Discovered another source of volcanic heat in Antarctica

Scientists have discovered an active volcanic source beneath the permafrost of Pine Island, west of Antarctica.

According to the Daily Mail, a group of scientists are studying the role of the ocean in the shrinking permafrost, this source of heat is detected.

"Our research team is not looking for volcanoes, but it happened to notice that the amount of helium-3 - the gas that tells the presence of volcanoes - is so high in an area that we are in doubt." , Brice Loose from Rhode Island University, England said.

Surface of the Pine Island area - (Photo: Washington University).

According to Brice Loose, although volcanoes cannot be identified by measuring factors such as temperature or volcanic smoke, they are located deep within kilometers of permafrost.

"But the number is too much, which makes us believe there is a volcanic source here , " Brice Loose said.

This finding coincides with the information collected in 2017 by scientists from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, when they discovered the thick volcanic belt on the western ice shelf of Antarctica.

By using ice cross-sweeps to sweep the entire western edge of Antarctica, scientists discovered that these volcanoes are located at a depth of about 2 km and have a height of 100-4,000m.

The research team from the University of Edinburgh compared the findings from the geological information of the region with satellite data and data to analyze many historical sources.

"Detecting volcanic heat sources under the permafrost may change the way some researchers are learning about Antarctic melting," said Brice Loose.

However, Loose stressed that heat is not the main cause of melting ice . The main factor is still due to the complicated situation of climate change.

Location of the Pine Island ice in the west of Antarctica - (Photo: Daily Mail).

Professor Karen Heywood from East Anglia University in Norwich, England, said: "The discovery of volcanoes beneath the Antarctic ice sheets only means that there is an additional factor that melts the ice layers, contributing to sea level rise and warm the ocean ".

Currently, the status of the volcanoes above is not clearly defined. But scientists are also concerned that a hypothesis of global warming in recent years has continued to threaten volcanic eruptions in Antarctica.

This has happened before. Scientists believe that volcanic eruptions in the southernmost Earth may have occurred around 2,200 years ago.