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The Lower Erebus Hut (LEH) is a permanent field facility located on Mount Erebus in Ross Island, Antarctica. The hut is the home of the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory MEVO, run by New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology NMT. The installation comprises two huts, one kitchen and recreation building and one working and storage building.
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History
The permanent LEH was built in November 1992 as a replacement for the Upper hut and other semi-permanent Jamesway huts.
Location
LEH is located on the northern side Mount Erebus within its caldera rim. The location facilitates easy ski-doo/hiking trips to the crater rim where the volcano's persistent lava lake is visible. The exact coordinates of the hut defined by a UNAVCO benchmark are 77° 30′ 37.61" S 167° 08′ 45.83" E 3347.31 (~3401.89 m MSL).
Science
Major support for all operations at LEH are conducted through McMurdo Station run by a division of NSF, the United States Antarctic Program (USAP).
LEH is used as a base of operations for the monitoring of Mt Erebus and maintenance of such equipment. The work force at LEH, which is composed of senior research scientists, professors and graduate students, maintains both the scientific and logistical equipment on the mountain. Gaseous emission concentration, composition and flux as well as thermal image stills, visible and IR video, and infrasonic, of the lava lake are all data collected by researchers based at LEH.