Multi-method observation and analysis of a tsunami caused by glacier calving

摘要

pstrongAbstract./strong Glacier calving can cause violent tsunami waves which, upon landfall, can cause severe destruction. Here we present data acquired during a calving event from Eqip Sermia, an ocean-terminating glacier in west Greenland. During an exceptionally well-documented event, the collapse of 9span class="thinspace"/spana????a??span class="thinspace"/span10sup5/supspan class="thinspace"/spanmsup3/sup ice from a 200span class="thinspace"/spanm high ice cliff caused a tsunami wave of 50span class="thinspace"/spanm height, traveling at a speed of 25a??33span class="thinspace"/spanmspan class="thinspace"/spanssupa??1/sup. This wave was filmed from a tour boat at 800span class="thinspace"/spanm distance from the calving face, and simultaneously measured with a terrestrial radar interferometer and a tide gauge. Tsunami wave run-up height on the steep opposite shore at a distance of 4span class="thinspace"/spankm was 10a??15span class="thinspace"/spanm, destroying infrastructure and eroding old vegetation. These observations indicate that such high tsunami waves are a recent phenomenon in the history of this glacier. Analysis of the data shows that only moderately bigger tsunami waves are to be expected in the future, even under rather extreme scenarios./p.