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Volcanoes and Antarctic Warming

Kenneth Chang Tierney Lab 01/23/2009 14:30
Volcanoes and Antarctic Warming - warming - volcano - Antarctic


A couple of readers responded to news of a warming Antarctica by noting that West Antarctica, where the warming is most pronounced, is home to a number of volcanoes. (It’s basically the bottom segment of the Pacific Ocean’s “ring of fire.”)



In addition to coming up with my own answer, I did ask the study’s authors. Eric Steig of the University of Washington replied:

Wow. Strange question.

Volcanoes under the ice can’t affect climate on the surface, 2 miles above!

To amplify that a little bit: The ice sheet covering West Antarctica, including its volcanoes, is about two miles thick. Also, Antarctica’s volcanoes do not appear particularly active at present.


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