Adrenaline Rush: Standing on the Edge of a Spewing Volcano

By Nancy Atkinson - September 19, 2012 04:51 PM UTC | Planetary Science

This may be the most incredible volcano video ever filmed. Looking like it comes from the latest natural disaster flick, this incredible real footage was captured by Geoff Mackley, Bradley Ambrose, Nathan Berg, who came within 30 meters of the bubbling, spewing lava stream from the mouth the Marum volcano on Ambrym, a volcanic island in the archipelago of Vanuatu, off the east coast of Australia.

"Climbing down to within 30 metres of the lava it was so hot (1150 degrees) that without protection we could stand the heat for 6 seconds before retreating," writes Mackley

on his website

. "With a respirator fire and heat resistant suit, [we] could stand on the edge and see the amazing spectacle for over 40 minutes."

Wow! You can see some incredible images at

Mackley's website.

Hat tip:

io9

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com