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Its heat may increase the rate of ice loss from one of the continent’s major ice streams
It wasn’t what they were looking for but that only made the discovery all the more exciting.
Uncertain at first, the more Lough and her colleagues looked, the more convinced they became that a new volcano was forming a kilometer beneath the ice.
The discovery of the new as yet unnamed volcano is announced in the online issue of Nature Geoscience.
Following the trail of clues
The teams that install seismographs in Antarctica are given first crack at the data. Lough had done her bit as part of the WUSTL team, traveling to East Antarctica three times to install or remove stations in East Antarctica.
In 2010 many of the instruments were moved to West Antarctica and Wiens asked Lough to look at the seismic data coming in, the first large-scale dataset from this part of the continent.
“I started seeing events that kept occurring at the same location, which was odd, “Lough said. “Then I realized they were close to some mountains–but not right on top of them.”
“My first thought was, ‘Okay, maybe its just coincidence.’ But then I looked more closely and realized that the mountains were actually volcanoes and there was an age progression to the range. The volcanoes closest to the seismic events were the youngest ones.”
“Their best guess is that it came from Mount Waesche, an existing volcano near Mt Sidley. But that is also interesting because scientists had no idea when Mount Waesche was last active, and the ash layer is sets the age of the eruption at 8,000 years ago. ”
What’s up down there?
The case for volcanic origin has been made. But what exactly is causing the seismic activity?
“Most mountains in Antarctica are not volcanic,” Wiens says, “but most in this area are. Is it because East and West Antarctica are slowly rifting apart? We don’t know exactly. But we think there is probably a hot spot in the mantle here producing magma far beneath the surface.”
On the other hand a subglacial eruption and the accompanying heat flow will melt a lot of ice. “The volcano will create millions of gallons of water beneath the ice—many lakes full,” says Wiens. This water will rush beneath the ice towards the sea and feed into the hydrological catchment of the MacAyeal Ice Stream, one of several major ice streams draining ice from Marie Byrd Land into the Ross Ice Shelf.
By lubricating the bedrock, it will speed the flow of the overlying ice, perhaps increasing the rate of ice-mass loss in West Antarctica.
“We weren’t expecting to find anything like this,” Wiens says
The discovery could also explain why a fast-moving nearby glacier has experienced sudden jolts in its journey towards the sea.
We really don't know much about the current and ancient volcanism on Antarctica, but researchers from British Antarctic Survey claim they have found evidence of subglacial eruptions in western Antarctica, mostly in the form of ash and volcanic debris intercalated with the ice. It would not be surprising if there was active volcanism underneath the ice sheets of the continent.
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Mianeye
but lets blame the volcanos so we don't have to feel guilty and change our lifestyle
Are you seriously trying to claim innocent, and blaming it on the rich
crazyewok
Mianeye
but lets blame the volcanos so we don't have to feel guilty and change our lifestyle
Ours?
It not the everyday person that uses the most resources.
If you want a lifestyle change look to the 1% who consume probably more resources in a minute tha I probably do in a year.
That there is your problem, noone want's to change, cause every one think it's personal, it will never change cause people are to egoistic to actually do something together...Pathetic if you ask me.
crazyewok
reply to post by Mianeye
So what I should turn off all my lights scrap my car and PC , live in a freezing house and eat rabbit food while the rich and powerful jet around the world and do what the F they like? They are the one that control the system.
Sorry but there is plenty of resources to go around. The top need to start makeing sacrifices before I even consider doing my part, not when my part means nothing as I dont control or influance anything.
crazyewok
reply to post by Mianeye
Sorry but what do I change?
Yeah I would love to put solar pannels on my roof but I dont have £5000 to do it.
House is fully insulated. Car does 65mpg. So what else is there for me to do? Except live like a caveman? And I dont see you giveing up modern tecnology.
edit on 8-12-2013 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)edit on 8-12-2013 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)edit on 8-12-2013 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)
PuterMan
The point here is of course that just because it is 'new' to us, it is not 'new' to Mama Nature and has possibly been around a year or two longer before we discovered it. Long enough perhaps to be the contributor to melting ice in the West Antarctic perhaps?
What price AGW if that is the case? Since West Antarctica is one of the areas that Climate Alarmism is concerned about, maybe it actually has very little to do with climate after all?
SLAYER69
The problem I have in these "Climate, Change. Global Warming etc" discussions is that all too often many will speak in the definitive. The truth is, We don't know, We run computer simulations and then those who are more familiar guess based on the data. Sort of like predicting the weather. Getting better but not 100% yet.
So, short or long term trends?
We will just have to wait and see eh?