Experts Warn of Dramatic Sea Level Rise if Antarctic Volcanoes Erupt

Over 100 volcanoes may be found in Antarctica. There, two kilometers beneath the surface of a massive ice sheet that covers the continent's west side, scientists recently discovered the world's biggest volcanic zone. One of the highest learned was as tall as the Eiger, Switzerland's iconic 3,967-meter-high peak.

"Ice streams are rivers of ice that move considerably quicker than their surroundings," Prof Smellie asserted, claiming that an explosion beneath the ice might hasten the process.

"Because these are the zones through which the majority of Antarctica's ice is transported to the ocean, variations in their pace might alter sea level."

"If repeated volcanic eruptions provided more 'lubricant,' the accompanying fast flow may deposit exceptional volumes of West Antarctica's dense internal ice into the ocean, causing sea levels to increase."

It's likely that under-ice volcanoes produced a fast flow of ancient ice streams into Antarctica's greatest ice shelf, the Ross Ice Shelf.

"A minor volcano in the Hudson Mountains, which sit beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, may have erupted around 2,000 years ago, causing the adjacent Pine Island Glacier to accelerate up if it erupted again today."

"Most importantly, a huge sequence of eruptions might destabilize many additional subglacial volcanoes," he warned.

Volcanoes in Cold Areas .

As volcanoes cool and crystallize, their magma chambers become pressurized, and all that stands between volcanic gases escaping violently in an eruption and the weight of overlying rock or, in this case, several kilometers of ice is the weight of overlying rock or, in this case, several kilometers of ice.

As the ice thins, the pressure drops, which might lead to eruptions.

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