Lower Erebus Hut

Lower Erebus Hut
Antarctic base
Lower Erebus Hut in 2005
Location of Lower Erebus Hut in Antarctica
Lower Erebus Hut
Location of Lower Erebus Hut in Antarctica
Coordinates: 77°30′41″S 167°08′34″E / 77.511294°S 167.142847°E / -77.511294; 167.142847Coordinates: 77°30′41″S 167°08′34″E / 77.511294°S 167.142847°E / -77.511294; 167.142847
Country  United States
Location in Antarctica Mount Erebus
Ross Island
Antarctica
Administered by United States Antarctic Program
Established 1992 (1992)
Elevation 3,402 m (11,161 ft)
Type Seasonal
Period Summer
Status Operational

The Lower Erebus Hut (LEH) is a permanent field facility located on Mount Erebus in Ross Island, Antarctica. The hut is the home of the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory MEVO, run by New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology NMT. The installation comprises two huts, one kitchen and recreation building and one working and storage building.

History

The permanent LEH was built in November 1992 as a replacement for the Upper hut and other semi-permanent Jamesway huts.

Location

LEH is located on the northern side Mount Erebus within its caldera rim. The location facilitates easy ski-doo/hiking trips to the crater rim where the volcano's persistent lava lake is visible. The exact coordinates of the hut defined by a UNAVCO benchmark are 77° 30′ 37.61" S 167° 08′ 45.83" E

3347.31 (~3401.89 m MSL).[1]

Science

Major support for all operations at LEH are conducted through McMurdo Station run by a division of NSF, the United States Antarctic Program (USAP).

LEH is used as a base of operations for the monitoring of Mt Erebus and maintenance of such equipment. The work force at LEH, which is composed of senior research scientists, professors and graduate students, maintains both the scientific and logistical equipment on the mountain. Gaseous emission concentration, composition and flux as well as thermal image stills, visible and IR video, and infrasonic, of the lava lake are all data collected by researchers based at LEH.

See also

References

  1. UNAVCO website for Lower Erebus Hut "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  • NMT New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
  • MEVO Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory
  • UNAVCO UNAVCO Polar Services - Antarctic - Geodetic Benchmarks
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.