Phenomenon

It all began with a melting glacier that triggered a massive landslide, which in turn set off a 650-foot-high mega-tsunami in Greenland last September. But what followed left scientists baffled: an unexplained vibration that shook the planet for nine consecutive days.

Over the past year, dozens of scientists worldwide have been investigating the cause of this unusual signal. Now, a new study published in the journal *Science* offers an answer, highlighting yet another alarming sign that the Arctic is entering “uncharted waters” as human-driven global warming escalates.

Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at University College London and co-author of the study, explained that when scientists first detected the vibrations last September, many thought their instruments were malfunctioning. Instead of the usual earthquake sounds — high-pitched rumbles — the vibrations were more like a steady hum, lasting for an unprecedented nine days.

Seismologists tracked the signal to eastern Greenland but couldn’t identify a precise location. Collaborating with colleagues in Denmark, they learned about a tsunami caused by a landslide in the remote Dickson Fjord region. This led to a nearly year-long collaboration between 68 scientists from 15 countries, who analyzed seismic data, satellite images, and simulations to solve the mystery.

What they discovered was a “cascading hazard,” said researcher Svennevig. It all began with climate change. The glacier, which had been melting for years due to the rapidly warming Arctic, finally thinned to the point where the mountain it supported collapsed. On September 16, the massive collapse sent enough rock and debris into the fjord to fill 10,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The resulting mega-tsunami, one of the largest in recent memory, created a wave that became trapped in the narrow fjord, causing it to slosh back and forth every 90 seconds. This phenomenon, known as a “seiche,” is a rhythmic movement similar to water splashing in a bathtub. Though seiches are a known phenomenon, scientists were surprised by how long this one lasted — nine days.

“It was like discovering a new color in the rainbow,” said Svennevig. The seiche generated seismic energy that traveled through the Earth’s crust, shaking the planet from Greenland to Antarctica within an hour.

No one was harmed in the tsunami, although it did destroy cultural heritage sites and damage a military base. The affected area is a common route for cruise ships, and had one been present, the consequences could have been disastrous, the study noted.

Eastern Greenland had never experienced such an event before, signaling that new parts of the Arctic are becoming susceptible to climate-related disasters. As the Arctic warms — at a rate four times faster than the rest of the world — landslide-triggered mega-tsunamis may become more frequent and deadlier. In fact, a similar tsunami in northwest Greenland in 2017 killed four people.

Svennevig pointed out that this threat extends beyond Greenland, as similar fjords exist in places like Alaska, Canada, and Norway.

This event is a stark reminder of how rapidly climate change is destabilizing large mountain slopes in the Arctic, said Paula Snook, a landslide geologist from the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, who was not involved in the study. The region is “thawing ground that has been frozen for thousands of years.”

While natural processes also contribute to rock avalanches, researcher Lena Rubensdotter from the Geological Survey of Norway added that it’s “logical to assume” these events will become more frequent as Arctic permafrost continues to melt.

This unexpected discovery underscores how climate change is pushing natural systems to behave in ways never seen before, Svennevig concluded. “It’s a sign that climate change is driving these systems into uncharted waters.”