![]() The bottom half of the volcano is a shield and the top half is a stratocone ( Mount Etna is like this as well). Mount Erebus is classified as a polygenetic stratovolcano. Scientific study of the volcano is also facilitated by their proximity to McMurdo Station (U.S.) and Scott Base (N.Z.), both sited on Ross Island approximately thirty-five kilometres away. The volcano is scientifically remarkable in that its relatively low-level and unusually persistent eruptive activity enables long-term volcanological study of a Strombolian eruptive system very close (hundreds of metres) to the active vents, a characteristic shared with only a few volcanos planetarily, such as Stromboli in Italy. Characteristic eruptive activity consists of Strombolian eruptions from the lava lake or from one of several subsidiary vents, all lying within the volcano's inner crater. The summit contains a persistent convecting phonolitic lava lake, one of five long-lasting lava lakes on Earth. Mount Erebus is currently the most active volcano in Antarctica and is the current eruptive zone of the Erebus hotspot. These are coveted souvenirs at McMurdo Station. Geology and volcanologyĪnorthoclase crystal from Mt. However, the expedition proved to be highly successful in terms of robotic and computer science, and was possibly the first ever expedition by a robotic platform to Antarctica. Unfortunately, Dante I had not reached the bottom of the crater and as such the mission was cancelled with no data of volcanic significance recorded. Dante successfully scaled a significant portion of the crater before technical difficulties emerged with the fibre-optic cable used for communications between the walker and base station. ![]() ![]() Dante was designed to acquire gas samples from the magma lake inside the inner crater of Mount Erebus in order to understand the chemistry better through the use of the on-board gas chromatograph as well as measuring the temperature inside the volcano and the radioactivity of the materials present in such volcanoes. In 1992 the inside of the volcano was explored by Dante I, an eight legged tethered robotic explorer. Blackmer, an iron-worker for many years at McMurdo Station and the South Pole, accomplished a solo ascent in approximately seventeen hours via snow mobile. Its first known solo ascent and the first winter ascent was accomplished by British mountaineer Roger Mear in March 1985, a member of Robert Swan's "In the Footsteps of Scott" expedition. Mount Erebus was first climbed (to the rim) by members of Sir Ernest Shackleton's party in 1908. Erebus was a primordial Greek god of darkness, the son of Chaos. Mount Erebus was discovered on Janu(and observed to be in eruption) by polar explorer Sir James Clark Ross who named it Mount Erebus after his ships, Erebus and Terror (which were also used by Sir John Franklin on his disastrous Arctic expedition). The volcano has been observed to be continuously active since 1972 and is the site of the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory run by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Mount Erebus is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which includes over 160 active volcanoes. With a summit elevation of 3,794 metres (12,448 ft), it is located on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes, notably Mount Terror. Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost historically active volcano on Earth, the second highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), and the 6th highest ultra mountain on an island.
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