![]() “Understanding how gas comes out of the flanks of volcanoes is something that volcanologists, in general, are really interested in lately,” Curtis said. Scientist Aaron Curtis sets up an instrument to monitor the atmosphere in Hut Cave on Mount Erebus. ![]() The research also suggested a link between changes in barometric pressure and temperature – and, consequently, gases like CO2. Ĭurtis was the lead author on a paper published last year in Geophysical Research Letters that used temperature data in the ice caves as a proxy for how much gas was being emitted from the fumaroles, or fissures, that feed into the caves and towers that dot the upper flanks of Mount Erebus. “I think there’s far more gas coming out of the edifice of Erebus as opposed to coming out of the lava lake than we think,” said Aaron Curtis, a PhD student at New Mexico Tech. ![]() Recent research into these steam-carved structures has found they are an important source of carbon dioxide gas emissions from the volcano. It turns out there are scores of peepholes into the volcano’s inner workings through the ice caves and towers that form where fissures on the flanks of Mount Erebus vent gas and steam. The discovery of a lava lake on Mount Erebus 40 years ago offered a window into the “plumbing” of Antarctica’s southernmost active volcano.
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