Volcano tourists near crater spewing lava - GIF

[Altair]

Volcano tourists near crater spewing lava.




Previously:

Watching lava flow from a boat - GIF
Raging lava river - GIF
Geologist collecting lava samples from an active volcano - GIF
Volcano crater drone shot - GIF
Darvaza gas crater - photo

[mklotz]

Millions of years from now, archaeologists will dig into a vein of ancient basalt and be astounded to find a whole layer of that rare ancient life form, Homo redneckus. They will probably decide the remains were a sacrifice to their major deity, Walmart, well known because they've discovered the ruins of so many shrines with his name on it.

[ductape]

The top of the lowest active volcano in the world above sea level is over 300 meters high. Despite the perspective and degrading comment, these people were quite a bit further away from the activity than it appears.

[CharlesWaugh]

It a 'long zoom lens' - as a professional photogrpaher I can tell you they could have been 100 yards away.
A long lens stacks everything up to look almost in a flat plane, this is due to the magnification factor.
Also, with only one 'eye' there is no parallax to tell distance with.

[mklotz]

It a 'long zoom lens' - as a professional photogrpaher I can tell you they could have been 100 yards away.
A long lens stacks everything up to look almost in a flat plane, this is due to the magnification factor.
Also, with only one 'eye' there is no parallax to tell distance with.

I'm familiar with the foreshortening effect of telephotos. However 100 yards is hardly separation enough if a breach allows water to enter the caldera and cause a steam explosion. Also, it's a deathly short headstart if a lahar starts coming their way. Pompeii is five miles from Vesuvius.

I don't know what a safe distance is and I'm fairly sure the folks in the video don't know either. Erring on the conservative side seems a good idea.

[Frank S]

Are we certain they are tourist and not protesters against natural carbon emissions.

[IntheGroove]

Saw this headline today:
"The Marapi volcano erupted on Sunday, leaving nearly 75 climbers trekking up the nearly 2,900-meter mountain stranded. Of them at least 11 hikers have been found dead, while 12 others remain missing. At least 49 climbers were evacuated from the area earlier and eight of those rescued were rushed to hospitals with burn wounds."

[Hoosiersmoker]

It's always safe until it isn't. And what is a "safe" distance from an active volcano? 1 mile? 10 miles? 100 miles maybe?

[mklotz]

It's always safe until it isn't. And what is a "safe" distance from an active volcano? 1 mile? 10 miles? 100 miles maybe?

Vesuvius is about 6 miles from Naples. Mt. Rainier is about 60 miles from Seattle. Both cities are considered badly threatened by an eruption. The lahars from Mt. Saint Helen reached the Columbia river, 50 miles away.

Personally, I would opt for your largest figure - 100 miles.

[mklotz]

If volcano tourism seems too hot a way to needlessly risk your life, there's always calving glacier tourism...