Believe it or not, over 100 volcanoes are scattered across Antarctica.
Scientists recently uncovered the largest volcanic region on Earth there, two kilometers beneath the surface of a vast ice sheet that covers the west side of the continent.
One of the highest found was as tall as the Eiger — the famous mountain in Switzerland that stands at 3,967 meters.
The team from Edinburgh University, who made the discovery in 2017, claimed that the region was likely to dwarf that of east Africa’s volcanic ridge, which was rated as having the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world.
At the moment, there are only two active volcanoes in Antarctica — Mount Erebus (pictured) and Deception Island.
They are both unique in their geological makeup, completely different from many found around the world.
While scientists who work in and study Antarctica say that the volcanoes are unlikely to pose any real threat anytime soon, some have suggested that their eruption could have a knock-on effect around the world.
John Smellie, Professor of Volcanology at the University of Leicester, previously suggested that any movement from these volcanoes could create significant amounts of meltwater.
This water would then slowly stream into the sea, raising levels.
In 2017, he told The Conversation about the structure of these volcanoes: “The volcanoes would melt huge caverns in the base of the ice and create enormous quantities of meltwater.
“Because the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is wet, rather than frozen to its bed – imagine an ice cube on a kitchen worktop – the meltwater would act as a lubricant and could cause the overlying ice to slip and move more rapidly.
“These volcanoes can also stabilize the ice, however, as they give it something to grip onto – imagine that same ice cube snagging onto a lump-shaped object.
“In any case, the volume of water that would be generated by even a large volcano is a pinprick compared with the volume of overlying ice.
“So a single eruption won’t have much effect on the ice flow. What would make a big difference is if several volcanoes erupt close to or beneath any of West Antarctica’s prominent ‘ice streams’.”
When it comes to freshwater reserves, around 80 percent of the planet’s stores are in Antarctica.
If melted, this would raise global sea levels by about 60 meters.
Scientists have pointed out that this would make the planet uninhabitable for humans.
Prof Smellie claimed that an eruption beneath the ice could cause this process to speed up: “Ice streams are rivers of ice that flow much faster than their surroundings.
“They are the zones along which most of the ice in Antarctica is delivered to the ocean, and therefore fluctuations in their speed can affect the sea level.
“If the additional ‘lubricant’ provided by multiple volcanic eruptions was channeled beneath ice streams, the subsequent rapid flow may dump unusual amounts of West Antarctica’s thick interior ice into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise.
“Under-ice volcanoes are probably what triggered a rapid flow of ancient ice streams into the vast Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica’s largest ice shelf.
“Something similar might have occurred about 2,000 years ago with a small volcano in the Hudson Mountains that lie underneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – if it erupted again today it could cause the nearby Pine Island Glacier to speed up.”
He added: “Most dramatically of all, a large series of eruptions could destabilize many more subglacial volcanoes.
“As volcanoes cool and crystallize, their magma chambers become pressurized and all that prevents the volcanic gases from escaping violently in an eruption is the weight of overlying rock or, in this case, several kilometers of ice.
“As that ice becomes much thinner, the pressure reduction may trigger eruptions.
“More eruptions and ice melting would mean even more meltwater being channeled under the ice streams.”
While the doomsday scenarios could happen, for now, most of Antarctica’s volcanoes remain dormant and have not erupted for 10,000 years.
But, in the future, they could become active once again.
Read more at Daily Express
Remember
It was these same jerks who said that we only have
ten years to save the planet
and they said that forty years ago
WHO IS THE LIAR ?
they also said that snow wouldn’t be seen by 2000
WHO IS THE LIAR ?
They also said that sea levels would
catastrophicaly rise
And they haven’t
WHO IS THE LIAR ?
Every single prediction of their hypothesis / theory
has been totally erroneous and trashed
but they still claim it to be the equivalent of
biblical truth!
WHO IS THE LIAR
Dec 4, 2021 Climate of Reality: Rough Seas Ahead Due to Poor Public Policy for the FoS AGM 2021
An overview of 2021 activities of the Friends of Science Society for the AGM of 2021-11-30. Presented by Michelle Stirling, Communications Manager.
https://youtu.be/MG0FOVS40CI
The article states that currently Antarctica only has two active volcanoes. This is far from true. The book, “The Plate Climatology Theory” documents numerous eruptions by a number of volcanoes.
The article stated that a 60 meter increase in sea level would render the world unlivable. That is also not true. A significant percentage of the world’s land mass is at a higher elevation. Such an increase in sea level would be apocalyptic. People living in lower elevations would flee to higher ground where there would then be insufficient resources. There would be a lot of deadly fighting for those resources, but humanity would survive.
On a similar issue, the BBC recenctly aired a program about an Islandic hotel, like most (if not all), run entirely from geothermal energy. As part of the program, they highlighted a “dubious” activity of entering a glacier; “dubious” because according to the guides, the glacier was melting because of … yes …. climate change and had about a 70 year life expectancy. Does no one EVER joint all the dots?
The good news for sea level alarmists is that if Antarctic volcanoes massively erupted, the resultant cold period would freeze a lot of water into ice. The bad news is that millions of people and animals would likely starve or freeze to death.
By the same measure, if a lot of these sub-ice volcanoes started erupting it would suggest that something more substantial has happened than an occasional eruption as is happening in Gran Canaria. Then is it entirely possible that the world could witness mass eruptions world wide, which would give us more to worry about than some extra water. If’s and maybes are all part and parcel of being on a living planet with a mind of its own. It has nothing to do with climate change directly.