Iceland has started melting at a rate faster than scientists had originally predicted which could cause an increase in volcanic eruptions.
Researchers at the University of Arizona conducted a study that revealed that Iceland is melting too fast, according to SMN Weekly. In their study, the researchers recorded the physical shifts in the crust of Iceland using GPS receivers. They used 62 sensors and 27 of them found the center of Iceland where most of the ice cover lies. Their findings revealed that this center was melting about 1.4 inches per year.
University of Arizona geoscientist, Kathleen Compton, said that as the glaciers melt the pressure on the rocks beneath them decrease. When this happens the melting temperature lowers. As the glaciers melt, volcanic activity can increase.
Iceland has experienced three eruptions in the past five years which caused flight cancellations and ash rose thickly into the air, The Guardian reported. In 2010, Eyjafjallajokull erupted and flights across Europe were disrupted for about a week as ash covered the sky.
The researchers at the University of Arizona believe the increase in climate change and global warming over the past 30 years has caused Iceland to melt faster. Richard Bennett, another geoscientist at the University of Arizona, said it is not entirely understood why the chain reaction of melting ice caps, rising earth surface and volcanic activity has occurred. However, as the surface of the earth rises, so do rocks at in the depths, released from the pressure of ice.
"They transport the heat like a hot potato as they move from high pressure to lower pressure and enter into conditions that promote melting," Bennett said. This creates perfect conditions for volcanic eruptions.
