A rumble echoed around the world for nine days. Here’s what caused it

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on The Washington Post or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: A mysterious seismic rumble that lasted nine days worldwide was traced to a mega-tsunami in Greenland, triggered by a massive landslide in 2023
• It took an international collaboration of 70 scientists from 15 countries and over 8,000 messages to solve the mystery

🔭 The context: As climate change accelerates glacial melt, a weakened glacier in eastern Greenland gave way, causing a 500-foot-thick rockslide
• The rock and ice plunged into a fjord, creating a 650-foot-high tsunami, one of the highest in recent history

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: This event exemplifies the dangerous consequences of climate change, which is destabilizing glaciers and mountain slopes, increasing the risk of such destructive natural disasters

⏭️ What's next: As temperatures continue to rise, scientists expect more landslide-triggered events in Greenland and other polar regions, further amplifying the need for climate action

💬 One quote: “The root cause of this lies in climate change,” said Alice Gabriel, seismologist and co-author of the study

📈 One stat: The landslide unleashed enough material to fill 10,000 Olympic-size swimming pools

Click for more news covering the latest on climate change