A 656-foot tsunami, a nine-day seismic hum, and a glacier collapsing in Greenland on September 16, 2023—sounds like sci-fi, but it’s real.
This “Unidentified Seismic Object” (USO) shocked scientists around the world.
Watch the “Landslide Tsunami” Video
Watch the short documentary by clicking the video embed above.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 92/100
- IMDB Rating: na
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: na
Release Date: September 12, 2024
My Summary of the Video
A landslide triggered a nine-day seismic event—felt around the world. Yes, it sounds like sci-fi, but it’s climate change, baby.
This doc, “The Nine-Day Global Seismic Mystery,” pulls you into an epic chain of events that started in Greenland in 2023.
What began as a strange blip on a seismologist’s radar turned into a story of glaciers collapsing, tsunamis roaring, and seismic waves rippling through the Earth’s crust for over a week.
You’ll never look at climate change—or Greenland—the same way again.
What the hell happened?
It all kicked off on September 16, 2023. Seismic stations around the globe picked up a signal they’d never seen before—a monotonous hum pulsing every 90 seconds.
Not an earthquake, not a volcano, just a mysterious “Unidentified Seismic Object” (or USO, if you like).
Stephen Hicks, a seismologist from University College London, breaks it down: the signal was coming from East Greenland, deep in a fjord, and it wasn’t going away.
In fact, it kept humming along for nine days. Hicks and a crew of 68 scientists had to figure it out. Spoiler alert: they did, and the results are wild.
Dickson Fjord—Ground Zero
The source? Dickson Fjord, a remote and desolate stretch of East Greenland surrounded by 1,000-meter-high cliffs. The video dives deep into this place—literally—showing glaciers plunging into the fjord from above.
On that fateful day in September, a massive section of the mountain broke off, triggering a 25 million cubic meter landslide that smashed into the fjord below.
Cue: one of the biggest tsunamis ever recorded.
Kristian Svennevig from the Denmark and Greenland Geological Survey (GEUS) gives the gritty details.
The landslide sent a 200-meter-high wave ripping through the fjord.
A 600+ foot wave!
That’s 600+ feet for us Americans.
It tore up everything in its path, from rock to vegetation to military outposts.
And it didn’t stop there—the wave reached Ella Island, 70 kilometers away, smashing equipment like toys.
You get drone footage of the destruction—what used to be a glacier now looks like a war zone.
It’s brutal. And terrifying. This wasn’t just a random act of nature.
Climate change set the whole thing in motion.
Glacier meltdown, literally
Svennevig explains: the glacier above Dickson Fjord had been thinning for decades, thanks to global warming.
It had lost 30 meters in thickness, and in September 2023, it finally gave way. That chunk of ice couldn’t hold up the mountain any longer, and when it fell, it took out a peak 1.2 kilometers high.
Boom—landslide.
But the tsunami wasn’t the only bizarre thing to come out of this event. What really stunned scientists was the nine-day-long seismic signal.
The Seiche That Wouldn’t Quit
Enter Paula Koelemeijer from the University of Oxford. She cracks open the real mystery: that seismic signal? It wasn’t just caused by the landslide or the tsunami. It was something else—something weirder.
What happened was this: after the initial tsunami wave slammed into the fjord, it bounced back.
And forth.
And back again.
Every 90 seconds. The fjord became a giant bathtub, sloshing water between its narrow walls in what’s called a seiche—a standing wave that kept going for over a week.
Why so long?
The fjord’s geography made it the perfect echo chamber. Steep cliffs, a dead-end to the west, and a sharp bend to the east meant the wave couldn’t escape. Instead, it just kept reverberating, like a beating drum, sending seismic energy all over the planet.
And here’s the kicker—the period of that oscillation? Exactly 90 seconds. The same as the seismic pulse.
This was no coincidence. The fjord and the seismic signal were in perfect sync.
You Can’t Make This $hit Up
A 200-meter-high tsunami doesn’t just disappear. It turns into a nine-day-long wave machine that you can feel in Antarctica. Yeah, that really happened.
Hicks and his team of scientists had their work cut out for them.
They ran high-resolution simulations, mapping the fjord’s water depth every three meters to recreate the event. What they found was stunning: the tsunami evolved into a slow, rhythmic seiche, with each wave transferring energy into the fjord’s walls.
That energy then rippled through the Earth’s crust, creating the global seismic hum that baffled scientists for days.
The animations in the doc make it clear: you’re watching the fjord become a living, breathing seismic heart, pulsing with energy for nine days straight.
The Climate Change Connection
Here’s the cold, hard truth—climate change made this happen.
The glaciers in Greenland are thinning at an alarming rate. And as they retreat, they’re destabilizing the mountains around them. Landslides like this are only going to become more common.
The doc doesn’t sugarcoat it—this event is a direct consequence of global warming, and it’s just the beginning.
The real kicker?
This wasn’t just a Greenland problem. The seismic signal was picked up by stations across the globe.
No place on Earth was safe from the vibrations. This is climate change, shaking the planet to its core.
The Team Behind It All
Directed by a team of scientists, including Hicks, Svennevig, and Koelemeijer, this doc is science-heavy but accessible, thanks to sharp editing and crystal-clear visuals.
You see everything—from drone footage of the destroyed glacier to simulations of the seiche bouncing inside the fjord.
Sixty-eight scientists from different countries and disciplines worked together to crack this case.
They pooled data, imagery, and brainpower to piece together the puzzle, and what they discovered could change how we understand the impact of climate change on seismic activity.
Final Thoughts
“The Nine-Day Global Seismic Mystery” is a wake-up call.
Climate change is real, it’s here, and it’s affecting the Earth in ways we’re only beginning to understand.
If you care about the planet—or just love a good natural disaster story—this doc is for you. The science is mind-blowing, the visuals are stunning, and the stakes are high.
What happened in Dickson Fjord might be a one-off for now, but as the glaciers continue to melt, who knows what’s next?
Watch this doc. Then take a long, hard look at what we’re doing to the planet. The tremors are just starting.
Thanks for reading!
Rob Kelly
Chief Maniac, Daily Doc