The action of sea water sculpts the jagged edges. The ice tongue is estimated to stand just 10 meters above the water line, but it does not thaw much during the summer melt season. With its serrated edges, the 11-kilometer-long ice tongue is the leading edge of a glacier that starts on the volcano’s flanks. To the south, the Erebus ice tongue stretches out into McMurdo Sound. The Mount Erebus stratovolcano rises 3794 meters (12,447 feet) above sea level. A key part of New Zealand’s Antarctic research program, Scott Base, is also nearby on the peninsula. The largest Antarctic settlement-McMurdo Station, operated by the United States-stands within sight of the volcano (about 40 kilometers or 25 miles away). Scientists are still observing the volcano through the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory and field campaigns to look for extreme life forms. Members of Ernest Shackleton’s expedition climbed to the summit in 1908. The lava lake stands out amidst the mostly shadowed interior of the caldera, as do areas on the island where bare rock is exposed to sunlight instead of being buried under snow and ice.Įxplorer James Clark Ross and his crew first sailed past the island in 1841 and caught a glimpse of Mount Erebus erupting. The second image uses just thermal infrared wavelengths and reveals where the landscape is warmer (bright white) or cooler (black). The top image is built from a combination of infrared, red, and green wavelengths of light. On December 31, 2013, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired images of the western end of Ross Island in mid-summer. Mount Erebus is thought to be the southernmost active volcano in the world. At least one lava lake has churned within its caldera since 1972. It regularly emits plumes of gas and steam, and occasionally spits out rock (bombs) in strombolian eruptions. The volcano sits above a thin slice of crust, so molten rock more easily rises up from Earth’s interior. Erebus is still active, providing a rare bit of warmth in an extremely cold environment. Standing just off the coast of West Antarctica, Ross Island was built by the activity of four volcanoes. Near Mount Erebus, the water is frozen but the rock is liquid.
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