Professor Clive Oppenheimer explains what has been learned about how volcanoes work from detailed observations of the southernmost active volcano in the world, Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica. The island was the base for several polar missions, notably those led by Shackleton and Scott. Their pioneering studies of the volcano paved the way for all subsequent investigations, and the physical traces they left on the mountain provide a tangible link between past and present scientific endeavours.

Presented with Cambridge University Press

Clive’s research explores the behaviour and hazards of volcanoes and the impacts of large eruptions of the past on climate and society. These themes were treated in the film INTO THE INFERNO that he made with Werner Herzog for Netflix in 2016. Fieldwork is his passion, and over the past year he has studied volcanoes in Chad, Ethiopia, Antarctica, Indonesia and North Korea.

The research presented in this talk is funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The mission of the ERC is to encourage excellent frontier research in Europe supporting top researchers across all fields and of any nationality. 2017 marks the 10th Anniversary of the ERC.

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