From Close Up or Far Away, Amazing Volcano Photos
Geologist Bernhard Edmaier has been photographing the majestic beauty of active and dormant volcanoes for over 15 years
- By Abby Callard
- Smithsonian.com, December 02, 2009

(Bernhard Edmaier)
Sicily, Italy
In February 1998, Edmaier took this shot of a strombolian eruption (named for the Italian volcano Stromboli), in which a volcano shoots ash and lava into the air. The southeast crater of Etna erupted every few minutes for two years from 1996 to 1998, with lava explosions reaching 100 feet high. Edmaier and his crew stood too far away to feel the heat from the eruption, but they could hear the detonations, which sounded like cannon fire.


















Comments (15)
All of these photos are beautifully taken, a big thankyou to bernhard edmaler.
Posted by claire rawlins on June 19,2013 | 04:29 PM
really a typical representation of volcano. cool!!!
Posted by tsegay berhe on March 1,2013 | 10:37 AM
Wow that is pretty!
Posted by Kelly on November 15,2011 | 03:00 PM
thats cool
Posted by parker on May 12,2010 | 04:33 PM
its nice i like things like this.its cool
Posted by parker on May 12,2010 | 04:24 PM
It's really amazing!! I love the second picture very much!
Posted by Gigi Chung on May 7,2010 | 05:12 AM
at first I thought this was Crater Lake in Oregon. The water there is just as blue but definitely not acid, there are boats on that lake. So the blue of lakes like this one can't just be from acid. Crater Lake is known for having really clear and pure water, mostly from rain and snow.
Posted by Irena Weygold on May 6,2010 | 09:55 PM
if that is what is left of the cone inside the volcano then is it not the same as Morro Rock in California, one of a series of cones mostly off shore in the Pacific? But it dies not look anything like them, so I wonder.....
Posted by Irena Weygold on May 6,2010 | 06:50 PM
The photo of Grand Prismatic Spring should have mentioned something about its size. An NFL football field is 360 feet long, by 160 feet wide. The hot spring is approximately 250 feet by 300 feet. The only way to fully see the spring is from the air. For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prismatic_Spring
Posted by Bruce D Chambers on May 6,2010 | 04:19 PM
Did you miss Craters of the Moon, in Idaho? While it is long dead there is a lot of information on volcanoes and the different types of end results.
It is not pretty but very interesting.
Posted by Barbara on May 6,2010 | 12:26 PM
this volcano is really cool!
Posted by valarie on April 19,2010 | 07:05 PM
Here is another link stating that it is more consistant with a maar diatreme volcano than a cone shaped classical volcano.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007AGUFMNS31B0388R
Posted by Calvin Webb on January 14,2010 | 08:16 AM
You have been misleading people with your comment that it was the inside of a volcanic cone. The volcanic neck was far beneath the surface of the earth as it was the core of a Maar volcano. A maar volcano has a crater much like a dried up lake which is not a cone.
http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/volcano/shiprock.html
Posted by Calvin Webb on January 14,2010 | 08:09 AM
Great photographs. As a geography nut, I would enjoy seeing a (at least) little map showing where these volcanoes are, in order to establish a context or framework.
Posted by Paul M. Chekola on December 16,2009 | 02:25 PM