Antarctic Ice Sheet Melting May Intensify Volcanic Eruptions, Study Finds
The melting of Antarctic ice sheets could be leading to more intense volcanic eruptions, with significant implications for Earth’s geological systems. As ice sheets reduce in size, the massive weight they exert on the Earth’s crust diminishes, a process that impacts magma chambers beneath the surface. This pressure alteration may result in increased volcanic activity, particularly in regions like the West Antarctic Rift System, where over 100 volcanic centers are located.
Volcanic Activity Linked to Ice Loss
According to a study published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, the melting of ice sheets triggers a process known as isostatic rebound, which reduces the pressure on subsurface magma chambers. Researchers, including Allie Coonin, Ph.D. candidate at Brown University, modeled these changes over the past 150,000 years. The findings reveal that this pressure reduction not only accelerates magma chamber expansion but also hastens volatile expulsion, a critical step preceding eruptions.
Global Comparisons Confirm the Phenomenon
As reported by phys.org, evidence supporting this link was found in volcanic deposits from the Andes mountains in South America. Researchers identified a correlation between the melting Patagonian ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and heightened activity in volcanoes such as Calbuco and Puyehue-Cordon Caulle. This suggests that similar mechanisms are at play in multiple regions globally.
Feedback Loops Pose Long-Term Risks
The interaction between melting ice and volcanic eruptions may create a feedback loop. Eruptions induced by ice loss can, in turn, accelerate melting, amplifying both processes. Scientists caution that even if anthropogenic climate change were halted immediately, the current effects of ice mass loss in regions like Antarctica would influence volcanic activity for thousands of years.
Understanding these connections is crucial for predicting future geological and environmental impacts. The study highlights the complex interplay between Earth’s ice sheets and its volcanic systems, underscoring the far-reaching consequences of climate-driven changes.
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Two hikers accidentally discovered a treasure trove in Czech Republic . While taking a stroll in the forests surrounding Zvičina Hill in the Krkonoše Mountains near Poland’s border, they spotted an aluminium can and an iron box protruding slightly above the surface in a stone mound. The containers contained about 600 gold coins and a stunning assortment of gold artifacts. Discovery of this treasure worth more than $340,000 has drawn attention of researchers, arising questions about both the origin of the coins and how did they end up in such a remote location.
Tracing the origin of coins
According to the report by Vojtěch Brádle, a numismatist from the Museum of Eastern Bohemia, the majority of the coins were minted between 1808 and 1915. They originate from the Austria-Hungarian Empire, particularly under the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Some of the coins feature countermarks minted in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The 598 coins cover a broad historical period, containing currency from France, Belgium, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia too. The range of provenances makes it difficult to track how the coins got to where they were, or just why they were stashed away at all. “It is hard to say whether it was Czech, German, or Jewish gold,” said Petr Grulich, director of the Museum of Eastern Bohemia, according to Dailymail.
Theories about the hiding place
There are several theories and speculation about how these coins and artifacts were hidden in such a remote location. One theory suggests that the items were concealed during Nazi Germany’s occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Following the Munich Agreement of 1938, large numbers of Jews and Czechs fled their homes in the annexed Sudetenland to escape persecution. Some historians believe that the treasure was buried during this time in an effort to protect it from the invading Nazi forces.
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On may 10th, a semitrailer delivered NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe or IMAP to the Astrotech space operations facility all the way from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The IMAP mission is a modern-day celestial cartographer that will map the solar system by studying the heliosphere, a giant bubble created by the Sun’s solar wind that surrounds our solar system and protects it from harmful interstellar radiation. Tentatively scheduled for launch no earlier than fall 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy, IMAP will be processed fuelled and encapsulated by the technicians in Astrotech facility.
About the mission
According to reported NASA’s blog, The IMAP mission will orbit the Sun at a location called Lagrange Point 1 (L1), which is about one million miles from Earth towards the Sun. From this location, IMAP can measure the local solar wind and scan the distant heliosphere without background from planets and their magnetic fields. The spacecraft will use 10 scientific instruments to study and map the heliosphere, a vast magnetic bubble surrounding the Sun protecting our solar system.
At NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, IMAP went through thermal vacuum testing at the X-ray and Cryogenic facility that simulates harsh conditions and dramatic temperature changes to simulate the environment during launch, on the journey toward the Sun.
Mission Management
IMAP is the fifth mission in NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Probes program portfolio. It is lead by Princeton University professor David J. McComas with an international team of 25 partner institutions. The spacecraft was built and operated from The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Information from this mission are expected to provide early warnings about space weather, which can affect human space explorers and technological systems like satellites and power grids that can affect life on Earth.
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