Antarctica may appear frozen and still, but beneath its vast ice sheet lies one of Earth’s most remarkable volcanic regions.

In this episode of the Lava Academy Podcast, Iain MacKinnon and Ragnhildur Ágústsdóttir are joined by Ann-Sophie Bader, who divides her year between working at Lava Show in Vík and a remote tourism camp in Antarctica.

Ann-Sophie takes us beneath the ice to explore:

• The volcanic landscape hidden beneath West Antarctica
• How scientists find volcanoes buried under kilometres of ice
• Deception Island and the enormous eruption that created its flooded caldera
• Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on Earth
• The rare, persistent lava lake inside Erebus
• Why its unusual phonolite lava behaves differently from Icelandic basalt
• How Erebus produces volcanic bombs and releases microscopic particles of gold
• The relationship between volcanic heat, moving glaciers and Antarctic ice loss

Ann-Sophie also shares what it is like to live and work at Union Glacier, surrounded by ice, mountains and one of the most remote environments on the planet.

From hidden volcanoes and gold-carrying gases to molten lava surviving in extreme cold, this episode reveals an Antarctic landscape far more dynamic than it first appears.

• Science Educator Sævar Helgi Bragason talks about volcanoes in space

• Hólmfríður Sigurðardóttir, and Birgir Vilhelm Óskarsson discuss the unique volcanic island of Surtsey

Discover more volcano stories through Lava Academy at https://www.lavashow.com/blog/lava-academy

In November 1963, a volcanic eruption broke through the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland and created Surtsey—one of the world’s youngest islands and an extraordinary natural laboratory.

Host Iain MacKinnon is joined by Birgir Vilhelm Óskarsson, researcher at the Natural Science Institute of Iceland and board member of the Surtsey Research Society, and Hólmfríður Sigurðardóttir, Chairperson the Surtsey Research Society.

Together, they explore how Surtsey rose from the sea, how plants and animals colonised its barren landscape, the mystery of human footprints preserved in volcanic rock, and why the Atlantic Ocean is slowly reclaiming the island.

Discover what Surtsey continues to teach scientists about volcanoes, erosion and the remarkable resilience of life.

Links

• The Surtsey Research Society site has a wealth of information about Surtsey.

In this episode of the Lava Academy Podcast, Ian McKinnon and Ragnhildur Ágústsdóttir are joined by volcanologist and petrology PhD candidate Helga Torfadóttir to explore one of Iceland’s most powerful and overlooked volcanoes: Öræfajökull.

Hidden beneath glacier ice in southeast Iceland, Öræfajökull is Iceland’s highest peak — and the site of one of the most catastrophic eruptions in the country’s history. Helga takes us back to the devastating 1362 eruption, when a peaceful farming region was transformed into a ruined wasteland, reshaping both the landscape and Icelandic memory.

Together, we discuss explosive eruptions, ash clouds, tephra, glacial outburst floods, pyroclastic density currents, lost historical records, and why this “silent and sneaky” volcano is so challenging to monitor today.

We also dive into Helga’s fascinating research, including how she recreates possible eruption conditions in tiny gold capsules to better understand what may be happening deep beneath Öræfajökull.

A gripping mix of science, history, hazards, and Icelandic nature — this episode is a must-listen for anyone fascinated by volcanoes.

Listen now, follow the Lava Academy Podcast, and join us as we uncover the stories behind Iceland’s volcanic giants.