Capsizing icebergs release earthquake‐sized energies

A large iceberg can carry a tremendous amount of gravitational potential energy. While all icebergs float with the bulk of their mass submerged beneath the water's surface, some drift around in precarious orientations—they are temporarily stable, but an outside push would send them tumbling over. Large icebergs, like those that split from the Jakobshavn Isbræ glacier in Greenland, can release the energy equivalent to a magnitude 6 or 7 earthquake when they capsize. A 1995 event demonstrated the potential for destruction, as a tsunami spawned from a capsizing iceberg devastated a coastal Greenland community. Measuring how energy is dispersed during capsizing is crucial to understanding the risk associated with these events but is also key to determining their larger role in surface ocean dynamics