Posted on 12/19/2005 2:54:11 AM PST by beyond the sea
Under Ocean Volcanoes Warming Water (Global Warming)
(snips) A few reports on this ongoing phenomenon:
Underwater Volcanoes Erupting Simultaneously All Over the World - March 14, 2005 -
Hundreds of underwater volcanoes are erupting all over the world, especially around the Ring of Fire, reports the India Daily.
Underwater volcanoes are erupting in Australia, Greece, New Zealand and many other countries including the American Northwest, which is experiencing an unprecedented level of underwater volcanism. Andaman Nicobar Island is experiencing underwater volcanism in both the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.
Tectonic movements have gone up by several folds in the last nine months, say geologists, so much so that they dont have enough monitoring mechanisms to keep track.
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/1904.asp
*****
More than 4,300 undersea earthquakes in five days!
- March 7, 2005 "It might be a volcanic eruption or a magma event on the ridge," said Garry Rogers, a seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada in Vancouver , B.C. "These earthquake swarms are associated with sea floor spreading [underwater volcanic activity]," said Robert P. Dziak, an oceanographer at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon.
The undersea quakes, about a mile-and-a-half below the ocean surface, werent large enough to trigger a tsunami, so the experts advise us not to worry.
I hope theyre correct, but if theres a tremendous amount of magma pouring into the ocean I think we have a problem. The magma could be as much as 2,150 degrees Fahrenheit - 10 times the boiling point which could lead to much warmer seas and thence to an ice age.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=6420&slu g=CAN%20Undersea%20Quakes
****
Underwater volcano found off Antarctic coast. May 21, 2004. The National Science Foundation announced yesterday that a previously unknown underwater volcano has been discovered in an area known as the Antarctic Sound at the northernmost tip of Antarctica. Dredges on the research vessel Lawrence M. Gould recovered abundant fresh basalt. Although large areas of the volcano were colonized by submarine life, none was found around the volcano itself, indicating that lava had flowed fairly recently. Temperature probes showed signs of geothermal heating of seawater. http://www.nsf.gov/home/news.html#story1
****
Underwater volcanic activity in the Arctic Ocean far stronger than anyone imagined.
(Snip) German-American researchers have discovered more hydrothermal activity at the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean than anyone ever imagined.
"The Gakkel ridge is a gigantic volcanic mountain chain stretching beneath the Arctic Ocean. With its deep valleys 5,500 meters beneath the sea surface and its 5,000 meter- high summits, Gakkel ridge is far mightier than the Alps."
Two research icebreakers, the "USCGC Healy" from USA and the German "PFS Polarstern," recently joined forces in the international expedition AMORE (Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition). In attendance were scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and other international institutions.
****
Popping rocks reveal multiple underwater volcanoes off northern Mexico 27 Oct 2005 - Noisy popping rocks hauled up from the deep Pacific seafloor off northern Mexico appear to be from a very young undersea volcano, say U.S. and Mexican geologists.
****
Underwater volcanoes pose tsunami threat July 28, 2005 Seventy five previously unknown underwater volcanoes between New Zealand and Tonga pose a tsunami threat, warns Australian geologist Professor Richard Arculus.
****
Underwater volcano erupting 700 miles SE of Tokyo - July 3, 2005 - The coast guard sent helicopters to monitor a huge column of steam more than half-a-mile wide rising above the Pacific Ocean southeast of Tokyo, and warned ships to stay away. The water in the area was brick-red.
"It's highly likely that it's caused by an eruption of an underwater volcano," coast guard spokesman Shigeyuki Sato said.
"We suspect the undersea volcanic moves are becoming active," said another coast guard official.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4646185.stm
****
Underwater volcano grows 1,000 feet in four years May 25, 2005 - On an expedition to observe the Vailulu'u Volcano, an underwater volcano discovered in 1999 near American Samoa, scientists saw another volcano growing out of the first, like the island in the middle of Crater Lake .
Scientists dubbed the new volcano, about 20 miles (32 km) east of the island of Ta'u , Nafanua after the Samoan goddess of war. Growing at a rate of about 8 inches (20 cm) a day, Nafanua measured nearly 1,000 feet (300 meters) high. It could go much higher, said geologist Hubert Staudigel from the University of California at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
The scientists were so amazed to find eels living in the newly formed lava that they nicknamed the population "Eel City." (Knowing that the temperature of the basalt should be around 2150 degrees Fahrenheit, I wonder why dont we see any comments about how much heat underwater volcanoes must be pouring into the seas?)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7984261/?GT1=6542
Where do they get these science writers? Good grief!
ring of fire bump for johnny
I could never understand the "warming oceans equals new ice age" logic, either. It's all a bunch of hooey. They're just covering all the bases so no matter what happens they can come back and say: "See? We were right!"
No matter, it's still Bush's fault.
Here's my preferred means of melting ice, with a bit of tonic mixed in:
If you're referring to the comment about warmer seas leading to an ice age, that's not so ridiculous; warmer seas lead to more atmospheric moisture which snows out at the poles etc... but I suspect that a source with a name like "iceagenow" may not be perfectly unbiased.
I have no idea how hot magma is. I just heard about the heat of McDonald's hot coffee.
Shoot! If only we had signed Kyoto...
LOL
Ring of Fire
http://www.crystalinks.com/rof.html
Hey - 2150 degrees F = 1177 degrees C - that's over ELEVEN times the boiling point !!!
I could use something right about now to melt the compacted snow and ice on my 650 foot driveway.
Yes, I know how to operate a thermometer.
That's true, but some times some things are just facts. These volcanoes are a reality.
We know more about our solar system than we do about under our oceans and the interior of the earth.
;-)
India Daily? That's a New Jersey-based sham news blog.
Boiling point at sea level is 212 F so, since he's talking F for the temp of the magma, I guess that's where he figured it's 10 times the boiling point of water.
Which paper broke the Monica story? Which paper broke the Jesse Jackson fathering a child outside his marriage story?
Sometimes the "rags" get it right.
I always have to be careful when interpreting geophysical actions into changes in climate. For example many scientists believe that the great end of Permian extinction event that occured 250 million years ago was due to immense volcanic activity. Some say that the volcanic activity may have superheated the Earth's atmosphere while others say it may have sent up ash that blocked out the sunlight cooling the atmosphere. Vastly different estimations from roughly the same event.
In this case we are talking about under-ocean volcanoes warming the oceans. I'm not sure that I agree with that argument. It's not that I don't think that underwater volcanoes wouldn't heat the oceans (they probably would if they were not allowed to send any ejecta into the atmosphere), it's just that I don't think I agree with the premise that the ring of fire has gone into a super-active phase. I studied geophysics for 2 years before I got sick of it and one thing I learned is that the Earth rarely suddenly changes its behavior. Volcanic activity will scale up over millions or billions of years, not tens of years. If there is a high value for one year it will be averaged out statistically.
I give a lot more credibility to arguments that the Sun, CO2, or methane gas hydrate release is warming the oceans than to a change in the Earth itself. It's a positive feedback cycle: the Sun heats the oceans which emit CO2 and methane, which further heats the atmosphere as greenhouse gasses. Obviously there must be some negative feedback cycle or the Earth would have long ago spiraled off into oblivion. I'm guessing that that negative feedback is due to plankton and phytoplankton that thrive at higher temperatures, reflecting more sunlight away.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.