Penguin colonies at risk from erupting volcano

Chinstrap penguins.
Image © Harriet Clewlow

SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS – A volcano erupting on a small island in the subantarctic is depositing ash over one of the world’s largest penguin colonies.

Zavodovski Island is a small uninhabited island in the South Sandwich archipelago, part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands. Its volcano Mt Curry has been erupting since March 2016. The island is home to around 1.2 million chinstrap penguins – the largest colony for this species in the world.

British Antarctic Survey (BAS) recently remapped this chain of volcanic islands and was alerted to a 7.2 magnitude earthquake last month in the vicinity. Researchers confirmed from satellite imagery that not one but two volcanoes are erupting in the South Sandwich Islands – Mt Curry on Zavodovski Island to the north of the archipelago and Mt Sourabaya on Bristol Island to the south.