Did Global Warming Cause Iceland Volcano to Erupt?

Tuesday April 20, 2010

You can blame climate change for a lot, but not for spoiling your European vacation.

Global warming probably did not cause the volcanic eruption beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which has disrupted global aviation and grounded travelers on multiple continents over the past few days--but many scientists believe global warming will trigger future volcanic eruptions in Iceland and throughout the polar regions.

Ice is heavy and exerts enormous pressure on whatever lies beneath it. Under glaciers and other thick ice formations, the pressure is often enough to limit geologic movement, or even to restrict the formation of magma by leaving too little room for superheated rock to expand and turn to liquid. When glacial ice melts, the pressure underneath is reduced, allowing the surface of the Earth to push free of its constraints, a release of energy that sometimes causes earthquakes, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions.
The Icelandic volcano that is currently spewing ash into the atmosphere is located under a small and lightweight ice cap, as ice caps go, so scientists are pretty certain than melting ice did not trigger the eruption.

Size also matters in the question of whether ash from the volcano in Iceland will be enough to slow global warming by creating a kind of reflector shield in the stratosphere to block some of the sun's rays and prevent them from reaching the Earth's surface. Again, the relatively small size of the volcano and the eruption leads scientists to believe that the world will go on warming with no cooling effect from Iceland's geology.
The poet Robert Frost wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire/some say in ice," and then went on to offer his own views on the subject. From what scientists are starting to learn about the relationship between climate change, glacial ice and volcanoes, we may get plenty of both before we're through.

Photo courtesy of NASA

reference:
http://environment.about.com/b/2010/04/20/did-global-warming-cause-iceland-volcano-to-erupt.htm?nl=1