Mount Etna live: Crater still smouldering after strongest volcanic blast in years

Mount Etna could have spewed as much as 20,000 tons of toxic gas shortly before its eruption, it has emerged.

High concentrations of sulfur dioxide – which can be harmful to humans if inhaled at significant levels – were likely expelled from the volcano, according to experts.

“The summit typically releases between 2,000 and 3,000 tons of sulfur dioxide gas per day,” Salvatore Giammanco, a geologist at Italy’s National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), said in 2010 according to the Daily Mail.

“Before an eruption it can reach 20,000 tons per day,” he added.

Eruptions at Etna won’t subside following yesterday’s huge eruption caused tourists to flee down the slopes, Volcano expert Giuseppe Salerno has said.

Mr Salerno, head of Volcanology at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, said: “Etna is always erupting, so we cannot expect that these will stop. The last eruption was on 12 May.

“The eruption that happened yesterday is within a sequence that started in the middle of March, but before [that] there was another eruption that lasted from February to March, and then again in December.”

He added that environmental authorities are “not monitoring a big uprise in fresh magma”.

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not released any new travel advice relating to Mount Etna’s eruption as of Monday morning.

The FCDO’s general advice for volcanic eruptions states that you should follow any guidance and instructions shared with you by local authorities.

“If you are asked to evacuate, do so as soon as possible and take your key documents (for example, passport) and necessary supplies (for example, medication) with you,” the FCDO adds.

“If you are not told to evacuate but are in an affected area, you should shelter in place. Close any windows and turn off air conditioning or HVAC systems. Ensure that you have enough basic supplies (including food, necessary medication and bottled water) given power may be affected and water supplies may be contaminated. If you cannot get basic supplies to shelter in place, you may need to evacuate.

“If you go outside, cover your skin and wear a mask or other face covering, as volcanic ash could irritate your skin and airways.”

Eruptions at Etna won’t subside following yesterday’s huge eruption caused tourists to flee down the slopes, Volcano expert Giuseppe Salerno has said.

Mr Salerno, head of Volcanology at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, said: “Etna is always erupting, so we cannot expect that these will stop. The last eruption was on 12 May.

“The eruption that happened yesterday is within a sequence that started in the middle of March, but before [that] there was another eruption that lasted from February to March, and then again in December.”

He added that environmental authorities are “not monitoring a big uprise in fresh magma”.

Monday’s eruption of Mount Etna came after a 19-day lull, but the volcano has been active recently.

In fact, this was the 14th episode since mid-March. The most recent pyroclastic flows with significant reach were recorded on 10 February 2022, 23 October 2021, 13 December, 2020, and 11 February 2014.

While Mount Etna frequently erupts, the defining event of Monday’s eruption was the more rare pyroclastic flow from the southwestern crater, not visible from a distance.

The volcano is Europe’s most active and the continent’s largest. Etna attracts hikers and backpackers to its slopes, while less adventurous tourists can take it in from a distance, most stunningly from the Ionian Sea.

Etna’s latest eruption caused neither injuries nor evacuations but sent a group of tourists running on its flanks, as captured by a video posted on social media with smoke towering in the background.

Authorities emphasised there was no danger to the population, and the pyroclastic flow, a fast-moving mixture of rock fragments, gas and ash, was limited to about 2 kilometres (more than a mile) and didn’t go beyond the Valle del Leone, or Lion Valley, which forms a natural containment area.

The style of eruption which was seen from Mount Etna on Monday was “peculiar and difficult”, Volcano expert Giuseppe Salerno has told The Independent.

Paroxysmal eruptions are short, intense bursts of volcanic activity which result in the thick columns of black gas and ash seen rising from the Sicilian mountain yesterday.

The eruptions are “quite peculiar and difficult, because they last two hours for five hours” before a period of time where there is no activity, he said.

But this form of eruption is common on Mount Etna and there have been hundreds in the last three decades, Mr Salerno, head of Volcanology at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, explained.

“Etna can produce also this kind of eruption every day. So it’s not something anomalous [or] abnormal. It’s something quite typical.

“Since 2011, it became the prevalent eruptive style on Mount Etna.”

On Monday morning local time, a huge cloud of ash, hot gas and rock fragments began spewing from Italy’s Mount Etna.

An enormous plume was seen stretching several kilometres into the sky from the mountain on the island of Sicily, which is the largest active volcano in Europe.

While the blast created an impressive sight, the eruption resulted in no reported injuries or damage and barely even disrupted flights on or off the island.

Volcanology expertTeresa Ubide writes:

When Mount Etna erupted, huge plume of pyroclastic flow ejected explosively form the Sicilian volcano.

But what is pyroclastic flow?

The extremely dangerous mass of volcanic rock, ash and hot gases surges from a volcanoes crater at a speed of hundreds of kilometres per hour.

“Pyroclastic flows (dense mixes of gas ash and volcanic particles) are very dangerous because of the high speed in which they move and the high temperature,” said Dr Carmen Solana, Volcanology professor at the University of Portsmouth.

“Of course inhaling the particles can be harming too, especially if hot.”

National Geographic says the flow is “extremely hot, burning anything in its path”.