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Study Links Rapid Ice Sheet Melting With Distant Volcanic Eruptions (upi.com)

schwit1 quotes UPI: New research suggests volcanic eruptions can trigger periods of rapid ice sheet melting... "Over a time span of 1,000 years, we found that volcanic eruptions generally correspond with enhanced ice sheet melting within a year or so," Francesco Muschitiello, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said in a news release. The volcanoes of note weren't situated next-door, but thousands of miles from the ice sheet, a reminder of the unexpected global impacts of volcanic activity.

The new research -- detailed this week in the journal Nature Communications -- suggests ash ejected into the atmosphere by erupting volcanoes can be deposited thousands of miles away. When it's deposited on ice sheets, the dark particles cause the ice to absorb more thermal energy and accelerate melting... Some scientists have even suggested melting encouraged by volcanic eruptions could trigger even more eruptions, a positive feedback loop. As glaciers and ice sheets melt, pressure is relieved from the planet's crust, allowing magma to rise to the surface.

4 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Let's bury that one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It contradicts climate change "science"...

  2. Re:The problem with climate science by chipschap · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The problem here is "because something is complex, we cant model it" is a new and improved kind of terminally stupid.

    Yes, we can model complex systems, however that doesn't mean it's an easy task by any means, or that correct model predictions can be assumed. I spent years modeling and simulating the power grid, which is arguably less complex than climate, and that modeling was always a matter of constant tuning, refinement, and working toward making the models accord with known results so that we would have at least some confidence about predictions.

    By all means we need to model climate and climate change and attempt to make rational predictions. We should be able to continuously refine our models and get better and better results. But the purpose of such modeling, similar to what we did with the power grid, is to make predictions that have reasonable credibility so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken.

    What I describe is honest science and engineering, which should be completely independent of politics and generating headlines or supporting viewpoints, whether "denier" or "supporter."

    It's like that dictum, "Don't tell me what I want to hear, tell me what I need to hear."

  3. Re: Denier complains voice isn't heard. Nobody car by 0123456 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Bingo. Anyone who uses the world 'Denier!' to refer to people who dispute a scientific point is no scientist.

  4. Re:The problem with climate science by KeensMustard · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "The problem here is "because something is complex, we cant model it" is a new and improved kind of terminally stupid. " There are numerous 'climate' models. They all vaguely agree with each other. But not one of them agrees with, you know, actually observed reality.

    Really? So how did your own modeling perform?

    So clearly we can't model climate. But Climate Changers are demanding that politicians destroy the lives of billions and burn trillions of dollars because 'Muh Science!'

    No: thats you.

    You are the one saying "The climate is changing rapidly but we don't know why or what's going to happen next". In your scenario, anything could happen. The climate could keep warming until we reach Venus like conditions.

    Talk about panic inducing!

    If you truly believe your own assertions, you should be advocating that all our funds be immediately diverted to climate science:

    1. To find the cause of the recent, rapid change

    2. To identify and model what will happen next

    3. To identify and implement the fix, which we can assume will be far more expensive than replacing our emitting technologies (which we were going to replace anyway, given how inefficient they are).