Snow-covered Antarctica Houses 138 Volcanoes; Know How Many Are Active

Antarctica is known to be the home to the world’s largest ice sheets. Apart from being famous for its endless snowscape, it is also known for the penguins residing there. Many of us might not know that Antarctica has also been hiding hundreds of silent volcanoes under the thick layers of snow. According to a recent study published in Live Science, scientists have been studying these hundreds of volcanoes that are hiding silently under the frosty snow. The primary objective of conducting the study is to estimate the chances of these volcanoes’ eruptions. As per the study, there are as many as 138 volcanoes under the snow blanket. Due to this, Antarctica is also considered to be the largest volcanic region on Earth. Notably, 91 out of the 138 silent volcanoes were first discovered during a research study published in the journal Geological Society in 2017.

When studying volcanoes, scientists were unable to distinguish whether they were active or not. Currently, two of these volcanoes on the continent are found to be active, which are Mount Erebus and Deception Island. Both of these are said to be the southernmost active volcanoes in the world.

A postdoctoral research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York, Conor Bacon told Live Science about the research. He said, “Erebus, which looms over the McMurdo research base on Scott Island, has been continuously erupting since at least 1972.”

According to the NASA Earth Observatory, Mount Erebus has been seen emitting plumes of gas and steam and even occasionally spray out rock bombs, which collectively are known as strombolian eruptions.

On the other hand, Deception Island is the caldera of an active volcano, which last erupted in 1970, as per the Deception Island Antarctic Specially. Presently, the island is classified as green with no anticipated eruption by the Managed Area, which monitors the island for its volcanic activities.

Despite the two active volcanoes on Antarctica, it is filled with air holes and volcanic vents that release gases and vapours into the air and keep it balanced.