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In 2015, a tsunami swept the shores of Taan Fjord Alaska after a huge landslide sent over 100 million tons of rocks into the water. With about 600 feet of waves long, the tsunami was one of the largest ever documented. It was caused by the melting of the Tyndall Glacier, a glacier experiencing a rapid decline due to climate change.
The 2015 event provided scientists with a rare insight into the coasts that will experience an accelerating melting of glaciers.
"As glaciers are thinning around the world, they are radically changing their landscapes, and in the case of Taan Fjord, the result has been a massive tsunami," said Dr. Dan Shugar's co-author of Geoscience at Washington University Tacoma. was triggered by a huge landslide in October 2015 that occurred over a glacier that had shrunk considerably in the late 20th century. "
Most of the largest landslides on Earth occur not on land, but on the seabed. These massive landslides can dislodge thousands of cubic kilometers of equipment and sometimes trigger tsunamis. Glacial ice supports the steep slopes of rocks that would otherwise be weak and unstable. When ice melts very rapidly, the underlying bedrock remains exposed and can cause massive landslides. As these slips are not very frequent, little is known about tsunamis generated by landslides.
The landslide in Taan Fiord provided researchers with the most detailed and clear picture of tsunamis to date from landslides. The researchers were able to capture high quality images and other data before the slide using satellite technology. The data showed that the ground was cracking and moving as the glacier retreated.
"It's the first time scientists have studied a landslide tsunami," said co-author Bretwood Higman Ground Truth Trekking. "For decades, the landslide tsunami However, many of the techniques we use were imprecise or impossible.
The researchers spotted the first signs of instability in the rock wall of Taan Fjord, about 20 years ago, with glacial slopes in ruins. The researchers believe that their study can be applied to other events of the same nature.
"Our results draw attention to the indirect effect of climate change, which increases the frequency and magnitude of natural hazards near the glacial mountains," said Shugar, "we were able to map the repositories of this event in detail. thus allowing better reconstruction where – and when – similar events have occurred elsewhere. "
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