Now that’s a hot shot.
Molten lava oozed from the mouth of the Fagradalsfjall volcano in southwest Iceland Friday when it erupted after having been dormant for 6,000 years. And the resulting mind-blowing footage of the natural phenomena is almost too hot to handle.
Aerial photographer Bjorn Steinbekk flew his drone over the fiery gush over the weekend, capturing stunning viral video of the lava as it flowed down the Fagradals Mountain on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula.
The eruption, sparked after a series of earthquakes in the area, was the peninsula’s first volcanic explosion in 781 years, per the Associated Press.
Photographer Muhammed Emin Kizilkaya made a two-hour trek up the volcano Sunday for up-close shots of the spewing lava as its electric-red glow lit up the otherwise gray Icelandic sky.
“It was extremely hot! You could stand five [meters] from it and it would be too much,” Kizilkaya told Caters News of the blaze.
“This is the most surreal, extraordinary and mind-blowing thing I’ve ever witnessed,” he added.
“I slapped my face a couple of times to check whether I was dreaming!”
The radiance of the massive blaze could be seen from the outskirts of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, which is roughly 20 miles away from the mountain.
Icelandic police tweet-advised residents near the area to stay indoors Friday, and to keep their windows closed in order to prevent exposure to dangerous gas pollution caused by the eruption.
Volcanic gases, including sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen fluoride, pose great potential hazard to people, according to the United State Environmental Protection Agency.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office confirmed on Twitter that high levels of volcanic gases were measured near the eruption site. But, the officials noted: “gas pollution is not expected to cause much discomfort for people except close up to the source of the eruption.”
Concerns surrounding the potentially hazardous emissions notwithstanding, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said the eruption was small and unlikely to cause damage to any structures or settlements in close proximity.
