First Evidence Of Under-Ice Volcanoes In Antarctica

An anonymous reader writes "The first evidence of a volcanic eruption from beneath Antarctica's ice sheet has been discovered by members of the British Antarctic Survey. The volcano on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet began erupting some 2,000 years ago and remains active to this day. Using airborne ice-sounding radar, scientists discovered a layer of ash produced by a 'subglacial' volcano. It extends across an area larger than Wales."

Comments

Oh well, screw global warming

[Xiph]

If volcanic activity is truly sending the glaciers into the ocean, local warming can have a real and serious effect on global climate.
It's funny, Here in Denmark, we here alot about the potential consequences of global warming, about the millions of refugees it will create.
Noone ever mentions that we'll probably be some of those refugees, Our tallest hill, has a height below 170,9 metres, or 560,6 feet above sealevel.

Time for me to buy that land in south america.

will accelerate melting at some point

[Anonymous Coward]

This is very bad news (tm).

There is a quite thick layer of soot and ash trapped inside the glacier. At some point when the glacier melts enough, that whole layer becomes visible and thus the reflection of sunlight from the glacier surface diminishes. And the melting speed increases dramatically. To make things worse, the layer will stay there for some time as it is bit warmer than the ice and so it bores small holes where to stay put instead of getting flushed away.

And don't get me started on that active volcano under glacier. How it will react when the weight of the glacier eases rapidly? Possible earthquakes and that means tsunami.

Funny thing, a Finnish author named Risto Isomäki has written a hard scifi book about the subject only couple of years ago. It's called the sands of Sarasvati.

Wales, as a common unit of size!!!

[G3ckoG33k]

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1066484

Wales has, for decades, been used in the UK as a standard of measurement, not just of land mass but also of population, annual rain fall, tourist numbers and exports. Every large country's size was measured in 'Wales'es. Popular media, like radio and television have used the 'Wales', mainly in news reports.

        "The Americans have invaded Vietnam. This country in south east Asia is 14 times the size of Wales."

        "The Falklands have been invaded! These disputed islands, half the size of Wales, have been sought after by the Argentine government for decades."

etc