Ebene News – UA – Etna is erupting again – everything you need to know about the Italian volcano

One of the world’s most active volcanoes has resumed erupting, producing spectacular shows of red-hot magma and plumes of smoke and ash rising high in the sky

The latest activity on Mount Etna has resulted in the closure of airports, and although authorities say neighboring settlements are not at risk from the volcano, the situation is being closely monitored

Photos shared on social media show ashes raining down on homes, no injuries have been reported from the eruption

At over 3000 meters above sea level, Mount Etna dominates the skyline of the Italian island of Sicily, where it is located on its east coast

Located between the cities of Messina and Catania, it is the highest active volcano in Europe outside the Caucasus – a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea – and the highest peak in Italy south of the Alps

In total, the volcano covers 459 square miles, an area larger than Hong Kong, and is by far the largest of Italy’s three active volcanoes, the second largest being Vesuvius, east of Naples

Despite its recent activity making the news and producing spectacular lava displays, Etna is in a state of almost constant activity and, as such, has been named Volcano of the Decade by the International Association of volcanology and chemistry of the Earth’s interior

This means that this is only one of 16 volcanoes deemed worthy of study especially in light of their history of large destructive eruptions and their proximity to populated areas

Far from being totally destructive, Etna’s turbulent history means that the plains surrounding the mountain are rich in volcanic soils that support extensive agriculture, vineyards and orchards

The earliest known record of the eruption of Etna dates back almost 3,500 years, to the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, who lived between 90 and 30 BC.

Thousands of tourists each year visit Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes located on the east coast of Sicily Eruptions occur frequently, although incidents involving injured tourists are rare

In 2017, a BBC reporter and a cameraman on a mission to the volcano were among the injured when a team of scientists on Mount Etna were injured when the magma spewing from the volcano hit the snow, causing an explosion

BBC global science journalist Rebecca Morelle described the experience in a series of tweets, “Going down a mountain struck by boulders, dodging burning rocks and boiling steam – not an experience that I never want to repeat ”, she wrote

The BBC team was physically well despite suffering cuts, bruises and burns; Morelle showed his colleague’s jacket open with a hole in the back where the material had melted

The Italian Department of Civil Protection said neighboring populations are not threatened by the recent eruption, although the centers are not threatened, the central emergency service said it is monitoring the situation closely, in particular the towns of Linguaglossa, Fornazzo and Milo

Catania airport has been forced to close due to ash plumes of several kilometers, which made the airspace around the volcano unfit for flight, reports the Ansa news agency

Stefano Branco, director of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology at INGV, told Italian news agency AGI that the recent eruption was “not at all worrisome”, adding: “We have seen worse “

Although the rash is classified as ongoing, the activity on the mount is already showing signs of slowing down, indicating that the worst may be over

You can watch a live broadcast of the activity at the top of the volcano by clicking here

Mt Etna