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Scientists warn that melting glaciers and permafrost will increase the risk of a mega-tsunami. Pictured is the Ilulissat iceberg in Greenland. Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock, AOP
Recent research warns that climate change is accelerating the melting of Greenland’s glaciers, increasing the risk of landslides and the resulting tsunamis.
Last year, a massive tsunami struck the coast of Greenland, destroying a military base on an uninhabited island. A massive landslide in Dixon Fjord generated a tsunami as high as 200 meters.
The cause of the landslide is unknown, but scientists believe climate change has played a role in the occurrence of landslides, most of which occur in late summer, because ice and frost hold unstable rocks together.
– The impacts of a warming climate and changes in permafrost could further weaken slope stability and increase the risk of landslides and tsunamis, the study said.
Analysis of seismic data related to the tsunami and the landslides that preceded it showed that the tsunami was followed by a standing wave that remained in the narrow fjord for several days. Angelo Carrillo Ponce The German Research Centre for Geosciences found that the standing wave, which was more than a meter high, lasted for more than a week.
Ponce and his colleagues published their findings Earthquake Records – in an August 8 publication. The study has been reported in the press, etc. guardian.
Similar but smaller tsunamis have been observed in Greenland over the past few years. In 2017, a landslide in Karatfjord in western Greenland triggered a tsunami that struck the village of Ngaugatsiak. The tsunami killed four people and destroyed 11 houses.
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