When the Earth Moved Every 90 Seconds
In September last year, Earth’s 2023 seismic pulses sparked quiet concern across the global scientific community. For nine straight days, seismometers picked up a steady rhythm – the planet seemed to be pulsing every 90 seconds. Then it stopped. A month later, it started again. No earthquake, no eruption, and nothing obvious to explain it.
Now, nearly a year on, researchers have quietly pieced together a plausible answer, one that links climate change, satellite innovation, and a remote fjord in East Greenland. Though it never made headlines at the time, two colossal landslides occurred in that region during the same period. Each one displaced tens of millions of tonnes of rock and ice into the sea.
It’s now thought that these landslides triggered tsunamis which didn’t radiate outward but instead bounced back and forth within the fjord, becoming what scientists call standing waves, or seiches. These waves, trapped between narrow cliff walls, may have continued oscillating for days, pushing just enough energy into the ground to register on seismic monitors thousands of miles away.
The theory had been floating in scientific circles for a while, but without direct observation of the waves themselves, it remained speculative. Even a naval vessel that entered the fjord shortly after the event failed to spot anything unusual on the surface.
What’s changed is how scientists are now able to read the sea. New radar satellite data, capable of capturing high-resolution images of water elevation across large areas, has quietly made it possible to examine the event in more detail. The data shows shifting water levels across the fjord, in patterns that match what you’d expect from a seiche – back-and-forth tilting of water up to two metres high.
It’s a theory that’s gained weight thanks to new satellite data and a deeper understanding of how these events interact with the Earth’s crust. A recent study used high-resolution radar altimetry to map the fjord’s water elevation and link it to the global seismic patterns recorded at the time. These findings offer the first direct evidence of the trapped waves thought to have caused the 2023 pulses, showing how localised climate-driven events in remote places can be measured and understood on a global scale.
First direct observation of the trapped waves that shook the world in 2023
By linking those patterns with minor crustal movements picked up around the globe, researchers have started to form a clearer picture. No drama, no disaster – just a complex chain reaction, quietly set off in one of the most remote corners of the Arctic.
It’s another reminder of how quickly the environment is changing in places few of us ever see. Glaciers that have remained stable for generations are now on the move, with parts collapsing without warning. And as satellite technology continues to sharpen, we’re seeing how these events can have wider impacts, sometimes felt much further from where they begin.
It’s also a reminder that not everything worth noticing makes headlines. Some of the most telling changes start quietly.
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