Original photo by SD Images/ Adobe Stock
When we think of Antarctica, we tend to imagine a vast frozen wasteland, without much going on beyond the icy expanse. But that frigid continent harbors a surprising secret: Beneath the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet lies the largest known volcanic region on Earth, with as many as 138 volcanoes. While some volcanoes rise above the frozen landscape, more recent discoveries have found volcanoes hidden under the ice.
Antarctica’s most famous volcano, Mount Erebus, was discovered back in 1841. Standing at 12,448 feet above sea level on Ross Island, Erebus is Earth’s southernmost active volcano and is also home to one of the planet’s few permanent lava lakes, which has been bubbling continuously since at least 1972. Along with Deception Island, located in the South Shetland Islands, Erebus is one of only two volcanoes currently considered active in Antarctica.
Oops, incorrect!
It's a factLocated in the Tharsis Montes region near the Martian equator, Olympus Mons is one of a dozen massive volcanoes on Mars and the tallest of them all, rising to an incredible 16 miles high.
Over the past century, polar explorers have identified many other volcanoes in Antarctica — at least 40 — typically through the discovery of unusually shaped or prominent mountains that stand out from the icy landscape. With the exception of Erebus and Deception, however, they’re all considered dormant. But in 2017, researchers discovered 91 previously unknown volcanoes lurking beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and published their findings in the journal Geological Society. By using a combination of satellite data, ice-penetrating radar, and aeromagnetic and aerogravity measurements (used to map Earth's geological structure from the air), they identified zones of basaltic, or volcanic, rock below the ice.
The results don’t indicate whether the newly found volcanoes are active, but it’s certainly a possibility. What’s more, volcanic activity may increase if Antarctica’s ice thins. Robert Bingham, one of the researchers involved in the discovery of the volcanoes, explained to The Guardian that any further loss of ice could release pressure on the volcanoes that lie below, leading to eruptions that could destabilize the ice sheets.
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The country with the highest number of volcanoes is ______, with a total of 165.
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The country with the highest number of volcanoes is the United States, with a total of 165.
The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at Russia's Vostok research station in Antarctica.
We all know Antarctica is chilly, but it’s hard to imagine just how bitter the cold can get. On July 21, 1983, during the Southern Hemisphere winter, temperatures at Russia’s Vostok research station in Antarctica plunged to a brutal -128.6°F (-89.2°C) — the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth. To put that into perspective, the coldest temperature recorded in the U.S. was -80°F (-62.2°C) at Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska, in 1971 (the coldest in the contiguous U.S. was -69.7°F, reported from Rogers Pass, Montana, in 1954).
As if -128.6°F wasn’t already cold enough, NASA satellite data has shown evidence of even colder temperatures in Antarctica. In 2013, satellite data analysis revealed temperatures of -135.8°F (-94.7°C) near a high ridge between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji, two summits on the ice sheet known as the East Antarctic Plateau. But because the temperature was measured by satellite rather than by thermometer, the record isn’t recognized by the likes of Guinness World Records.
Tony is an English writer of nonfiction and fiction living on the edge of the Amazon jungle.
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