14 DAY TRIAL // There's a lot of commotion going on in Iceland these days, what with the ongoing volcanic eruption at the Holuhraun field, which is part and parcel of the country's remote Bárðarbunga volcanic system.
Just a few days ago, things got way cooler. Long story short, two super awesome poisonous tornadoes, one of which stood about 3,300 feet (roughly 1 kilometer) tall, formed in the region.
As detailed by Live Science, these two tornadoes, a picture of which is available next to this article, were birthed by the local stormy weather. They formed from sulfur dioxide gas released by the eruption.
“We haven't seen anything like this before,” Fred Prata, chief technology officer at Nicarnica Aviation in Kjeller, Norway, told the publication in an interview. “I was quite surprised to see it,” he added.
To get a better idea of the anatomy of these deadly swirls, check out the photo below. The image was obtained with the help of an infrared camera developed by Fred Prata, and it shows the poisonous tornadoes moving about on the ground.
Scientists say that such swirls come into being when air that is not only dry but also very hot starts spinning in one place. Eventually, this air births a tall vortex best described as a tornado-like column.
