The Litli-Hrútur volcano in Iceland, where the DLR team is measuring infrared radiation
The Litli-Hrútur volcano in Iceland, where the DLR team is measuring infrared radiation
This image shows the small crater of the recent eruption of Litli-Hrútur on the Reykjanes peninsula. The eruption began on 31 July 2023, and slowly subsided in early August. Nevertheless, it provided DLR's V-EMulator team with good opportunities to measure recently solidified lava flows with high temperatures between 300 and 400 degrees Celsius, which is very close to the temperature on the surface of Venus (approximately 470 degrees Celsius). Fresh basalt lava at Litli-Hrútur had a temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius, but the surface temperature quickly dropped to ambient temperature. Although the volcano is now dormant, the team from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research is looking for cracks that could be a window to material below that is still hot and approcimately the same temperature as Venus.
