Hydrothermal Megaplume Found In Indian Ocean

While surfing a site iceagenow.com I found a link to a very interesting story about the discovery of a hydrothermal megaplume in the Indian Ocean that is on a scale never seen before.

"The plume, which stretches some 43.5 miles (70 kilometers) long, appears to be active on a previously unseen scale."

and

"A normal hydrothermal vent might produce something like 500 megawatts, while this is producing 100,000 megawatts. It's like an atom bomb down there."

Source: news.nationalgeographic.com...

That is a 2 page story so make sure to read both pages. You can imagine the impact a plume like that would have on water temperatures and the impact those elevated water temperatures would have on the climate as the energy gets transfered from the water to the atmosphere. This is just a single plume. Who knows how many more there are like this.

Any thoughts on this?

Whoa. This, at first impression, seems to be a problem for the idea that greenhouse gases are warming the ocean. But thats just a first reaction anyway, good find.

edit:
nevermind, the scale is big for a vent, but doesn't seem to be something that can affect the whole ocean. These vents, even when they are 'normal', are pretty incredible ecosystems.

[edit on 15-12-2005 by Nygdan]

The more research that gets done the more is discovered about how much underwater vulcanism impacts global temperatures. Here is a quote from that story...

"Hydrothermal vents are volcanic hotspots that emit gasses and mineral-enriched water as hot as 760°F (400°C). The heat from these vents supports unique ecosystems where creatures survive using thermal and chemical energy in place of sunlight."

760 degree water in a plume that size will have a big impact. That energy will disburse through the Indian Ocean and eventually the energy will transfer to the atmosphere. It isn't as glamorous as man being evil and destorying the world. But I think its events like this that cause short term climate changes. When you look at 400,000 temperature reconstructions there are 5 major temperature spikes and crashes. There are also a great number of smaller changes. I think events like this drive the smaller changes.

I think it is also possible that something like this at the wrong time could trigger one of the major temperature spikes or crashes.

I'd love to know how many of these exist and whether there are larger plumes than this one.

WOW!

Thats an incredible heat engine down there.

Indy, did you see the article, I think last week, that mentioned volcanic vents, and how they were much more numerous than previously thought..?

I'll see if I can dig it up..

ah.
Here it is, in case you missed it.
www.livescience.com...

[edit on 15-12-2005 by spacedoubt]

We should find a way to harness the power of our Hot inner earth. There is a ton of free energy just beneath our feet and oceans heh.

X

In australia they are using the inner earth (3 miles down) to make steam.
they then use that steam to power a turbine, which then turns a generator.
this is pretty much free energy. It does take a bit of money to drill three miles down!

on topic ....

I think this vent got opened or disturbed by the recent huge earthquake in that area Hopefully.... IF it is something new then it is of great concern.

I read this the other night and meant to ask..

What would happen to a hurricane or cyclone whose center passes over one of these hydrothermal plumes? Would it explain sudden and rapid intensification, when weather patterns suggest otherwise?

Originally posted by imbalanced
In australia they are using the inner earth (3 miles down) to make steam.
they then use that steam to power a turbine, which then turns a generator.
this is pretty much free energy. It does take a bit of money to drill three miles down!

This really makes me wonder though, is this type of man made activity (breaching of the inner earth) responsible for any of the increased quake and volcanic activity going on? Would we even know if it were?

Not to change the subject, but could this be the reason why so much UFO activity is reported in those areas? Underwater UFO bases? I dont have a link but we have discussed this many times.

Originally posted by worldwatcher
I read this the other night and meant to ask..

What would happen to a hurricane or cyclone whose center passes over one of these hydrothermal plumes? Would it explain sudden and rapid intensification, when weather patterns suggest otherwise?

Probably not that much because the weather pattern is so huge and the actual area of warming is relatively small. It takes a large mass of warmer water to increase the intensity of a storm.

However, if a major earthquake (as someone speculated and yes, this could happen) opened a sequence of huge vents along the plate that stretched in a fairly close cluster for about 200 miles, then I can see that particular patch of ocean causing storm intensity to increase.