A drone pilot managed to capture stunning footage of an active volcano, even though the immense heat melted his GoPro camera.
Eric Cheng of Aerial Imaging at DJI Innovations filmed the eruption at Bardarbunga in Iceland, 12 hours outside the capital of Reykjavik, after the volcano began spewing lava on Aug. 29 — the first eruption since 1910.
Cheng’s Phantom 2 drone had to dodge 600-foot-high lava fountains and the front of the camera melted in the red-hot temperatures. He retrieved the device just in time to salvage the memory card.
Located inside Europe’s largest glacier, known as the Vatna Glacier, Bardarbunga lies beneath the 1,600-foot-thick Vatnajokull icecap.
Striking photos of the aurora borealis reflecting above the eruption emerged in mid-September.