SubscribeCould Volcanoes Be Melting The Arctic Ice?
From the Agence France-Presse:
Volcanic eruptions reshape Arctic ocean floor: study
Wed Jun 25
PARIS (AFP) - Recent massive volcanoes have risen from the ocean floor deep under the Arctic ice cap, spewing plumes of fragmented magma into the sea, scientists who filmed the aftermath reported Wednesday.
The eruptions — as big as the one that buried Pompei — took place in 1999 along the Gakkel Ridge, an underwater mountain chain snaking 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) from the northern tip of Greenland to Siberia.
Scientists suspected even at the time that a simultaneous series of earthquakes were linked to these volcanic spasms.
But when a team led of scientists led by Robert Sohn of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts finally got a first-ever glimpse of the ocean floor 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) beneath the Arctic pack ice, they were astonished.
What they saw was unmistakable evidence of explosive eruptions rather than the gradual secretion of lava bubbling up from Earth’s mantle onto the ocean floor…
The mid-ocean ridge runs 84,000 kilometres (52,000 miles) beneath all the world’s major seas except the Southern Ocean, and marks the boundary between many of the tectonic plates that make up the surface of the Earth.
When continental plates collide into each other, they can thrust up mountain ranges such as the Himalayas.
But along most of the mid-ocean ridge — including the Gakkal Ridge — the plates are pulling apart, allowing molten magna and gases trapped beneath the crust to escape…
Both sonar and visual images showed an ocean valley filled with flat-topped volcanos up to two kilometres (1.2 miles) wide and several hundred metres high.
Er, is it not possible that these volcanic eruptions — going back to at least 1999 — may have played a part in whatever melting there has been of the Greenland and Arctic ice sheets?
If there has even been any.
For according to the global warming cultists scientists at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, the amount in ice began to decline precipitously in around 1999, which is when these volcanoes began their eruption.
But isn’t it funny how not one word about the purported simultaneous decline in arctic ice was ever mentioned in the original article?
Why do you suppose that is?
(Thanks to Rightwinger for the heads up.)
Related Articles:
- Kofi Annan Wants 'Climate Justice' For Poor
- Get The Facts On Climate Hysteric Hansen
- Soros Stooge Wants Trials For Oil Execs
- RFK Jr Explains The Democrat Energy Policy
- How The AP Lied About Gore's Energy Use
- Eco-Terrorists Ambush Coal Train In England
- GOP Stops $5.6 Trillion Carbon Tax - For Now
- 'Climate Change' Bill Could Cut Growth 7%
- UN Is Wasting Billions On 'Carbon Offsets'
- An Ice Age Cometh - Due To Fewer Sunspots
- Obama To End Big Oil, Start Carbon Credits
- NY Times/CBS Poll "Proves" Global Warming
- Newsweek's 1975 Article On Coming Ice Age
32 Responses to “Could Volcanoes Be Melting The Arctic Ice?”
Leave a Reply
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
SG, this is preposterous and I demand you take this anti-global warming/cooling/methane gas spewing news off the site (cakcle cackle).
June 26th, 2008 at 3:12 am
If this is caused by active volcanos then it is still global warming! Or at least far north warming. But I’m pretty sure, although I’m certain the left will disagree, that man is not causing this.
Could be that all the pollution we dump in the ocean floated up north and drifted down into the volcanos, and this clogged them up, and the only way the volcanos could clear themselves out was to erupt.
I know, don’t give the left ideas. But then, my theory is as based in fact as theirs is about global warming.
June 26th, 2008 at 6:19 am
If I remember correctly, volcanoes also release significant amounts of carbon into the environment. Does this mean we have to fine God for violating the Kyoto accords?
June 26th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Possible lefty explanations:
1) Global warming has melted the arctic ice enough so that the seeping magma has become a torrential river of carbonated death due to the lifting of the ice (which was acting like a bottle cap on the volcanic ridge).
2) Excess carbon has dropped from the atmosphere into the arctic seas which feeds the magma on the ridge like an enormous alka-seltzer making the magma hotter, melting the ice cap in concert with global warming.
3) Drilling all that is left of peak oil is causing the ridge to widen as the earth’s crust shrinks like a prune without the fluid oil beneath it.
4) Gaia is hacked off (cuz of all of the above, natch) and is releasing the dogs of magma which will grow like a giant earthy zit on the bottom of the ocean.
You heard it here first.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:33 am
All of the ocean basin floors have a volcanic origin and have been active for at least the last few hundred million years. Subaqueous volcanoes do not generate enough heat to melt the massive volumes of ice that make up Earth’s polar caps. If the permanent caps are shrinking (and the evidence for this is uncertain), it’s probably NOT caused by ocean floor volcanic eruptions. And only the north pole is over an ocean basin; Antarctica is a continental land mass.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:26 am
There’s more on this story at Science Daily:
June 26th, 2008 at 10:47 am
“These are the first pyroclastic deposits we’ve ever found in such deep water, at oppressive pressures that inhibit the formation of steam, and many people thought this was not possible,”
Thank you, SG. Fascinating. But I thought we already knew everything there was to know about geology and climatology. I mean, how could we be absolutely certain that the climate is changing and people are responsible if we couldn’t eliminate or discount every other possible cause? I am so confused now…
June 26th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
“And only the north pole is over an ocean basin; Antarctica is a continental land mass.”
Which would argue that while the Arctic ice might be affected by volcanos, the Antarctic ice would not. In fact I read - somewhere - that the Antarctic ice was increasing. It was mentioned as a potential tragedy for penguins, as I recall, which would now have to travel longer distances to open water and might be enough of a distance to impact the parents switching off egg/chick tending. Maybe the amount of ice worldwide is maintaining a constant level.
Of course, Diane, I also read that the Van Allen belts were reversing their polarity - which apparently they do now and then - and that this might affect all sorts of things. Too little information, too many theories.
June 26th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Of course they blamed global warming.
From CNEWS yesterday:
Report: Climate change linked to U.S. national security
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/En.....41-ap.html
CNEWS’s picture of the day today:
An outbreak of blue-green algae is seen on the coastline of Qingdao,…Experts say the algae is a result of climate change,…
http://cnews.canoe.ca/
EDIT: Dang, Steve -where’d your last post go ?
You name it -global warming -aka:climate change, is behind it somehow.
June 26th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
“EDIT: Dang, Steve -whered your last post go ?”
Sorry, DW. I removed it because it was an article from 2005 and might not reflect current NASA thinking.
Whatever that is.
(Now if I could only figure out why some people have spaces before their question marks here.)
June 26th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
(Now if I could only figure out why some people have spaces before their question marks here.)
You’ve mentioned that before.
Does it really bother you ?Does it really bother you?I know it’s wrong, but I’ve always done it that way.
And I try so hard to make sure my spelling is OK and my grammar -while far from perfect- is at least readable.
Sheesh… :-)
June 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
DW….the reason you do that is because you are typing “green”! Every space you leave before a question mark absorbs a cubic foot of Co2, thus keeping the Kyoto Accords alive with every sentence!
Dont feel bad…..SG made me start using paragraphs back in 05……said my posts were using too much fossil ink…..
June 26th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
“Does it really bother you?”
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is nuclear holocaust — it’s only about a 7.
But I can’t help but worry that it is some problem with the software here.
I didn’t realize it was just a defect in your upbringing.
June 26th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I didn’t realize it was just a defect in your upbringing.
YOWWW!!!
Well, I guess I’ve been publicly paddled, LOL.
Fine. Forevermore I will endeavour to eliminate the space before my question marks.
SJ: This place is getting a bit Draconian,
don’t you think ?don’t you think?June 26th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
If we were Draconian, we would mention your paragraph spacing.
June 26th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
My head, sir, is both bloody and bowed. I should’a known better.
I’ll just drag my sorry ass off to the Conservative Canadians’ Graveyard (located on the Otaskwin-Attiwaspikat River) and let the VRWC -Canadian Chapter (located under the Wal-mart in Flin Flon, Manitoba) select a new token Canadian for this site.
You’ll probably get someone dour and humourless the next time around, but, hey, at least his question marks won’t have a space in front of them.
He probably won’t understand the subtle nuances of dealing with Americans the way I do (never mention who really won the War of 1812, never mention who invented the Garand rifle and never mention who holds the world record for sniping) but his paragraph spacing will be bang-on.
I’ll just lie there and rot. Probably get eaten by scavengers and big bugs while you adjust to your new Canuck and wish I was still around (unless, of course, you get a hot chick -I heard there’s one in Calgary).
But that’s OK (sniffle). I understand…
This is it…
Oh untimely death!
June 26th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Somebody needs a hug.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
“You’ll probably get someone dour and humourless the next time around, but, hey, at least his question marks won’t have a space in front of them.
He probably won’t understand the subtle nuances of dealing with Americans the way I do (never mention who really won the War of 1812, never mention who invented the Garand rifle and never mention who holds the world record for sniping) but his paragraph spacing will be bang-on.”
Hey, I’m impressed that you knew to capitalize Draconian.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Actually, that was a guess (I saw your comment before the edit though…nyah nyah).
Hey, just to keep us semi on-topic, kudos for posting this article (and also to Rightwinger for digging it up). So far, this is the only place I’ve seen it.
This is a damned handy thing to bring up when talking to people who only take in the gospel according to the AP (or CP).
Zilla: Yeah, me too :-) (whew)
June 26th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Damn, I wonder if SG could survive the abysmal grammar and punctuation used by todays untaught and uneducated but chock full of self esteem kids ?
Draconian though it may get, it is still the best place to have your papers graded before turning them in!
June 26th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Egad, are we here to be graded now?
June 26th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Nah, we are graded by the content of our character, the moral compass of our future, the….the….crap, that leaves me out.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Yep, we’re pretty much buggered. I mean when such a rock of conservatism and common sense like SG suddenly veers a thread off-course for the sole purpose of attacking an innocent Canadian…well, you just know the man’s starting to lose it.
What a shame…sigh
June 26th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
DW,
Being that you are a Canadian(or is that Canadien? :P), you should be used to it, right? I mean, with that whole ‘almost-parity-of-the-dollar’ thing, your self-esteem has got to suffer. And, I’ve been to Calgary - all the hot chicks left for Wyoming… Edmonton, on the otherhand…
(Not to attempt to steer the conversation back to the topic, but…) Since Canada has laid claim to the ocean floor in the Arctic, I fully expect Canada to own up to the problem and find some fix this global-warming-causing event.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Drudge is wigging about this Telegraph article:
http://tinyurl.com/4jyyy2
Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole
Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Friday, 27 June 2008
It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.
The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer. . . .
They have a nifty graph showing how the ice melts all the way thru July (which is only a few days away) so I’m guessing that we’ll know if they’re right in a month or so. I find their claim of the “first time in human history” suspect–so the rest of the claims (50/50 chance) sound rather bunko also.
Call me a pyroclast if you want but I’m going with the underwater volcanoes as the culprit–these mopes (and Drudge) still haven’t got the memo.
Meanwhile here is a pic of the ice yesterday as opposed to 10 years ago yesterday:
http://tinyurl.com/4hd5c9
Oddly, I cannot tell the difference.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Arctain:
(or is that Canadien?
Whoa, pardner! Them’s fightin’ words.
I mean, with that whole ‘almost-parity-of-the-dollar’ thing,
Actually, we bob up and down above and below your dollar. I was quite proud of that fact…right up until it put me out of a job…sigh.
And, I’ve been to Calgary - all the hot chicks left for Wyoming… Edmonton, on the otherhand…
Edmonton is known as Redmonton by proper Calgarians. With good reason. All the good looking chicks there are probably guys in drag.
Can you sponsor me for immigration to Wyoming?
I fully expect Canada to own up to the problem and find some fix this global-warming-causing event.
We are currently working on our submarine. Bear with us…
Notsoyoungjim: Quite often you will find the press yipping and yapping about the ice in the North-west Passage being gone for the first time in history. It’s a load of crap. Vessels have been transiting that passage since Peary did it in 1903-1906 (yes, it took him a couple of years, but bear in mind that he didn’t have a chart -so he made the first one).
June 27th, 2008 at 9:14 am
“Lava has never melted ice!”
“Google it!“
June 27th, 2008 at 11:24 am
DW,
I have a hunting trip planned to North Dakota in Oct. I’ll make sure that I walk up to the border marker, gun in hand, and hurl demands in the general direction of Canada requiring the cap of millions of tons of greenhouse gases venting from Canadian lands into pristine seawater.
If I weren’t shooting pheasant, I am sure I could get Greenpeace to join me in this protest. I wonder if Kofi is available…
June 27th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Arctain:
Remember the French guys in the castle in Monthy Python’s Search for the Holy Grail?
(I break wind in your general direction!…)
That’s us.
Actually, once you get to the border, keep going north -about 600 miles. I’ll buy you a beer and take you out caribou hunting.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
This post got linked at Icecap, which is how I found my way over here. I have commented on this topic twice at my own site. I’ll copy over two paragraphs:
“Icecap has succumbed to nonsense about undersea volcanoes in the Arctic. Scientific illiteracy knows no ideological bounds. Icecap has foolishly cited Thomas Lifson, off the reservation at American Thinker. Lifson thinks that global warming disclaimers should have accompanied the publication of a discovery about a 1999 eruption.
“You may remember the Antarctic volcano recently studied for possible “lubrication” of an ice sheet. This is something that could actually happen, because the heat plume is in direct contact with rigid, insulating ice, and the effect is essentially local. But an ocean is fluid, not solid, and its thermal inertia is absolutely immense. The notion that one or several eruptions could affect the temperature of the whole ocean is ludicrous.”
I write about climate often. I am a skeptic, especially about AGW, which is unproven and probably unprovable. But I have been dismayed by how many skeptics have betrayed their own ignorance over this undersea volcano story.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:01 am
In response to Mr. Sullivan above:
The IBD has published the following with regard to the notion of volcanic activities causing artic polar melt:
“Is it possible that it these eruptions, part of an “ongoing process,” have played a part in whatever melting there has been of the Greenland and Arctic ice sheets?
Scientists at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory have put together a chart showing Arctic ice relatively stable until a precipitous decline began in 1999 — the very year the Arctic eruptions started.
Icebergs breaking away and polar bears supposedly drowning are good theater, but they do not reflect reality. In April, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a study, based on last September’s data, showing Arctic ice has shrunk from 13 million square kilometers to just 3 million.
What the WWF didn’t mention was that by March of this year the Arctic ice had recovered to 14 million square kilometers and that ice-cover around the Bering Strait and Alaska was at its highest level ever recorded. Ice freezes. Ice melts. That’s what ice does.”
http://tinyurl.com/6zw6bp
Assuming your point that the volcanic activity causing the warming is nonsense, what have you to say to the WWF’s playing fast and loose with the facts in ignoring the expansion of the polar ice sheet this year while promoting the claim that that same ice sheet will likely disappear this summer? (A condition the greenies contend is happening for the first time this year.)
Quoting from that same IBD editorial “In August 2000 the New York Times ran a piece claiming the pole was free of ice for the first time in 50 million years, long before SUVs roamed Earth. As earth scientist Patrick Michaels noted, “It was retracted three weeks later as a barrage of scientists protested that open water is common at or near the pole at the end of summer.”"
Oddly you label this pyroclastic activity notion as nonsense, while completely ignoring the straw man provided by greenies that prompted this theory in the first place.
Furthermore who’s to say it’s the thermal activity that’s melting the sheet and not the CO2 released from the volcanic eruptions? Again it’s the greenies who wail that humans are causing the increased carbon, yet to my memory they’ve never acknowleged the possible natural causes of CO2 increase due to volcanic activity. From the editorial: “Robert Sohn, WHOI geophysicist, lead author and chief scientist of the July 27, 2007, Arctic Gakkel Vents Expedition, estimates that exploding mixtures of lava and gas were expelled at speeds of more than 500 meters a second.
Sohn says the large volumes of CO2 gas that belched out of the undersea volcanoes likely contributed to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
You claim to be an AGW skeptic which is “probably unprovable.” More likely, you are an AGW apologist having accepted the dogma while acting in concert with the greenies to label the skeptical critics as ignorant.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:06 am
EXCELLENT JOB, S&L !