In September 2011, François Kervyn and Benoît Smets (Cartography and remote sensing section) were involved in a joint mission with the National Museum of Natural History of Luxembourg and the European Centre of Geodynamics and Seismology in the crater of the Nyiragongo volcano (Democratic Republic of Congo). The goal of the mission was to carry out observations in the context of work that had been going on in the region since 2005, in collaboration with the Goma Volcano Observatory.

Two teams of journalists got involved in the project:

• For RTBF, over a week a team followed our scientific expedition in the crater where the monitoring instruments were deployed to study this lava lake – the biggest in the world. The documentary recounts the progress of the expedition and explains its context.
• For ARTE, the team of scientists from RMCA/NMNH/ECGS enabled the producers of this episode of the series "Life on Fire/Les Peuples des Volcans" (The volcano people) to go with them to film images of the Nyiragongo lava lake. These images were used to illustrate the situation of the Masaya volcano in Nicaragua before its lava lake appeared.

Dates of broadcast and links:

• RTBF : 7 June 2012 at 11.05pm - Matière grise
  "Danse dans la gueule d'un volcan" (Dance in the jaws of a volcano)
  Synopsis
• ARTE: 6 June at 4.35pm, 13 June at 1.25pm, 16 June at 11.30am
  "Le peuple des volcans. Le temple des phénix" (The volcano people. The temple of the phoenix)
  Synopsis
  > watch the documentary online (available until 6 June 2012)

Read more about the mission