General FAQ
How do scientists get to Antarctica / Mt. Erebus?
What kind of clothes do scientists wear?
Where do scientists live while working on Mt. Erebus?
Where do visitors to Mt. Erebus go to the bathroom?
Science FAQ
Will Mt. Erebus ever explode like Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Vesuvius?
Answers
General FAQ
- Mt. Erebus is not a tourist destination. Only specially trained scientists and support staff are permitted to travel to Mt. Erebus.
How do scientists get to Antarctica / Mt. Erebus?
- Scientists traveling to Antarctica and Mt. Erebus must first take an airplane flight from their home country to the island nation of New Zealand. The National Science Foundation (NSF) maintains an operational facility in New Zealand where Antarctic guests receive travel information and clothing for transit to Antarctica.
- After receiving their travel briefing and Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear, scientists board military transport aircraft for their flight to Ross Island. Depending on the type of aircraft, the flight can be as short as 4 or 5 hours or as long as 9 or 10 hours. The transport aircraft take off from an asphalt runway in New Zealand but land on ice in Antarctica near the Ross Island logistical bases of the United States (McMurdo Station) and New Zealand (Scott Base). From the ice runways, buses or vans take the scientists to their temporary housing at either McMurdo Station or Scott Base.
- After several days of information briefings, training and gear retrieval, scientists board helicopters for a short 15 minute trip to an acclimatization camp 3/4 of the way up Mt. Erebus. The scientists must spend two nights at this acclimatization camp to minimize the possibility of altitude sickness. Following acclimatization, scientists either take snowmobiles or another helicopter trip to the hut near the summit of Mt. Erebus.
What kind of clothes do scientists wear?
- Special Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) clothing is provided by the NSF (USA) to all scientists and support staff traveling to Antarctica and Mt. Erebus. This clothing consists of several pairs of synthetic long underwear, gloves and mittens, balaclavas and hats and socks. Wind resistant outer shells (upper and lower body) are also provided. Goose-down filled parkas provide protection against very cold temperatures. Heavy boots round out the clothing issued by the NSF. Individuals typically supplement the NSF-issued gear with higher quality personal gear, but personal gear must often be "okayed" by field safety officials (mountaineers) in McMurdo Station.
Where do scientists live while working on Mt. Erebus?
- While on Mt. Erebus, NSF scientists and support staff use one of two huts a few kilometers from the summit crater. The huts are used as the logistical base for most of the scientific work that happens at Mt. Erebus. The huts are also used as the kitchen and dining area for the scientists. Most people that stay on Mt. Erebus sleep in tents (mountain or polar tents) that are erected near the huts. During the occasional storm, the huts serve as emergency shelter.
Where do visitors to Mt. Erebus go to the bathroom?
- Antarctica is a unique and delicate ecological system. The member nations of the Antarctic Treaty have pledged to keep the continent as clean and pristine as possible. Mt. Erebus is no different. All waste generated by human activity on Mt. Erebus is collected in drums and flown off to McMurdo Station for proper disposal. An anteroom of one of the Mt. Erebus huts serves as the lone bathroom for all guests to the summit of Mt. Erebus.
Science FAQ
- The summit of Mt. Erebus is 3794 meters above mean sea level. This is high enough to potentially cause altitude sickness to scientists visiting the summit area. Therefore, all visitors to the summit of Mt. Erebus must first acclimatize at Fang Ridge (elevation approx. 2700 meters) .
- The biggest eruptions from Mt. Erebus were observed during the 1984 field season. During this heightened activity, eruptions hurled automobile-sized bombs more than 1 kilometer from the crater. However, even during this phase, the eruptions were sporadic, never achieving a continuous style of eruptivity like that observed at other volcanoes (e.g. Mt. Etna, Kilauea). (Update: see this article from The Antarctic Sun.)
Will Mt. Erebus ever explode like Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Vesuvius?
- The chemistry of the Mt. Erebus lavas are generally inconsistent with the volatile rich lavas of more explosive volcanoes of the world. Mt. Erebus, while exhibiting some small explosive eruptive activity, is more likely to erupt in a fashion similar to the volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands (passive lava flows).
- While Mt. Erebus is more likely to emit a lava flow than an ash cloud, there is evidence of large explosive events from Mt. Erebus locked in the ice beyond the Transantarctic Mountains, tens of kilometers from the volcano.