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."

Comments

Re:So they're likely the cause of "Global Warming"

[Smiddi]

Perhaps your right? I still think cutting pollution is good thing regardless of the motives.

Re:So they're likely the cause of "Global Warming"

[Namarrgon]

News: Check out these undersea volcanoes you hadn't heard of. Studies are hinting that their eruptions may be more sporadic than regular.
Assumption: Scientists hadn't heard of these volcanoes either.
Postulate: This must mean any effect they have is new & unaccounted for.
Factoid: A volcano puts out lots of smoke & hot stuff.
Assumption: Volcanoes put out more smoke & hot stuff than people.
Preconception: My lifestyle couldn't possibly be bad in any way, therefore humans couldn't negatively affect the environment.
Oblig. Politicisation: Anyone who says otherwise is a "leftist"
Supposal: All these new volcanoes are increasing temperatures far beyond what people could do.
Conclusion: THAT must be the real reason for global warming! I KNEW it couldn't be us! This explains EVERYTHING!

Congratulations on your data-free chain of reasoning. Wrong from the beginning, of course - as the summary says, these volcanoes are already known to account for 70% of eruptions, so their thermal & CO2 output is already factored in. Plus of course, the data already showed that average volcanic CO2 output is under 1% that of humans, and their thermal output is far smaller again. New studies "hinting" that these eruptions might happen in bursts rather than continuously doesn't change that.

Re:So they're likely the cause of "Global Warming"

[MightyMartian]

Translation: Oh look, there's another source of CO2, so quickly let's blame it for everything and we can go on burning fossil fuels unimpeded!

I love deniers. On the one hand, they deny that CO2 has the physical properties every fucking physicist has understood for over a century, and then, on the other hand, every time some other source of CO2 is found, they declare "You see, that's why there's AGW!" The fact that they, like all other pseudo-scientific proponents can hold mutually exclusive views doesn't seem to bother them. All they care about is removing any responsibility human civilization might have for negative impacts on global climate, presumably so they can just carry on as usual, or in some cases, continue profiting from climate and environmental destruction.

Perhaps, good poster, you can point out where exactly in any of the material surrounding this research that it says "AGW is caused by the mid-ocean ridges." Go on, I openly challenge you to provide these citations.

Re:So they're likely the cause of "Global Warming"

[ArmoredDragon]

While development does play a role, it uses considerably less landmass than farmland.

Toilet paper and mansions (or even mcdonalds stores) are created from trees that are selectively bread like these:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-6yvLBQRO...

Notice how they're perfectly straight with no branches? Guess what, normal trees don't grow that way. They grow these trees like this because it results in a better product. Nobody is cutting down forests to make that kind of stuff. If they are, then it's of such a small amount to be insignificant.

Also I'm not a republican, but you can take your greenpeace anti-science propaganda and shove it up your hippie ass.

Re:So they're likely the cause of "Global Warming"

[Eunuchswear]

Sorry, but I'm going to put my faith in chemists, physicists and meteorologists

What exactly do you think "climate scientists" are if not "chemists, physicists and meteorologists"?