Teide’s Shadow: A World Record in the Atlantic
Not even the peaks of the Andes nor the imposing Kilimanjaro can boast this natural milestone. Mount Teide, Spain’s highest volcano and one of the great landscape icons of the Canary Islands, holds a singular world record: it projects the sharpest known pyramidal shadow onto the sea, a phenomenon highlighted by NASA for its exceptional scientific and visual qualities.
The Science Behind a Perfect Triangle
Each sunrise and sunset, Teide sketches a perfectly defined triangle of shadow across the Atlantic Ocean, visible for several minutes and capable of stretching dozens of kilometres out to sea. The US space agency has shared this phenomenon through its Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) portal, explaining why the shadow of the Tenerife volcano is unparalleled on the rest of the planet.
Although mountains higher than Teide exist, none achieve such a clean and geometric projection. The explanation goes far beyond metres above sea level. In great continental ranges, like the Andes, or in isolated mountains surrounded by irregular terrain, shadows fragment and blur as they fall across valleys, plateaus, or mountain chains. In Tenerife, however, the volcano rises in isolation surrounded by ocean, turning the maritime horizon into a flat, continuous surface that enhances the shadow’s triangular form, with no obstacles to alter its outline.
From La Gomera to Gran Canaria
Topographical measurements from the University of La Laguna place the shadow’s length between 40 and 60 kilometres—long enough to reach the island of La Gomera at dawn and graze Gran Canaria at dusk. Teide achieves this exceptional shadow through three combined factors. Its isolated, conical silhouette projects a clean outline with no rival reliefs. The presence of the maritime horizon acts as a flat screen, allowing the triangle to elongate without mountains to cut it short. Furthermore, its stable subtropical latitude atmosphere, where trade winds reduce low cloud and light scattering, further sharpens the shadow’s edges.
How and Where to Witness the Spectacle
To see the triangular shadow, one simply needs to be at a high elevation and look opposite the sun. At dawn, the shadow stretches towards La Gomera and is best appreciated from the Mirador de la Rambleta (3,555m). At sunset, it points towards Gran Canaria and is clearly observed from the path leading to Pico Viejo or, slightly lower down, from the Altavista Refuge. The visible length varies with air transparency: episodes of calima or high humidity shorten the shadow, while clear skies prolong it. This is why researchers use it as an informal optical indicator of atmospheric quality in the Canaries, in addition to it serving as a unique postcard of the island that occurs twice daily.
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