The volcano has been active since about 1.3 million years ago and has a long-lived lava lake in its inner summit crater that has been present since at least the early 1970s. With a summit elevation of 3,794 metres (12,448 ft), it is located in the Ross Dependency on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes: Mount Terror, Mount Bird, and Mount Terra Nova. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on the continent. Mount Erebus ( / ˈ ɛr ɪ b ə s/) is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. The main types of microbe found there are Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria, microbes that get all of their energy from chemical reactions with the rocks.(claimed by New Zealand as part of the Ross Dependency) Ice fumaroles are interesting for studying oligotrophs – organisms that can survive on minimal amounts of resources. That’s why it’s very suitable for studying microbes at the bottom of the food chain. The life inside these ice fumaroles is sparse, mainly bacteria and fungi. “I feel fortunate because I get to stay down in the nice warm protected environment while other people are up at the rim – but it’s humid down there, and when you come back to the surface, your clothes turn into armor when everything freezes”, says Curtis. The air inside the ice fumaroles has 80% to 100% humidity. The passages seal off and whole new sections will open up – it’s kind of a weird feeling because the caves are vaguely familiar from last year so it can be quite disorienting”, Curtis explains. “I’ve been astonished by the differences in caves just from one field season to the next. The cave temperatures are between 32- 48 ☏ (0-6 ☌) all year, while the average surface temperature on Mount Erebus is -22 ☏ (-30 ☌).īut, the ice fumaroles are also very dark, humid and they’re constantly changing. Sauna is the warmest of the Erebus caves that Aaron has worked in, at about 40 degrees Celsius. “There’s nothing like Erebus in terms of the number and diversity”, claims Aaron Curtis who was working with the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory at New Mexico Tech for several years, making the first program of mapping and monitoring the gas chemistry and microclimates of the caves.Īaron at Sauna Cave in 2010. These ice towers, formed around gasses that escape from vents in the surface, stand up to 60 feet high sometimes.Ī few other volcanoes have a similar thing to Mount Erebus ice fumaroles – Mt Rainier, Mt Baker in the Cascades, Mt Melbourne in Antarctica and several in Iceland.īut, Mount Erebus is the most convenient and accessible place for the ice fumaroles studies. Steam coming out of volcanic vents in the ground freezes as it hits the cold air, creating chimneys of ice. This phenomenon is specific to volcanoes located in very cold areas, where gas and heat seeping through the volcano vent melt the snowpack above, carving out a cave. Mount Erebus, the second highest volcano in Antarctica is the site of various phenomena – from permanently exposed lava or so-called lava lake to breath-taking ice chimneys. These spectacular chimneys are actually ice caves and towers formed by volcano fumaroles and therefore are known as ice fumaroles. Antarctica has plenty of unique and fascinating features which bring many scientists to this continent.
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