🔥Big Ben Down Under? Sub-Antarctic Volcano Erupts, Puts on Fire Show for Satellites 🌋
TL;DR: 🌍 Way down south in the sub-Antarctic, Big Ben, Australia’s own mountainous inferno, has decided to throw a surprise lava party. 🎉 Images from Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite show the volcano, sitting at a lofty 2745m above sea level, dishing out molten rock like it’s on a mission. 💥 Despite being hidden by clouds, this explosive soiree is still visible days later. 🌥️ Imagine what a 7-day, tempestuous journey on rough seas would be to see this live, eh? 🌊
Now onto our rockin’ and rollin’ news…
In a place as remote as an alien planet, Heard Island sits ominously in the sub-Antarctic waters, owned by Australia but existing practically on another world. Its dominant feature, the active volcano known as Big Ben, has decided to put on a bit of a fiery spectacle.
So, Big Ben just woke up from its nap and decided to say a big hello to the world. In true Australian spirit, the bloke doesn’t do things by halves. 🤠 It was like Big Ben said, “I’m tired of all the attention going to those Antarctica territories. Let me show you what a real Aussie eruption looks like!” and boom! 🌋
This unforgettable image, brought to you by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite, shows hot lava flowing down Mawson’s Peak, the summit of Big Ben. You’re probably wondering, “What’s an Aussie volcano doing in the middle of nowhere?” Well, it’s 517m taller than Mount Kosciuszko, and pretty much unknown unless you’re a geology nerd. 🤓
This eruption is Big Ben’s fifth known performance since 2000. The most recent one before this was in 2016, spotted by a few lucky scientists who were in the right place at the right time. Makes you think, doesn’t it? Are there eruptions going on out there we just don’t see because no one’s around to Instagram it? 📸
Heard Island itself is a chilly place covered by a dozen major and a few minor glaciers. No one lives here, and it’s a grueling seven-day journey through some of the planet’s roughest seas to reach it from Fremantle in Western Australia. “Why would anyone want to go there?” you might ask. Well, it’s not every day you get to witness a fiery spectacle that’s been going on for days. 🏔️🔥
And get this: McDonald Island, a little sibling 43km west of Heard Island, has also had volcanic activity that’s caused it to double in size since the 1980s. So, who’s the real heavyweight champ of Australian volcanoes? 🥊
In the end, it’s hard to say which is more fascinating: the fact that these remote, freezing islands are experiencing eruptions that are reshaping the landscape, or that we can now observe these eruptions from space thanks to our growing technology. It’s like we’re living in a science fiction story, isn’t it? 🚀
So here’s a thought for you to mull over: In a world where we can detect volcanic activity in the most remote corners of the globe, are there other incredible natural phenomena happening right under our satellite’s noses that we’re still unaware of? 🌎🔍
