The melting of glaciers, which causes the rise in sea levels (3.8 centimeters in the last decade), is only one of the terrible consequences of global warming on the state of our planet. The scientific community is also concerned about the possible rise in power of a phenomenon whose effects can be as serious as they are sudden: megatsunamis.
As a reminder, tsunamis are massive waves caused by sudden movements of water – this can be due to landslides, volcanic eruptions or even earthquakes – which can exceed speeds of over 800 km/h and cross entire oceans before reaching dry land. And when the prefix mega- comes into play, it’s because it doesn’t bode well.
As the online media New Atlas explains, megatsunamis, which are absolutely out of the ordinary, are capable of raising the level of the ocean by almost 150 meters – that’s a minimum – in a matter of minutes. They can be triggered by the fall of huge pieces of ice, rock or earth into the ocean.
200 meters high, 10 kilometers wide
As temperatures rise across the planet, glaciers are melting and retreating, releasing increasingly unstable mud and rock. With the Earth’s tectonic plates constantly shifting, areas like Greenland can become sites for megatsunamis when massive landslides occur from steep coastal cliffs into the ocean.
On September 16, 2023, a rock mass the size of a football field suddenly broke away, carrying debris and ice over 300 meters down a 40-degree slope before crashing into the ocean. The event created a 200-meter wave of…
- Slate.fr
