Experts from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have captured a rare eruption of the subantarctic volcano Big Ben in film while conducting a survey of underwater volcanoes in the area onboard the sea vessel Investigator.
Located on Heard Island in the southern portion of the Indian Ocean, Big Ben is considered to be the highest elevation in Australia's Antarctic territories. Scientists have detected at least three eruptions from the volcano over the past decade and a half.
Professor Mike Coffin, a scientist from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and one of those onboard the CSIRO ship, said they were surprised to see Big Ben erupting.
"Seeing vapor emanating from both of Australia's active volcanoes and witnessing an eruption on Mawson Peak have been an amazing coda to this week's submarine research," Coffin said. "We have 10 excited geoscientists aboard Investigator, and our enthusiasm has spread to our 50 shipmates."
Coffin added that there are not many ships that journey to the area of Heard and that the last scientific expedition sent to the island was back in 1987.
Among those included in the CSIRO survey is earth sciences expert Jodi Fox, who has been studying about volcanic activity on Heard.
She said it was an incredible experience to witness lava emanate from Big Ben's Mawson Peak and flow down its flank and over an Antarctic glacier.
The CSIRO researchers were able to record the eruption of Big Ben in its entirety. The video has been uploaded to YouTube by members of the IMAS.
In the video, one of the members of the recent expedition can be seen saying that being able to witness the volcanic eruptions was a "bonus" after having spent about two weeks at sea.
Heard Island, as well as its neighboring McDonald Islands, can be found around 4,100 kilometers (2,548 miles) southwest of the Australian city of Perth and around 1,750 kilometers (1,087 miles) north of Davis Station, the country's base in the Antarctic.
Coffin and his colleagues on the CSIRO expedition are currently conducting a survey on how underwater volcanoes are connected with mobilization of iron substances known to support marine species living in this area of the ocean.
