Nature
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Incredible footage shows the meeting of lava and snow as molten rock from an Icelandic volcano creeps across the snowy terrain.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The video was captured by Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove during the eruption of the Sundhnúkagígar Volcano in February 2024. The flurry of volcanic activity was associated with the larger Sundhnúkur eruptions of 2023–2024, which destroyed buildings in the town of Grindavík.
Van Nieuwenhove recently shared the footage on his social media and the post quickly went viral, wracking up over 500,000 likes.
Some viewers, however, were skeptical and assumed the footage was generated using artificial intelligence (AI). The videographer confirmed that the footage was the real deal – definitely not AI – and was not manipulated or even sped up.
“I find this so fascinating because it demonstrates beautifully how us humans can still be surprised by how unique nature is,” he said in a follow-up post.
“It shows how we perceive something to be fake because we can’t comprehend it. Isn’t that interesting?”
One of the main quibbles was that the snow didn’t produce any steam when it came into contact with the red-hot lava. Curious himself, Van Nieuwenhove reached out for an explanation and was told it might have anything something to do with the Leidenfrost effect.
First described in the 18th century, this effect explains how a liquid, when close to a significantly hotter object, can produce an insulating vapor layer that prevents it from boiling rapidly. Instead of producing steam, the gas produced keeps the droplets suspended above the hot surface.
“Extremely fascinating if you ask me,” added Van Nieuwenhove in a previous post.
He added that some of the misunderstanding can also be attributed to the strange physical properties of lava.
"One thing I have realized while documenting the ongoing series of eruptions in Iceland the last four years is that most people perceive how lava should ‘behave’ incorrectly. I suspect special effects in movies have something pretty significant to do with that. People are surprised by what it looks like, how it moves, how it sounds, and how it interacts with its surroundings. Lava is a curious substance and it does look surreal on video," Van Nieuwenhove said in his follow-up post.
