Huge Underwater Volcanoes Discovered Near Antarctica (string of a dozen, some of them active)

LiveScience.com ^ | 7/13/11 | Andrea Mustain

[NormsRevenge]

A string of a dozen volcanoes, at least several of them active, has been found beneath the frigid seas near Antarctica, the first such discovery in that region.

Some of the peaks tower nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above the ocean floor — nearly tall enough to break the water's surface.

"That's a big volcano. That's a very big volcano. If that was on land it would be quite remarkable," said Philip Leat, a vulcanologist with the British Antarctic Survey who led a seafloor mapping expedition to the region in 2007 and 2010.

The group of 12 underwater mountains lies south of the South Sandwich Islands — desolate, ice-covered volcanoes that rise above the southern Atlantic Ocean about halfway between South America and South Africa and erupted as recently as 2008. It's the first time such a large number of undersea volcanoes has been found together in the Antarctic region.

Leat said the survey team was somewhat surprised by the find.

"We knew there were other volcanoes in the area, but we didn't go trying to find volcanoes," Leat told OurAmazingPlanet. "We just went because there was a big blank area on the map and we had no idea what was there; we just wanted to fill in the seafloor."

Seafloor surprise

The team did so, thanks to ship-borne seafloor mapping technology, and not without a few hair-raising adventures.

Leat said the images of the seafloor appear before your eyes on screens as the ship moves through the water. "So it's very exciting," he said. "You go along and suddenly you see the bottom start to rise up underneath you, and you don't know how shallow it's going to get."

[madison10]

Duh! Could that be why the polar ice caps are melting? and NOT global warming?

[NormsRevenge]

and another volcano piece, same web site..

-

Volcanoes Could Trigger Bigger Climate Impact Than Thought

http://www.livescience.com/14992-climate-impact-volcanoes-eruptions.html

Volcanic eruptions might affect Earth’s climate more than thought by releasing far more weather-altering particles than scientists’ suspected, new research finds.

To help tease out the influence of volcanoes on global climate, researchers investigated the huge eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland on March 20, 2010. They monitored the volcano’s enormous plume, which spread all over Europe, from a research station in France.

The eruption rapidly ejected large ash particles into the atmosphere. The researchers then analyzed how many secondary particles this ash generated upon reacting chemically with other components of the atmosphere. The particles created from the eruptions were mostly composed of sulfuric acid and grew over time.

If sulfuric acid particles become large enough, they can behave as seeds for cloud formation. Clouds, in turn, can alter the amount and type of precipitation an area receives.

The atmospheric data the researchers collected during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption suggest that volcanic eruptions can release up to 100 million times more ash particles than thought. In addition, seeding particles can form at lower altitudes and farther distances from volcanoes than past studies had suggested.

[Raycpa]

We don’t even have a clue about much of the ocean floor but we know for certain that man is causing the seas to rise from global warming.

[NormsRevenge]

We know very little about most of the planet, especially the oceans and ice caps and how a tectonically active planet behaves.

That’s a mighty good guess tho. I seem to remember some indications that there are volcanos under the arctic pole too.. or was it the antarctic? .. I get my poles confused. ;-)

[NoGrayZone]

God created an amazing world!

[NormsRevenge]

We’ve explored a small percentage of the ocean floor.

who knows? one of these days, we’ll find the underwater alien bases and cities. ;-)

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

One of my kooky “beliefs” (ponderings and musings more than belief) is that Atlantis was in the antarctic archipelago and sank due to a volcanic disturbance.

[NormsRevenge]

In a few thousand years , there may be another Hawaiian island that emerges.. and in a few thousand more... the Chinese will own it. :-)

Yup, amazing world indeed.

[NormsRevenge]

Maybe they were there when it was warmer.. could be.

This fall, we’re cruising thru Santorini which blew pretty good in the past.. I see Etna just burped pretty good too..

[rokkitapps]

my thing with global warming is this: So what? Even if one concedes that man is causing global warming, the only real answer is depopulation. So, short of having a global culling of the herd, what are we to do? So, if there is global warming or not, who cares?

[AnAmericanAbroad]

Keep looking guys; now that you’ve found the heating system for R’lyeh, Cthulhu’s home can’t be much further away!

Iä! Iä! Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!

[TheOldLady]

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[Uncle Ike]

” my thing with global warming is this: So what? “

I grew up in Northern Tier states, and my response to Global Warming is “I’m for it!!”

[sinanju]

“In a few thousand years , there may be another Hawaiian island that emerges.. and in a few thousand more... the Chinese will own it. :-)

Yup, amazing world indeed.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Your historical perspective is a bit blinkered. Try and remember that twenty years ago Japan, Inc. was expected to own the Hawaiian Islands by now.

[wolfman23601]

tHAT COULDN’T AFFECT CURRENTS OR THE OCEAN TEMPERATURES

[NormsRevenge]

Boy, did we ever stick it to the Japanese investors good on real estate or what? lol

(/blinker) ;-)

[NormsRevenge]

I hear ya.. Eat Drink and Be Merry

for tomorrow, we uhhhh hopefully get to do it all over again.. and again

[alancarp]

I decided to check the maps. One of the biggest whines we’ve heard about Antarctica is the Pine Island Bay/Pine Island Glacier region.

My best guess is that these volcanos are somewhere in the neighborhood of 1800-2000 miles flight distance away from that region (starting somewhere south of South Georgia Island, which is off the SE coast of S. America). Pine Island Bay is to the west of the prominent peninsula sticking out from the Antarctic continent... and that’s SW of the S. Sandwich Islands.

Next question: would ocean currents flow in that direction so that the water temperatures could at least have the possibility of being raised by active undersea volcanos? The answer seems to be “yes”, though some of the flow maps I checked are either (a) in conflict, or (b) a little location dependent. But is does seem that there is an East-to-West flow around Antarctica.

Certainly if the GW crowd is up in arms about single degree temp changes, this should be investigated... except they won’t because it would totally invalidate their religion if true.

[alancarp]

Going a little further: this article about Antarctic ice melting from the Pine Island Glacier" is a good read... in light of this volcanic discovery. Gee, it could easily explain a whole lot about their observations (not about their conclusions, just the observations!).