Science is ALMOST settled boys and girls ain't it? Nobody knew this for sure 10 years ago. Only 5 yrs ago when the underlaying volcanic rifts began to be studied. What have I been telling you? That GWarming is NOT the answer to every scientific gap in knowledge.
Wasn't the AIR temperatures in Antarctica. It's the only GW free continent. And it wasn't even the Southern Ocean temperatures.
Volcanic activity is melting this Antarctic glacier from below
ike many Antarctic glaciers, the Pine Island Glacier is melting. But Pine Island is melting faster than any other glacier in the world. Surprisingly, it’s not climate change alone that is causing the thaw. New research by the National Science Foundation has found evidence that volcanic activity beneath the glacier is a likely culprit.
An international team of scientists from NSF and the U.K.’s Natural Environmental Research Council discovered an underwater heat source by tracing the chemical signature of helium underwater, according to a press release. That heat source is almost certainly in the form of underwater volcanic activity.
Pine Island Glacier is slowly melting, as seen from above.NASA
It’s unclear exactly how badly the heat source could be damaging the glacier, and how much it will speed up the glacier’s demise, but scientists are sure that the glacier is being melted from below. This thawing could raise the global sea level considerably, and not only because the ice itself is melting into the ocean. The Pine Island Glacier is important for “plugging” other ice from flowing into the sea too quickly, and without it, we may see an even faster sea level rise.
Wasn't the AIR temperatures in Antarctica. It's the only GW free continent. And it wasn't even the Southern Ocean temperatures.
Volcanic activity is melting this Antarctic glacier from below
ike many Antarctic glaciers, the Pine Island Glacier is melting. But Pine Island is melting faster than any other glacier in the world. Surprisingly, it’s not climate change alone that is causing the thaw. New research by the National Science Foundation has found evidence that volcanic activity beneath the glacier is a likely culprit.
An international team of scientists from NSF and the U.K.’s Natural Environmental Research Council discovered an underwater heat source by tracing the chemical signature of helium underwater, according to a press release. That heat source is almost certainly in the form of underwater volcanic activity.
Pine Island Glacier is slowly melting, as seen from above.NASA
It’s unclear exactly how badly the heat source could be damaging the glacier, and how much it will speed up the glacier’s demise, but scientists are sure that the glacier is being melted from below. This thawing could raise the global sea level considerably, and not only because the ice itself is melting into the ocean. The Pine Island Glacier is important for “plugging” other ice from flowing into the sea too quickly, and without it, we may see an even faster sea level rise.