Mount Etna erupts, releasing ash plumes
The Italian volcano Mount Etna has erupted, releasing large plumes of ash. Images and videos from the island of Sicily showed volcanic material spilling out of the volcano on the morning of Monday 2nd June.
Explosions of “increasing intensity” were recorded in the early hours, according to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) Etna Observatory. The full scale of the eruption of Mount Etna is not yet known and disruptions appear to be minimal. Flights are reportedly departing and arriving as they normally do from nearby airports.
Mount Etna is among the most active volcanoes on the planet, meaning that eruptions are far from rare. Its eruptions are not known to cause much damage or injury. Ground movements revealed that the latest eruption took place on the volcano’s south-eastern edge, the INGV reported. That appears to be where a 200m-wide vent is located.
Footage shared on Monday revealed a rapidly moving mixture of ash, gas, and rock, called a pyroclastic flow, emerge from the site and travelling across the side of the volcano. Geologists monitoring it say it is likely part of a crater collapsing and the material is being carried down the slopes. Pyroclastic flow can be dangerous to the surrounding area but there has not been any sign of a threat at the time of writing.
The INGV reported that volcanic material has not made it past the Valley of the Lion, the point on the approach to the summit where tourist trips to Mount Etna stop.
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