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Heat source detected under Antarctic ice sheet

2017-11-09 40 Dailymotion

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA — A new NASA study bolsters the theory that a heat source exists under West Antarctica. <br /> <br />Researchers have found evidence that a geothermal heat source called a mantle plume lies deep below Antarctica's Marie Byrd Land, according to NASA. <br /> <br />Mantle plumes are narrow upwellings of hot rock that rise up from the Earth's mantle. They spread out like mushroom caps under the crust, causing it to bulge upward. <br /> <br />Using a numeric model, the flux of energy from the mantle plume was calculated to be 150 miliwatts, only 50 milliwatts less than the average heat flux under Yellowstone. <br /> <br />Researchers say the heat source could explain the melting that creates river and lakes under the West Antarctic ice sheet, but it is not a new or increasing threat. <br /> <br />However, global weather changes and rising sea levels can push warm water closer to the ice, causing it to become unstable and collapse — just as it did 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.

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