Finally found a way to blame the Icelandic Volcanic eruption on Bush!

[oldkat69]

 Reuters) - A thaw of Iceland's ice caps in coming decades caused by climate change may trigger more volcanic eruptions by removing a vast weight and freeing magma from deep below ground, scientists said on Friday.

They said there was no sign that the current eruption from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier that has paralysed flights over northern Europe was linked to global warming. The glacier is too small and light to affect local geology.

"Our work suggests that eventually there will be either somewhat larger eruptions or more frequent eruptions in Iceland in coming decades," said Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a vulcanologist at the University of Iceland.

"Global warming melts ice and this can influence magmatic systems," he told Reuters. The end of the Ice Age 10,000 years ago coincided with a surge in volcanic activity in Iceland, apparently because huge ice caps thinned and the land rose.

"We believe the reduction of ice has not been important in triggering this latest eruption," he said of Eyjafjallajokull. "The eruption is happening under a relatively small ice cap."

Carolina Pagli, a geophysicist at the University of Leeds in England, said there were risks that climate change could also trigger volcanic eruptions or earthquakes in places such as Mount Erebus in Antarctica, the Aleutian islands of Alaska or Patagonia in South America.


"The effects would be biggest with ice-capped volcanoes," she said. "If you remove a load that is big enough you will also have an effect at depths on magma production."

She and Sigmundsson wrote a 2008 paper in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters about possible links between global warming and Icelandic volcanoes.

That report said that about 10 percent of Iceland's biggest ice cap, Vatnajokull, has melted since 1890 and the land nearby was rising about 25 millimetres (0.98 inch) a year, bringing shifts in geological stresses.

They estimated that the thaw had led to the formation of 1.4 cubic km (0.3 cubic mile) of magma deep below ground over the past century.

At high pressures such as under an ice cap, they reckon that rocks cannot expand to turn into liquid magma even if they are hot enough. "As the ice melts the rock can melt because the pressure decreases," she said.

Sigmundsson said that monitoring of the Vatnajokull volcano since 2008 suggested that the 2008 estimate for magma generation was "probably a minimum estimate. It can be somewhat larger."

He said that melting ice seemed the main way in which climate change, blamed mainly on use of fossil fuels, could have knock-on effects on geology. The U.N. climate panel says that global warming will cause more floods, droughts and rising seas.

[tombogan03884]

What a convoluted load of crap.

[twyacht]

What a convoluted load of crap.

I concur. Need to check the Antarctic Temps, -100 degrees F. wind chill to -142.. in Vostok.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=-78.44999695,106.87000275

How's that for global warming forecast!!!

[crusader rabbit]

Nah.  Not Bush's fault...  I think I have to agree with the Iranian Mullah who says earthquakes and volcanoes should be blamed on young women who dress sexy.  I know I've seen some in "summer" dress lately who have made the earth move under my feet.

[JSC3ATLCSO]

Nah.  Not Bush's fault...  I think I have to agree with the Iranian Mullah who says earthquakes and volcanoes should be blamed on young women who dress sexy.  I know I've seen some in "summer" dress lately who have made the earth move under my feet.

Bjork comes to mind after that statement

[Sponsor]

[Pathfinder]

Nah.  Not Bush's fault...  I think I have to agree with the Iranian Mullah who says earthquakes and volcanoes should be blamed on young women who dress sexy.  I know I've seen some in "summer" dress lately who have made the earth move under my feet.

I drove through the street that cuts into the local university here, and my, oh, my, the young lovelies where all out skating in incredibly short shorts. OK, and some of the not so lovelies, and some guys too. But it was the first batch that caught my eye.

Hard to remember that they are someone's daughter, but I had to remember that, as my granddaughter will be among them all too soon.

[fightingquaker13]

I'm with Path here. When I was teaching at UT Austin, there was a short cut from the parking lot to my building. It led through the quad of four women's dorms. Really a lovelly place, the dorms were old and done in classic spanish colonial style done in a square with wrought iron gates surrounding a quad with live oaks and a great lawn. Then came shorts weather. My class was at 1pm. It looked like a triage ward. Dozens of young women sprawled out in bikinis (or less, as going topless was legal in Austin and this was when the thong was popular) working on their tans. Amazing how often I was late to class from taking this "short cut".
FQ13

[TAB]

I'm with Path here. When I was teaching at UT Austin, there was a short cut from the parking lot to my building. It led through the quad of four women's dorms. Really a lovelly place, the dorms were old and done in classic spanish colonial style done in a square with wrought iron gates surrounding a quad with live oaks and a great lawn. Then came shorts weather. My class was at 1pm. It looked like a triage ward. Dozens of young women sprawled out in bikinis (or less, as going topless was legal in Austin and this was when the thong was popular) working on their tans. Amazing how often I was late to class from taking this "short cut".
FQ13

I would have never made it to class. 

[tombogan03884]

I would have never made it to class. 

Who are you trying to kid ?
You never would have made it to the interview. 

[Timothy]

Oh Boy!  I get to comment on the thread and the drift as well..

Iceland is the MOST geologically active region on the planet. I've seen this glacier first hand from a distance whilst living on that rock.  Icelanders are used to these things and benefit from the geothermal wonders that the island provides them.  This global warming hooey is getting a little old.

On the HOT young ladies drift.....Iceland is also a "clothing optional" society wherein the young Scandinavian beauties will shed their blouses and undergarments during those 50-60 degree "dog days of summer" and sun themselves all over the city.....

What a wonderful place for a 19 year old sailor to be stationed.