Underwater volcanoes could have a long-term effect on Earth's climate cycles.

A new study out of Columbia University shows that these , but also trigger climate swings.

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“People have ignored seafloor volcanoes on the idea that their influence is small—but that’s because they are assumed to be in a steady state, which they’re not,” marine geophysicist Maya Tolstoy, the study's author, said in a statement.

The study, published recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, .

But that's not all.

Analyzing 25 years of seismic data from submarine volcanoes, Tolstoy and her team found that underwater volcanism affects the climate by emitting varying levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, then, could trigger a cycle of global warming.

While the link between marine volcanism and global climate cycles is not definite, the study opens the way for other scientists to explore the relationship between the Earth's crust and the ozone layer.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Volcanoes

Lightning is seen amid a cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile on June 5, 2011. (Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty Images)