Why did the Vikings disappear from Greenland 400 years after settling there? New research led by Harvard University and Penn State using geologic and climate records found that sea-level rise likely contributed to the Viking’s disappearance from the island in the 15th century.
“Sea-level change is an integral, missing element of the Viking story,” said Richard Alley, Evan Pugh University Professor of Geosciences and co-author on the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Alley noted that changing sea level has always affected people, and it will continue to do so.
“Today, far more people are now vulnerable to rising seas in a warming world,” he said. “To help these people, we will need a better understanding of the big drivers of sea-level rise, including melting ice, expanding ocean waters, and ‘mining’ of groundwater by pumping out more than is returned. But these must be combined with knowledge of local conditions, as was done in this study, because some coasts are more vulnerable than others.”