Dramatic photos show La Palma volcano’s ongoing eruption

“I never dreamed about being so close to something like this,” says photographer Arturo Rodríguez. “It’s so big, so powerful.”

A view of Cumbre Vieja Volcano from El Paso against a purple-blue sky.
On the afternoon of September 19, the Cumbre Vieja volcano roared to life, spewing molten rock down its flanks and sending a column of ash billowing skyward. The island's abundant volcanoes are fed by a plume of hot rock that extends deep underground.
Photographs byArturo Rodríguez
ByMaya Wei-Haas
November 22, 2021
9 min read

Photographer Arturo Rodríguez was taking a shower at his home in Tenerife, the largest of the Spanish Canary Islands, when he heard an alarmed voice blare from the TV in the next room. "It just erupted! It just erupted—I can't believe it!" the reporter yelled into the camera.

In the weeks leading up to that fateful September day, a swarm of earthquakes had rattled the neighboring island of La Palma, hinting at the movement of magma under the surface. Rodríguez, who was born and raised in La Palma, was preparing for a trip to photograph scientists as they monitored the island's volcanoes, which had slumbered for the past 50 years. And then one roared awake.

Rodriguez rushed out of the shower to change his flight and made it to the island a few hours later. That night, he snapped photos as fountains of lava shot from the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, casting an eerie glow over nearby towns. The volcano's roar filled his ears, like waves crashing on a cliff. Glassy shards of ash rained from the skies, and the scent of spoiled eggs permeated the air.

“I never dreamed about being so close to something like this,” he says. “It’s so big, so powerful.”

So far, the ongoing eruption has destroyed more than 2,500 buildings and displaced thousands of people. Ash has fallen in thick layers, collapsing roofs and burying agricultural lands—and the lava has paved over everything in its path. "This monster erupted in the middle of the most populated area," Rodríguez says. "I can feel the pain of all the people here."

That pain became particularly acute when Rodríguez spotted his cousin among crowds of people he was photographing as they packed up to flee the encroaching lava. He put down his camera and rushed to help his cousin hastily pack belongings in boxes.

Now, two months after the first glowing lava emerged, the volcano continues its fiery blasts, and Rodríguez fears for his home island's future. The economy depends in large part on banana farming, but hundreds of acres of land once used to grow bananas have become entombed in lava. Many of the banana trees that have survived are covered in ash that mars the fruits' skin, which makes it impossible for farmers to export their crops.

Some people are now moving away, their homes and livelihoods buried in rock. The years ahead remain uncertain, Rodríguez says. "It's going to be rough for the island."

A view of the glowing-red Cumbre Vieja Volcano (Old Summit) from La Laguna mountain at night.
Red hot lava shoots up, towering over the silhouetted tree line.
A view of Cumbre Vieja fiery volcano from Las Manchas where the ashes cover hundred of homes.
Over the course of the eruption, lava emerged from multiple points along a deep fracture in the volcanic ridge, sweeping across the island into nearby cities. Rodríguez arrived the day the eruption began, snapping the image on the bottom left during his first night.
Photograph by Arturo Rodríguez (Top) (Left) and Photograph by Arturo Rodríguez (Bottom) (Right)
The red hot lava flow against the dark blue of the early morning.
On September 28, nine days after the first blast, lava began flowing into the sea. The reaction between the sizzling hot rock and cold seawater generated laze—a noxious plume of steam laced with hydrochloric acid and shards of volcanic glass.
A person in a silver space suit collects samples among the rocky ground.
Scientists have collected samples of rock, monitored gasses, recorded earthquakes, and more to better understand the current eruption and the potential for more blasts. In this image, Sergeant Armando Salazar, who is part of an emergency response group with the Spanish military, wears a silver suit for protection against the volcano's scorching heat as he walks across the still-sizzling rocks.
A view of skirt of Cumbre Vieja (Old Summit) volcano from Las Manchas village with burned pine trees because the acid rain and SO2.
The ash that emerges from volcanoes is composed of shards of rock and glass. In some places on La Palma, the ash has built up so much that it's buried trees (shown above) and houses, some of which only have chimneys left poking through the volcanic blanket.
Scientists working in a cave.
Officials come out from a cave in the ground.
Scientists from IGME and CSIC (the Spanish geological survey and National Research Council) are seeking any possible clues to better understand what's happening under the surface. A lava tube that formed in 1949 sits less than four miles away from Cumbre Vieja, so scientists placed gas sensors in the older tube to sniff out fractures that might connect to the ongoing eruption.
A researcher works on a ship with a pink sky in the background
The night lava reached the ocean, scientists with the Spanish Institute of Oceanography studied the activity from the vessel Ramon Margalef. Since then, the eruption has built up a growing lava delta of jet-black rock.
A green house covered in black volcanic ash in the Las Manchas neighborhood.
Smoke rises from the volcano in the background. In the front, children's play structures are surrounded by a floor of ash.
Parked cars behind a chainlink fence covered in ash.
The volcanic ash can build up so much that it causes roofs to collapse. Many people added extra support inside their houses, propping up their roofs with extra pillars of wood, Rodríguez says. Volunteers and public workers continue cleaning off roofs every day, but it's taxing and potentially dangerous work.
People in safety gear help residents move items, including an espresso machine.
Rodríguez ate breakfast each morning at a cafe near a banana plantation. One morning, he arrived to find volunteers helping move equipment from the restaurant to save whatever they could from the encroaching lava.
People are crowded to watch the volcano in the background, while a child plays on a court with a ball.
Locals and tourists watch the eruption from Tajuya Church, which is located almost two miles from the fiery peak. Meanwhile, a boy clears ash from the lines of a basketball court to play. "This is a relatively safe place to see the volcano," Rodríguez says.
Officials look at tall lava flow coming down a street.
Lava from Cumbre Vieja reached the village of La Laguna (above) at the end of October. In just a few hours, it had buried half the neighborhood. "There used to be a supermarket, a gas station," Rodríguez says. "Now there is nothing there. There's lava."
Two horses graze together while the volcano errupts.
Two months after the Cumbre Vieja volcano rumbled to life, molten rock continues to flow from the fiery peak. Scientists do not yet know when the eruption might come to an end.