An exceptionally huge stream of meltwater erupted from a glacial lake in Greenland

Satellite images have revealed a massive meltwater eruption from a glacial lake in eastern Greenland. 3,000 billion liters of fresh water came out of the lake in a few weeks.

The energy of the eruption was equivalent to the world’s largest nuclear power plant operating at full power for three weeks, the researcher compares Aslak Grinsted of the University of Copenhagen in the bulletin.

The observed water volume of the meltwater discharge corresponds to three times the annual water consumption of Denmark.

The eruption of the Catalina lake in question is among the three largest observed similar events in terms of water volume. According to the researchers, it shows what kind of even dangerous forces are hidden in Greenland’s continental glacier.

At the same time, the researchers state that similar water eruptions can also occur from other glaciers in the world.

Glacial lakes there is a defined designation for slowly accumulating but finally sudden eruptions Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF).

According to the University of Copenhagen, they have started to repeat themselves in the last three decades. The background is global warming.

The eruption of Lake Catalina did not cause damage to human communities, as the nearest village of a few hundred people is about 180 kilometers away.

Worldwide, about fifteen million people are threatened by the release of glacial lake waters. More than 12,000 people have died in similar water eruptions, mostly in South America and Central Asia.

Discharged Catalinajärvi also known for its earlier massive meltwater eruptions in 1966 and 2012.

The lake is in a valley at an altitude of about 600 meters above sea level. It is about ten kilometers long and two kilometers wide, and perhaps hundreds of meters deep, like Grimsted has described.

About 3.4 cubic kilometers of water erupted this time. The eruption was between September 23 and October 11. The surface of Jäätikköjärvi dropped by more than 150 meters. This is proven by satellite images analyzed by the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen.

Melting water accumulated for twenty years. The fact that the water slowly began to lift the glacier that dams the lake shows the power of the water. The water carved a 25-kilometer tunnel under the glacier and eventually erupted into the world in Scoresbyn Strait.