schwit1 quotes UPI:
New research suggests volcanic eruptions can trigger periods of rapid ice sheet melting… “Over a time span of 1,000 years, we found that volcanic eruptions generally correspond with enhanced ice sheet melting within a year or so,” Francesco Muschitiello, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said in a news release. The volcanoes of note weren’t situated next-door, but thousands of miles from the ice sheet, a reminder of the unexpected global impacts of volcanic activity.

The new research — detailed this week in the journal Nature Communications — suggests ash ejected into the atmosphere by erupting volcanoes can be deposited thousands of miles away. When it’s deposited on ice sheets, the dark particles cause the ice to absorb more thermal energy and accelerate melting… Some scientists have even suggested melting encouraged by volcanic eruptions could trigger even more eruptions, a positive feedback loop. As glaciers and ice sheets melt, pressure is relieved from the planet’s crust, allowing magma to rise to the surface.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Study Links Rapid Ice Sheet Melting With Distant Volcanic Eruptions