Incredible Footage Shows Red Hot Lava Oozing Over Snow In a Once-in-a-Lifetime Moment

Whenever extremes collide, something strange happens, either in a surreal way or perhaps bizarre. In 2024, when Sundhnúkagígar Volcano in the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, exploded in a tirade of volcanic eruptions, it created a fissure more than 2-mile long, that sprayed red-hot lava into the sky. When Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove (@jvn.photo) witnessed the aftermath of the eruption in February 2024, he was “baffled.” In one place he noticed, the sizzling hot golden lava was kissing the sheet of ice as it flowed. The award-winning Belgian Icelandic photographer, who is obsessed with volcanoes, captured the rare scene in an up-close video, which has fascinated millions of people ever since.

The footage shared on Instagram displays a hulking mass of golden-orange lava coursing over a sheet of ice, blanketing the white landscape with a knobbly gloop of dark honey color. After watching the footage, @jinprosy likened it to "a chocolate cookie dough being squashed over a layer of fine sugar." @officialskippz said, “This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.” @luisianasterki called the scene “a song of ice and fire.”

However, some people doubted the authenticity of the footage, as there was “no steam” rising off from the lava when it touched the ice. @igarrettoliver asked Van Nieuwanhove, “Why is there no steam at the lava line,” and so did @makesushi1 and several others. Many people asked whether the video was computer or AI-generated. The comments prompted the photographer to do some research.

In an update, he explained that the reason why steam didn’t appear at the interlacing of lava and ice was most likely due to the “Leidenfrost effect.” Describing the phenomenon, he said, “The lava is so incredibly hot that it melts the top part of the snow, which then creates a vapor layer that shields the bottom part from the heat temporarily. Similar to what you can observe when water droplets scoot around on a hot metal plate. The lava moves so fast that it actually manages to cover the snow before it can melt. As a result, it is all trapped underneath the fresh lava. Extremely fascinating if you ask me.”

Despite skepticism, the video went viral. So, Van Nieuwanhove posted a follow-up video of the same location captured from a different angle. This footage offers an even closer look at the flaky viscous lava gushing and spilling itself into the white snowy terrain. As it flows, its ropy billowing surface spouts bursts of flame at random places. Addressing those who called his video fake, he reflected that it was because the sight was indeed too surreal to appear true. “I find this so fascinating because it demonstrates beautifully how we humans can still be surprised by how unique nature is. It shows how we perceive something to be fake because we can’t comprehend it. Isn’t that interesting?” he wrote.

Adding to the explanation, he said that the reason why people couldn’t believe that his video was real, was because they had a preconceived idea of how lava should flow as movies depict. "One thing I have realized while documenting the ongoing series of eruptions in Iceland over 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.”

You can follow  @jvn.photo for more surreal nature videos.