![]() There the landscape is green, full of life and vegetation. ![]() The contrast with the top of Teide is amazing when you go under the clouds. If the extra terrestial landscape isn't enough, driving above the clouds really makes you realise this ain't your typical commute. You should explore them all! On top of the Los Gigantes massive, with the La Gomera island on the horizon The Los Gigantes are really unbelievable in their dimensions, you'll feel like a tiny human on the twisty roads. From dense woods to bare rocks, from heavy fog to clear skies. There are four main roads to and from the caldera, each one offering different scenes. of sorts :-) Some rocks are unbelievable in size and shape Pico del Teide as seen from the south of the caldera The El Chinyero vent on the Santiago Ridge, still black from the 1909 eruption Panorama in the Las Cañadas caldera ESA's fast-moving Heavy Duty Planetary Rover (HDPR) at Teide (credit: ESA) Shadow of a Martian. Because of the similarities with Mars, Las Cañadas is used by space agencies to test planetary rovers. The landscape is unlike anything I have seen before. Twisty roads to the top of Teide, with remarkable geological formations visible Landscape inside the Las Cañadas caldera is similar to Mars Along the way you're in for some fantastic views. The Teide national park is open for public and accessible by road. My space mobile, a Citroën C1 rental car. Its environmental conditions and geological formations are similar to those on Mars. The volcano and its surroundings comprise the Teide National Park, a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This is called a "caldera", a large collapse depression usually formed when a large eruption completely empties the magma chambers inside the volcano. If you look closely, you'll notice that it appears as if the volcano has collapsed: its summit seems to be pushed downwards, surrounded by a "ring" of mountain tops. ![]() This detailed astronaut photograph features two stratovolcanoes, Pico de Teide and Pico Viejo (taken from the International Space Station, public domain) The Las Cañadas caldera on top of Teide, as seen from the International Space Station (public domain) Because of its history of destructive eruptions, the volcano is closely monitored by the United Nations Committee for Disaster Mitigation. Its summit is 3718 meters above sea level. Measured from the ocean floor, its top (Pico del Teide) reaches 7500 meters. The volcano on the island of Tenerife, El Teide, is the highest in the world next to the Hawaiian Islands. The colour indicates differences in terrain, where shades of green and brown indicate lava flows of various ages and roughnesses. The image was created using the Spaceborn Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard the space shuttle Endavour in 1994. The radar image shows the Teide volcano on the island of Tenerife in the Canary islands. Radar image from NASA showing the Teide volcano on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain (Wikimedia Commons) The weather on the island is different on the North and South because of the enormous volcano in the centre. The climate is controlled by tradewinds on the Atlantic Ocean, whose humidity condenses over the northern part of the island, creating clouds. At about the same latitude as the Sahara Desert, it enjoys a warm tropical climate with an average around 24 ☌. ![]() The Canary Island of Tenerife is known internationally as the "Island of Eternal Spring" (Isla de la Eterna Primavera). The incredible views reach way beyond earth, into outer space, the Milky Way and other distant galaxies. It's a popular destination because of the climate, but it's also the home of Teide, the world's second highest volcano (7500 m, measured from the sea floor). This summer holiday brought me to Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain. ![]()
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