Mount Michael

For the mountain in West Virginia, see Michael Mountain. For the local-level government area in Papua New Guinea, see Mount Michael Rural LLG.

Mount Michael is an active volcano with a height of 843 m. It is located on Saunders Island in the South Sandwich Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the few volcanoes in an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The volcano was discovered by a British expedition under James Cook in 1775, but was presumably first charted in 1820 by a Russian expedition under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. It was recharted in 1930 by DI personnel under Commander W.M. Carey of the Royal Navy, who was captain of the Discovery II at the time of the survey.

Mount Michael
Saunders Island
Highest point
Elevation	843 m (2,766 ft)
Prominence	843 m (2,766 ft)
Coordinates	57°48′13″S 26°28′52″W
Geography
Location	Saunders Island, South Sandwich Islands
Geology
Mountain type	Stratovolcano
Last eruption	2023

Persistent lava lake

In 2019, it was discovered that Mount Michael had a persistent lava lake, a rare phenomenon which is known to occur at only eight volcanoes in the world.^[1][2] In November 2022, an expedition from University College London led by geologist Emma Nicholson reached the summit of the volcano and was able to confirm the existence of the lava lake.^[3]