With Iceland's volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupting, melting the glacier around it, scientists are now wondering if the melting of ice caps due to global warming might create more frequent and more violent volcan eruptions. However, they don't believe that Eyjafjallajokull's eruption is due to global warming. Hugh Tuffen of Lancaster University believes that it's not long before global warming causes the icecaps on volcanoes all over the world to melt, relieving pressure from supercharged magma chambers to increase the frequency and violence of the volcano eruptions. He also thinks that it won't take long for this to happen, with activity possibly increasing significantly by 2100.
Scientists don't entirely know what will happen when the icecaps melt since that hasn't happened since before the last ice age. They've been studying long-term trends since the last ice age, which show that volcanic activity has been increasing. But they don't know what this means for us yet. The writer of the article thinks that we should just try to stop global warming before we find out what happens when the icecaps melt.
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