Sam Cossman climbs down to the lava lake in the Ambrym volcano.

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Into the Volcano

Sam Cossman led a team of explorers more than a thousand feet down into one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

January 18, 2016
By Nicole Tocco and Karen Kellaher

Sam Cossman stood just 65 feet away from a red-hot lava lake. The fiery pool bubbled violently, shooting specks of molten rock onto him. The only thing that kept him from burning up was a special heat-resistant suit. One wrong move and he would fall into the pit of 2,000-degree Fahrenheit (2,000°F) lava.

“It was like getting a glimpse into the center of the Earth,” Cossman says.

Jim McMahon/MapMan®

He had just led a team of explorers and scientists into a volcano called Ambrym (AM-breem). It is located in Vanuatu, a nation made up of 82 islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Cossman wasn’t there just for thrills. He went to Ambrym last winter to capture images to help scientists better understand how volcanoes work.

“Few people had ever been in this extreme environment,” Cossman explains. “I knew there was probably a lot to learn.”

There was also a lot to fear. Ambrym is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It has erupted about 50 times in the past 250 years. No one knew for sure when it might erupt again.

COURTESY OF SAM COSSMAN

A member of Sam Cossman’s team stands at the top of Marum crater.

Red-Hot Adventure

Cossman and his team started their journey at the top of the Marum crater. That’s a deep pit in Ambrym. Using ropes, they began to climb down more than 1,200 feet into the volcano.

As they descended, the air grew hotter. The temperature soon reached 1,000°F.

The heat wasn’t the only danger. Ambrym emits huge amounts of a gas called sulfur dioxide. The team wore gas masks to help them avoid breathing in the deadly fumes.

After about four hours, Cossman and his team reached the bottom of the crater. Finally, they stood on the edge of the lava lake. It was so hot that they could get close to the lake for only a few seconds at a time before they had to move away.    

Picture-Perfect

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A drone takes video of the lava lake.

The extreme heat and the thick cloud of gas also made taking clear photos of the lava lake nearly impossible. So the team brought along three drones on their adventure.

The drones got closer to the lava than any person ever could. The team would wait for the gas cloud to shift and then send in the drones to take photos and video. The drones began to melt, but not before they took the first clear pictures of the crater.

Sharing Knowledge

After the trip, scientists used the drone footage to create the first-ever 3-D computer model of the volcano. Jeff Marlow is a scientist at Harvard University. He was also part of Cossman’s team. He says researchers have learned a lot from the 3-D model so far. For example, markings showed where other lava lakes once existed.

“We were able to learn about the past eruptive history of the volcano and how the volcano has changed over time,” Marlow says.

Ambrym is still changing. About a month after Cossman’s trip, it erupted violently.

Cossman says he isn’t done exploring volcanoes. But he also has some other places in mind.

“I’m interested in exploring the ocean, space, and everything in between!” Cossman says.    

Lakes of Fire

RICHARD ROSCOE/STOCKTREK IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

Active lava lakes, like the one in Ambrym, are rare. In fact, there are fewer than 10 of them in the world. These huge pools of lava form in volcanoes that have a constant supply of magma reaching the surface. (Magma is lava that’s below Earth’s surface.) But the forces pushing the magma upward aren’t strong enough to cause a big eruption, like the kind you might picture when you think about volcanoes. Instead, the lava boils near the surface, like water in a pot on a hot stove.

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Forces of Nature

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