
Interesting...
If there is heat down there then I wonder if there's any liquid water. Could there be lifeforms splubbeling about down below? Giant albino penguins perhaps?
Boffins from the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences have found 91 previously unknown volcanoes beneath the West Antarctic Ice Shelf, a total that suggests it might be the most volcanic region on Earth. In a paper [PDF] titled “A new volcanic province: an inventory of subglacial volcanoes in West Antarctica”, …
Ancient bacteria and viruses are getting released anyway, as glaciers that have been around for a very long time are melting, as well as permafrost.
There's probably not a source of oxygen, so the life down there is probably extremophiles like those found in deep sea vents.
Those poor antediluvian bacteria and virusesess (no actual plural apparently) are a serious concern - having spent so long in a constrained and sheltered environment, they will not have developed mechanisms to defend themselves against the wider, more competitive ecosystem.
The delicate little darlings will poke their metaphorical heads out of the ice caverns, look around... and get steamrolled by a deluge of modern hyper-aggressive - possibly even genetically modified and weaponized if you believe in those - microfauna .
Virgin field epidemic.
We must act to protect and preserve these prehistoric relics !
Recommended reading if the Cthulhu/Antarctica thing piques your interest: A Colder War
Or Stross' Laundry series - the hero is deliberately named Bob Oliver Francis Howard.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files
Highly recommended if you like comedy horrors which are Spy/sysadmin/Cthulhu mashups.
Charlie occasionallly comments on here and was tweeting yesterday about stories on El Reg.
I suspect most of the world's volcanoes lie along the ocean ridges; pumping out carbon dioxide into the oceans on a greater scale than men burning coal and oil.
I therefore predict that all those climate change policies imposed on us by campaigners will make s*d all difference to the earth's climate.
I think that sod all difference may be a bit extreme.
Possibly make less difference than some optimistically assume?
As far as I can recall, one big global event such as a massive erruption which pollutes the stratosphere is likely to dwarf our puny efforts in the short term.
" Skepticalscience?
Yeah Right. About as factual as The Alex Jones Channel."
That's a site generally accepted as being scientifically accurate based on established scientific data and widely accepted theories.
Here is a more upside but less certain article on volcanic CO2 levels. Note that even worse case, it's still a tiny fraction of human CO2 output:
https://www.livescience.com/40451-volcanic-co2-levels-are-staggering.html
"I suspect most of the world's volcanoes lie along the ocean ridges; pumping out carbon dioxide into the oceans on a greater scale than men burning coal and oil."
We already know roughly how much CO2 they contribute and it's in general much less than us. A very large eruption can briefly make a notable contribution but overall it's insignificant compared to what we do....
The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo actually caused global cooling. Nothing to do with CO2.
However, the newly discovered Antarctic volcanoes could still be inconvenient for global warming alarmists if it turns out that they, not global warming, are responsible for the melting ice sheet.
welcome the return of the Great Old Ones.
Very briefly, before you fail your SAN roll and start counting sand-grains on a beach[1] for the rest of your life..
[1] Which is what happened to one of my characters in CoC - gained some Cthulu Mythos skills, met a few monsters, catastrophically failed my SAN roll and started a new character. For a person that mainly plays spell-casters in other game systems, CoC is not a good game to play..
First sold in 1930, banned in 1987.
We are still living with the consequences of their use.
What's needed is something that can bond to enough Cl radicals and drag them back down, but no one knows how to do that.
Demonstrating why humor on the interwebs is so difficult to pull off.
That and the fact you know nothing about the chemistry involved.
Hint. CFC's are non toxic and you need rate{recombination] >> rate[splitting], which it isn't.
That's what makes this problem so difficult.
First sold in 1930, banned in 1987. We are still living with the consequences of their use.
And watching the recovery from it. The ozone layer should recover by 2075-2100. Along with the recovery of North American and European waterways and reduction in acid rain in those areas, you've got the basis for saying human efforts can address global warming, too.
Human efforts 'can' address global warming but allowing for the Chump not believing i n Global warming ( anthropomorphic or otherwise) and consequently disregarding any agreements on limiting CC2 output, your dates may be a little early.
Sub-Antarctic volcanoes? Ask Kim Stanley Robinson how that'll go down.