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The 40,000-Mile Volcano (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The NY Times reports on one of the wonders of the underwater world: the extensive web of volcanoes and hydrothermal vents present where tectonic plates meet and grind against one another. "Welcome to one of the planet's most obscure but important features, known rather prosaically as the midocean ridges. Though long enough to circle the moon more than six times, they receive little notice because they lie hidden in pitch darkness." The magma seeping through these cracks generate massive amounts of heat — enough to sustain incredible ecosystems.

But as scientists have gained a deeper understanding of this geological phenomenon, they realize it's more chaotic than they had imagined. "The old idea was that the eruptions of oozing lava and related activity occurred at fairly steady rates. Now, studies hint at the existence of outbursts large enough to influence not only the character of the global sea but the planet's temperature. Experts believe the activity may carry major repercussions because the oceanic ridges account for some 70 percent of the planet's volcanic eruptions. By definition, that makes them enormous sources of heat and exotic minerals as well as such everyday gases as carbon dioxide, which all volcanoes emit."

3 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. So they're likely the cause of "Global Warming". by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    This sounds like a very plausible source for the extra heat that's causing what environmentalists/leftists like to call "Global Warming".

    These environmentalists/leftists have been blaming humans the whole time, yet now it turns out that it's undersea volcanoes that are responsible, and not people.

    It actually makes a lot of sense that volcanoes would be responsible.

    A single volcano can have a greater environmental impact in a single day than millions of people have over their entire lives.

    When there are many of these volcanoes, and they have ongoing eruptions day after day, they'd of course have an absolutely massive impact, far beyond even what billions of humans could ever do.

    Undersea volcanoes heat the water. The water melts the polar caps. The polar caps add more liquid water to the oceans, which is heated by these volcanoes. The water heats the air.

    This explains all of the "Global Warming" that has been blamed on humans by environmentalists/leftists. It explains the sea level changes. It explains it all.

  2. Re:Of course it's not about AGW. It's about GW. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yea, no shit... Did you notice how fast the fucking warmanistas jumped in here to shout down questions?

    They dont fucking know how many volcanoes are on the ocean floors. Yes there is a group large enough to make el nino happen in the pacific. They are fucking everywhere and they have no idea how many. NO FUCKING CLUE!

    But they are absolutely god damn sure that human co2 emissions are the major driver of global warming despite the decline in the warming trend since 1998. They fucked with temperature records to 'hide the decline'. As I recall, one prominent scientist was BANNED from editing wikipedia over erasing things like the medieval-warming period to reinforce the hockey stick!

    So to be clear... climate has not a god damn fucking thing to do with the sun, or any other unknown undiscovered heat source and is a direct result of humans and their evil co2. No new discoveries will ever change this problem nor ever be reason to question the theory. Go home, nothing to see.... Yea, and the layers upon layers of BULL SHIT and exaggerated predictions dont mean anything. You cannot trust scientist paid by oil companies, but you must trust scientist who lose their funding if they found AGW to be the horse shit it is.

  3. Re:So they're likely the cause of "Global Warming" by blue+trane · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    There's an Ag101 pdf from the Department of Agriculture that cites figures saying farmland is lost to development. Before jumping to the conclusion that deforestation is caused primarily by anti-gmo liberals, you should take a look at all the wood your fat, gluttonous Republican friends require for toilet paper and McMansions. Not to mention exotic, expensive wood furniture that fuels Amazon rainforest clearing.