Posted on 07/12/2008 8:51:22 PM PDT by neverdem
In 1999, seismographs detected a swarm of earthquakes at a spot on the Gakkel ridge, a midocean ridge that traverses the Arctic. A few expeditions to the area, north of Siberia about 350 miles from the pole, produced indirect evidence of explosive eruptions deep on the seafloor.
Explosive volcanism at such depths would be very unusual, said Robert A. Sohn of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. People had been afraid to even suggest it, because it seemed so ludicrous.
Seafloor volcanoes do erupt violently, but in relatively shallow water. The Gakkel ridge spot is 13,000 feet down, and at such great depths it had been thought that explosive eruptions could not occur because there is not enough gas in magma to overcome the immense pressure.
So in 2007 Dr. Sohn led another expedition to the area, sending a homemade contraption down to the seafloor with high-definition video cameras and a sampling device. His teams findings, reported in Nature, show conclusively that explosive eruptions occurred.
The evidence came in the form of fresh pyroclastic deposits, small bits of volcanic rock, spread over an area greater than four square miles. The researchers even found evidence of Limu o Pele, fragments of the wall of an exploding bubble of magma. A map of the area created using sonar showed what appeared to be cratered volcanoes that probably were the focus points of the explosions...
--snip--
Dr. Sohn said the work showed how much there is to be learned about what goes on along deep midocean ridges. For one thing, explosive volcanism like this involving the release of large amounts of carbon dioxide may not be so rare. Our community is going to embrace this pretty quickly as a research topic, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Dont forget too, that the temp of the water directly affects the amount of CO2 it can hold in solution. its an inverse relationship, the colder the water the more it holds. The warmer the water, the more it releases, and it wont absorb as much. As that water moves south, and warms up, the Co2 entrained will begin to come out of solution and back into the atmosphere. Id love to see the volumes of Co2 in THAT particular water sample, I bet its almost fizzy like beer!
But it is actually global cooling... the heat is being transferred from within to the outside, where it will dissipate.
We can only hope they find a way to work up the courage to join the popular crowd that is hell-bent on proving AGW no matter what and follow where the facts have always pointed, no matter what the professional consequences.
Because liberals (even liberal scientists) lack principles, their decision-making processes don't have a “tipping point” as much as they they have a “flipping point”, where they suddenly feel compelled to support something they previously had worked against.
I know what you are saying, and you are exactly correct.
But, I also think it is like everything else.
earthquakes
global warming
sunspots
There is not just one factor. There are many. So many it is very hard to predict, almost impossible, one might say.
thanks neverdem for both:
Arsenic risk high in Sumatra, Myanmar, Cambodia: study
(ground water contamination)
AFP | 07/11/08
Posted on 07/12/2008 12:14:22 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044328/posts
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Let me be the first to welcome you to FreeRepublic.com, and thank you for the link.
I didn’t post the article for any particular reason, i.e. melting of the Arctic Ocean’s Icesheet. I’m a science junky, and vulcanism and its effect on ocean pH, coral reefs and atmospheric carbon dioxide are other interesting phenomena off the top of my head.
I checked out your link and some of your website. Is 1.0E+6 a standard exponential notation for 10 to the 6th power now? It’s been quite a while since I got my B.S. Physicians usually don’t have deal with exponential notation.
thanks for the ping Civ.
LucyT, this topic may be of interest to you.
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