Here are some amazing photographs of the current eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on Iceland:
Update: More pictures from Marco Fulle:
Update 2: More pictures from Skarphéðinn Þráinsson:
Update 3: Even more photographs of Eyjafjallajökull at Boston.com – The Big Picture, like:
Update 4: Two more great shots by Skarphéðinn Þráinsson, showing how the volcano has passed into the next stage of the eruption, and is literally sparkling lava:
Update 5: More amazing images of the eruption from Terje Sørgjerd:
Update 6: See also Time-Lapse Footage of the Eyjafjallajökull Eruption where Sean Stiegemeier artfully shows footage of the eruption from May 1st to May 2nd.
Absolutely surreal!
If you’re wondering how to pronounce ‘Eyjafjallajökull’, here’s a recording.
Credits: Marco Fulle, Terje Sørgjerd, Skarphéðinn Þráinsson and Lucas Jackson
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Damn nature, you scary!
Hey fellas, just don’t upset her,,, O.K. ??
Truly awesome, and wreaking havoc on aviation right now. Dust in quantity is danger. I ferried an Aviat Husky A1B from Idaho to Florida and saw a red dust cloud ahead on the Kansas plains, thought about flying through it but landed. A SuperCub flying the same path didn’t and crashed. This is dust on steroids compared to that – a vivid reminder that for all our technology, nature rules . . . http://www.youtube.com/flagold (80 movies)
Indeed — European airlines are under heavy pressure to resume traffic, but we’ve already seen several emergency landings because of engine failures and “strange odors” today. I’m not sensitive, but I’m not ascending anywhere quite yet ;-)
Thanks for sharing the pictures with those of us in the US. What a truly awesome pictorial diary of the volcano in action! How are away were you when you make the pictures? What kind of camera were you using? It is truly amazing to see “Mother Nature” at work taking care of business!
Please thank the photographers who risked their lives taking these incredible shots, Marco Fulle, Terje Sørgjerd and Skarphéðinn Þráinsson. I am just a mere blogger :-)
I believe that picture #6 by Terge Sørgjerd was taken using a 70mm lens, at least. Some of the photographers had been sleeping on the glacier overnight when the volcano erupted.
Indeed, these shots are violent yet beautiful.
Wow very surreal and beautiful.
Indeed very impressive photos. But doesn’t the Iceland word jökull stand for glacier and isn’t a glacier something that cannot erupt at all? ;-)
You are absolutely right; Eyjafjallajökull is the glacier whose cap covers the volcano, so I guess the correct name would be “The Eyjafjallajökull volcano”. I’m not sure the volcano itself actually has a name?
One of my contacts is working for The Science Institute of University of Iceland. They call this event Fimmvörðuháls eruption.
You get smarter every day! Wouldn’t want to try pronouncing that, though :-)
AWESOME photos and thanks for sharing, though the colors for the lightning photos close up look computer-enhanced and not real. Some of these photos look too colorful for lightning and may not be real to make them look more real, ironically. You be the judge as this is my opinion.
This is due to the fact that most of these are long exposure photographs, which helps catch movement and light and makes the images more dream-like. They could be computer-enhanced — they sure look like it — but I don’t think so.
I never knew that the volcanic activity triggered such static electrical events. How inspiring. The power in an hour of this event probably equals to the amout of energy we mere humans have used since the first human struck a piece of slate against another to make a spark, to make a fire.
Most beautiful photos of a horrific event. Kudos to the photographers. If anyone feels a picture is enchanced, just enjoy it. That is why the photographer would enhance his work…so the the seer would enjoy it. But don’t try to degrade his work, especially this type of photos, unless, of course, if you were there at the same time as the photographer was!!
truely the most awsome photos of all time! I was arround to see st. hellens in washington erupt. lightning was also very visible throughout the entire collum so what was shown here was no illusion or enhancement! Perhaps the exposure was slowed a bit, but real, never-the-less. Make some posters out of these. ps these guys deserve a medal of heroic bravery! thanks!
Incredible… I would give anything to have seen that in person. Must have sounded terrible too! What a spectacular show.
Excellent photographs! Very, very impressive. Especially the lightning… so much static!
I think they used flint against iron or steel to make spark
beautifull wonderful picture
c’est sensationnel bravo et courage
amitiés regards
cela fait plutot penser a la naissance du monde qu”a sa, fin….
Ile de La Réunion (France, Océan Indien)
Bravo et merci pour ces photos magnifiques d’Islande.
On invite les photographes à venir découvrir nos volcans de La Réunion. Ils vont beaucoup aimer je crois.
Alain BERTIL
Truly awesome pictures.
As a resident of the United Kingdom it is fair to say that we have suffered at the hands of the Icelandic people for generations and I urge our government to focus the attention of our troops away from the Middle East to the real threat to our beloved Country.
We carried out an invasion of Iceland before, codenamed Operation Fork, a British military operation conducted by the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines during World War II.
We have since been at war with them over the right to fish our much loved ” Cod” to go with our fish and chip suppers. A noble war which again showed our triumphant Royal Navy protecting our fishermen against the cruel might of the Icelandic navy.
Some years later, our 2 Countries were again at loggerheads as the Icelandic Banks stole millions of pounds in the collapse of that countries banking systems. Now we have been under attack from their errant volcano !!! is their no end to the indignity that this country is prepared to pillary us with……now we are grounded and covered in ash.
I for one say enough is enough and from my keyboard I now declare war on Iceland, may our Government have the courage to back me:)
You had me going for a second there :-)
I think it is one of natures most spectecular sights that no human being or man kind can ever copy of make,such images and at the same time so much destruction, imagine tha ligghtening coming out of the ground and not the sky.
I think the photograper had so much of courage and was very brave to take such bautiful pitures.
This is a warning that we as human beings should take good care of our world and the ozone and our enviroment.
Thank u for these beautiful photos!!! it’s really amazing view ! a wonderful natural show!!! The nature is very enigmatic!!!many surprises!!!!No one can stop this eruption!!!!!hope no more dangerous effects!!!
Thanks for the beautiful, mesmerizing, surreal pics.
They are awesome, super fantastical, and scary!
Many thanks for compiling these images into one webpage.
Thanks too to those who camped on the ice to capture and share all these magnificant photos.
Truly Awesome quality photos !
You know the joke – what’s the difference between Ireland and Iceland? One letter and 6 months! hope that’s all! Seriously though, fab photos which the photographers should rightly be proud of.
Clouds, Lightning, Fire and Brimstone…
Ominous to say the least.
Mother Nature is not to be challenged!
To be witness via the bravery and expertise of these photographers evokes silence, humility, and awe — like being on the edge of something precarious and wondrous at the same time —and the entire world shares it all — almost simultaneously.
I was honored to see Mt St Helens erupt in Washington State in 1980, but that was nothing compared to what these pictures show.. Awesome, beautiful works of art.
These pictures are completely awesome! If you look closely in some of the pictures, you can see some faces. They were breath taking. Do you know how long the volcano had been inactive before this event occured? :)
According to Wikipedia, the last time it was active was in 1821-1823. Hopefully this helps (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyjafjallajökull):
Spectacular pictures. Only God can do this kind of art.
THANK YOU!
I am a retired physicist who was fortunate enough to work for 23 years at the U.S, Geological Survey, and as such I was privileged to see many photos of the Mt. St. Helens eruption, mostly its aftermath. Your photos are superb–thank you for sharing them.
Sorry folks. The lightning is not real. You cannot take long exposure pictures and have any detail with subjects in motion. Meaning the clouds of smoke. I admire the photographer(s) not the person who photoshoped the lightning.
The photographs were taken by different, all very credible photographers. The third picture from the bottom (Update 3), for example, was shot by a Reuters photographer. It’s very unlikely that they all decided to enhance their images.
Thank GOD there are some exellent photographers on the spot to record such awesome happenings
Just a thought: And, man will do what for (man made) global warming? I’ll just thank God for such brave and talented photographers. They are gifts.
Magnifiques images. Jamais vu cela auparavant. Un grand merci et félicitations.
If I’m not completely mistaken, Eyjafjallajökull actually emitted far less carbon dioxide than the European aviation industry would have in the time it was grounded. There are other factors, but in essence, only an eruption of the far larger nearby volcano Katla would have a noticeable impact on the atmosphere.
Thank you for the experience of being there with you through your photos. “salute” “Honor” and “respect”….. to the earth “sorry”
But wouldn’t the clouds of smoke be more blurred if they were using long exposures to capture the lightning?
Superb photos… I see 2 pics that have the faces of hell in them! Also, does the lightning strike down or up or both ways?
On some pictures, especially the last half, they are, somewhat, but I don’t think “long” actually means very long here, just longer than the normal, which is extremely brief.
That volcano sure knows how to kick-ass
and chew bubblegum?
If it weren’t for volcanoes, we’d be doing a lot of swimming! :P
Was this not an excellent opportunity to have an extra source of energy?
We as humans are just as vulnerable as all other species that have preceeded us on this violent planet, and their is not a damn thing we can do about it. Earl
Thank you for compiling these fantastic photos. I will check back for updates. Have you tried to find any satellite photos of the eruption? I wonder what it looks like from above.
Yes, if only we could control it and predict its behavior. At the moment, we don’t really know all that much about volcanoes. As much as I’d like to see lava windmills, I’m not sure they’re such a good idea :-)
There are quite a few faces inthere! Especially in the second picture from the bottom, there seems to be a fiery red smiley face in the cloud!
As far as I know, lightning can strike in every direction, as long as there are two poles; from the cloud to the ground, the ground to the cloud, and in-between clouds. It certainly seems to, judging from the pictures.
Here’s a satellite image from NASA. it’s pretty much just the ash plume, though.
Absolutely incredible. It must be truly horrifying to see this cloud cover all the our United States and all of the European Nations and then to Japan and Austraila all all of the world as it circulates out globe. I am wondering if NASA is taking photos too?? I think our Sattelite for our War positions would be used for just such this kind of thing. Every one has a theory of 2012 cataclysymic end to our world but this is just the Middle of the Earth saying to us we can be truly vunerable to immediate changes all the time. Love the photos, keep them coming but be safe to all wo are risking their lives to take these photos. God bless you and and to keep us seeing Mother Earth growing and also hearing herself. Wow
Bonjour a tout les photographes qui on fait ces images absolument magnifique
et qui nous rappel a quel point la nature peut être explosive et merveilleuse en même temps. MERCI de nous faire partager ces moments.
cordialement
I think it may be aaaaaallll out of bubblegum.
You do realize that the lightning is acting as a very fast strobe and is freezing the action that it lights up, right? The pictures that are crisp are clear cases of that going on, as the rest of the frame is dark.
This is the most amazing thing we’ve ever seen.
We feel sad and sorry for the people that live there.
We hope that the volcano stops erupting soon.
The photography was fantastic!
Don’t worry about us, we are hardy people and have not been affected very much by this eruption. Thanks for the concern though.
Icelander.
A wonderful awakening of nature.
In New Zealand,we also co-exist with volcanoes, particularly in my hometown Auckland.Though all are dormant,and are just sleeping,waiting for”when”not”if”,a restless relative or two further south of here, will ocassionally remind us human beings here where the real seat of power is.Mother nature,you is one mean mutha…..r
Les hommes et les femmes de cette terre si belle, nous dit parfois faite attention à moi sinon…….Nous sommes si petit devant la mère nature si puissante et si fragile à la fois……
Soyons tous conscients de tous nos actes, et réalisont qu’ils faut tous et chacuns changer réellement notre relation avec la bella terra!!!
Ciao!
Paolo
Wow fantastic pictures
La terre est vivante.
Et de temps en temps
Elle nous montre son coeur
Son coeur rouge et noir
En mon centre
En mon coeur
Je porte la vie
Et la mort
I think this ‘s wonderfull………. but scary at the same time .. don’t you??
Thor Awakens. >:)
Comme c’est beau…….
Bravo à tous pour ces photos incroyablement belles qui montrent comme nous sommes peu de choses.. à méditer…
Fantastic pictures, it’s astonishingly beautiful, but what about those who are traveling? The journey by air must be a nightmare…
WOW fantastique et effrayant, on dirait que les Dieux bataillent, terrible…
Merci pour ces magnifiques images, impressionnantes !
Marion ♥
Traduction Google :
WOW fantastic and scary, it seems that the gods battling terrible …
Thank you for these wonderful pictures, awesome!
Marion ♥
Stunning images!!
Thanks for sharing then with us, and thanks to the snappers for their efforts too. I’ve never seen the lightning that I knew happened in most volcanic eruption clouds. It truly is spectacular.
Pete.
For once I’m not envious of a fellow photographer having the opportunity to take amazing photographs. These are incredible and I couldn’t have takent them. I would have been far too busy running away!
the photos are so so so cool
my sister and i were so imprest .. who do you think took such photos
What a amazing pictures of volcano… I have never seen before.
wow they are great photos.they will go great in my project
these pics are beautifull the most beautifull thing i hav ever seeen
very nice pics hope you post more