This has been a big year for the world’s active volcanoes. Out of an estimated 1,500 active volcanoes, about 50 erupt every year, spewing steam, ash, toxic gases, and lava. In 2021, erupting volcanoes included the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Islands, Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland, Pacaya volcano in Guatemala, Mount Semeru and Mount Sinabung in Indonesia, Mount Etna in Sicily, Klyuchevskoy volcano in Russia, and more. Collected below are scenes from the wide variety of volcanic activity on Earth over the past year.
2021: The Year in Volcanic Activity
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![An enormous cloud of ash rises above a volcano.]()
Read moreMount Sinabung volcano erupts, seen from Kuta Rakyat village in Karo, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia, on March 2, 2021. #
Sastrawan Ginting / Antara Foto / Reuters -
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![A person wearing a headlamp is seen walking near a molten river of lava at night.]()
Read moreA picture taken on March 16 shows people watching an eruption of Klyuchevskoy volcano on Russia's far eastern Kamchatka peninsula. #
Maxim Fesyunov / AFP / Getty -
![A helicopter flies above several small lava eruptions.]()
Read moreA helicopter flies above lava erupting from Piton de la Fournaise volcano, on the French Indian Ocean island of Réunion, on April 10. #
Richard Bouhet / AFP / Getty -
![People stand near a slow-moving lava flow at night.]()
Read morePeople watch lava flow from Pacaya, a volcano located near the village of El Patrocinio, in Guatemala, on March 25. #
Johan Ordonez / AFP / Getty -
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![A woman carries a cross near a lava flow.]()
Read moreA woman carries a cross during a pilgrimage to Pacaya volcano in San Vicente Pacaya on May 5. #
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![People are silhouetted by the glow of lava flowing from a new volcano.]()
Read morePeople are silhouetted by the glow of lava flowing from Fagradalsfjall volcano on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, on March 28. The volcano erupted on March 19, after thousands of small earthquakes in the area over the previous weeks, and was reportedly the first eruption of its kind on the Reykjanes Peninsula in about 800 years. #
Sophia Groves / Getty -
![A rescue worker looks at a lava flow.]()
Read moreAn Icelandic rescue worker looks at lava flowing from the erupting Fagradalsfjall volcano in Geldingadalur, Iceland, on March 25. #
Matthew Eisman / Getty -
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![Dozens of people hike across rough ground at night, toward the orange light of an erupting volcano.]()
Read moreSunday hikers walking along in the Geldingadalur valley are wearing headlamps as they make their way to and from the site of an eruption of a volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland on March 28. #
Halldor Kolbeins / AFP / Getty -
![Three hikers sit and look at lava flowing from a small volcanic cone.]()
Read moreHikers look at the lava flowing from the erupting Fagradalsfjall volcano on March 21. #
Jeremie Richard / AFP / Getty -
![A person stands before a broad lava flow.]()
Read moreA person stands before a broad lava flow in Geldingadalir, Iceland, in May. #
Gudni Einarsson / iStockphoto / Getty -
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![A night view of a volcano sending a huge cloud of ash into the sky, lit from below by lava glow.]()
Read moreMount Etna erupts in the night, sending a column of ash more than 10 kilometers high, seen from Catania, Italy, on February 23. #
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![Lava is seen flowing down a slope behind an illuminated church at night.]()
Read moreLava flows from Mount Etna, near Catania, in Sicily, on February 23. #
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![A fountain of glowing particles is seen coming out of a cloud bank that obscures the volcano below.]()
Read moreLava bursts through passing clouds as the Fuego volcano erupts in Acatenango, Guatemala, on March 15. #
Josh Edelson / AP -
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![A huge cloud of ash rises from a volcano, seen from a distance, in a residential area.]()
Read moreAsh rises into the air as La Soufrière volcano erupts on the eastern Caribbean island of Saint Vincent on April 13. #
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![A person stands near the shore of a lake at night, observing a glow and rising smoke from a lava flow in the distance.]()
Read moreA view toward the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo on May 22, seen from Tchegera Island, outside Goma, on Lake Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo #
Alex Miles / AFP / Getty -
![People walk on a road, engulfed in smoke and fumes from the nearby lava flow.]()
Read moreResidents walk through smoke from smoldering lava flowing from Mount Nyiragongo in Goma on May 23. #
Moses Sawasawa / AFP / Getty -
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![A wide strip of dark volcanic rock protrudes into a neighborhood, seen from above.]()
Read moreThe lava flow from Mount Nyiragongo, seen from above, cuts through Buhene, north of Goma, on May 24. #
Justin Kabumba / AP -
![People climb on a large pile of volcanic rock.]()
Read morePeople climb on the cooling edge of the lava flow from Mount Nyiragongo in Goma on May 23. #
Justin Kabumba / AP -
![A view of a lava lake roiling inside a large crater.]()
Read moreThis image shows the ongoing eruption within Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kīlauea, on Hawaii's Big Island, on October 2. The eruption began the afternoon of September 29, as fissures in the floor of the crater. This activity is generating a lava lake that is slowly filling the crater. #
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![A road and several houses are seen destroyed, everything covered in gray ash.]()
Read moreAn area is seen covered in volcanic ash at Sumber Wuluh village in Lumajang, Indonesia, on December 5, after an eruption at Semeru volcano that killed at least 13 people. #
Juni Kriswanto / AFP / Getty -
![Lava and ash spew from the slope of a volcano in huge jets above several houses.]()
Read moreMount Cumbre Vieja erupts in El Paso, spewing out columns of ash and lava, as seen from Los Llanos de Aridane on La Palma, in the Canary Islands, on September 19. #
Desiree Martin / AFP / Getty -
![A woman and child are seen on a hillside, silhouetted against lava from an eruption.]()
Read moreA woman climbs a hill with a child to see the Cumbre Vieja volcano as it continues to erupt in Tacande de Arriba, La Palma, Spain, on October 2. #
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![Fountains of lava appear behind a residential neighborhood.]()
Read moreThe Cumbre Vieja volcano erupts, as seen from El Paso, La Palma, Spain, on October 25. #
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![Piles of volcanic rock, part of a lava flow, sit among houses and streets.]()
Read moreLava flows through El Paso, on La Palma, on September 23. #
Emilio Morenatti / AP -
![About a dozen soldiers stand on a hillside watching rivers of lava flow down several slopes.]()
Read moreSpanish Army soldiers stand on a hill as lava flows while the Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to erupt on November 29. #
Emilio Morenatti / AP -
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![Nighttime view of lava flowing into the ocean, glowing orange, and sending up plumes of steam.]()
Read moreThis picture taken from the port of Tazacorte shows lava flowing into the ocean on La Palma on October 6. #
Jorge Guerrero / AFP / Getty -
![Smooth drifts of dark gray ash cover a landscape and house, seen from above.]()
Read moreA house is covered by volcanic ash from the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on La Palma, on October 30. #
Emilio Morenatti / AP
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