Uncovering the Volcanic Secrets Beneath Antarctica’s Ice Sheet: A Slow Climate Feedback Loop

A slow climate feedback loop may be bubbling beneath Antarctica’s vast ice sheet, potentially leading to increased volcanic activity in the region. The continent is home to numerous volcanoes, with some sitting several kilometers beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

As climate change continues to cause the ice sheet to melt, the weight over the rocks below is decreasing. This unloading of ice sheets reduces pressure on magma chambers below the surface, causing the compressed magma to expand. The expansion increases pressure on magma chamber walls and can lead to eruptions.

Researchers conducted 4,000 computer simulations to study how ice sheet loss affects Antarctica’s buried volcanoes. They found that gradual melt could increase the number and size of subglacial eruptions. The process is slow, taking place over hundreds of years, but it could potentially lead to a feedback loop of reduced pressure from the surface and further volcanic eruptions.

Eruptions of subglacial volcanoes may not be visible on the surface, but they can have consequences for the ice sheet. Heat from these eruptions can increase ice melting deep below the surface and weaken the overlying ice sheet.

The authors of the study emphasize that this process is gradual and may continue even if global warming is curtailed. The same process of unloading and expansion of magma and gas may have contributed to past eruptions during the last ice age when Antarctica’s ice sheet was much thicker.

This research sheds light on the complex interactions between climate change, ice melt, and volcanic activity in Antarctica. It highlights the need for further study to understand the potential long-term impacts of these processes on the region.