Interesting, isn't it, that we keep finding ways that nature is responsible for phenomena associated with global warming?

Another factor might be contributing to the thinning of some of the Antarctica's glaciers: volcanoes.

In an article published Sunday on the Web site of the journal Nature Geoscience, Hugh Corr and David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey report the identification of a layer of volcanic ash and glass shards frozen within an ice sheet in western Antarctica.

"This is the first time we have seen a volcano beneath the ice sheet punch a hole through the ice sheet" in Antarctica, Vaughan said.

Volcanic heat could still be melting ice to water and contributing to thinning and speeding up of the Pine Island glacier, which passes nearby, but Vaughan said he doubted that it could be affecting other glaciers in western Antarctica, which have also thinned in recent years. Most glaciologists, including Vaughan, say that warmer ocean water is the primary cause of thinning.

Unless, of course, there are volcanoes on the other side of the continent causing melting there -- and don't forget that the water released by the volcanoes will help raise the temperature more generally.

But regardless, we find AGAIN that there is a natural phenomenon resulting in one of the "proofs" of global warming. And yet somehow the faith of the acolytes of than new religion remains unchanged.

Posted by: Greg at 06:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 247 words, total size 2 kb.