Deception Island: the phoenix rises

Volcanoes can hide themselves in clear sight. We may see a rugged hill or a lake, but may not recognize the lurking danger. A volcano that lacks a conical shape can hide its nature from us. Volcanoes are deceptive by nature. That cone with the steam plume at the top may look friendly, but it…

South Sandwich Islands: volcanic arc in a polar climate

The last time I wrote an article for Volcanocafe it was a guest post about the Galapagos Islands, but now I’m a new member of the Volcanocafe writing team (a little bit more about me later). Deep in the South Atlantic Ocean lies an archipelago of uninhabited volcanic islands, the South Sandwich Islands. A British…

Mount Erebus, Ross Island and the Age of Exploration

This is a reposted article from December 3, 2011. I have always had a love of the beauty of the Antarctic. When I discovered that a cousin of my grandfather had joined Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic expeditionof 1914 to 1917 as the official photographer, this love morphed into an enduring interest in the early explorations of the…

The Endurance

Shackleton’s Lost Volcano

During his Antarctic expeditions, Shackleton left a volcanic legacy by overseeing the first exploration of Mount Erebus. But in his reports he notes an indication of another volcano, one which has never been identified. In this post I propose the first identification of this mystery volcano. Each their own. The three most famous explorers of…