A selection of photos and videos from field campaigns in the Virunga. These show the changes in the morphology and level of the Nyiragongo lava lake that have occurred in recent years.

• June 2007: this trip included a visit to the vent active during the 2006 eruption of Nyamulagira, where tephra and lava samples were collected (see overall and zoom-in maps of our route, generated using Google Earth). Further FTIR measurements of Nyiragongo's gas plume were also conducted.

  Panorama from our camp at the site of the November 2006 eruption of Nyamulagira. This shows Nyiragongo and its gas plume, the November 2006 eruptive fissure (Ushindi; still steaming), the summit cone of Nyamulagira in the distance, and numerous dead trees burned and defoliated by scoria and ash fall during the 2006 eruption.

  Video of the Nyiragongo lava lake on June 18, 2007 (taken during our field campaign). Note how the lava lake appears to 'resurface' itself during this sequence; the right hand side of the lake is relatively inactive, then upwelling magma spreads across the lake from left to right. The zone of vigorous degassing also moves across the lake. Also of note is the way degassing occurs predominantly at the margins of the lake. Apologies for the background generator noise in this video.

  Video of the Nyiragongo lava lake on June 20, 2007 (taken during our field campaign):

  Video of the Nyiragongo lava lake on August 30, 2008 (taken by another visitor to the volcano):

• January 2006: a 5-day summit camp on Nyiragongo, and further FTIR measurements of the gas plume.

• May-June 2005: this trip involved an 8-day camp on the summit of Nyiragongo, and the first deployment of a Fourier-transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer at the volcano, courtesy of colleagues from the Dept. of Geography at Cambridge University. The FTIR was used to measure the composition of the volcanic plume.

• March 2004: a pre-ViSOR trip in collaboration with Bo Galle (Chalmers University, Sweden) to make the first ground-based measurements of SO₂ emissions from Nyiragongo.

  Video of fire fountaining in the crater of Nyiragongo on March 16, 2004. At this time the head of the magma column was deep within the crater and a true lava lake was yet to be established.