“…Any fluid with a temperature‐dependent viscosity is affected by viscous heating once this heat source overcomes the heat loss (i.e., heat transfer by conduction, convection and/or radiation). Hence there exists a considerable body of literature concerning the quantification of viscous heating for industrial processes [ Nishiyama and Inoue , 1999; Kato et al , 2003, 2006, 2007] as well as for the calibration of viscosity measurement apparatus (i.e., Couette [ Sukanek and Laurence , 1974; Papathanasiou et al , 1997; Becker and McKinley , 2000; White and Muller , 2000, 2003], cone and plate [ Turian and Bird , 1963; Turian , 1965; Olagunju et al , 2002; Calado et al , 2005], and parallel plate methods [ Myers et al , 2006; Hess et al , 2008]). Here, we investigate whether viscous heating is sufficient to explain the viscosity decrease commonly observed in silicate melts.…”