logo
100-Foot Glacier Falls in Greenland, Creates Huge Waves (Video)

100-Foot Glacier Falls in Greenland, Creates Huge Waves (Video)

Yahoo8 hours ago
Icebergs are magical, majestic feats of Mother Nature.
Sadly, according to the experts, those gigantic hunks of ice are melting due to climate change – which could result in global environmental catastrophe somewhere down the line. According to NOAA, 'Worldwide, most glaciers are shrinking or disappearing altogether…Glaciers have shrunk every year for the past 37 years.'
And occasionally, humans are around when these glaciers collapse, which often results in a massive (occasionally surf-able) wave. Like this one below.
This glacier collapse comes from Greenland's Sermilik Fjord, and was captured on August 2nd. It shows, what appears to be a group of tour boats viewing the glaciers, when suddenly, the behemoth hunk of ice begins to crumble…and create shockwaves, which sends the boats into a frenzy, rushing away from the potential danger.
According to Gordon D on YouTube, here's what went down:
'I had just started filming this magnificent iceberg. Its size is hard to determine, but at least four times as big as our ship…at least 300 meters (984 feet) long and up to 30 meters (98 feet) high. All of a sudden, the unimaginable happened.'
That 'unimaginable' was the near-total collapse of the colossal hunk of ice. Gordon continued:
'We were around 300 meters away. The shaky video is due to our need to escape. The collapse caused a giant wave. Everyone started racing away. But all got far enough away thankfully. The iceberg almost rolled completely. And lost around 80 percent of its volume.'Surfing calving glaciers has been attempted, and successfully executed, numerous times in the past. It's treacherous, of course, and requires patience and commitment. Last year, Portuguese surfer Eurico Romaguera scored some of the best glacier waves we've ever seen in Greenland.
'It looked almost scripted,' said photographer Jorge Abian. 'Ice started falling from the glacier, and we were gifted with the first surfable waves of the trip. Saying we were happy would be an understatement. Then, it happened…what we were really waiting for. A massive chunk of the glacier broke off. You were ready Eurico. You caught that wave, like I knew you would. We got the shot. The one we risked everything for.'
Glacier surfing – probably the most core, and novelty, method of catching waves to ever exist.100-Foot Glacier Falls in Greenland, Creates Huge Waves (Video) first appeared on Surfer on Aug 12, 2025
Solve the daily Crossword
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Extreme heat is threatening tropical birds, even in untouched forests, scientists warn
Extreme heat is threatening tropical birds, even in untouched forests, scientists warn

CNN

time13 minutes ago

  • CNN

Extreme heat is threatening tropical birds, even in untouched forests, scientists warn

Animal stories Extreme temperatures Climate change Air qualityFacebookTweetLink Follow From the rainforests of Central and South America to the savannas of northern Australia, the world's equatorial regions are home to thousands of unique bird species, from macaws to toucans to hummingbirds, who thrive in hot and humid environments. But as climate change accelerates, tropical regions are seeing ten times the number of dangerously hot days than they did 40 years ago, threatening the survival of some of the world's most colorful birds, new research shows. Between 1950 and 2020, extreme heat events reduced tropical bird populations by 25% to 38%, according to a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. The study shows extreme heat events are a 'primary driver of species loss' — which can explain why even bird populations in some of the most pristine corners of Earth are dwindling, said James Watson, a professor in conservation science at the University of Queensland and one of the study's authors. 'It really points to the fact that we've got to get greenhouse gas emissions sorted out, because these extreme heat scenarios are going to increase over time,' Watson said. Watson and his colleagues analyzed more than 90,000 scientific observations from more than 3,000 bird populations and matched it with daily weather records dating back to 1940, to see how bird populations responded to extreme weather events, including rainfall and heatwaves. They tested their findings against data on human industrial activity to focus specifically on impacts from climate change. The scientists found that exposure to heat extremes (temperatures which exceeded the 99th percentile) led to a reduction in bird populations at latitudes below 55 degrees north or south, with the most extreme effects felt in the tropics, meaning latitudes below 23 degrees. The authors found the increase in heat extremes was more detrimental to birds than annual average temperature increases caused by climate change. The notion that bird populations are steeply declining is not new – a 2019 study found bird populations in the US and Canada have dropped by 30% since 1970, signifying a loss of almost 3 billion birds. However, much of this loss has been attributed to more direct human impacts, such as habitat loss from farming, logging and mining, or even building collisions. The study underscores the threat extreme heat poses to birds in tropical regions and helps explain why birds are dying even in remote and protected areas, typically considered havens of biodiversity. In two undisturbed rainforests in Panama and the Amazon, bird populations declined by more than 50% for the majority of species between 1977 and 2020, and between 2003 and 2022, respectively, according to the study. When birds are exposed to extreme heat, they can become hyperthermic, where their body temperature is elevated to a dangerous level. Since birds can't sweat, under these conditions, they may start to pant or expose more of their skin to try to release the heat. The bird may become dehydrated or disoriented, and in some cases, lose consciousness and fall from their perches. Exposure to extreme heat can also cause organ damage in birds and hinder their reproductive capacity. Part of what makes the tropics such important areas for biodiversity is also what makes them particularly fragile to climate change. 'It's almost the perfect storm,' said Golo Maurer, the director of bird conservation strategy at Birdlife Australia. In tropical areas, you find species with small populations that have found their niche in a very narrow band of temperatures, said Maurer, who was not involved in the study. 'This, in turn, drives amazing diversity.' But when temperatures increase beyond these comfortable bands, tropical birds struggle to adapt, Watson said. 'They've got far smaller populations, and their evolutionary capacity is much, much smaller,' Watson said. Maurer said the study shows 'we can't just sit back' and assume species will be safe because they are in protected areas. 'Climate change is so pervasive that it will affect those areas as well,' he said. Maurer said he has noticed how climate change is affecting birds in his tropical home of north Queensland, Australia, an area known for its biodiversity with a large number of endemic birds. For example, BirdLife's volunteer observers have been having to go to higher elevations to spot golden bowerbirds, small yellow birds which have a small range and live in the rainforest in Queensland, Maurer said. Watson said the study should serve as 'another wake-up call that greenhouse gas emissions and climate change are a major problem for biodiversity.' 'We have to abate climate change as a primary strategy, because we will lose vast numbers of species in the tropics if we don't.'

Is The World's Green Hydrogen Dream Fizzling Out?
Is The World's Green Hydrogen Dream Fizzling Out?

Bloomberg

time2 hours ago

  • Bloomberg

Is The World's Green Hydrogen Dream Fizzling Out?

Green Explainer Green hydrogen was meant to clean up dirty sectors like steel and shipping. But costs are high, investment is falling, and projects are stalling. Is it the fuel of the future — or a climate bet gone bad? The basic strategy in the fight to limit climate change is to power everything with electricity generated from wind, solar or other clean sources. But there's a problem: Some things can't easily run on electricity. Think steel mills, cement plants and long-distance passenger jets. They need a clean fuel that can be stored and burned, sometimes at high temperatures. This is where green hydrogen comes in. Depending on who you ask, this controversial technology is either a crucial piece of the puzzle to reduce greenhouse gases or an overpriced, overhyped distraction.

Carbon monitoring data from Colorado State University shaky as federal budget looks to cut NASA funding
Carbon monitoring data from Colorado State University shaky as federal budget looks to cut NASA funding

CBS News

time8 hours ago

  • CBS News

Carbon monitoring data from Colorado State University shaky as federal budget looks to cut NASA funding

A research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University studies carbon monitoring data from two NASA satellites to make more precise climate change predictions for decades to come. Those satellites are now at risk of losing funding in the upcoming proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year. Senior scientist Chris O'Dell calls these satellites his babies. For more than 20 years, he's developed and worked on the Orbiting Carbon Observatories. "I'm always trying to look for new ways to use the data and to make the data itself more accurate," O'Dell said. When OCO-2 was launched in 2014, its mission was to beam back data to researchers by measuring how much of the sunlight reflected off the Earth is absorbed by carbon dioxide molecules in the air. OCO-3 was launched in 2019 as an attachment to the International Space Station. O'Dell says these instruments gather data that is difficult to attain from the ground. And with carbon measurements constantly changing, these precise data are groundbreaking. A happy accident came about when scientists working on the OCOs found that with "our instruments, we can actually tell on a specific day if they're doing photosynthesis or not, and that's really important. You can use it to predict crop yields if you fly overhead enough." Although it's very new, the United States Department of Agriculture has started to integrate the data. "It's just starting to be integrated now." But the Orbiting Carbon Observatories' future is now murky. President Trump's fiscal year 2026 NASA budget request states that both will close out and end next year. "It's a little bit painful, especially because they are functioning satellites, and they're really bringing down a lot of useful data, about emissions over cities that we can see for the first time directly," O'Dell says. O'Dell says his team got a directive to plan for a mission close-out in case they lose funding. OCO-3 would likely be turned off and remain on the ISS. But the free-flying OCO-2 would likely be destroyed by the same atmosphere it's meant to monitor. "You actually have to bring it down out of the atmosphere or out of the orbit. (It) will then burn up in the atmosphere," O'Dell said, meaning his life's work could literally go up in flames. Taking away federal funding would cripple research at CIRA. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the director of the Center on Energy, Climate and Environment at the think tank Heritage Foundation, says the private sector would take over. "We need to take a very serious look at what the government has to do and what it doesn't have to do," she says. "Technology is making constant progress, and private companies can take over. And we should let them, because our government expenditures are going up. (Funds) need to be spent in other ways." According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. has accumulated $37 trillion in debt throughout the nation's history, and the federal government has spent $1.34 trillion more than it planned for in fiscal year 2025. "It's like putting things on our credit card and expecting other people to pay for it," Furchtgott-Roth tells CBS News Colorado. She points to companies like Disney. "As technology catches up, private companies are going to be able to do jobs that the federal government didn't use to do," she says. "We need to be figuring out how we are going to get healthier balances for our children and grandchildren, so we do not tax them in the future with bills that we should have been paying ourselves." Disney partnered with Weatherbug and Weatherstem to forecast day-to-day weather at its parks. Weatherbug uses Severe Weather Alerts notifications that are issued by the National Weather Service, which uses data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both of those agencies are also at risk of losing funding. The budget approval has a deadline of Oct. 1, or there will be a government shutdown. CBS Colorado reached out to the White House and NASA, neither of which would comment on the proposed cuts since the budget has not been finalized by Congress. However, Dan Powers, a science advocate and the executive director of the nonprofit CO-LABS, says privatization isn't practical. "Who's going to step in and do this instead, with some rationale of it being faster, cheaper, better, etc.? The government agencies that provide daily assessments, research, and information sharing--it would be like going back to before any (current) technology existed as a resource to the country," Powers says. But Furchtgott-Roth is confident that companies can take charge. "We have the most advanced universities in the world," she says. "People from all over the country want to come and do research here in the United States, and I'm not concerned about losing our competitive advantage" (to other countries). Were that the case, though, O'Dell would have to think about plan B: "I would certainly look at all my opportunities. Going overseas or working in the private sector would probably be two pretty high items on the list. I mean, I hope that doesn't happen. I have every faith that I think we're not going to lose this funding. But if the worst were to happen, yeah, I would (leave the country)." O'Dell estimates both satellites could continue functioning into the 2030s, and he says the lion's share of their costs has already been spent. "It cost about $750 million (in) taxpayer dollars to design, build, and launch the OCO instruments." It costs must less per year to run them. The budget for the two satellites was $16.4 million for fiscal year 2025. O'Dell wants to be able to continue with the work of the OCOs. "It's been the greatest pleasure of my life, actually, getting to work on these missions, getting the public's trust," he says. "It makes you feel really good, maybe how you might feel as, you know, your child was really successful in high school or college or something."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store