Sicily’s famous Mount Etna erupted on Sunday, spewing lava and clouds of ash thousands of feet into the sky.
Slow-motion footage of the dramatic eruption was captured by photographer Emilio Filadelfo Messina, showcasing the volcano’s fountains of molten lava illuminating the night sky.
Mount Etna is one of the largest active volcanoes in Europe, with a summit elevation of more than 11,000 feet. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife, Spain, surpasses it in the entire European-North-African region west of the Black Sea. Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, according to the European Space Agency, and is in an almost-constant state of activity.
Emilio Filadelfo Messina via Storyful
The volcano sits on the east coast of Sicily in Italy between the cities of Messina and Catania, the second-largest city on the island. It has been erupting on and off for years, with the earliest reports dating back to 1,500 B.C., according to the Smithsonian Institute.
Etna’s eruptions rarely result in fatalities, although one large incident in 1843 resulted in 56 deaths, according to Volcano Live. However, the volcano has been known to cause destructive earthquakes, with one in 2018 injuring at least 28 people and damaging homes and infrastructure in the surrounding area.
Since early October, Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology has observed signs of eruptive activity coming from Mount Etna. This comes after an eruption in August that forced Catania airport to close because of a dense cloud of volcanic ash over the area.
Volcanic ash poses a serious risk to aircraft, but not just due to poor visibility. Ash particles can damage windscreens and compressor fan blades and can lead to failure of critical navigation and operational instruments. The particles may also get sucked into the plane’s engine, melting and resolidifying into clumps that can degrade its performance.
Sunday’s eruption also resulted in a red-code alert for aviation from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy and has sent ash clouds over the nearby towns of Milo and Zafferana Etnea.
Etna is not the only volcanic concern on the continent: Iceland recently declared a state of emergency in anticipation of volcanic activity in and around the Reykjanes Peninsula, a region in the southwest. The entire town of Grindavik was evacuated on Saturday, and the Icelandic Met Office has reported around 900 earthquakes in the region since midnight on Monday.
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