IN PHOTOS: A month of spectacular eruptions at Sicily’s Mount Etna

Streams of lava and plumes of smoke and ash rose high above Mount Etna early on Friday morning as the volcano erupted for the 12th time in little under a month.

Published: 17 February 2021 08:52 CET
Updated: 12 March 2021 10:00 CET

IN PHOTOS: A month of spectacular eruptions at Sicily's Mount Etna

Smoke rises from Mount Etna on Tuesday evening. Photo: Meagan Huddleston

Experts insist that the increased activity recently is not unusual or concerning – after all, Etna is one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

*A view of Mount Etna from Giarre, north of Catania, Sicily. Photo by Giovanni Isolino/AFP*

“We’ve seen worse,” the head of the INGV National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology in the nearby city of Catania, Stefano Branco, told Italian news agency AGI on February 16th.

#Etna is building up for her 12th paroxysm at the Southeast Crater in little less than a month. Scenes of mild Strombolian activity at sunrise on 12 March 2021, seen from home in Tremestieri Etneo. Activity is now gradually increasing. pic.twitter.com/egB66RQ4a0

— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) March 12, 2021

The airport in nearby Catania was closed on February 16th as volcanic activity covered the nearby area in ash.

#Etna erupting this evening in #Sicily video by a family friend pic.twitter.com/2lY16kiOUO

— Isabella Librando (@IsabellaLibrand) February 16, 2021

Branco insisted that the activity was “not at all worrying”.

Lava flows high on the east flank of #Etna after its brief, violent and spectacular (and entirely harmless) paroxysm on the evening of 16 February 2021, seen from the village of Santa Venerina. pic.twitter.com/0NqYrgRC6F

— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) February 16, 2021

Many such eruptions in the past have shut down the airport and covered Catania in ash.

Emergency authorities said that they were monitoring the situation closely in the three villages at the foot of the volcano: Linguaglossa, Fornazzo and Milo.

Mount #Etna is doing its thing again—a big Strombolian eruption from the summit.

In this video (via @tancredipalmeri), look at the large, orange blob at the base of the eruptive column.

That’s a fountain of lava several hundred metres high. pic.twitter.com/YVXpftmYDk

— Prof. Paul Byrne (@ThePlanetaryGuy) February 16, 2021

Images on the 16th showed a spectacular rose-coloured plume of ashes above the snow-capped summit, but the cloud had largely dissipated by nightfall, while lava flows continued to glow.

Mount Etna going off here in Sicily.#etna #volcano #eruption pic.twitter.com/jBnBmctYzw

— SJ Vernon?? (@SJVernon7) February 16, 2021

At 3,324 metres (nearly 11,000 feet), Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and has erupted frequently in the past 500,000 years.

Massive explosion on #Etna this afternoon. Two columns of ashes and smoke are visible from its top: one is very vertical, demonstrating the power of energy released. Fountains of lava are spectacular at dusk. A Lava flow, long and large, goes towards the desertic Valle del Bove pic.twitter.com/nT1zEc3ZVd

— Francesca Marchese #FBPE ?? (@fmarchese_uk) February 16, 2021

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