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Tremors Mean Antarctic Volcanism May Be Heating Up

Posted by timothy on from the slip-slidin'-away dept.

The L.A. Times reports on the discovery of seismic events (nearly 1400 tremors were recorded by researchers in 2010-2011) which seem to indicate the presence of volcanic activity 15 to 20 miles beneath the surface of western Antarctica. According to the article, "The area of activity lies close to the youngest in a chain of volcanoes that formed over several million years, and the characteristics and depth of the seismic events are consistent with those found in volcanic areas of Alaska’a Aleutian Islands, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, the study concludes." Volcanism isn't a new discovery (Mt. Waesche, a volcanic mountain, is the believed origin of some ash mentioned in the article), but the newly detected seismic activity may be a harbinger for local melting from below of the Antarctic ice sheet, and possibly have long-term effects on the flow patterns of the overlying ice.

22 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. It will be ok. by mevets · · Score: 4, Funny

    We are getting rid of that ice as fast as we can.

    1. Re:It will be ok. by peragrin · · Score: 2

      Damn straight, how else can we clean the streets of New York, London, Paris, Tokyo plus many more all at the same time?

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    2. Re:It will be ok. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Something that gets left out when the media reports about the Antarctic caps melting are the fact that Volcano's are contributing to the melting however scientists have yet to determine how much melting is going on. There was a show on the History Channel some years ago (I believe 15-20 years ago) that showed the volcanic activity helping to melt the caps. So before you just jump to conclusions you should try and hold out, or take it into consideration, instead of knee jerk reactions when scientists and the media have yet to fully understand how the planet and how man made carbon have affected the planet.

    3. Re:It will be ok. by HJED · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, and if we wait long enough with our heads in the sand it'll be too late to do anything anyway...think of the money we could save!
      Seriously, we know CO2 emissions are causing significant climate change, there may be other factors but waiting around until we have perfect knowledge of the entire universe is ignorant at best and criminally negligent at worst.Also I assume that you don't think volcanoes in Antarctica aren't causing melting in the Artic as well, that's a pretty big clue that they're not the main cause.

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      null
    4. Re:It will be ok. by dbIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Can we please just discuss volcanoes instead of having a pissing contest over who is the biggest sociopath?

    5. Re:It will be ok. by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To be somewhat blunt, I really don't care if part of NYC is under water as it is all over priced land owned by rich fat cats who can more than afford putting up a retaining wall or losing a piece of property.

      Have you ever been to NYC? Yes, there are some insanely rich people living there. There are also a hell of a lot more poor. Contrary to what you seem to think, the streets are not paved with gold. In fact, they are closer to the surface of the moon.

    6. Re:It will be ok. by c0lo · · Score: 2

      This is an old climate canard that goes back at least a decade, but if you're trying to find if there's a link between volcanos and melting ice caps then then you may want to start by considering the relevant sizes of the Antartic continent and the region of volcanic activity.

      Oh, is it a canard?
      Regarding the size: why did you choose to ignore the time factor? After all, the post-glacial rebound is still in progress after 12000 years.
      If it can have an effect on the Earth shape (making it less oblate), why are you so quick to dismiss the link between volcanoes and ice-caps?

      Except being a canard, you are right: knowledge about the complex relation of Earth's dynamics (volcanism included) and ice-caps thickness goes back longer than the last decade: around 2 centuries to be more precise.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    7. Re:It will be ok. by dtjohnson · · Score: 2

      "As it stands, the IR absorption by CO2 seems pretty well understood."

      If, by this, you are referring to the blocking of IR heat radiation into space by CO2 molecules, then no, it (the atmospheric heat transfer process) is not well understood, or even understood. CO2 absorbs only a very narrow and specific wavelength. THAT is understood. Moreover, a CO2 molecule that has absorbed a photon, immediately either re-radiates the heat or loses it via a collision with one of its neighboring molecules which, in the earth's atmosphere, are going to be O2 or N2 molecules. Those molecules, in turn, re-radiate the heat into space. The heat does not 'stay' in the atmosphere but is constantly re-radiated into space. The atmosphere is not a heat storage reservoir. That is NOT understood.

  2. Saw a movie about this. by Max+Threshold · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pretty soon, dinosaurs will be pouring out of the hollow earth.

  3. Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Probably just the StarGate.

  4. Where's the link? by MatthiasF · · Score: 4, Informative

    Summary mentions an article from the LA Times.

    Here's the link:

    http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-volcano-ice-antarctica-20131115,0,6645564.story

  5. Re:So what you're telling me by Alain+Williams · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would not be surprised if the loss of the weight of the ice that has already melted is itself contributing to the emergence of the volcanoes. Less weight pressing down might make it easier for them to come to the surface.

    Disclaimer: I am not a geologist.

  6. Re:Western Antarctica? by prefec2 · · Score: 2

    Antarctica is not a single point on the south pole. Have a look at a globe and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Antarctica

  7. Prepare not to be surprised by sam_vilain · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a great book covering some of the science on this topic; reviewed here on NewScientist; very much worth the read. Actually what happens is that the crust "rebounds" in two phases. You can use the first phase to weigh the ice sheet as they are doing in Greenland. Then, the athenosphere (the molten layer, 15-150km deep which the crust/lithosphere sits atop) slowly slops in there and supplies extra heat and magma; generally quite a slow process, with some rebound from the last ice age still occurring.

    Upshot: it's certainly possible that the events are related.

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    1. Re:Prepare not to be surprised by ultranova · · Score: 4, Informative

      So a glass of water with ice cubes in it weighs more then a glass of water without ice?

      ...You do realize that Antarctica is a continent, not an ocean, right?

      Hmm.. do you know where I could get a scale precise enough to measure this effect on small scale so I can compare it with a larger glass of water called an Ocean?

      Nope, I guess you didn't.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  8. They're lying... by Type44Q · · Score: 5, Funny

    beneath the surface of western Antarctica

    They're lying: every part of Antarctica lies to the north.

    :p

    1. Re:They're lying... by necro81 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Pedantically you may be correct. Cartographically, however, Antarctica is, in fact, divided into East and West. The feature that divides them is the Transantarctic mountains. See this map. West Antarctica contains the Antarctic Peninsula (which stick out towards South America) and most of the floating ice sheets. East Antarctica contains the broad, high plateau containing most of the land ice.

      More generally, the dividing line could be said to be the prime meridian. Places whose coordinates are given using west longitude are generally part of West Antarctica. Most maps of Antarctica are oriented with the prime meridian pointing up towards England. Things on the left side of the map are West Antarctica, the right side is East. Again, this is just a general convention - a way to get yourself oriented. (Even though McMurdo Station (77.8 S 166.6 E) would be in East Antarctica by this definition, it is traditionally part of West Antarctica because it lies on that side of the Transantarctic mountains.)

      This is a cartographer's convention - giving names to places - and it has a particular European bias. But everyone that works in Antarctica uses the same naming convention, so there you go.

    2. Re:They're lying... by Type44Q · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Pedantically you may be correct.

      In my defense, I was trying to be funny (I hardly expected to be modded insightful though I suppose I do have my moments here and there). :)

  9. Re:So what you're telling me by chmod+a+x+mojo · · Score: 4, Informative

    In some ways you are correct. Depressurization is one of the 3 big ways to generate a melt (magma). Just in case you wonder, the other two ways are 1:simply add heat, and 2: add volatiles such as H2O or CO2.

    But the isostatic rebound being fast enough for us to see it in our lifetime is highly doubtful, same with the resulting melt travel time to possible eruption. What they are seeing now most likely is melt from more than just a few years ago.

    Disclaimer: Undergrad Geologist, not PhD yet.

    --
    To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password!
  10. Re:Western Antarctica? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

    His point is still valid though. Pick a point on the main body of Antarctica, walk west. Eventually you will reach your starting point again. Theoretically, anyway.

    It would be like walking across Tamriel, looking for a witch's coven you discovered on a later save. It only works if your angle is perfect.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  11. Antarctic mountains by dargaud · · Score: 3, Interesting

    On normal maps of Antarctica it's hard to see where the (rock) mountains are. I made a script for that 15 years ago, and it's still there.

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    Non-Linux Penguins ?
  12. Spock! by ZipK · · Score: 2

    Volcanism May Be Heating Up

    If the Vulcans are heating up, it must be their every-seven-years pon farr.