UCL expedition commissioned by National Geographic leads to a lava lake discovery

In 2020, Dr Emma Nicholson led an expedition to Saunders Island in the South Sandwich Islands, a volcanic archipelago over 200 miles long. This trip aimed to discover if Mount Michael on Saunders Island had a lava lake, following years of planning. Persistent cloud cover and poor weather made it difficult to study the volcano, with few people having landed on Saunders Island and no previous attempts to scale Mount Michael.

Despite having to turn back due to whiteout conditions, Dr Nicholson’s blog about the expedition caught the attention of National Geographic, who funded another trip. With support from UCL Consultants, she successfully completed the expedition to Mount Michael in late 2022.

Enabling ground-breaking science

Mount Michael’s summit is known to have a thermal hotspot, significantly hotter than the surrounding area. Satellite imagery, when clouds permit, shows temperatures exceeding 1000 Celsius, similar to other volcanoes with surface magma. However, without direct access, scientists couldn’t confirm the existence of a lava lake or take detailed measurements to understand the volcano’s behaviour and the reasons behind the lava lake.

“One of the most valuable types of volcanoes that we have as volcanologists are those that host lava lakes,” Dr Nicholson explained. “They’re very rare. They come and go through geological time, and there are currently only nine worldwide. We see them as our natural laboratories. It’s like taking the lid off the top of a volcano. Lava lakes enable us to look inside, and then relate measurements we can make, such as the amount and chemistry of volcanic gases being released and the earthquake activity, directly to observations of how the magma is behaving. This is crucial information as at most volcanoes we cannot do that. We rely entirely on interpreting what we can measure at the surface to the processes that might be happening in the volcano deep below. At open vent volcanoes, we can actually see the relationship. So many of the greatest advances in our science have come from observations at lava lake volcanoes.”

When the team at National Geographic learned of Dr Nicholson’s first attempt at scaling Mount Michael, they were keen to help her achieve her goals on a new expedition. They talked for several months to discuss what their joint goals would be for a new expedition, and the idea successfully passed through the approval processes of the National Geographic team. At this point, Dr Nicholson contacted UCL Consultants for support.

“I was very new to consultancy at this point,” Dr Nicholson said. “Throughout contract negotiations, UCL Consultants pinned down what I could commit to after the expedition too. Media interviews, speaking at events, and how much time I could give to National Geographic – these were all points that were agreed in advance through the contract. Having an independent view on this was really helpful, and UCL Consultants thought of things that hadn’t occurred to me. They also ensured I would have enough time to publish my academic findings.”

It was particularly important for Dr Nicholson to maximise the opportunity to achieve several key science goals on the expedition. The first was confirming the presence of a lava lake, which the team managed to do. Dr Nicholson and her team also wanted to install a seismometer to measure earthquake activity on the island. The team successfully did this, making this the first seismometer installed on land in the whole of the South Sandwich Islands. They collected water and snow samples from across Saunders Island, to understand more about how the volcano affects the hydrological cycle. Communities near volcanoes across the world collect rainwater for drinking, and so this information can help us understand how volcanic emissions over long periods of time affect how safe the water is to drink. The team also took chemical measurements of the gases being constantly released from the volcano, enabling them to understand more about the structure of the magma system beneath the volcano.

Reaching a huge audience

The expedition was a resounding success, resulting in the confirmation of a lava lake, plus the collection of a large amount of invaluable data. Dr Nicholson and her team are looking into the environmental effects of the volcano, while the seismometer was able to provide information about the ‘restlessness’ of Mount Michael too.

The reach of this work has been profound. National Geographic produced a documentary, Explorer: Lake of Fire, about the expedition, which is gradually being released across the world. As Dr Nicholson had received funding from National Geographic, she was eligible to apply for their visiting scientists programme. She proposed projects related to sampling the atmosphere along the Antarctic Peninsula, as she wanted to find out more about background air quality in the region – an important aspect of researching volcanic influences. Her proposal was successful and she joined a National Geographic vessel that travelled to Antarctica in January 2024. As well as doing air quality research, she gave lectures on board, showed the documentary film, and hosted a Q&A session about her work.

Dr Nicholson has also been contacted by teachers from schools in different countries, who have been inspired by the documentary. As a result, she has taken part in Zoom chats with pupils of different age groups, answering their questions and discussing what volcanologists do.

“This project has really opened a huge number of doors, both for developing my own research, and in terms of impact and how I can reach different audiences,” Dr Nicholson said. Since establishing this partnership with UCL Consultants, she has worked on a range of other consultancy projects with them too.

“I’ve worked on another consultancy agreement with UCL Consultants since, and we’ve developed a really good relationship,” Dr Nicholson said. “After our first project with National Geographic, it made me see all sorts of opportunities in other places. I know that as soon as I see an opportunity developing now, I can liaise with UCL Consultants straight away. Everything moves much faster this way, and conversations are much more focused. UCL Consultants has also gained a great understanding of my areas of interest and capacity, which makes working together easy. It’s transformed my research from being just academically-focused to looking externally at partnerships with industry and the media, considerably increasing my impact. I’d tell other academics that working with UCL Consultants is really beneficial – it opens your eyes to what’s possible.”

Key Facts

Dr Emma Nicholson
UCL Earth Sciences
Faculty of Mathematics and Physical Sciences

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