A rockslide-generated tsunami in a Greenland fjord rang Earth for 9 days

Kristian Svennevig; Steven P. Hicks; Thomas Forbriger; Thomas Lecocq; Ruedi Widmer-Schnidrig; Anne Mangeney; Clément Hibert; Niels J. Korsgaard; Antoine S. Lucas; Claudio Satriano; Robert E. Anthony; Aurélien Mordret; Sven Schippkus; Søren Rysgaard; Wieter Boone; Steven Gibbons; Kristen L. Cook; Sylfest Glimsdal; Finn Løvholt; Koen Van Noten; Jelle D. Assink; Alexis Marboeuf; Anthony Lomax; Kris Vanneste; Taka’aki Taira; Matteo Spagnolo; Raphael de Plaen; Paula Koelemeijer; Carl Ebeling; Andrea Cannata; William D. Hardcourt; David G. Cornwell; Corentin Caudron; Piero Poli; Pascal Bernard; Eric Larose; Eleonore Stutzmann; Peter H. Voss; Bjorn Lund; Flavio Cannavo; Manuel J. Castro-Díaz; Esteban J. Chaves; Trine Dahl-Jensen; Nicolas De Pinho Dias; Aline Deprez; Roeland Develter; Douglas Dreger; Laslo G. Evers; Enrique D. Fernández-Nieto; Ana M.G. Ferreira; Gareth J. Funning; Alice-Agnes Gabriel; Marc Hendrickx; Alan L. Kafka; Marie Keiding; Jeffrey T. Kerby; Shfaqat A. Khan; Andreas Kjær Dideriksen; Oliver D. Lamb; Tine B. Larsen; Bradley Lipovsky; Ikha Magdalena; Jean-Philippe Malet; Mikkel Myrup; Luis Rivera; Eugenio Ruiz-Castillo; Selina Wetter; Bastien Wirtz

doi:10.1126/science.adm9247

A rockslide-generated tsunami in a Greenland fjord rang Earth for 9 days

Science

By: Kristian Svennevig, Steven P. Hicks, Thomas Forbriger, Thomas Lecocq, Ruedi Widmer-Schnidrig, Anne Mangeney, Clément Hibert, Niels J. Korsgaard, Antoine S. Lucas, Claudio Satriano, Robert E. Anthony, Aurélien Mordret, Sven Schippkus, Søren Rysgaard, Wieter Boone, Steven Gibbons, Kristen L. Cook, Sylfest Glimsdal, Finn Løvholt, Koen Van Noten, Jelle D. Assink, Alexis Marboeuf, Anthony Lomax, Kris Vanneste, Taka’aki Taira, Matteo Spagnolo, Raphael de Plaen, Paula Koelemeijer, Carl Ebeling, Andrea Cannata, William D. Hardcourt, David G. Cornwell, Corentin Caudron, Piero Poli, Pascal Bernard, Eric Larose, Eleonore Stutzmann, Peter H. Voss, Bjorn Lund, Flavio Cannavo, Manuel J. Castro-Díaz, Esteban J. Chaves, Trine Dahl-Jensen, Nicolas De Pinho Dias, Aline Deprez, Roeland Develter, Douglas Dreger, Laslo G. Evers, Enrique D. Fernández-Nieto, Ana M.G. Ferreira, Gareth J. Funning, Alice-Agnes Gabriel, Marc Hendrickx, Alan L. Kafka, Marie Keiding, Jeffrey T. Kerby, Shfaqat A. Khan, Andreas Kjær Dideriksen, Oliver D. Lamb, Tine B. Larsen, Bradley Lipovsky, Ikha Magdalena, Jean-Philippe Malet, Mikkel Myrup, Luis Rivera, Eugenio Ruiz-Castillo, Selina Wetter, and Bastien Wirtz

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adm9247

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Abstract

Climate change is increasingly predisposing polar regions to large landslides. Tsunamigenic landslides have occurred recently in Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat), but none have been reported from the eastern fjords. In September 2023, we detected the start of a 9-day-long, global 10.88-millihertz (92-second) monochromatic very-long-period (VLP) seismic signal, originating from East Greenland. In this study, we demonstrate how this event started with a glacial thinning–induced rock-ice avalanche of 25 × 106 cubic meters plunging into Dickson Fjord, triggering a 200-meter-high tsunami. Simulations show that the tsunami stabilized into a 7-meter-high long-duration seiche with a frequency (11.45 millihertz) and slow amplitude decay that were nearly identical to the seismic signal. An oscillating, fjord-transverse single force with a maximum amplitude of 5 × 1011 newtons reproduced the seismic amplitudes and their radiation pattern relative to the fjord, demonstrating how a seiche directly caused the 9-day-long seismic signal. Our findings highlight how climate change is causing cascading, hazardous feedbacks between the cryosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere.

Suggested Citation

Svennevig, K., Hicks, S., Forbriger, T., Lecocq, T., Widmer-Schnidrig, R., Mangeney, A., Hibert, C., Korsgaard, N., Lucas, A.S., Satriano, C., Anthony, R.E., Mordret, A., Schippkus, S., Rysgaard, S., Boone, W., Gibbons, S., Cook, K., Glimsdal, S., Løvholt, F., Van Noten, K., Assink, J.D., Marboeuf, A., Lomax, A., Vanneste, K., Taira, T., Spagnolo, M., de Plaen, R., Koelemeijer, P., Ebeling, C., Cannata, A., Hardcourt, W., Cornwell, D.G., Caudron, C., Poli, P., Bernard, P., Larose, E., Stutzmann, E., Voss, P., Lund, B., Cannavo, F., Castro-Díaz, M., Chaves, E.J., Dahl-Jensen, T., De Pinho Dias, N., Deprez, A., Develter, R., Dreger, D., Evers, L.G., Fernández-Nieto, E., Ferreira, A., Funning, G.J., Gabriel, A., Hendrickx, M., Kafka, A., Keiding, M., Kerby, J.T., Khan, S., Kjær Dideriksen, A., Lamb, O.D., Larsen, T., Lipovsky, B., Magdalena, I., Malet, J., Myrup, M., Rivera, L., Ruiz-Castillo, E., Wetter, S., Wirtz, B., 2024, A rockslide-generated tsunami in a Greenland fjord rang Earth for 9 days: Science, v. 385, no. 6714, p. 1196-1205, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adm9247.

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Publication type	Article
Publication Subtype	Journal Article
Title	A rockslide-generated tsunami in a Greenland fjord rang Earth for 9 days
Series title	Science
DOI	10.1126/science.adm9247
Volume	385
Issue	6714
Year Published	2024
Language	English
Publisher	American Association for the Advancement of Science
Contributing office(s)	Geologic Hazards Science Center - Seismology / Geomagnetism
Description	10 p.
First page	1196
Last page	1205
Country	Greenland