CCD Editor’s note: As previously written about here and here, the idea that volcanoes might be driving West Antarctic’s ice sheet destabilization has long been examined and written about by our resident geologist James Kamis.
This new research posits that as the ice thins from global warming, volcanic activity increases (less pressure on top, which allows the volcanoes to blow their tops). Kamis posits the opposite (as most rational people not in the throes of global warming alarmism would).
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The largest volcanic region on Earth has been found thousands of meters below the surface of the ice sheet covering Antarctica.
A survey of the region of the West Antarctic Rift System has revealed 91 new volcanoes hidden within the ice.
The new volcanoes are on top of the 47 whose peaks are above the ice and were already known about.
The volcanoes range in height from 100m to a towering 3,850m tall.
Geologists say the range has similarities to east Africa’s volcanic ridge, which was previously thought to have the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world.
It is unclear whether the Antarctic volcanoes are active, but previous studies have suggested that during warmer periods volcanic activity does occur in the region.
If the ice thins as the climate warms it is thought volcanic activity in the area could increase.
The project was carried out by researchers from the University of Edinburgh who remotely surveyed the underside of the ice sheet.
They were looking for peaks of basalt rock hidden beneath the ice, like the volcanoes that were already known about in the area.
Measurements from ice-penetrating radar were compared with satellite and database records, as well as information from aerial surveys and revealed 91 peaks.
It is hoped the discovery will allow scientists to understand how volcanoes affect long-term fluctuations in the ice sheet as well as what the continent was like in past climates.
The idea to look for further volcanoes beneath the ice sheet came from a third-year student at the University of Edinburgh, Max Van Wyk de Vries.
h/t Paul Homewood
Read more at MSN
ARCTIC VOLCANO’S CUASING POLAR ICE CAPS TO SHRINK Dont be expecting to see this in your local birdcage liner/parrots toilet/fishwrap and nothing about his from the Talking heads either
So with over 90 volcanos under Antarctica, the coldest continent on earth , is it fair to assume a trace gas representing less than 1 % of the atmosphere isn’t about to cause the earth to have a fever ?
The real question is how did the scary global warming con game ever get this far ?
Surely geothermal warm spots could be located, if that’s what researchers wanted to find.