A stunning satellite image reveals the unique horseshoe-shaped caldera of Deception Island in Antarctica, a volcanic haven offering shelter for ships and researchers.
This striking satellite photo shows off the unique shape of Antarctica's Deception Island — a semi-submerged, active volcanic caldera created by one of the region's largest known eruptions, which now provides a haven for ships and researchers exploring the area around the South Pole. The horseshoe-shaped island, which is roughly 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) wide, is located in the Southern Ocean around 65 miles (105 km) from mainland Antarctica.
It is one of the South Shetland Islands, which sit in the middle of the Drake Passage — a stretch of water commonly known as the'iceberg graveyard,' due to the number of massive ice slabs that fall apart as they move through this passage, after breaking off from Antarctic ice sheets. Deception Island gets its intriguing name because, from sea level, it looks like a single solid landmass surrounded on every side by steep cliffs. But if you approach it and find the narrow 1,600-foot-wide (500 meters) opening in the caldera's rim, known as'Neptune's Bellows,' you realize that it holds a massive hidden lagoon. Explorers first discovered the secret passageway in 1820. Before then, many sailors would have likely passed by not knowing that its interior, known as Port Foster, is an excellent refuge for sailors to wait out massive storms that frequently hit the Southern Ocean. The unusual landmass was left behind after a major volcanic eruption around 4,000 years ago, which likely launched between 7 and 14 cubic miles (30 and 60 cubic kilometers) of ash and magma into the sky — the equivalent of between 120 million and 240 million Olympic swimming pool
VOLCANOES ANTARCTICA EARTHSCIENCE REMOTE SENSING GEOLOGY
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