(Marco Fulle / Barcroft Media)
That ash makes quite a flash.
Intrepid Italian scientist Marco Fulle, 51, snapped photos of lightning, swirling black smoke and spewing lava at Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull Volcano on Friday night from a helicopter hovering only a third of a mile above the fiery black cauldron. The mouth of the volcano is shrouded in clouds, as ash and fire spews out to the southeast in a 30,000-foot-high plume heading toward Europe.
Though the volcano is a 2,000-degree inferno, the temperature outside the copter was a chilly 14 degrees. Adding to the eruptions’ ferocity is the volcano’s location beneath a glacial ice cap. The molten rock and snow are mixing, leading to explosions of steam.
The lightning comes from static electricity caused by the ash.
Despite the danger, Fulle, who has traveled the world chasing volcanoes, said “it’s where I feel most at home.”
Fulle arrived Monday and was ready to snap when Eyjafjallajokull started to blow Wednesday. “I’ve been quite impressed by it so far,” he told The Post.
In 1821, the volcano began a two-year eruption. Scientists still don’t know how long this current eruption will last, or how much ash will be produced, said Chris Waythomas, head scientist at the US Geological Survey’s Alaska Volcano Observatory.