Michael volcano is a young and frequently active stratovolcano dominating the glaciated Saunders Island, located in the center of the South Sandwich Islands.
Mt Michael volcano has a 700 m wide summit crater that often contains a lava lake, but due to its remote location, most information is obtained by satellite imagery which often show a thermal anomaly at the crater.
Saunders Island was discovered by Cook in 1775 and named after Sir Charles Saunders, First Lord of the British Admiralty. The first landing on the island was probably in 1908 by C.A. Larsen. In 1937 an expedition from the ship Willian Scoresby landed in the area of Cordelia Bay.