Iceland rising as much as 1.4 inches a year, could increase volcanic activity

Iceland rising as glaciers melt

A University of Arizona-led research team discovered the Earth’s crust under Iceland is rebounding. As a result, the island could see an increase in volcanic activity

A University of Arizona-led research team discovered the Earth’s crust under Iceland is rebounding as global warming melts the island’s great ice caps.

Scientists have researched the relatively fast rising of the Icelandic crust for years.

But the team’s paper, which can be found in an upcoming issue of Geophysical Research Letter, is the first to show “the current fast uplift of the Icelandic crust is a result of accelerated melting of the island’s glaciers.”

According to the research, the rising coincides with the onset of warming that began about 30 years ago.

First author Kathleen Compton, a geosciences doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona, helped conduct the research.

She says the team first began using GPS technology similar to what you’d find in a car to measure uplift in 2006.

“We used 62 GPS stations located all across the island of Iceland, and looked at how fast those GPS stations were moving upward through time,” Compton told FoxNews.com.

What really surprised researchers was the speed at which some sites in Iceland were rising.

“They’re not only moving upward very rapidly in the central and southern part of the island, but they’re speeding up over time- moving faster and faster each year.”

Some sites are rising as much as 1.4 inches a year.

So what effect could the crust’s rapid rising have on the people of Iceland? Researchers say a big - and potentially dangerous - one.

“This is important because previous researchers have shown a direct correspondence in Iceland of motion upward and volcanic activity,” said co-author Richard Bennett, an associate professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona.