The Nine Days That Earth Shook
A Mystery Beneath The Earth
Do you remember the film “The 9 Days the Earth Shook”? No? That makes sense because it hasn’t been made yet—but it may soon be, at least in on-demand docu-movie format! That’s because, in September 2023, an event of seismic proportions occurred, worthy of hitting our screens. I suspect it might be some sort of “dramentary”, complete with post-doc experts from top universities explaining it all.
The Event
Around this time last year, a mysterious 9-day-long seismic signal sent vibrations through the Earth, baffling the world’s top seismologists. Seismometers across the globe, from pole to pole, detected this strange signal. Unlike typical earthquake tremors, which emit ‘frequency-rich rumbles and pings,’ this sound had a single, monotonous vibration—more like a continuous hum. A global wave of this type and duration had never been recorded before.
At the time, scientists dubbed it a USO, or Unidentified Seismic Object, and discussions largely stayed within scientific circles. It was probably for the best that the mainstream media didn’t latch on, as sensationalist coverage might have caused some unnecessary panic.
Adding to the mystery was a massive tsunami in a remote fjord in northeast Greenland, observed by local researchers. Was it just a coincidence, or were these events connected?
The Scientific Task Force
An interdisciplinary, international team of scientists, armed with advanced tools like seismometers, infrasound detectors, satellite imagery, tsunami simulations, and geological observations, set out to solve this riddle. Their investigation eventually revealed that the 4-meter-high tsunami—one of the largest in recent times—was caused by a massive glacial-thinning induced landslide. A staggering 25 million cubic meters of rock and ice (enough to fill 10,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools) had crashed into the Greenland fjord.
Through mathematical modeling, scientists were able to simulate the fjord’s width and depth in high resolution. This confirmed that the rhythm of the displaced water matched the seismic signal perfectly. Thus the mystery was finally solved!
There is a great, deep-dive explainer video on YouTube here made by one of the investigating scientists and authors of the official scientific paper, Stephen Hicks. Interestingly the video refers to an initial 200-metre-high tsunami which vividly illustrates how big the landslide must have been. It also goes on to mention that the initial tsunami stabilized into a 7-meter wave while the UCL white paper press release refers to a four-meter wave. Either way, they would both have been devastating waves if they hit populated areas.
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I am a practising HR consultant working with several start-ups on an ongoing and ad-hoc basis in the London and M4 area, and am a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or CIPD. I am the Director of thecareercafe.co.uk; thecareercafe.co.uk is a resource for start-ups and small business. It includes a blog containing career advice, small business advice articles, HR software reviews, and contains great resources such as HR Productivity Apps.