Jorge of Norway writes:
Researchers have found a 1,500 km volcanic mountain chain hidden off the coast of Svalbard, which could soon break the surface to form a new island chain.
Dag Rune Olsen, rector of the University of Bergen, where the researchers are based, told The Local that the findings were like a “moon landing in the deep sea.”
“We probably know even less about the very deep seas and oceans then we know about the moon,” he said. The range extends from Jan Mayen island in the Greenland Sea to the Fram Strait between Svalbard and Greenland. It comprises hundreds of volcanos, some just 20m below the surface.
The new discovery comprises hundreds more volcanoes, some just 20m below the surface.
…
The ridge was first glimpsed in 2008, but this is the first time detailed mapping has been done.
“We have found volcanoes at such a shallow level and they could break the surface at any time and form a new island group,” Pedersen told VG newspaper.
“We have long known that Iceland has both volcanic activity and hot springs, but we thought that we did not have anything like that in Norway. But we do, it was only under water,” he added.
http://www.thelocal.no/20130802/Volcanic-range-discovered-in-Norwegian-waters
Note: The Norwegian version of this text speaks about the activity of those volcanoes and 1200° C magma I don’t know why that information isn’t included in the English version.
tadchem says:
August 2, 2013 at 10:58 am
This revelation could lead one to question the security of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a “secure seedbank” established in an abandoned coal mine at Svalbard in 1984. But then again, one could also question the security of any abandoned coal mine.
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Good point, really good point.
If sun light is only capable of penetrating to a depth of 300 meters, or so, why is it possible to view the sea floor topography and mid-oceanic ridges in detail, or any detail?
Hummmmmm,
http://www.columbia.edu/~mhs119/Temperature/
If the intrepid Norwegians had looked at Google maps, maybe they could have found it sooner?
May’be there are volcanos beneath the greenland ice as well? Just my theory, never heard anything!
So who has been asleep at the switch, that this apparently prominent feature, so close to Svalbard,
has remained undetected until now; Except apparently by Google ??
So how recently, do they figure this thing started to form, and when does the water breaking ceremony begin ??
Is this fast or slow compared to the rate of building of Hawaiian Islands ??
What are the implications on arctic sea ice? Either due to heat release, or the upwelling of 4C water due to the new ridge, this sucker is right where we see the highest impact to sea ice loss. Now there is a shrinkage of arctic sea ice due to other factors, for sure, but this definitely has an impact. What is that impact? By the way, if they want to find another volcano, look off of Thule, Greenland. Sea ice extends far south from that latitude, but mysteriously this area remains ice-free for most of the winter.
I wonder if this warms the North Atlantic sea temperature measurably…
To follow on with Peter from MD’s comment…
We really have no idea of the geological activity going on under the world’s oceans, new islands forming below the surface, ridges forming, etc. Could this activity be responsible for a significant percentage of sea level change?
Kev-in-UK August 2, 2013 9:46 am:
If you do get to claim a new island up there will you please call it “Craggy Island?”
kuhnkat says:
August 2, 2013 at 10:11 am
Unsurprisingly these are on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that stretches into the Arctic ocean to meet up with the volcano string found there.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080626-arctic-volcano.html
Hmmm, first excess seismicity was noticed around 1999 on the Gakkel ridge. Lemme think, when did the ice loss go into overdrive in the Arctic?? Wasn’t that around 2000 according to NASA???
Hmm, didn’t the Greenland Galloping Glaciers start galloping in the same time period and some of them later found to be probably based on geothermal activity??
So we have ice above average on the Alaskan side of the Arctic Ocean away from all the volcanic activity and ice below average on the side with the volcanic activity.
Sounds like a reasonable hypothesis to me, we need no further evidence and certainly don’t need proof.
Kev-in-Uk says: @ur momisugly August 2, 2013 at 9:46 am “If I were to sit there in the area waiting patiently on my boat for some land to surface- could I claim an ‘island’ for myself – would it be classed as a new territory/land?”
Interesting question. The range is about equidistant between mainland Norway and the eastern coast of Greenland (which is a part of the Kindom of Denmark) and well within the 200 mile “exclusive economic zone” of both countries. The ridge is arguably the point of separation between the Sea of Greenland and the Sea of Norway, though you could equally-well argue that the point of separation is the mid-line between the two coasts. At the south end of the ridge is the island of Jan Mayen, an uninhabited bit of tundra administered by Norway. At the north end is Svalbard, a larger and inhabited island also administered by Norway.
Denmark might be able to make a claim but anyone else would have to overcome the assumption of proximity from Norway’s current lands. If you did, however, you would still have to gather sufficient population and power to be recognized as an independent country. Hard to do when a single Coast Guard cutter probably has enough firepower to sink your “country” back under the waves…
Note: The Norwegian version of this text speaks about the activity of those volcanoes and 1200° C magma I don’t know why that information isn’t included in the English version.
As far as I can see:
-hundreds of volcanos and numerous hydrothermal vents
-from 20 to 2500 meters deep down
-along a 1500 km volcanic ridge
-the water coming out has a temperature of 300-400 degrees celsius
To JamesD:
You wrote: “…Either due to heat release, or the upwelling of 4C water due to the new ridge, this sucker is right where we see the highest impact to sea ice loss….”
Not quite, but if you look at the NSIDC sea ice with anomaly page,
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_bm_extent_hires.png
that notch in the sea ice anomaly NE of Greenland clearly corresponds to the postion
of this volcanic activity. In addition, another post on WUWT contains comments
linking Russian activity (oil spills and the like) with outflow from the huge Siberian rivers:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/02/observations-from-the-wuwt-sea-ice-page/
and this IS where the largest visible anomaly in the sea ice shows.
Is it possible that virtually all of the recent Arctic sea ice loss could be attributed to
the volcanic activity and the Russian pollution?
Robert W Turner says:
August 2, 2013 at 1:36 pm
In Climate Science (TM), volcanic activity is useful only for justifying anomalously low air temperatures (ie, lower than forecast in GIGO models), not higher sea temperatures that might melt ice.
Well, if the eruption that created Surtsey (look it up on Google) is any guide, the
island would take years emerging. Iceland claimed Surtsey, after 3 French
journalists tried to claim it for France.
20 metres below sea level.
That is pretty shallow water.
Ships with a 21 metre draft can transit the English Channel [with some care!] at any state of a normal tide.
Vale operate a class – eventually over thirty – of bulk carriers with a 23 metre load draft.
Borrow one of them, fit it with a decent Coastguard cutter repellent system, sail it up there – and there’s your new nation! Maybe.
Randall_G says:
August 2, 2013 at 11:58 am
“,,, which could soon break the surface to form a new island chain.”
How soon is “soon”? Like next Thursday soon, or geologic time scale soon, which could be the next 5000 years.
My thought – not worth the dignity of a ‘guess’ – is more likely the latter, but volcanism is not easy to predict, and it could do a Surtsey. Next Saturday. But I wouldn’t bet on that.
Auto
August 2, 2013 at 10:58 am
This revelation could lead one to question the security of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a “secure seedbank” established in an abandoned coal mine at Svalbard in 1984. But then again, one could also question the security of any abandoned coal mine.
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If we are waiting “geologicly speaking” for the next era of glaciation to start, why are we storing anything in the arctic?
I’m sure the local fisherman knew all about this activity for decades.
I wonder how all this underwater volcanic activity affects sea levels?
But, but, buuuuuttttt, BUT!!!…. All the expert Climate Scientists® have repeatedly assured us that they in fact know beyond-doubt-unquestionably-not-even-worth-debating (and besides, there’s a consensus, don’t you know?) exactly how much CO2 underseas volcanoes add to ocean CO2 levels, ocean acidification and atmospheric CO2 levels!
So clearly these new volcanoes and this phony “discovery” clearly doesn’t really exist, and are just the Big Oil funded flat earth (I’d use the “D” word, but it’s not allowed 😉 ) skeptics way of trying to lie to everyone yet again, because they are all just selfish and hate all children, puppies, and babies, and and and, well, children and all!
(do I really need to add the “/massive sarc” tag to this one folks? {G})
Ya know, any geology student knows that Iceland itself is a product of volcanic activity from the Mid Atlantic Ridge, a fracture zone that demarks an upwelling convection cell in the mantle that stretches from north of Iceland all the way down between Africa and South America. This upwelling is newly created seafloor flowing out of the fracture zone east and west and is the cause of Continental Drift itself. This new sea floor material forces the continents on either side of the Atlantic to raft away from each other. This also causes the North and South America’s western margins to ride up over the Pacific “plate” pushing the Pacific plate edges down under the Americas western margins, buckling up the Cordillera and the Andes and creating vocanism in the Pacific. How come all the surprise?
Witness man’s continued disregard for conserving the planet. Shameless.
We must band nations together as one to stop this from happening. Money is no object.
When the volcano reaches the surface, will its CO2s be debited to the account of Norway or Greenland?
Mike Rossander says:
August 2, 2013 at 1:36 pm
…”Hard to do when a single Coast Guard cutter probably has enough firepower to sink your “country” back under the waves…”
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That is why submarines were invented.