Extremely Rare Lava Lake Discovered on Remote British Island

orbiter images have confirm the presence of a persistent lava lake within the volcanic crater of Mount Michael — an active volcano located on a remote island in the Southern Ocean .

Despite frequently appearing in films and television games , lava lakes are in reality quite rare as far as geologic features go . Of the approximately1,500potentially active terrestrial volcanoes on Earth , only eight feature a persistent lake of lava , the young one included . A research team from the British Antarctic sketch and University College London support the presence of lava lake using satellite data take in over the past three decennary . Details of the discovery werepublishedin the latest variation of the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research .

Mount Michael ’s lava syndicate is as wide of the mark as two football fields , and its temperature peak at nearly 1,280 degrees Celsius ( 2,335 degrees Fahrenheit ) .

False color image of Saunders Island and the lava lake within Mt. Michael.

False color image of Saunders Island and the lava lake within Mt. Michael.Image: (Landsat 8/BAS)

Satellite images from the 1990s pointed to a pertinacious lava lake , as evidenced by thermic anomalies and signs of magma pour out from the crater . But the miserable resoluteness of these images made it insufferable to affirm . The remote location of this vent on Saunders Island did n’t help , bring in up - close notice difficult . This island is located among Britain ’s South Sandwich Islands some 1,550 kilometers ( 963 miles ) east of the Falkland Islands .

“ Mount Michael is a vent on a remote island in the Southern Ocean , ” said field lead source Danielle Gray from University College London in apress sack . “ It is extremely difficult to access , and without gamey - resolution satellite imagery it would have been very thought-provoking to learn more about this amazing geologic feature . ”

For the raw study , the BAS researchers used information call for by the Landsat , Sentinel-2 , and ASTER satellites from 2003 to 2018 , along with diachronic data dating back to 1989 . As the authors express in the new paper , “ Persistent volcanic plumes and extravasation were place throughout the thirty - yr period studied . ”

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Mt. Michael.Image: (Pete Bucktrout (British Antarctic Survey).)

The eminent - solution imagery revealed a lava lake measure between 90 to 215 meters in diam , and liquefied lava temperatures ranging from 989 to 1,279 degree Celsius ( 1,812 to 2,334 degree Fahrenheit ) .

“ We are entranced to have discover such a remarkable geological feature in the British Overseas Territory , ” said BAS geologist and study co - author Alex Burton - Johnson . “ Identifying the lava lake has better our discernment of the volcanic bodily process and hazard on this removed island , and differentiate us more about these rare features , and finally , it has helped us evolve technique to monitor volcanoes from quad . ”

And in just case you were curious , the other seven volcano with persistent lava lakes around the world as as follows : Nyiragongo Volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo , Erta Ale Volcano in Ethiopia , Mount Erebus in Antarctica , Mount Yasur Vanuatu in Kilauea , Hawaii , Ambrym in Vanuatu , and Masaya in Nicaragua .

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