Global warming is a term which most of us have heard and assume that this generally means that “Temperatures would rise across the board”. However, nothing could be further from truth, as “global-warming” generally applies “increasing disparity between temperatures within continents”. Europe could turn colder and Asia could turn warmer or vice versa. Infact, temperatures in UK could dip by 10 degrees.......

Why read this report?

It is because it also contains information as to what could be the implications of chances in global temperature and how one could gain, by being appropriately positioned.

Ever wondered why is currently there a disparity between UK and Alaska temperature, even though both lay on the same latitude. If yes, then read the report.

Report at: www.fullermoney.com/content/2007-08-14/climate.pdf

Volcano contributes to Warming in Antarctica.

A rare volcanic eruption punched through Antarctica's ice sheet more than 2,000 years ago, scattering ash across the frozen landscape, a radar survey has revealed.

The eruption was the biggest in Antarctica in the past 10,000 years, researchers estimate.

The volcano's continuous output of heat may still be melting the base of the ice sheet, and could be partially responsible for the fast flow of a nearby glacier.

David Vaughan and Hugh Corr of the British Antarctic Survey, based in Cambridge, England, spotted signs of the eruption using ice-penetrating radar, which revealed a layer of volcanic rock embedded within the ice sheet.

"There would have been a very big bang as the plume of ash and steam broke through the ice," Vaughan said. "Then ash would have begun to rain down on to the ice surface."

As snow fell over the centuries, this ash layer got buried, and is now embedded in the middle of the ice sheet.

Other studies have found indirect evidence of volcanoes under Antarctica, and researchers have tracked volcanoes erupting under the ice in Iceland.

But the new study is the first to show direct evidence of a relatively recent eruption from under the Antarctic ice sheet—one that could still be affecting the ice sheet today.

The study appeared January 20 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Volcano Impacts

The distinct layer of ash within the ice was "stunning," Vaughan said: The scientists had never seen anything like it.

The layer is buried in the middle of the ice sheet that covers the volcano, roughly 1,000 feet (300 meters) deep under the ice's surface.

This depth, along with thin acid layers that showed up in ice cores from distant parts of western Antarctica, suggest that the volcano erupted around 300 B.C.

Heat from the volcano likely melted a large amount of ice around it, and this meltwater probably ran under the base of the ice sheet and out to sea, the researchers say.

The volcano could continue to melt ice around it, and the meltwater could lubricate the base of the ice sheet, speeding up the movement of the nearby Pine Island Glacier, helping make it today one of Antarctica's fastest-flowing glaciers.

"The presence of the volcano adds [to] the complexity of an issue that I thought we were getting on top of," Vaughan said.

Western Antarctica "is losing ice to the oceans, and the volcano could be contributing to that effect."

But it can only be responsible for a fraction of that change, he added, since the volcano only affects the nearby Pine Island Glacier.

Global warming is still the main culprit behind the overall loss of ice from western Antarctica, researchers say.

Subglacial Hot Plate

Magnús Guðmundsson, of the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, says the new study is "quite convincing."

In Iceland frequent volcanoes under glaciers haven't disrupted the ice too much. But it may be different for large ice sheets such as those in Antarctica, said Guðmundsson, who was not involved in the study.

"By finding the site of a recent Antarctic eruption, it may be possible to study if and how this eruption affected the ice flow," he added.

Robin Bell, of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, was also not involved in the new research.

"We have not really thought through the implication of a hot plate that turns off and on beneath the ice sheet," Bell said.

But she believes it could have effects on the ice sheet that researchers need to take into account."What is remarkable now," Bell added, "is that it is becoming more broadly accepted that what is under the ice sheet does matter."

Big Chunk Of Antarctic Ice Shelf Falling Apart

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- A section of Antarctica's massive Wilkins Ice Shelf has begun disintegrating under the effects of global warming, satellite images by the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center showed.

The collapse of a substantial section of the ice shelf was triggered on February 28 when an iceberg measuring 41 by 2.4 kilometers broke off its southwestern front. That movement led to disintegration of the shelf's interior, of which 414 square kilometers has already disappeared.

As a result, a large part of the 12,950 square kilometer (5,000 square mile) Wilkins Ice Shelf - Antarctica's largest - is now supported by a 5.6-kilometer (3.5 mile) strip of ice between two islands, NSIDC lead scientist Ted Scambos said in a statement. "If there is a little bit more retreat, this last 'ice buttress' could collapse and we'd likely lose about half the total ice shelf area in the next few years," he said.

Over the past half century, the western Antarctic Peninsula has experienced the biggest temperature increase on Earth, 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) per decade. "We believe the Wilkins has been in place for at least a few hundred years, but warm air and exposure to ocean waves are causing a breakup," said Scambos, who first spotted the disintegration in March.

With the Antarctic summer drawing to a close, scientist doesn’t expect the ice shelf to further disintegrate in the next several months. "This unusual show is over for this season," said Scambos. "But come January, we'll be watching to see if the Wilkins continues to fall apart."