Does it always have to be global warming?

What is this??

A thaw of Iceland's ice caps in coming decades caused by climate change may trigger more volcanic eruptions by removing a vast weight and freeing magma from deep below ground, scientists said on Friday.

Oh noz! Global Warming causes volcanic eruptions! Hide the poley bears!

Oh, wait.

They said there was no sign that the current eruption from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier that has paralysed flights over northern Europe was linked to global warming. The glacier is too small and light to affect local geology.

Never mind!

Besides, socialism is probably the culprit anyway!


Update: WattsUpWithThat has a great response to the global-warming-causes-volcanic-eruptions claim:

Is it credible that a 0.5°C decrease in the melting point could stimulate excess volcanic activity? Short answer – no. Volcanic activity is caused by magma rising to the surface, not glaciers melting. However, the loss of the glaciers would reduce the amount of steam and ash generated. Ash is formed when magma is cooled and fractured by steam. So the loss of the glaciers would reduce the size of the steam/ash cloud and make the Iceland volcanoes behave more like Hawaii volcanoes.

Quite unrelated: When we were in Hawaii a few years ago, one of the guides claimed that Hawaii is the only place he knows where, when news of a volcano erupting goes around, everyone hops in his car and drives toward the volcano not away from it.

I don't think it has anything as much to do with the volcano than with the Hawaiians' attitude. They did the same thing when the tsunami warning went off after the Haiti earthquake. Ran to the coast, that is, not the volcano.

Update 2: An Inconvenient Volcano:

Third, and this one is priceless, airlines are wondering how governments have come to the decision to ban all air travel. And they want answers:

“It took five days to organise a conference call with the ministers of transport. Europeans are still using a system that’s based on a theoretical model, instead of taking a decision based on facts and risk assessment. “This decision (to close airspace) has to be based on facts and supported by risk assessment. We need to replace this blanket approach with a practical approach.”

So the volcano ash danger is just another examples of clueless governments basing decisions on theoretical models that ignore facts? Just like the global warming hoax.

How inconvenient.

Hah!