The European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite has captured the image of Big Ben volcano – one of Australia’s two active volcanoes – erupting lava.
The lava flow on uninhabited Heard Island, about 4,100km southwest of Perth (Australia) and 1,500km north of Antarctica, is part of an ongoing eruption that was first recorded away from the South Pole. this is more than a decade.
This satellite image combines optical and infrared showing lava spilling down the slopes of Big Ben volcano on Heard Island near Antarctica. (Photo: Sentinel-2).
The image above was taken by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite on May 25 and is a combination of optical and infrared images, according to the Guardian.
In the image, lava can be seen flowing down the side of Big Ben volcano from near the summit, known as Mawson’s Peak . Another Australian active volcano is located on the nearby McDonald Islands.
Reports from the Global Volcano Program (GVP) at the Smithsonian Institution, before the satellite image was shared, showed that the current lava flow was part of an “eruption” that has been going on since September/September. 2012. GVP has records of eruptions at Heard Island dating back to 1910.
Dr Teresa Ubide, a volcanologist and associate professor at the University of Queensland, said: “This volcano has been erupting since the early twentieth century. What is happening is quite normal and is creating lava flows.”
GVP has recorded about 20 “lava flows” since September 2012.
According to Dr Ubide, Heard Island is known as an inland volcano because it is located in the middle of a tectonic plate rather than at the edge.
Big Ben volcano eruption in January 2016. (Photo: CSIRO).
These types of volcanoes are created by a “hot spot” inside the Earth and are usually not explosive and emit little ash, the scientist adds.
“Many eruptions come from smaller movements. The most recent lava flow seems to be a continuation of what’s been happening there since 2012,’ Dr Ubide said.
Dr Jodi Fox, an associate researcher at the University of Tasmania and a Southern volcanologist at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Japan, said Heard Island could be dated to from 750,000 to 500,000. Evidence suggests that the origin of magma is the Earth’s upper mantle, about 45km above the surface.
Commenting on the latest lava flow, the female doctor said: “This is actually quite typical in the way Big Ben volcano works. The lava flow is relatively slow and almost no explosions are recorded. Sometimes there is a stream of vapor and gas.”
The expert said Big Ben has many anomalies compared to an intraplate volcano because it appears to be more elevated as other similar oceanic volcanoes tend to move towards collapsing into the Earth’s crust under pressure. their own weight.
Big Ben Volcano and Heard Island are located on the Antarctic Plate. There are more than 100 volcanoes in Antarctica, of which about 90 are hidden under the ice.
Heard Island and the McDonald Islands are located on the Kerguelen Plateau about 3,000m above the surrounding seabed.
Mawson Peak on Big Ben volcano is 2,745m above sea level – 517m higher than the largest peak on the Australian continent, Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales.