Here’s an interactive panorama of the little new Icelandic volcano. It’s best in the full-screen view.
Can you walk on lava? Sometimes:
You can walk on some lava flows, after the surface has cooled enough. Apparently, while doing so you can feel the lava flow underneath you, and can be rising while it piles up. Your extremely sturdy shoes will still melt – don’t be tardy. On a lava flow like this, the surface is liquid enough for you to loose your balance. You won’t sink (lava is dense) so your body might still be retrievable.
Update: Here’s a 3-D model you can play with.
years ago, when I took a college-workshop trip on Hawaiian volcanoes (my dad was one of the instructors, so I got my way partly paid by being willing to tote and carry equipment), we were warned about walking out on the cooled lava there – the USGS/NPS had signs posted at the “safe limit” – because at least with Hawaiian style volcanoes, the surface cooled (perfectly cool and safe, even with thin shoes) lava is over a “tube” that might still contain molten lava, and you don’t want to punch through the surface of that tube.
they didn’t have to tell me that twice. Though apparently there were some people from another group (not ours) who ventured out a bit far and while no one died, they did wind up getting stranded and not being able to get back. I think they airlifted them out with helicopters? And then sent them a big bill for the rescue.
Volcanoes are neat but they are also pretty darn dangerous up close