Antarctica contains huge subglacial volcanoes, such as Mount Erebus and its iconic lava lake , which may soon erupt.
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But at least 100 less prominent volcanoes exist in Antarctica, with many clustered along its west coast. Some of these volcanoes peak above the surface, but others lie several kilometers beneath the Antarctic ice sheet
Climate change is causing the ice sheet to melt, raising global sea. The melting also removes weight from above the rocks, with more local consequences. Melting ice sheets have been shown to increase volcanic activity at subglacial volcanoes in other parts of the world.
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Coonin et al. conducted 4,000 computer simulations to study how ice sheet loss affects Antarctica's buried volcanoes and found that gradual melting could increase the number and size of subglacial eruptions.
The reason is that this unloading of ice sheets reduces the pressure in magma chambers below the surface, causing the compressed magma to expand. This expansion increases the pressure on the walls of the magma chamber and can lead to explosions.
Some magma chambers also contain abundant amounts of volatile gases, which are usually dissolved in the magma. As the magma cools and the pressure of the overlying material decreases, these gases come out of solution like carbonation from a newly opened soda bottle, increasing the pressure in the magma chamber. This pressure means that melting ice can hasten the onset of an eruption from a subglacial volcano.
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Eruptions of subglacial volcanoes may not be visible on the surface, but they can have consequences for the ice sheet. The heat from these eruptions can increase the melting of ice deep below the surface and weaken the overlying ice sheet – potentially leading to a feedback loop of reduced pressure from the surface and further volcanic eruptions.
Source: livescience
