Lower Erebus Hut | |
Settlement Type: | Antarctic base |
Flag Size: | 110px |
Flag Border: | no |
Mapsize: | 350px |
Pushpin Map: | Antarctica |
Pushpin Map Alt: | Location of Lower Erebus Hut in Antarctica |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Lower Erebus Hut in Antarctica |
Pushpin Mapsize: | 300 |
Pushpin Relief: | yes |
Coordinates: | -77.5113°N 167.1428°W |
Coordinates Footnotes: | [1] |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | |
Subdivision Type1: | Location in Antarctica |
Subdivision Name1: | Mount Erebus Ross Island Antarctica |
Subdivision Type3: | Administered by |
Subdivision Name3: | United States Antarctic Program |
Established Title: | Established |
Elevation M: | 3,402 |
Blank Name Sec1: | Type |
Blank Info Sec1: | Seasonal |
Blank1 Name Sec1: | Period |
Blank1 Info Sec1: | Summer |
Blank2 Name Sec1: | Status |
Blank2 Info Sec1: | Operational |
The Lower Erebus Hut (LEH) is a permanent field facility located on Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica. The hut served as the seasonal base 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.
The permanent LEH was built in November 1992 as a replacement for the Upper hut and other semi-permanent Jamesway huts.
LEH is located on the northern side of Mount Erebus within its caldera rim. The location facilitates trips to the crater rim where the volcano's persistent lava lake is visible.
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, other scientific studies, and maintenance of such equipment. The work force at LEH, which is composed of senior research scientists, professors and graduate students, maintains both scientific and logistical equipment on the mountain. Past research has included gaseous emission concentration, composition and flux as well as thermal image stills, visible and IR video, seismic, and infrasonic studies of the volcano.