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Warm Water Carving Up Antarctica

calamity

calamity

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Antarctica's ice shelves are under attack at their most vulnerable points

According to the authors, these observations are evidence that Antarctica's ice shelves are being slowly carved up by underwater currents at their most vulnerable points...

Because ice shelves can serve as natural dams that prevent melting continental ice from gushing into the ocean en masse, the speed of their decay has a direct impact on sea-level rise.
Click to expand...

More signs that the warming of Earth has kicked into high gear.
 
Grand Mal said:
It's happening several times faster at high latitudes. North and south of 60 degrees latitude. Makes me wonder at what point it will be undeniable. Probably not in the lifetime of a hardcore denier, no matter what happens.
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The psychology of a denier is such that they will indeed die before they admit they were wrong...for decades.
 
I wouldn't jump to too big a conclusion. There is a massive amount we don't know about Antarctica and field researchers tend to be surprised lately when they find something new. The Ross ice shelf, for instance, is believed to be more prone to local weather than climate. A British team a couple years ago likewise reported they suspected that the warmer water they finding at depth was being blown on from the pacific during atypical tides.
 
calamity said:
Antarctica's ice shelves are under attack at their most vulnerable points



More signs that the warming of Earth has kicked into high gear.
Click to expand...

Volcanoes.

[h=1]Antarctica – 91 volcanoes coincidentally found under glaciers warming “due to climate change”[/h]
It’s possibly the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world, some as high as 4km and we didn’t even know these existed til recently. Despite that overwhelming ignorance, we’re 97.00% certain that all the warming in Antarctica is due to your car and airconditioner. Robin McKie, The Guardian writer, talks about the recent discovery of so many volcanoes under the ice. Not surprisingly, we have no data on how active these volcanoes are. However because we *know* climate change is definitely wrecking Antarctica, it follows that your car, air conditioner and pet dog could melt more ice, take the pressure off the tectonic plate and set one off. Then things will really get out of hand.
Anyhow, it’s just a coincidence that all the warming in Antarctica is where the volcanoes are.
Warming in Antarctica | New volcano discoveries
​
Spread the hagtag #allvolcanosmatter.
[h=3]From The Guardian: Scientists discover 91 volcanoes below Antarctic ice sheet[/h]Scientists have uncovered the largest volcanic region on Earth – two kilometres below the surface of the vast ice sheet that covers west Antarctica.
The project, by Edinburgh University researchers, has revealed almost 100 volcanoes – with the highest as tall as the Eiger, which stands at almost 4,000 metres in Switzerland.
Geologists say this huge region is likely to dwarf that of east Africa’s volcanic ridge, currently rated the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world.
These newly discovered volcanoes range in height from 100 to 3,850 metres. All are covered in ice, which sometimes lies in layers that are more than 4km thick in the region. These active peaks are concentrated in a region known as the west Antarctic rift system, which stretches 3,500km from Antarctica’s Ross ice shelf to the Antarctic peninsula.
Who’s responsible for lava?
 
[h=1]Giant blob of superheated rock under West Antarctica[/h]
A new seismic survey shows there is a blob of superheated rock 60 miles below West Antarctica. To describe it, the researchers use the phrase “like a blow-torch”. Of course, just because the parts of Antarctica that are warming are near or over this hot blob does not mean it’s causing the melting. It could be a coincidence. ; -)
… this is the first detailed look at the Earth beneath this region.
Not surprisingly, the maps show a giant blob of superheated rock about 60 miles beneath Mount Sidley, the last of a chain of volcanic mountains in Marie Byrd Land at one end of the transect. More surprisingly, they reveal hot rock beneath the Bentley Subglacial Trench, a deep basin at the other end of the transect.
The Bentley Subglacial Trench is part of the West Antarctic Rift System and hot rock beneath the region indicates that this part of the rift system was active quite recently.
The study really highlights how little we know about heat flow in Antarctica:
While heat flow through the Earth’s crust has been measured at at least 34,000 different spots around the globe, in Antarctica it has been measured in less than a dozen places. In July 2015, scientists reported the heat flow at one of these spots was four times higher than the global average.
Ever since then, scientists have been wondering why the reading was so high. “Recent extension in the Bentley Subglacial Trench might explain these readings,” Wiens said.


The IPCC says the West Antarctic is melting thanks to CO2.
Though they can’t explain why the rest of Antarctica doesn’t appear to be melting as well.
…
​
Naturally we don’t have any idea if the heat flows have gotten stronger lately since we didn’t know about the hot rocks before, and rather oddly, the volcanoes are going in the “wrong direction”:
“A line of volcanoes hints there might be a hidden mantle plume, like a blowtorch, beneath the plate,” said Doug Wiens, PhD, professor of earth and planetary sciences and a co-author on the paper. “The volcanoes would pop up in a row as the plate moved over it.”
“But it’s a bit unclear if this is happening here,” he said. We think we know which direction the plate is moving, but the volcanic chain is going in a different direction and two additional nearby volcanic chains are oriented in yet other directions.
The Full press release
[h=4]REFERENCE[/h]Lloyd et al (2015) A seismic transect across West Antarctica: Evidence for mantle thermal anomalies beneath the Bentley Subglacial Trench and the Marie Byrd Land Dome. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 2015; DOI: 10.1002/2015JB012455




 
West Antarctica: more evidence it was the volcanoes that melted the ice


. . . Damiani et al looked at the crustal thickness beneath Thwaites Glacier, and finds it is quite thin, like that beneath the Pine Island Glacier. The researchers conclude that it is likely there is a major volcanic dome in Marie Byrd Land.[SUP][1][/SUP]
Spot any media mention of the possibility that hot lava might be to blame instead of your SUV.[SUP][2][/SUP] Good little propaganda writers produce plenty of gloom and doom headlines of the imminent collapse of ice-sheets. Where are the journalists? For that matter — which climate scientist tries to make sure journalists present an accurate report?
h/t The HockeySchtick
..
​
The two key parts of the abstract:
“The thin continental crust we reveal beneath Thwaites Glacier supports the hypothesis that the West Antarctic Rift System underlies the region and is expressed topographically as the Byrd Subglacial Basin. This rifted crust is of similar thickness to that calculated from airborne gravity data beneath neighboring Pine Island Glacier, and is more extended than crust in the adjacent Siple Coast sector of the Ross Sea Embayment. A zone of thinner crust is also identified near the area’s subaerial volcanoes lending support to a recent interpretation predicting that this part of Marie Byrd Land is a major volcanic dome, likely within the West Antarctic Rift System itself.”
The presence of such inferred warm upper mantle also suggests regionally elevated geothermal heat flux in this sector of the West Antarctic Rift System and consequently the potential for enhanced meltwater production beneath parts of Thwaites Glacier itself.”
​
REFERENCE

[1^] Damiani, T., Jordan, T., Ferraccioli, F., Young, D., Blankenship, D. (2014) Variable crustal thickness beneath Thwaites Glacier revealed from airborne gravimetry, possible implications for geothermal heat flux in West Antarctica, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 407, 1 December 2014, Pages 109–122 DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.09.023
[2^] Dustin M. Schroeder, Donald D. Blankenship, Duncan A. Young, and Enrica Quartini. Evidence for elevated and spatially variable geothermal flux beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. PNAS, June 9, 2014 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1405184111 [Abstract]
 
[h=1]Surprise, West Antarctic volcano melts ice[/h]
Who would have thought? Antarctic volcanoes are hot after all. Having a volcano under an icesheet makes a difference, and some of the sea level rise blamed on CO2 is more likely to be because 1,000 °C lava is not far from sub-zero ice. Right now, according to scientist Dustin Schroeder and co, it is as if the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctic is sitting on a “stovetop burner”.[SUP][1][/SUP]
Only last week I wondered if West Antarctic volcanoes had something to do with the Antarctic warming and pointed out this strange coincidence below where almost all the warming seems to occur over the volcanic area which is part of the hot “Pacific rim of fire”. I also wondered why some parts of the media don’t seem to mention the volcanoes. Wait and see if this story gets picked up. So far, Fox, and Business Insider have it.
“Using radar data from satellites in orbit, the researchers were able to figure out where these subglacial streams were too full to be explained by flow from upstream. The swollen streams revealed spots of unusually high melt, Schroeder said. Next, the researchers checked out the subglacial geology in the region and found that fast-melting spots were disproportionately clustered near confirmed West Antarctic volcanoes, suspected volcanoes or other presumed hotspots.
“There’s a pattern of hotspots,” Schroeder said. “One of them is next to Mount Takahe, which is a volcano that actually sticks out of the ice sheet.”… “It’s pretty hot by continental standards,” he said.” — Fox
​
West Antarctica is melting. East Antarctica is not really. Could it be CO2, or is it volcanoes?
​
Significance
Thwaites Glacier is one of the West Antarctica’s most prominent, rapidly evolving, and potentially unstable contributors to global sea level rise. Uncertainty in the amount and spatial pattern of geothermal flux and melting beneath this glacier is a major limitation in predicting its future behavior and sea level contribution. In this paper, a combination of radar sounding and subglacial water routing is used to show that large areas at the base of Thwaites Glacier are actively melting in response to geothermal flux consistent with rift-associated magma migration and volcanism. This supports the hypothesis that heterogeneous geothermal flux and local magmatic processes could be critical factors in determining the future behavior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
​
 
calamity said:
Antarctica's ice shelves are under attack at their most vulnerable points



More signs that the warming of Earth has kicked into high gear.
Click to expand...

Yes glaciers are shrinking all across the world.

""This glacier used to be closer," Fagre declares as we crest a steep section, his glasses fogged from exertion. He's only half joking. A trailside sign notes that since 1901, Sperry Glacier has shrunk from more than 800 acres (320 hectares) to 300 acres (120 hectares). "That's out of date," Fagre says, stopping to catch his breath. "It's now less than 250 acres (100 hectares)."

Everywhere on Earth ice is changing. The famed snows of Kilimanjaro have melted more than 80 percent since 1912. Glaciers in the Garhwal Himalaya in India are retreating so fast that researchers believe that most central and eastern Himalayan glaciers could virtually disappear by 2035. Arctic sea ice has thinned significantly over the past half century, and its extent has declined by about 10 percent in the past 30 years. NASA's repeated laser altimeter readings show the edges of Greenland's ice sheet shrinking. Spring freshwater ice breakup in the Northern Hemisphere now occurs nine days earlier than it did 150 years ago, and autumn freeze-up ten days later. Thawing permafrost has caused the ground to subside more than 15 feet (4.6 meters) in parts of Alaska. From the Arctic to Peru, from Switzerland to the equatorial glaciers of Man Jaya in Indonesia, massive ice fields, monstrous glaciers, and sea ice are disappearing, fast."

The Big Thaw
 
Bergslagstroll said:
Yes glaciers are shrinking all across the world.

""This glacier used to be closer," Fagre declares as we crest a steep section, his glasses fogged from exertion. He's only half joking. A trailside sign notes that since 1901, Sperry Glacier has shrunk from more than 800 acres (320 hectares) to 300 acres (120 hectares). "That's out of date," Fagre says, stopping to catch his breath. "It's now less than 250 acres (100 hectares)."

Everywhere on Earth ice is changing. The famed snows of Kilimanjaro have melted more than 80 percent since 1912. Glaciers in the Garhwal Himalaya in India are retreating so fast that researchers believe that most central and eastern Himalayan glaciers could virtually disappear by 2035. Arctic sea ice has thinned significantly over the past half century, and its extent has declined by about 10 percent in the past 30 years. NASA's repeated laser altimeter readings show the edges of Greenland's ice sheet shrinking. Spring freshwater ice breakup in the Northern Hemisphere now occurs nine days earlier than it did 150 years ago, and autumn freeze-up ten days later. Thawing permafrost has caused the ground to subside more than 15 feet (4.6 meters) in parts of Alaska. From the Arctic to Peru, from Switzerland to the equatorial glaciers of Man Jaya in Indonesia, massive ice fields, monstrous glaciers, and sea ice are disappearing, fast."

The Big Thaw
Click to expand...

Ice shelves are not glaciers.
 
Jack Hays said:
Volcanoes.

[h=1]Antarctica – 91 volcanoes coincidentally found under glaciers warming “due to climate change”[/h]
It’s possibly the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world, some as high as 4km and we didn’t even know these existed til recently. Despite that overwhelming ignorance, we’re 97.00% certain that all the warming in Antarctica is due to your car and airconditioner. Robin McKie, The Guardian writer, talks about the recent discovery of so many volcanoes under the ice. Not surprisingly, we have no data on how active these volcanoes are. However because we *know* climate change is definitely wrecking Antarctica, it follows that your car, air conditioner and pet dog could melt more ice, take the pressure off the tectonic plate and set one off. Then things will really get out of hand.
Anyhow, it’s just a coincidence that all the warming in Antarctica is where the volcanoes are.
Warming in Antarctica | New volcano discoveries
​
Spread the hagtag #allvolcanosmatter.
[h=3]From The Guardian: Scientists discover 91 volcanoes below Antarctic ice sheet[/h]Scientists have uncovered the largest volcanic region on Earth – two kilometres below the surface of the vast ice sheet that covers west Antarctica.
The project, by Edinburgh University researchers, has revealed almost 100 volcanoes – with the highest as tall as the Eiger, which stands at almost 4,000 metres in Switzerland.
Geologists say this huge region is likely to dwarf that of east Africa’s volcanic ridge, currently rated the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world.
These newly discovered volcanoes range in height from 100 to 3,850 metres. All are covered in ice, which sometimes lies in layers that are more than 4km thick in the region. These active peaks are concentrated in a region known as the west Antarctic rift system, which stretches 3,500km from Antarctica’s Ross ice shelf to the Antarctic peninsula.
Who’s responsible for lava?
Click to expand...

:lamo
 
Florida is a long drive and there are too many people there anyway. It would be great if we had longer summers/shorter winters here. Bring it on......

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 
Media_Truth said:
91 volcanoes found under ice sheet in Antarctica. But are they active?

The study's authors don't think volcanic activity has contributed to Antarctica's currently retreating ice sheet.
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[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[h=1]Volcanic heat source discovered under Pine Island Glacier, the poster child for Antarctic melting[/h][FONT=&quot][heat source] Plays critical role in movement, melting Via Eurekalert KINGSTON, R.I. — June 22, 2018 — A researcher from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography and five other scientists have discovered an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica. The discovery and other findings, which are critical…
[/FONT]
June 26, 2018 in Antarctic.
 
Jack Hays said:
[FONT="][URL="https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/06/26/volcanic-heat-source-discovered-under-pine-island-glacier-the-poster-child-for-antarctic-melting/"]
volcanic-pine-island-glacier1.jpg
[/URL][/FONT]
[h=1]Volcanic heat source discovered under Pine Island Glacier, the poster child for Antarctic melting[/h][FONT="][FONT=inherit][heat source] Plays critical role in movement, melting Via Eurekalert KINGSTON, R.I. — June 22, 2018 — A researcher from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography and five other scientists have discovered an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica. The discovery and other findings, which are critical…[/FONT]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
[URL="https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/06/26/volcanic-heat-source-discovered-under-pine-island-glacier-the-poster-child-for-antarctic-melting/"]June 26, 2018[/URL] in Antarctic.
Click to expand...


So there are 2 choices. We can believe the study's authors, who are advanced scientists doing research in the area, or we can believe Anthony Watts, the High Schooler.
 
Media_Truth said:
So there are 2 choices. We can believe the study's authors, who are advanced scientists doing research in the area, or we can believe Anthony Watts, the High Schooler.
Click to expand...

...and thoroughly debunked quack.
 
Media_Truth said:
So there are 2 choices. We can believe the study's authors, who are advanced scientists doing research in the area, or we can believe Anthony Watts, the High Schooler.
Click to expand...

As usual, the WUWT post is based on a peer-reviewed paper, in this case a paper published in Nature Communications. Your prejudice makes you blind, and then ignorant.

[FONT=&quot]". . . Via Eurekalert KINGSTON, R.I. — June 22, 2018 — A researcher from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography and five other scientists have discovered an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The discovery and other findings, which are critical to understanding the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, of which the Pine Island Glacier is a part, are published in the paper, “Evidence of an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier,” in the latest edition of Nature Communications. . . ."[/FONT]
 
calamity said:
...and thoroughly debunked quack.
Click to expand...

As usual, the WUWT post is based on a peer-reviewed paper, in this case a paper published in Nature Communications. Your prejudice makes you blind, and then ignorant.

". . . Via Eurekalert KINGSTON, R.I. — June 22, 2018 — A researcher from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography and five other scientists have discovered an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica.
The discovery and other findings, which are critical to understanding the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, of which the Pine Island Glacier is a part, are published in the paper, “Evidence of an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier,” in the latest edition of Nature Communications. . . ."
 
Jack Hays said:
As usual, the WUWT post is based on a peer-reviewed paper, in this case a paper published in Nature Communications. Your prejudice makes you blind, and then ignorant.

". . . Via Eurekalert KINGSTON, R.I. — June 22, 2018 — A researcher from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography and five other scientists have discovered an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica.
The discovery and other findings, which are critical to understanding the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, of which the Pine Island Glacier is a part, are published in the paper, “Evidence of an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier,” in the latest edition of Nature Communications. . . ."
Click to expand...

You've just put your foot in your mouth again. And Watts has shown his dishonesty and misrepresentation of scientific studies again. From YOUR LINK --->

These model experiments did not include the Pine Island Glacier within their domain, but we note that the adjacent Thwaites Glacier proved largely insensitive to the presence of a mantle heat source. Basal friction is high beneath the Thwaites Glacier leading to significant basal heat production and the additional heat from a mantle plume did not drastically alter the ice stream velocity.

This is the exact quote that was cited in post #17. Watts is a degenerate, uneducated slimeball.
 
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