10/08/2005 - Remote satellite
sensing has confirmed one of Australia's two
active volcanoes is erupting on McDonald Island
in the Southern Ocean.
Satellite images have detected the volcanic
activity on the island, 4100 kms southwest
of Western Australia.
Australian Minister for the Environment and
Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, said that
for 75,000 years the McDonald Island volcano
had lain dormant before erupting for the first
time in 1992.
He said there had been several eruptions
since, the last in 2001 - detected by satellite
that indicated a doubling in the island's
size from 1.13 square kms to 2.45 square kms.
The latest activity was the most recent since
that event.
Unveiling satellite images of the eruption
today at the opening of the annual Australian
Antarctic Division exhibition at Parliament
House, Senator Campbell said few Australians
realised there were active volcanoes within
our territorial waters.
"The McDonald Island volcano also is
unusual because unlike most oceanic volcanoes,
it sits on a shallow submarine plateau, which
means its eruptions are not as wild and fiery
as some – instead producing a slow-moving
mass of lava that seeps and spreads.
"Despite the slow-moving nature of the
lava, eruptions over the past 13 years have
caused startling changes to the island's geography,
obliterating some landmarks and creating new
ones.
"While people tend to think of volcanoes
as destructive, this remarkable natural phenomenon
is also productive, creating new land that
will make the island more attractive to seabirds,
particularly the king penguin."
McDonald Island is home to seals, macaroni
penguins and other seabirds. The king penguin
was first spotted there in 2002 and with the
new beaches now probably containing gravel-like
pieces of pumice as a result of volcanic activity,
further colonisation by the magnificent bird
is likely.
McDonald Island is within the Heard Island
and McDonald Islands (HIMI) Marine Reserve,
one of the world's biggest marine reserves.
It is just 44 kms from Australia's only other
active volcano on Heard Island where there
has not been any activity for some time. Both
islands are World Heritage listed.
"Although these two islands are close
to each other, we know almost nothing of McDonald
Island because its uninviting terrain and
surrounding hazardous seas make it virtually
impossible to get ashore," Senator Campbell
said.
"The satellite images of the island's
volcano provide a fascinating snapshot of
the power of nature."
The exhibition opening also marked the release
of the latest round of Australian Antarctic
Science Grants, an allocation of $1000,000
for 47 research projects, and the announcement
of eight new Antarctic place names.
The new place names were approved following
nominations from interested parties. The approved
names are: Adamson Spur, Prismatine Peak,
Hidden Lake, Hanging Lake, Lake Henderson,
Patterned Lake, Jacka Valley and Cemetery
Ridge.
The names were chosen as suitably descriptive
and appropriate for the features they describe,
with the personal name for Adamson Spur selected
in recognition of the pioneering work in the
area by the late Emeritus Professor Don Adamson.
