Global Warming

Iceland’s land is rising 1.4 inches annually due to climate change

Iceland’s land is rising, by 1.4 inches each year in many parts of the country, as glaciers melt and the crust below and nearby rebounds, researchers from the University of Arizona and the University of Iceland reported in a new study.

In other words, as glaciers melt there is less weight pushing down on the land, which subsequently rises.

The geoscientists warned that volcanic activity is likely to increase as it did during the last deglaciation roughly 12,000 years ago.

The team members say their study is the first to show the current rapid uplift of the Icelandic crust resulting from the accelerated melting of the country’s glaciers and coincides with the current global warming that started about 30 years ago.