• mega geophysics

    The Sound of Greenland's Glaciers Shattering

    It's one thing to see pictures of Greenland's ice sheets growing cracks and slowly crumbling into the water. But the whole process takes on a visceral, terrifying quality when you watch the two movies we've got for you below the jump: One is the result of a researcher recording a glacier breakup, then speeding up the tape to make the sound audible. The result is the truest form of black metal I've ever heard. The second clip shows a tsunami caused when a chunk of Greenland's ice sheet plunges into the water.

    Listen to that sound. I want Meshuggah or Arch Enemy to sample that one and scream over it about industrial death. Over at Discover, io9 pal Michael Reilly describes this second video:

    Several kilometers of ice shearing off the Greenland ice sheet is always awesome to behold, and the few thousand folks living down-fjord of Jakobshavn agree; ice-induced tsunamis regularly crash ashore in Ilulissat Harbor, 50 kilometers away from the glacier's edge. A phenomenon they've dubbed 'kaneling.' Rest assured, though, these waves are usually just 1/2 meter high or less when they arrive in the harbor, and they're mostly harmless...mostly. This [video] is a slightly more dangerous version of an ice-tsunami. And yes, that there at the end of the video, that's a couple of guys in a little boat fleeing for their lives.

    Awesome Video of Greenland Glacier Disintegrating [via Discover]

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