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Could climate change be triggering more geological activity? In an article this week in the Guardian, British scientists say changes in glacier melt, snowfall and storms might redistribute enough weight on the earth's surface to potentially trigger geologi
Could climate change be triggering more geological activity?
In an article this week in the Guardian, British scientists say changes in glacier melt, snowfall and storms might redistribute enough weight on the earth's surface to potentially trigger geological events like earthquakes and tsunamis.
The idea that weather and seismic activity might be linked has generally been dismissed as unlikely, if not ridiculous. No one is yet arguing that the recent rash of major earthquakes - in China, Chile and Haiti - is linked to climate change.
But past research has suggested that shifting tides, tropical storms and variability in snowfall may play a role in triggering geological changes, particularly in regions where seismic tensions have built up to close to trigger-point anyway, the Guardian report notes.
And the costs of dealing with greater seismic activity have become only too apparent in recent days, as the ash plume from a reawakened Icelandic volcano shut down air traffic and businesses reliant on air transport, leaving everyone from European airlines to Kenyan vegetable farmers with heavy financial losses.
Scientists at Britain's Royal Society this week called for expanded research into whether man-made climate change might be raising the risk of "geological and geomorphological hazards in a warmer world." They also called on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to look into the issue and address it in upcoming reports.
That international body of top climate scientists is already working on a special report on managing risks associated with extreme events and disasters, which is due out in 2011.
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