“Kawah Ijen” Volcano in Indonesia Erupts with Electric-Blue Flames

Kawah Ijen is located on the island of Java in Indonesia. When it "erupts" it doesn't send lava running down its slopes. Instead, it emits an electric-blue fire that's captivating at nighttime.

Olivier Grunewald is a French photographer who has been capturing stunning shots of the volcano's activity. The electric-blue fire is known to be light caused by the combustion of sulfuric gases. The sulfuric gases emerge from the cracks of Kawah Ijen at extremely high temperatures (approximately 1,112°F) and they ignite with the air to send flames 16 feet into the air. The flames appear as if lava is flowing down the slopes because the gases condense into liquid sulfur.

Blue volcanic fire was previously seen in Italy on the south slope of Mount Vesuvius as well as on the island of Vulcano, which is just north of Sicily. The burning of these blue flames occurs throughout the day and night, but can only be seen in the darkness.

Cynthia Werner is a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. She told National Geographic in this article that she has "never seen this much sulfur flowing at a volcano" at Kawah Ijen. But Werner says that it's common to find the molten sulfur around volcanic hot vents because the hot vents exceed the sulfur's melting point of 239°F.

Despite its beauty, the electric-blue frames from Kawah Ijen can be toxic. Every time Grunewald photographs the site, he wears a gas mask to protect himself from sulfur dioxide and other gases. He says it's not possible to stand close without a mask, which helps explain that Grunewald is no stranger to these blue flames. He has also chronicled the Dallol volcano in the Danakil Depression, which is located in Ethiopia. The magma's heat at Dallol sometimes ignites the sulfur dust in the soil, which forms the blue flames.

To find out more information about these volcanic-induced electric-blue flames, visit this National Geographic article.