Dramatic photos of volcanoes in action around the world

Sinabung volcano in western Indonesia slumbered for some 400 years before roaring awake in August 2010. Since then, its fiery rampages—as shown here in April 2015—are a reminder of its location on the so-called ring of fire. This disjointed zone of tectonic plate collisions around the Pacific Ocean hosts about 75 percent of the world’s active volcanoes.

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau is a particularly restless volcano, stirring back to life every few years. This volcano grew in the cavernous hole that remained after the infamous 1883 explosion at Krakatoa, one of the largest paroxysms in modern times. Recently, Krakatoa’s baby has also been causing a scene: In the midst of a six-month-long volcanic fit in 2018, Anak Krakatau’s flank collapsed, sending a wall of water rushing toward shore.

The crater of Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen volcano puts on a particularly stunning light show thanks to the emission of sulphur. Seeping through cracks in the volcano, the superheated gases ignite when they contact air, bursting to life in a vibrant azure blaze.

Mount Etna in Italy is Europe’s largest active volcano and frequently makes headlines for its impressive blasts, from its spatters of molten rock to its ring-shaped puffs of ash. Shown here in December 2018, Etna is one of Earth’s longest-documented volcanoes, with records of its frequent blasts stretching back to 1500 B.C. It’s also slowly sliding into the Ionian Sea, which raises concerns that hunks could break off and unleash mega-tsunamis on nearby Mediterranean shores.

The Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland is a zone of extremes: Its central crater is buried under ice, but its fiery arms of volcanic activity sprawl away from the crater as fissures. These deep cracks in the earth can gush voluminous sheets of molten rock and are responsible for the largest known lava flow on Earth in the last 11,000 years.

In 2018, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano wrapped up more than three decades of nearly continuous eruptions with an epic fiery rampage. It produced enough lava to fill at least 320,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools and sent a gushing river of lava that swallowed up everything in its path, including parts of the residential Leilani Estates shown here.

Lava streams down the flanks of Mount Sinabung in this 2018 image in Karo, North Sumatra. While such eruptions pose many dangers, the nutrient-rich rock that gushes from the peak has produced a wide swath of fertile soils that have enticed people to settle nearby.

Volcanoes not only generate stunning flows of incandescent rock, but also extraordinary flashes of lightning. Such activity comes from the buildup of friction that’s the result of particle collisions in billowing volcanic plumes. Lightning strikes when the system discharges, like the light show captured in this 2016 image of Mount Sakurajima in Japan.

The Halemaʻumaʻu Crater of the Kilauea volcano long hosted a roiling lake of lava. But when the volcano erupted in 2018, the molten lake began to drain until the lava completely disappeared. About a year later, a curious feature suddenly emerged in its stead: a small pond. Scientists think it likely formed from water seeping up from below.

One of the world’s most active volcanoes is the Piton de la Fournaise—or “peak of the furnace”—on the French island of Réunion. Since the 17th century, more than 150 eruptions have stirred this sprawling volcano, including the one pictured here in September 2016.

On June 22, 2019, the Raikokoe volcano erupted, shooting up a towering column of gasses and ash over the North Pacific Ocean. The eruption was so large astronauts spotted it from the International Space Station, snapping this image of the spreading cloud. The particulate from this eruption spread into the stratosphere, causing light scattering that turned sunsets and sunrises purple.

While a myriad of volcanoes dot landscapes around the world, many more also lurk under the seas. A photographer caught this underwater volcano off the coast of Tonga erupting in March 2009, one of 36 underwater volcanoes in the region.

Pigeons take flight as Indonesia’s Merapi volcano simmers on June 4, 2018. The volcano is known for its production of pyroclastic flows—fast-moving avalanches of hot rock, gas, and ash. Situated near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta, Merapi’s past eruptions have wreaked havoc on locals.