Blog
Top 10 Volcanoes in Algeria
Algeria's volcanism hides in the deep Sahara β the Hoggar and Atakor fields are among the desert's great secrets.
Read more βThe Best Volcanoes for Beginners
You don't need to be a mountaineer to stand on a volcano. These are the safe, accessible ones to start with.
Read more βHow to Plan a Volcano Trip
Hazard status, season, permits, and gear for a trip built around the world's living mountains.
Read more βReading the map
Clusters, the named/show-all toggle, and what the detail panel tells you.
Read more βWelcome to the map
How this map is built, where the data comes from, and how often it updates.
Read more βThe Most Impressive Volcanoes in the World
Perfect cones, permanent lava lakes, and a supervolcano under a national park β the planet's volcanic icons.
Read more βMount Agung: a deep dive into Bali's sacred volcano
Mount Agung is the highest point of Bali, a sacred volcano in the Balinese religion β and the source of Indonesia's deadliest 20th-century eruption.
Read more βVolcanic lightning and eruption storms: how an ash plume makes its own weather
Some eruption columns generate their own lightning. Here is how β and why volcanic thunderstorms have become one of the best new tools in eruption monitoring.
Read more βMount Fuji: a deep dive into Japan's iconic stratovolcano
Mount Fuji is Japan's tallest peak, a near-perfect cone visible from Tokyo on clear days β and a stratovolcano that has been silent for just over three hundred years.
Read more βMount Erebus: a deep dive into Antarctica's burning summit
Mount Erebus is the southernmost active volcano on Earth β a stratovolcano on Ross Island with a permanent lava lake at the South Pole's edge.
Read more βMount Rainier: a deep dive into the Cascade giant
Mount Rainier looms over Seattle and Tacoma as the most glaciated peak in the lower 48 β and one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the United States.
Read more βMauna Loa: a deep dive into Earth's largest active volcano
Mauna Loa is the largest active volcano on the planet by volume β a vast Hawaiian shield that, after 38 years of silence, briefly woke up in late 2022.
Read more βTop 10 volcanoes in Alaska: America's largest volcanic frontier
Alaska holds about 130 active volcanoes β more than any other US state by a wide margin. Here are ten that define the geology and the aviation hazard map.
Read more βOl Doinyo Lengai: a deep dive into the world's only natrocarbonatite volcano
Ol Doinyo Lengai in northern Tanzania is the only volcano on Earth currently erupting natrocarbonatite β a cold, runny lava unlike anything else.
Read more βKΔ«lauea: a deep dive into Hawaii's most active volcano
KΔ«lauea is the volcano that quietly built much of the Big Island β and the one whose 2018 eruption rewrote the south shore of Hawaii in months.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Cape Verde
Cape Verde is a Macaronesian archipelago built entirely by volcanic activity, with one of Africa's most active volcanoes on the island of Fogo.
Read more βEtna: a deep dive into Europe's tallest active volcano
Etna is the volcano that defines eastern Sicily β almost continuously active, climbed by tourists, and watched from satellites every hour.
Read more βSakurajima: a deep dive into Japan's most active volcano
Sakurajima looms across the bay from Kagoshima city in Kyushu, erupting hundreds of times a year and dropping ash on half a million people.
Read more βVesuvius: a deep dive into Europe's most famous volcano
Vesuvius is the volcano that buried Pompeii β and still sits above Naples, the most densely populated active volcano flank on Earth.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the East African Rift
The Great Rift Valley is tearing Africa apart from Afar to Mozambique β these ten volcanoes are the most striking expressions of that slow split.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Andes
The Andes run 7,000 km along South America's western edge β these ten volcanoes stand out across Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
Read more βTaal: a deep dive into the volcano inside a lake inside a volcano
Taal in the Philippines is one of the smallest and most lethal volcanoes on Earth β a nested system of cones and crater lakes only an hour from Manila.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Cascades
The Cascade Range arcs through Washington, Oregon and northern California β ten stratovolcanoes, all of them dangerous if they choose to wake.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes Along the Pacific Ring of Fire
The Pacific Ring of Fire holds about 75% of the world's active volcanoes β this is a tour of ten that anchor its 40,000-km arc.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Caribbean
The Lesser Antilles arc is a thousand-kilometre chain of active stratovolcanoes β the Caribbean is one of the world's most volcanic seas.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in El Salvador
Tiny El Salvador has more active volcanoes per square kilometre than almost anywhere on Earth β and they shape the country's history and coffee.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Germany
Germany has no active volcanoes, but the Eifel maar lakes are dormant rather than dead β and the Holocene is still recent geology here.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Yemen
Yemen sits on one of the most extensive young volcanic fields in Arabia, with cinder cones, basalt flows and the active island of Jebel al-Tair in the Red Sea.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in France
France has the densest volcanic field in continental Europe β and an active arc volcano in the Caribbean β all under the same flag.
Read more βStromboli: a deep dive into the lighthouse of the Mediterranean
Stromboli has erupted, on and off, for at least two thousand years β small explosions every few minutes from the summit visible far across the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Read more βKilimanjaro: a deep dive into Africa's highest volcano
Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and a dormant stratovolcano with a glaciated summit β a climb that takes you through five climate zones.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Spain
Spain's volcanic story runs from the Atlantic-facing Canaries to the inland cones of La Garrotxa β a single country with two volcanic worlds.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Iran
Iran's volcanoes are surprisingly diverse β from Damavand, the highest peak in the Middle East, to mud volcanoes on the Makran coast and basalt fields in the east.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Turkey
Turkey is the volcanic heart of the Anatolian plate β Cappadocia, Ararat and Erciyes are all expressions of a slow collision.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Greece
The Hellenic Volcanic Arc curves through the Aegean β Santorini, Nisyros and Milos are all chapters of a single subduction story.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Azores
Nine Atlantic islands at the meeting of three plates β the Azores are some of the most beautifully volcanic landscapes in Europe.
Read more βVolcano tourism: safety, common sense and the etiquette of the slope
A practical guide for visiting active volcanoes β what to wear, what to read, when to turn around, and how to behave on a mountain that is still alive.
Read more βMount PelΓ©e: a deep dive into the volcano that destroyed Saint-Pierre
Mount PelΓ©e on Martinique wiped out the city of Saint-Pierre in 1902 β a single morning that defined modern volcanology and the term 'nuΓ©e ardente'.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Canary Islands
The Canaries are seven Atlantic islands built entirely by volcanoes β and on La Palma, the 2021 Tajogaite eruption is still fresh enough to walk on.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains
The Virunga chain is eight volcanoes on the borders of DR Congo, Rwanda and Uganda β gorillas above, lava lakes below.
Read more βNyiragongo: a deep dive into the world's most dangerous lava lake
Nyiragongo's permanent lava lake is the largest on Earth β and the volcano sits 15 km from Goma, a city of two million in the eastern DR Congo.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Cameroon
The Cameroon Volcanic Line is one of Africa's most striking volcanic features β a chain that runs from the Atlantic deep into the continent.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is the textbook example of a rift in action β the Afar triple junction tears Africa, Arabia and Somalia apart through a field of active volcanoes.
Read more βWhakaari/White Island: a deep dive into New Zealand's offshore volcano
Whakaari, New Zealand's most active volcano, sits offshore in the Bay of Plenty β a place of acid lakes, fumaroles, and the 2019 disaster that ended its tourism era.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Kenya
The Kenyan section of the East African Rift is a string of volcanoes β some still steaming, most growing soda lakes in their craters.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Tanzania
Tanzania straddles the East African Rift β Kilimanjaro, Ol Doinyo Lengai and the Ngorongoro highlands are all part of one rifting story.
Read more βMount Merapi: Java's most dangerous neighbour
Merapi sits above Yogyakarta on the island of Java β the most active volcano in Indonesia and one of the most closely watched on Earth.
Read more βNovarupta: a deep dive into the largest eruption of the 20th century
Novarupta in Alaska released more magma in 1912 than any other 20th-century eruption β and created the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Hawaii
The Hawaiian chain is a single mantle plume writing islands across the Pacific β these ten volcanoes are the legible chapters.
Read more βPinatubo: a deep dive into the 1991 eruption that cooled the planet
Pinatubo's 15 June 1991 eruption was the second-largest of the twentieth century β and the textbook case for evacuating before a volcano blows.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Kamchatka
Kamchatka is the world's most concentrated active volcanic landscape β these ten are the giants that draw climbers, scientists, and photographers.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes on Jeju and the Korean Peninsula
The Korean Peninsula is mostly old, stable crust β but Jeju Island and a handful of border volcanoes show that East Asian volcanism reaches here too.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Russia
Russia's volcanoes lie almost entirely on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands β the world's most concentrated chain of active stratovolcanoes.
Read more βPopocatΓ©petl: a deep dive into Mexico's smoking mountain
PopocatΓ©petl rises 5,400 metres above central Mexico and exhales near-continuous ash and steam β a stratovolcano that nearly 25 million people can see.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Vanuatu
Vanuatu sits on one of the most active volcanic arcs in the South Pacific β small islands, big volcanoes, and one of the most accessible erupting craters on Earth.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Antarctica
Antarctica has more than a hundred volcanoes β including one that holds a lava lake under ice and a recently mapped subglacial chain.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Honduras
Honduras is not on the Pacific volcanic arc, but it still holds a scattering of small monogenetic cones, lava fields and basaltic uplands worth knowing.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in New Zealand
New Zealand's volcanoes run from the Auckland field to the TaupΕ Volcanic Zone β accessible, photogenic, and culturally central.
Read more βMount St. Helens: a deep dive into the volcano that changed American volcanology
Mount St. Helens' 18 May 1980 eruption killed 57 people, removed 400 metres of the mountain, and rebuilt how the United States studies volcanoes.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea sits on a knot of plates that has produced some of the most spectacular and least-visited volcanoes on Earth.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the GalΓ‘pagos
The GalΓ‘pagos are seven shield volcanoes on the equator, built by one of the world's most productive ocean-island hot spots.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Philippines
The Philippines sits on one of the world's most active subduction zones β these ten volcanoes anchor the archipelago's volcanic map.
Read more βYellowstone: a deep dive into America's restless supervolcano
Yellowstone is a supervolcano that has erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years β and a national park sitting on top of one of the world's largest magma reservoirs.
Read more βLahars and volcanic mudflows: the hidden killer on the slope
Most volcano deaths are not from lava but from lahars β fast, dense rivers of ash and water that can travel a hundred kilometres from the cone.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the volcano-densest country in Central America after Guatemala β a Pacific chain of cones, calderas and an island in the lake.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The eastern DRC sits on one of Africa's most active volcanic fields β the Virunga chain and the rift around Lake Kivu. These ten are the headline volcanoes.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes on La RΓ©union
La RΓ©union is two volcanoes β extinct Piton des Neiges and very active Piton de la Fournaise β that together built one of the most beautiful islands in the Indian Ocean.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Costa Rica
Costa Rica's volcanic chain runs the spine of the country β cloud-forested, accessible, and several of them still erupting.
Read more βEyjafjallajΓΆkull: a deep dive into the volcano that grounded Europe
EyjafjallajΓΆkull's 2010 eruption was modest by Iceland's standards β yet the ash drifted across Europe and stopped air travel for a week.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Guatemala
Guatemala squeezes the most spectacular volcanic chain in Central America into one drivable highland β these ten are the names you climb to.
Read more βSupervolcanoes explained: what they are and where the next one might be
Supervolcanoes are the planet's biggest volcanic events β rare, continent-altering and impossible to ignore once you know where they sit.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Argentina
Argentina's volcanoes line the western border with Chile β high, dry, and including the highest active volcano on Earth.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Aeolian Islands
The Aeolian archipelago north of Sicily is the most concentrated volcanic landscape in Europe β seven islands, several still active.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Colombia
Colombia's Northern Andes hold a dense cluster of glacier-capped active volcanoes β these ten are the names that matter.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands string 56 volcanoes from Kamchatka to Hokkaido β among the most remote and least visited active volcanoes on Earth.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Bolivia
Bolivia's volcanoes rise from the Altiplano on the border with Chile β a high, dry, otherworldly volcanic landscape.
Read more βThe Volcanic Explosivity Index: how scientists rank eruptions
The VEI is the standard logarithmic scale for eruption size. From small steam blasts to caldera-forming events, here is what each level means.
Read more βTambora: a deep dive into the eruption that caused a year without summer
Tambora's 1815 eruption is the largest in recorded history β VEI 7, tens of thousands of immediate deaths, and a global cooling that made 1816 'the year without a summer.'
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Peru
Peru's volcanoes line the southern Andes around Arequipa β high, snow-capped, and dramatically photogenic.
Read more βVolcanic soils and agriculture: why people farm in the shadow of danger
Volcanic ash makes some of the most fertile soils on Earth. That fertility β not stubbornness β is why villages keep returning to the foot of every active cone.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Ecuador
Ecuador packs an extraordinary density of high active volcanoes into the Avenue of the Volcanoes β these are the ten that lead the line.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the United States
From the Cascades to Alaska and Hawaii, the United States has more active volcanoes than any other country except Indonesia β these ten are the most important.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Chile
Chile lies along one of the most active volcanic spines on Earth β these ten are the icons of the Southern Andes.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Sumatra
Sumatra's volcanic spine includes Toba β site of one of Earth's largest known eruptions β and a chain of restless modern cones.
Read more βKrakatoa: a deep dive into the volcano that shook the world
Krakatoa's 1883 eruption was heard 4,800 kilometres away, killed tens of thousands by tsunami, and cooled the planet for years. Anak Krakatau is still growing.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Mexico
The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt holds some of the highest and most active volcanoes in North America β these ten lead the line.
Read more βTypes of volcanoes explained: from cinder cones to supervolcanoes
Stratovolcanoes, shields, calderas, cinder cones, lava domes β a tour of the main volcano types and how to recognise them in the field.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Indonesia
Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other country β these ten are the iconic peaks, calderas, and island arcs.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Java
Java is the most volcanic island on Earth β 45 active stratovolcanoes on a 1,000-km axis, with 150 million people living among them.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Japan
Japan has more than a hundred active volcanoes β these ten are the cones, calderas, and onsen mountains that define the country.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Iceland
Iceland sits astride the Mid-Atlantic Ridge β every few years a new eruption rewrites the landscape and the news cycle.
Read more βHow volcanoes form: a plate-tectonic primer
Volcanoes are not random β they cluster along plate boundaries, hotspots and rifts. Here is how the Earth makes one, step by step.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in Italy
From Etna's nightly fireworks to Stromboli's clockwork bursts, Italy is the world's most theatrically volcanic country.
Read more βTop 10 Volcanoes in the Aleutians
The Aleutian arc is a 2,500-km chain of stratovolcanoes between Alaska and Kamchatka β remote, often erupting, and dramatic from the air.
Read more β