Volcanoes are not the main reason for melting Antarctic ice
There have been very inaccurate stories on various websites claiming ......
"Volcanoes are the main reason for ice melting in Antarctica."
"Volcanoes are the main reason for ice melting in Antarctica."
This is not the case.
The volcanoes story is a misreading of new research on the Thwaites glacier.
This is the actual paper on this research......
"Evidence for elevated and spatially variable geothermal flux beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet"
The Thwaites Glacier is behaving more like a warm-based glacier.
The geothermal heat from under the Thwaites glacier is small compared to the overall warming happening around Antarctica.
“It is true that there are active volcanoes in West Antarctica, and so there may have been some local changes, but in most cases, at most times, volcanoes are not erupting under the ice,” Richard Alley, a geologist at Penn State, told VICE News.
“This paper is exciting for modelers and geologists who focus on Antarctica, but it doesn’t tell you anything about why the ice is now thinning.”
Eric Rignot, an earth science professor at University of California Irvine and a principal scientist at NASA, said geothermal heating causes a few millimetres of glacial melting each year.
“This paper is exciting for modelers and geologists who focus on Antarctica, but it doesn’t tell you anything about why the ice is now thinning.”
Eric Rignot, an earth science professor at University of California Irvine and a principal scientist at NASA, said geothermal heating causes a few millimetres of glacial melting each year.
Rising sea temperatures can melt up to 100 metres of a glacier each year, he said.
A NASA photo of the Thwaites Glacier at the point it meets the ocean.
The Thwaites Glacier is one of a number of glaciers in that part of Antarctica.
The Thwaites Glacier is one of a number of glaciers in that part of Antarctica.