#MT EREBUS GREEN LAVA GENERATOR#

This suggests the lava lake has been there since at least the early 1900s, said Philip Kyle, professor emeritus at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and co-author of the new study.

Scientists discovered the lake in the early 1970s, but early Antarctic expeditioners noticed Erebus had a red glow around its summit. Lava lakes are rare enough, but Erebus’s lava lake is even more intriguing because it’s been around for so long.

#MT EREBUS GREEN LAVA GENERATOR#

Peters hoped the prototype generator he installed would help power the camera during the long polar night. Nial Peters behind the thermal camera set up to take infrared images of Erebus’s lava lake. It’s a unique natural laboratory for studying volcanoes because there’s an open lava lake at its summit, one of only a handful on Earth. “It doesn't solve all of your power problems for monitoring volcanoes, but it certainly has potential to be a very useful tool.” A unique laboratoryĮrebus is the most active volcano in Antarctica and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. “It’s quite a cool piece of technology that's fun to use,” said Nial Peters, an engineer at University College London and lead author of a recent study describing the prototype generator. The technology could be used at other Antarctic volcanoes and be applied to other types of scientific instruments that require little power, according to the researchers. An array of generators like this could keep more power-intensive equipment running throughout the winter, allowing scientists to monitor the volcano’s open lava lake year-round – something that has never been possible at Erebus before. The prototype produces a tiny amount of energy – less than a smartphone flashlight – but it’s enough to fuel low-powered volcanic sensors.

They’ve developed a prototype generator that pulls heat from the ground at the volcano’s summit and provides just enough energy to keep batteries alive during the long, cold Antarctic winter. Researchers have found a way to harness the heat from the magma underneath Erebus and turn it into electricity that can power scientific instruments. Part of the instrument sits below grade to pull heat from the ground. The prototype thermal generator installed at Mt.

Mt erebus green lava