The Antarctic is a massive expanse of ice, with enough water to submerge every coastline in the world under a 66 metre-high wave if it were all to melt away.
Unfortunately, scientists believe that¡¯s exactly what¡¯s happening. And not entirely due to global warming.
The worst part is that the melting isn¡¯t because of global warming. Scientists believe there¡¯s a section of the ice cap that hides a column of magma almost 2 kilometres beneath the surface.
NASA announced the results of its latest study on Tuesday, cataloguing plumes of magma beneath the Earth¡¯s surface that may be close to breaching. Usually, these only occur close to the edges of tectonic plates. However, the magma column they suspect is hiding in the Marie Byrd Land region of the Antarctic? is nowhere near such an edge. The same goes for another two columns detected in Yellowstone National Park and Hawaii. Because of the pressure being exerted, the columns are forcing open the ground and causing heat to escape to the surroundings.?
Rita Willaert/Flickr
Indicators of this magma plume were spotted about 30 years ago, when researchers noticed the telltale domed shape of the crust in the area. Now, the latest study has confirmed that the magma column is generating massive amounts of heat, as much as three times the geothermal heat any other place in the US might normally receive.
Even more intriguing is that the thinner layer of ice in the area hasn¡¯t been caused by increased global warming; it¡¯s actually between 50 million to 110 million years old, older than even we are. However, the icecap has always been able to deal with the plume¡¯s heat, but now it also has to contend with the the additional heat being output every day by us.