Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 15:15
Forums
Erebus Volcano Antarctica

Hello,

I was wondering that when you are down in Antarctica, about how long will it take to map the inside of Mt. Erebus?

Rachel E. period:2

Wed, 11/05/2008 - 16:26

John Wood

Rachel,
Thank you for the great question!  You must have been paying attention the other day.  The experiment will be in 3 parts, as I see it.  Setting up the seismic stations and getting everything in place will be the first job.  If the weather is with us, this should take a couple of weeks.  The second part is to set the explosive charges and set them off.  Once the charges are in place and ready, the seismic stations will do their thing.  This part should take another week.  When the blasts happen, the stations will record the data.  This will take several days.  Then we have to collect the stations and get them back to McMurdo and the U.S.  That should take another week or so.  The third part, which is the longest of them all, will be to take the data and analyze it to find the patterns.  This part may take the next couple of years!  But if all goes well, we should have a good idea about the inside of the volcano.  And that is if everything goes well!
Cheers,
Mr. Wood