Edinburgh alumnus John Smellie (BSc Geology, 1974) has visited and worked on more volcanoes in the Antarctic than any other person. Earlier this year, John was awarded his second Polar Medal, joining only a small number of people who have received the honour twice in its 150-year existence.
Not many know Antarctica and its geological wonders as well as Professor John Smellie. Join us as we get insights into his fascinating field of work and time spent researching volcanoes on the coolest continent on Earth.
Q: When did your interest in volcanology start?
In a conversation with my mother at age 11, she told me that she thought I’d be interested in geology as a career. After discovering what geology actually was(!), I rapidly became fascinated with the volcanic aspects and was lucky enough to live in a fishing town in Scotland close to some ancient volcanic rocks that I could visit and examine. I also joined the Edinburgh Geological Society (their first child member) and the people in the society kept my interest alive. At my first job interview after graduating, with the British Antarctic Survey, I told them of my interest and they employed me to work in a volcanic region of Antarctica and, later, to create a section at the institute to focus on volcanic rocks. As a result, during my career I visited more volcanoes in Antarctica than anybody else, living or dead, a fact that is unlikely ever to be equalled. So my career path has never deviated from its original intent, and I am still as enthused today as I was as a child.
Q: What does your research entail?
My current research activities are focused on collaborative studies with geologists of the Italian, American and New Zealand Antarctic programmes aimed mainly at reconstructing critical parameters of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during the past 20 million years. Using glaciovolcanism (i.e. volcanoes that interact with ice) as an environmental proxy is one of the things I have personally developed over the years and am particularly proud of. It is now the best proxy for deriving critical parameters of past terrestrial ice sheets and it can be applied to ice of any age, back in time (often many millions of years). It’s not perfect but it can prove whether ice was present, its thickness, age and thermal regime (i.e. how dynamic it was), the only methodology to do so. It works by identifying features in the volcanic rocks that are diagnostic of past ice, for example deposits that indicate a volcanic eruption in water at a locality far above sea level that lacks any topography that might have ponded the water in a lake, hence eruption through ice is the only feasible alternative.
Q: What is it like to work in the Antarctic?
Good and bad. A colleague once expressed it well: ‘In Antarctica, you are either working or surviving’. That is a very good assessment. Everything is weather-dependent, and bad weather can last days or even weeks, when you are confined to your tent throughout. I worked mainly in coastal regions, where temperatures are reasonable, mainly minus 10°c to plus 5°c, but inland, where I have also worked, minus 20°c to minus 30°c is more typical – and this is in the Antarctic summer! In those conditions if you expose your face it feels like razor blades are being thrown at it. Most of my work was conducted with just one companion, a field assistant (to keep me alive). The isolation was seldom an issue, but I admit there were a few places that preyed on my mind and I was glad to be uplifted at the end of my work. But on good, sunny days, Antarctica is so breathtakingly beautiful that you can forgive it anything.
Q: Why is Antarctica a good place to study volcanoes?
Volcanoes elsewhere in the world are almost always strongly weathered or severely obscured by vegetation whereas rock outcrops in Antarctica are vegetation-free and essentially pristine, so you can see details that are almost impossible to see anywhere else. Also, Antarctica is the world’s largest and longest-lived glaciovolcanic province, where volcanoes interacted with the Antarctic ice sheet. Unsurprisingly, I have specialised in understanding glaciovolcanic rocks, so it is a perfect place for me to work.
Q: What can volcanoes tell us about climate change?
Almost every eruption of the volcanoes I work on provides a wonderful snapshot of past ice conditions in Antarctica. Since Antarctica hosts the world’s largest ice sheet and it dominates global climate, it is important to understand how the ice has varied in times past to predict what it might do in future (sea level rise being the most obvious potential impact). We currently use information gleaned from modelling or from marine sedimentary sequences to reconstruct past ice sheet characteristics. But models are always speculative and most marine sediments were deposited far from the ice itself. By contrast, the volcanic rocks were erupted within the ice and they tell us important information about that ice, from where it was actually sitting at the time. It is not perfect, however, because eruptions are specific to a single location and they occur with long intervening periods of repose. But they are still a most important source of ice sheet information unobtainable any other way.
Q: How has the continent changed over the years?
The local climate has certainly warmed up. For example when I first entered Antarctica, at its northern periphery, aged 21 years, the worst wet conditions I experienced were simply a scotch mist (drizzle). Within a decade, there was light rain, and in later years there was heavy rain. As a result, many glaciers have lowered and retreated. However, one benefit is that new areas of rock are constantly being exposed so global change can be quite good for geologists working there and it is not all bad!
Q: What are some of your favourite moments from your expeditions to Antarctica?
There were very many wonderful times, including watching territorial penguins hilariously squabbling over pebbles in their nests; elephant seals fighting and slashing each other’s necks with their fangs till they were a bloody mess; being chased by fur seals along a cobble beach (not so easy); walking on ground that has never seen a human; and the intensely beautiful pristine scenery of Antarctica when the sun comes out. These are some of the great moments. Plus the people I got to know – all with shared interests and goals.
Q: How about the challenges?
There were many experiences, obviously, after so many seasons spent researching in Antarctica, but the most memorable are generally those that involved near-life-changing incidents. I have been on a ship that ran aground and was temporarily abandoned; on another that went on fire; and in a helicopter hovering at 1,000 m above a previously unvisited ice-capped volcano when the helicopter went on fire and had to make an emergency descent and landing. I have also been up to my neck (thankfully no further) in too many crevasses to be comfortable with; and I once camped for two weeks un-knowingly on the snow bridge of a huge crevasse, so wide that had the bridge collapsed, our entire camp would have simply disappeared and nobody would ever have found out what happened to us. But these were the bad times and they are balanced by the many wonderful experiences I had too.
Q: Congratulations on receiving your second Polar Medal. What does the award mean to you?
It came as a great surprise, but obviously a nice one. I have been asked how I feel to be associated with memorable recipients, like Shackleton and other great explorers. I always respond that I am not in their mould. They did and experienced things that I hope I never do. I regard the award, and particularly the day at the palace with my wife and two daughters, as a reward to them for putting up with me vanishing most winters for several months at a time, usually with essentially no communication during the entire period (just 200 words a month to me in my tent, and 100 words out, spoken over the radio by a radio operator). But I am also aware that the award will always be attached to me and I am very grateful for the honour. As it was the late Queen Elizabeth who gave me my first polar medal, and I shall receive my second from King Charles, I feel very lucky in getting to meet both monarchs.
Q: What’s next?
At my age, I am starting to think it may be time to stop working in Antarctica. But after a lifetime spent mainly working there, it is hard to accept. I currently have a proposal being assessed (you can’t work in Antarctica without government funding and working with one of the national Antarctic operators). If it is funded, the fieldwork shall take place at end-2024, so I don’t have to make up my mind for a year. That season would see me return to northern Victoria Land, where I have worked extensively with Italian colleagues. We shall examine volcanic rocks that we believe hold clues to why the volcanism occurred there, as well as to further map the variations in climate from the information that they hold.
Words by John Smellie. Find out more about John’s research and work on his website.
John is currently Honorary Professor of Volcanology at the University of Leicester after spending most of his career working as Senior Volcanologist for the British Antarctic Survey. He visited Antarctica for the first time at 21 shortly after graduating with his first-class degree in Geology from the University of Edinburgh. Since then, he has successfully completed 27 expeditions to the South Polar region and has three geographical places in Antarctica named after him.
The Polar Medal is conferred by the UK’s Sovereign on to individuals who have given outstanding achievement and service to the country in the field of polar research.
📷 Cover image: Typical field camp in Antarctica showing how tents get buried by blowing snow. Once buried, the tent is extremely safe and unlikely to be carried away by strong winds, but digging out can be a problem © Tim Burton