"As the glacier melts, volcanic activity increases".Warming Iceland

2024.10.27 오후 09:43
Iceland, which has so many volcanoes that it is nicknamed the "Land of Fire and Ice," is facing an unprecedented crisis due to climate change, according to claims.

Some volcanic experts in Iceland have pointed out that glaciers, which weighed heavily on volcanoes, are rapidly melting and increasing in tandem with the frequency and intensity of eruptions.

As a result, the Icelandic government funded 12 research institutes, including the University of Iceland, to verify the theory that glacial loss leads to increased volcanic eruptions.

Currently, about 10% of Iceland's land is covered by glaciers, and about half of the 34 major active volcanoes are trapped under the glaciers.

However, in the last 130 years, Iceland's glaciers have decreased in volume by 16%, and about half of them have melted in the past few decades.

As glaciers decrease, the pressure to press the crust decreases by that much, raising concerns that magma can accumulate more easily under volcanoes.

In fact, experts point out that an analysis of the Icelandic stratum created 15,000 to 10,000 years ago showed that the frequency of volcanic eruptions increased by 30 to 50 times as much as before as the ice age ended and the ice accumulated on the surface decreased.

In addition, the rate of magma accumulation underground in Iceland over the past 30 years was two to three times faster than assuming that glaciers did not melt.

This risk is not limited to Iceland, so according to a paper published in the international academic journal 'Earth and Planetary Change', there are 245 active volcanoes and potential active volcanoes worldwide under ice or within a radius of 5km, and 160 million people live within 100km of these volcanoes.

In addition, once a volcano erupts, it releases enormous greenhouse gases, which can lead to a vicious cycle of glaciers retreating faster.




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