Australian volcano starts to blow

Don't worry: only penguins are in danger as it's in the middle of nowhere

One of Australia's two active volcanoes seems to be erupting.

We say seems because the volcano in question, on Heard Island, is located in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean, 2000km north of Antarctica and closer to Africa than to Australia. That's about as close to the middle of nowhere as it is possible to be.

Heard Island and its neighbour MacDonald Island are Australian territories and are uninhabited, but each possesses an active volcano. Scientific expeditions venture there infrequently, due to conservation issues and the fact the islands have a wretched climate, are thousands of miles from anywhere nice and can only be accessed or supplied by ship.

That means little attention is paid to the islands, with the satellite images such as the one below seldom acquired.

[link to www.theregister.co.uk]