Welcome to the new and improved Mt. Erebus Volcano Observatory (MEVO) homepage. This site has been predominantly designed as a vehicle for making accessible ongoing integrated Geology , Geochemistry , and Geophysics research on Mt. Erebus. In addition, this site also provides links to the more "visceral" Live Video and movies of eruptions from the Mt. Erebus lava lake.

It is our goal to try to provide as much information as possible about all things Erebus. However, this site is also designed not to be overwhelmingly technical, and thus be useful and interesting to both the general public and to the scientific community.

Mt. Erebus (77°32'S, 167°10'E), Ross Island, Antarctica is the world’s southern-most active volcano. Discovered in 1841 by James Ross, it is one of only a very few volcanoes in the world with a long-lived (decades or more) lava lake. Scientific research, sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) since began the early 1970’s had included basic study of the petrology and geophysics of the volcano, the eruptive history, activity and degassing behavior of the lava lake, and the overall impact of the volcano on the Antarctica and global environment.

Research on Mt. Erebus has been primarily conducted by scientists in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science and the Bureau of Geology and Mineral resources at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Each austral summer, a group of scientists and students ascend the volcano to live and work for several weeks (early December to early January). Current research consists of 1) continued monitoring of the SO2 flux from the lava lake, 2) measuring the CO2 emissions from the lava lake and summit, 3) geochronology of the summit and flank lava flows, 4) continued monitoring of the seismic and seismoacoustic activity of the volcano through the use of a network of highly-sensitive broad-band seismometers, 5) establishing a GPS base network to monitor the short- and long-term deformation of the volcano.