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Volcano Chaser

Volcano Chaser is your window into volcanoes, eruptions and geology.

Mainly focused on Icelandic and Italian volcanoes, I'll give you regular updates about volcanic activity worldwide.

04/01/2025

Photos of the Year.

It's been a huge honor to see my photos in the yearly recaps of several newspapers and news media worldwide.
Four of my photos have been featured in a few different "photos of the year" galleries:

- Time's Top 10 (and Top 100) Photos of 2024, Time Magazine: https://time.com/7204123/time-top-10-photos-2024/
https://time.com/7176286/top-100-photos-2024/

- The Photographs that Defined 2024, The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/dec/26/the-photographs-that-defined-2024-and-the-stories-behind-them

- Enduring Images of 2024, The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2024/pictures-of-the-year-2024/

- Top 25 News Photos of 2024, The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2024/12/top-25-news-photos-2024/680879/

- The Year in Pictures, The Economist
https://www.economist.com/interactive/1843/2024/12/19/the-year-in-pictures-2024

- Associated Press 100 Photos of 2024, AP.
https://apnews.com/associated-press-100-photos-of-2024-an-epic-catalog-of-humanity

2024 has been an incredible year for me professionally. I'm not going to focus here on my last year's recap, which tbh I didn't make yet (I was busy guiding last week). That would require a separate post.

A huge thank you to the AP editors for their work, the support, the constant advice and feedback.

Here are the photos that have been selected and the newspapers that featured them.

© 2024 • Marco Di Marco for AP - The Associated Press

- The Guardian - Washington Post - The Economist -

30/12/2024

Per gli amici in Sicilia: alle 14:00 sui Rai3 al TgR Sicilia si parlerà di me e del mio lavoro video-fotografico sui media internazionali durante le attività eruttive islandesi di quest'anno.
Non so ancora se il servizio andrà in onda sui tg nazionali.

21/11/2024

Seventh.

And again, more than two months after the end of the previous one, a new eruptive episode of the 2023-2024 eruption of Svartsengi volcanic system started last night at 23:14.

The eruption is slightly smaller compared to the last two. The effusion rate has been estimated around 1,300 cubic meters of lava per second (in august it was over 2,500 cubic meters per second) and the fissure is about 3km long.

Around 5:00am lava crossed Grindavikurvegur, the road to Grindavik, in a similar spot as in February, March and June. At the same time, fortunately, Grindavik is not in danger.

The activity, as happened already in the previous eruptions, is slowly diminishing. At this time is impossible to say how long the eruption will last.

More soon.

Shot w/ Mavic 3
© Marco Di Marco for The Associated Press
• 21.11.2024
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23/08/2024

Sixth.

Exactly two months after the end of the last eruptive episode, a new chapter of the 2023-2024 eruption of Svartsengi volcanic system has started last night. This is the sixth since December of last year.

As usual, the activity started strongly. Around 21:26 the first eruptive fissure opened up. It elongated more towards the northeast compared to the previous events, luckily further away from Grindavík. This was followed at 02:00am by the opening of a second segment about 2km long, at the northern end of the first fissure.
According to Veðurstofa (Icelandic Met Office) the fissures opened along a magma intrusion estimated to be around 7km long in total. The effusion rate at the peak has been estimated around 2000 cubic meters of lava per second. As soon as the second segment opened up, the activity of the longer fissure dropped considerably.

At the moment the eruption continues along the second fissure and no infrastructures are in immediate danger.

In the pics, tourists and visitors watching the eruption from Reykjanesbraut and the view of the lava fountains produced by the most active part of the main fissure around midnight.

A couple of short clips from last night in my stories.

* The area is closed to the public, here on assignment for international media. *

Shot w/ 7IV w/Sony FE 200/600mm - .italia

©Marco Di Marco/Volcano Chaser for AP - The Associated Press.
• 23.08.2024

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15/07/2024

Etna.

It's always amazing to be back here.
I took advantage of the only week off from work this summer to pay a visit to my homeland and to the volcano I grew up on.
In the last couple of weeks the summit crater named "Voragine" has been very active, with an almost constant strombolian activity and a couple of paroxysmal episodes with high lava fountains and ash plumes.
Last night I spent a few hours on the eastern side of the mountain to enjoy several explosions and we also observed a couple of gas rings (pic in my stories).
During the day, from the towns around the volcano, the sound of the explosions is pretty loud and impossible to ignore.
Even though Etna is capable of way stronger activity, this was a fairly good start of this trip.

Excited to see what will come next.

Shot w/ 7IV w/Sony FE 200/600mm - .italia

© Marco Di Marco/Volcano Chaser
• 14.07.2024

12/06/2024

Teaser.

Domenica 23 Giugno alle 20:45 a Trecastagni, in provincia di Catania, sarà un onore per me presentare un mio documentario su questi tre anni (fin’ora) di eruzioni Islandesi al Festival Vulcani https://bit.ly/FestivalVulcani2024

Il documentario sarà introdotto dall’intervento del prof. Marco Viccaro, presidente dell'AIV - Associazione Italiana di Vulcanologia.

Ringrazio tutti coloro che in questi anni mi hanno supportato (e sopportato), chi ha accettato di essere filmato (il mio amico Ingi su tutti) e all’organizzatore Giuseppe Riggio per l’invito.

Questo il trailer di “Andstæður - Contrasti”.

Immagini, montaggio e soundtrack - © Marco Di Marco

31/05/2024

Stabilizing.

A view of the two main active sections of the eruptive fissure yesterday evening, May 30th.
In the background is visible another small active vent at the northern end of the fissure, which is visible as a dark line behind the vents erupting in the central part of the pic.

A couple of hours after the impressive beginning the activity dropped rapidly and since Wednesday evening it has somehow stabilized.

The eruption continues.

* The area is closed to the public, there on assignment for international media. *

© Marco Di Marco / Volcano Chaser
• 30.05.2024

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29/05/2024

Chapter 5.

The fifth eruptive episode of the 2023-24 eruption of Svartsengi volcanic system started this morning at 12:45.

The Icelandic Met Office stated that the fissure is 3,4km long and the effusive rate is between 1,500 and 2000 cubic meters per second.

Here are two of my first shots I took roughly 20-30 minutes after the beginning of it.

More soon.

* The area is closed to the public, here on assignment for international media. *

© Marco Di Marco / Volcano Chaser
• 29.05.2024

14/04/2024

Breakout.

A moment from Friday evening at the eruption site, with a couple of lava breakouts in the foreground and the active crater in the background.

Breakouts form when the molten lava, still moving underneath the surface of the hardened lava field, breaks through forming relatively small and short-lived flows.

The eruption continues, but it's slowly decreasing day by day.
The level of lava into the crater on Friday looked lower than two days earlier, the crater itself got narrower and the active lava flow was smaller.
At the same time the inflation under Svartsengi continues, which means that the inflow of magma into the shallow magma chamber is not slowing down.

Also, this is officially the second longest eruption of the seven that have occurred on the Reykjanes peninsula in the last three years.

* The area is still closed to the public, I shot this one on assignment for international media. *

© Marco Di Marco / Volcano Chaser
• 12.04.2024

10/04/2024

Svartsengi.

A view of the eruption area on Monday during the solar eclipse. The high clouds and the sun partially covered by the moon created a very beautiful light during sunset.

The eruptive episode started on March 16th continues, but the activity is still gradually decreasing. As stated by Veðurstofa (Icelandic Met Office) the effusion rate is now just 3.6 ± 0.7 m3/s. At the same time the inflation rate under Svartsengi is increasing, a sign that the magma inflow from deep into the shallow magma chamber is not slowing down.

In the pic: in the foreground, the active crater with the small lava flows expanding on the new lava field. Behind it Sundhnjúkur, the most prominent part of the 2400 years old Sundhnjúkagigar crater row. In the background, Þorbjörn to the left and the steam produced by the geothermal powerplant of Svartsengi
and the Blue Lagoon to the right.
The dark horizontal line in between is a part of the defensive barriers built in November to protect the powerplant.

* The area is still closed to the public, I shot this one on assignment for international media. *

© Marco Di Marco / Volcano Chaser
• 08.04.2024

25/03/2024

Lights.

Last night aurora showed up again and this time I tried to catch it dancing above the eruption site in video.

Saturday a solar flare released a coronal mass ejection (CME) which impacted our planet yesterday, but a bit too early to display great aurora at the right time in Europe. We witnessed just the end of the geomagnetic storm right after twilight.

Here's a timelapse I shot yesterday at the eruption site plus a few scenes of the eruption itself.

* The area is still closed to the public, I shot this one on assignment for international media. *

© Marco Di Marco / Volcano Chaser
• 24.03.2024
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24/03/2024

Eruption & Aurora.

I tried to get a similar shot for years.
Last night the conditions were pretty favorable so Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove - JVN Photo and I gave it a try.

The sky exploded just a few minutes after we arrived, so we sent the drones out in order to get a decent composition, given that the northern lights were fairly high in the sky and with a drone would've been a bit faster to move around the eruptive area.

It's very hard to expose correctly for the Aurora while trying to tame the brightness of the lava. Especially when you try to get the shot with a longer exposure with a drone fighting against strong winds.
The result is kinda ok, but I'm not 100% satisfied.

The eruption is still ongoing and the aurora season is not over yet. Who knows if we will have other chances to witness this combination again before the summer.

* The area is still closed to the public, I shot this one on assignment for international media. *

© Marco Di Marco / Volcano Chaser
• 23.03.2024

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