Photo of the Day 18

Ilha Nova, Faial Island, Azores

Photograph by Robert F. Sisson

Sea water instantly turns to super-heated steam as it seeps into the active submarine volcano known as Ilha Nova, or "new island." Months after the volcano first erupted on September 27, 1957, torrential rains from the condensing steam continued to torment the villagers living near the new volcano.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A New Volcano Bursts from the Atlantic," June 1958, National Geographic magazine)