McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: Mount Erebus, Wildlife and Herzog’s Film

A pale sheet of ice stretches towards dark volcanic mountains, and low polar light warms the edge of the scene. McMurdo Sound, a bay of the Ross Sea about 1,300 km from the South Pole, is the southernmost navigable body of water on Earth and the doorway to some of Antarctica’s most famous research stations and expedition huts.

Where is McMurdo Sound?

McMurdo Sound measures roughly 55 km (34 miles) both long and wide. It opens north into the Ross Sea; to the south lies the Ross Ice Shelf, to the west the Royal Society Range, and to the east Ross Island. In winter its surface freezes into sea ice up to about 3 metres thick.

British explorer Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of HMS Terror.

Ross Island, Mount Erebus and McMurdo Station

Ross Island dominates the eastern shore. Above it rises Mount Erebus, 3,794 metres (12,448 ft) high and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. On the island’s southern tip sit two research bases: the American McMurdo Station, run by the United States Antarctic Program, and New Zealand’s Scott Base.

The sound is also rich in polar history. Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery expedition (1901–1904) built a hut at Hut Point, and Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition raised its hut at Cape Royds in 1907. On the western shore lie the McMurdo Dry Valleys, an extremely dry landscape with little or no snow or ice cover.

Sea ice forms from frozen seawater, while an ice shelf such as the Ross Ice Shelf is a floating extension of glaciers flowing off the land. Under snow they can look identical, which is why ice routes here are surveyed so carefully.

Wildlife of McMurdo Sound

For all its bleakness, the sound is full of life. Weddell, leopard and crabeater seals are seen here, along with orcas. Emperor and Adélie penguins live in and around the sound, and Weddell seals stay year-round at White Island.

Encounters at the End of the World

Werner Herzog filmed his 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World at McMurdo Station. Its underwater scenes beneath the sea ice were shot by Henry Kaiser, a musician and research diver who also co-produced the film and composed its music. The eerie seal calls were recorded by sound expert Douglas Quin. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

The first clip below is the “Holy Diver” dive under the ice; the second is the film’s famous seal-sound scene.

Visiting McMurdo Sound

McMurdo Station is a working research base for scientists and support staff. Travellers reach the sound on expedition cruises into the Ross Sea, which sail in the southern summer, in January and February. Operators such as Heritage Expeditions and Oceanwide Expeditions land passengers at the historic huts of Scott and Shackleton, and sometimes at McMurdo Station itself, when ice and weather allow.

For more Antarctic scenery, explore Martin Bailey’s iceberg photographs, Blood Falls, Antarctica: Iron-Rich Brine at Taylor Glacier in the Dry Valleys, and cryoconite habitats on glacier surfaces.

Related reading

• Gentoo Penguins at Neko Harbour: When a Glacier View Changes Scale
• West Antarctic Glacier Retreat: What the 2014 Research Actually Found
• Antarctic Condition 1 Weather: The View through a Station Door
• Antarctic Icebergs in Motion: Drift, Collapse and Meltwater

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