Underwater thermal activities — an overlooked factor in climate change (2024)

Key words: gas chimneys, specific heat, heat flux, hydrothermal vents, underwater volcanoes.

Abstract

When referring to climate, scientists mainly talk about temperatures while specific heat of water plays a decisive role. Apart from the Sun’s energy, the Earth’s underwater thermal activities release heat to the ocean and significantly affect the climate.

Introduction

In the opinion of Professor Samuel Robert Lichter of George Mason University, only 5% of scientists describe the study of global climate change as a “fully mature” science. In comparison, 40% see it as still an “emerging” science. (Lichter, 2008). It is impossible to build a computer program that could predict climate without sufficient data. Still, some people know it all and write books on the subject like “how to avoid a climate disaster”.

Edward Lorenz (1917–2008), known for his chaos theory and butterfly effect dependencies, built a computer model for air movement worldwide. He realized that the weather patterns did not always behave as predicted because of sensitive dependence on initial conditions. It means that weather predictions from more than about a week out are generally inaccurate. In his latest book, “Fifteen Shades of Climate — The fall of the weather dice and the butterfly effect”, John Maunder vividly describes the complexity and intricacy of climate behavioural.

Where we get energy from

It is commonly believed that the Sun is the only energy source for the Earth. (Lindsey, 2009). The researchers’ current perception is that all heat absorbed by the ocean comes from the Sun. However, more than 70 per cent of all volcanic eruptions occur underwater. (Hall, D., 2018). The exact number of how many volcanoes exist underwater is not known. Researchers may not have a complete picture because the head of water obscures these underwater events. There are three main sources of heat in the deep earth: (1) heat from when the planet formed and accreted, which has not yet been lost; (2) frictional heating, caused by denser core material sinking to the centre of the planet; and (3) heat from the decay of radioactive elements. The current total heat flux from the Earth to space is 44.2+/-1.0 TW. The upper atmosphere receives almost 4000 times more heat from the Sun than the Earth’s core emits. (Williams, Q., 1997). However, when considering climate change, the heat coming from deep earth’s has a significant long-term impact and can’t be ignored due to water’s enormous specific heat capacity. The Earth inner heat comes from: b) underwater volcanoes, c) geothermal underwater activities d) movement of the Magnetic North Pole.

Ad. a. Underwater volcanoes (explosive or effusive eruptions)

Global cooling often has been linked with the eruptions of the surface volcano. Surface volcanoes release clouds of dust which in the short term shades the Earth from sun rays cooling the surface. Surface volcanoes also release CO2, which in the long term, increase the glasshouse effect. While the submarine volcanoes, simply speaking, warm-up seawater.

It is estimated that currently, there are over five thousand active thermal vents and underwater volcanoes. They exist at the continuous belts of volcanoes on the ocean floor such as Mid-Atlantic ridge, Ring of Fire, or the Gakkel Ridge or standing alone sea-mounts volcanos such as West Mata and Havre on the Pacific Ocean. The mid-ocean ridges are volcanic mountain chains, some more than 40,000 kilometers long. These are the places of much of the earth’s volcanic activities. The result of these underwater activities is the heating of the oceans. The heat is initially cumulated in water and then gradually transferred to the atmosphere.

The Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean represents a region of magmatic events, explosive volcanism, and hydrothermal plumes (gas chimneys), (Johnson, 2008). In this case, when under the ice slab is the water heated by volcanic lava, it is not hard to argue that global warming does not necessarily come exclusively from the atmosphere or result from human action.

The West Mata eruption was discovered accidentally — by a passenger of a plane. The volcano is positioned in an area between Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. It is about six miles long and four miles wide. And lava is about 1200 degrees Celsius. The top of the volcano sits over 1200 meters below the surface of the water (Sandell, 2009). The activity of West Mata span between 2008 and 2018. There are not many data on significant changes in the world ocean’s temperature due to the influence of underwater volcanoes, but the following figure may represent a good exception.

Figure no 1. Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (SSTA). A vast patch of abnormally warm water in the Pacific Ocean Unusually high sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific in May 2015, compared to the 2002–2012 average. Credit: American Geophysical Union (Crew, 2017)

Ad. b. Geothermal underwater activities

Hydrothermal vents and gas chimneys are fissures on the seafloor from which geothermally heated water or gas discharges. Scientists have discovered the first evidence that millions of tons of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed at about the end of 2008. It is believed that Methane’s sudden release has been responsible for dramatic changes to the climate. The gas is bubbling up through “methane chimneys” rising from the seafloor. Scientists believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a “lid” to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age. Dr Orjan Gustafsson of Stockholm of the University of Stockholm said, we have found elevated methane levels above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed (Daily Mail, 2008).

In 1977 the scientists exploring the Galapagos Rift had made a fascinating discovery. They noticed a series of temperature spikes in a short period of time from near freezing to 400 degrees Celsius caused by hydrothermal vents (Ballard, 1977).

Hydrothermal vents act as a natural geological plumbing system that ejects hot, often toxic fluids and gasses into the seawater. Mantle plumes and volcanoes are commonly associated with mid-ocean ridges and plate boundaries. Hydrothermal vents include hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles. The heat from underwater vents before it is emitted to space stays (is cumulated) in oceans and is released very slowly. In his book “The Weather Makers”, Tim Flannery claims, “It takes the ocean around three decades to catch up with the heat accumulated in the atmosphere”. Or vice-versa?

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on its website state: “The ocean absorbs most of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions”. Authors of this statement do not explain how this process occur.

Ad. c. Movement of the Magnetic North Pole — the blob of liquid iron

Over the last 30–40 years, the average temperature in Alaska, the northern part of Canada and Siberia has risen about 3 and even 4 degrees C. That area warmed faster than anywhere else on Earth. It may have something to do with the movement of the Magnetic North pole. During the last century, the Magnetic Pole has moved a remarkable 1100 km. Its movement in loops of up to 80 km per day following the distorted ellipse results from the Diurnal Cycle — Earth’s wobbling. At the end of 2019, the North Magnetic Pole was only approximately 400 km from the geographic pole. This is in the mid of the Arctic ocean and right under the arctic ice slab. Such location of liquid iron must influence the temperature of the seafloor under which it is. In return, warmer seafloor releases methane and heats the water above.

Scientists pose the question: Why is Earth’s magnetic north pole drifting so rapidly?

Figure No 2. Credit to University of Tromsø, (Hansen, 1996). upgraded by T. Glowacki.

Magnetic North’s daily movement follows the path of the distorted ellipse. Loops of up to 80 km per day are remarkable evidence of the “wobbling/oscillating” motion of the Earth — diurnal cycle. This movement becomes more rapid over the last years because the oscillation of this area culminates at Geographic North Pole, increasing the moment of inertia of the molten iron blob. Once passing this point, the oscillation will be weaker; therefore, Magnetic North’s movement will slow down and finally cease. It will possibly start returning to Canada, but it will depend on the Earth’s internal structural composition, viscosity, friction or even relation to other the globe movements.

Conclusion

“Changes in climate are not caused only by conditions in the atmosphere. The top few metres of the ocean can store as much heat as the entire atmosphere, and relatively small changes in ocean circulation can move vast amounts of heat around the planet.” (Stevens, 2006). Oceans are huge storage of heat because liquid water has one of the highest specific heat among common substances. Ocean heat comes from two sources: radiation of the Sun and the Earth core. The question is, in what proportion this heat come from sunlight and the Earth interior? Knowing how much heat energy the ocean absorbs from Earth’s core and space and how much it releases into space is essential for understanding and modelling global climate. “Without knowing the dynamical heat fluxes, it is clear that one cannot even calculate the mean temperature of the earth” (Lindzen, 1997).

Since 2008, Scientists Hugh Corr and David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey change they mind. Now they are saying “… volcanoes underneath Antarctica may be melting the continent’s ice sheet from below, just as warming air temperatures from human-induced emissions erode them from above (Corr, 2009). In other words, if water under the ice slab in the arctic sea has the same temperature as the air above the slab, water will do more damage than air.

Have volcanic activities been increasing enough to conclude that they may cause global warming/climate change? The Smithsonian Institute has compiled data about volcanic eruptions. In their opinion, the global volcanism program does not see any evidence that volcanic activity is actually increasing. (Venzke, 2021). But, scientists may not have a complete picture if more than 70% of all volcanic eruptions occur underwater because a head of water obscures these underwater events. For instance, “despite its awesome size and power, the Havre volcano eruption was almost overlooked” (Hall, 2018). In 2017 Scottish scientists have detected 91 volcanoes under a massive ice sheet in west Antarctica. The volcanoes are located in the West Antarctic Rift System, a 2,200-mile valley created by separating tectonic plates. The discovery brings the total number of volcanoes in the area to 138. The heights of the volcanoes range from 300 feet to 12,600 feet, with the tallest as high as Mount Fuji in Japan. Even inactive or dormant volcanoes can melt ice because of the high temperatures the volcanoes generate underground. (Vries, 2017)

A new study has found that the world’s oceans absorbs 60% more heat per year than previously thought. (Resplandy, 2018). Temperatures of deepest ocean rising quicker than previously thought. As recorded in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Uruguay between 2009 and 2019, the water temperatures measure between 1,360m and 4,757m deep warmed by 0.02–0.04C. (Meinen, 2020). The change may seem microscopic, but considering the specific heat of water, it is significant. Naturally, the land surface temperature is gaining and losing heat much faster. This phenomenon can be clearly felt, especially during a cloudless night, and the glasshouse effect cannot help. The Earth is losing heat through the crust, underwater volcanoes, and gas chimneys. This heat stays initially in the ocean waters and is distributed through the globe by ocean currents. In this circ*mstance, this process of transferring energy occurs easier in the direction from solid material to liquid than to gas than in the opposite way from gas to liquid to solid. Heat transfer occurs from regions with high energetic molecules to those with less energetic molecules.

The difference between specific heat of water and specific heat of air plays vital role.

As mentioned above, the specific heat of water plays tremendous role in controlling the climate.

Specific heat of water is 4.186 KJ/kg/1°C

Specific density of water: 1000 kg/m3

It takes 4.186 KJ to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1°C.

Specific heat of Air — 1.005 kJ/kg/1°C

Specific density of air — 1.205 kg.m3

It takes 1.005 kJ to raise the temperature of 1 kg of air by 1°C.

4186.0 [KJ/m3] / 1.211 [KJ/m3] = 3456.64

One cubic meter of water contains almost 3500 times more heat than one cubic of air. To visualize it:

the heat required to heat one kilometer of cubic water from 20oC to 21oC if is transferred into a layer of air one meter thick, the air will cover an area equal to India.

We can see that even small fluctuations in the ocean’s temperature caused by the eruption of two or three volcanoes can cause significant changes in temperature in the atmosphere. Even the most detailed maps cover only about 10%-15% of the oceans floor. So, we still don’t know how many of these chimneys, vents, underwater volcanoes really are. With the complexity and many unknowns of this subject, building a reliable computer model that is supposed to “predict” climate change is in vain.

Note:

Please notice, this article does not touch on any other natural sources which could be associated with the climate change such as carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon, bubbling from the bottom of the Red Sea or the coast of the Philippines.

Finally, humans also generate energy. This energy is equal to 888 “Litle Boys” falling on the Earth every hour.

References

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Daily mail, Reporter. 2008. New global warming threat as scientists discover massive methane ‘time bomb’ under the Arctic seabed. September 23. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1060041/New-global-warming-threat-scientists-discover-massive-methane-time-bomb-Arctic-seabed.html.

Hall, Daniel. 2018. The Mystery of an Underwater Volcano. March. https://ocean.si.edu/holding-tank/vents-volcanoes/mystery-underwater-volcano.

Hansen, Truls Lynne. 1996. “The road to the magnetic north pole.” Ultima Thule. https://www.tgo.uit.no/articl/roadto.html.

Hugh Corr, David Vaughan. 2009. Which is the bigger polluter — humans or volcanoes? February 6. https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Global-Warming/2009/0206/which-is-the-bigger-polluter-humans-or-volcanoes.

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Lindsey, Rebecca. 2009. Climate and Earth’s energy budget. January 14. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/EnergyBalance.

Meinen, Christopher. 2020. “Observed Ocean Bottom Temperature .” Geophysical Research Letters, September 9. doi:https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089093.

Resplandy, Laure. 2018. Earth’s oceans have absorbed 60 percent more heat than previously thought. October 31. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0651-8.

Sandell, Clayton. 2009. Deepest Undersea Volcanic Eruption Ever Seen. December 18. https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/deepest-undersea-volcano-pacific-ocean/story?id=9363400.

Stevens, Craig. 2006. The ocean role in climate change. Jun 12. https://teara.govt.nz/en/ocean-currents-and-tides/page-5.

Venzke, E. 2021. Global Volcanism Program. February 01. https://volcano.si.edu/faq/index.cfm?question=historicalactivity.

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