Rays from the setting sun colour backlit plumes of smoke and drifting clouds of sulphurous gas from summit craters on Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy, in this view from the east in August 2011. Etna is Western Europe’s highest active volcano. Activity began 500,000 years ago, with many highly explosive eruptions since. There have been 60 eruptions since 1600 through side vents and many more from the summit, including those in 2006, 2007-8, 2012 and 2018. Etna was fairly quiet in 2011, but intense activity starting in January 2012 forced the temporary closure of Catania International Airport.
Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy: rays from the setting sun colour backlit plumes of smoke and drifting clouds of sulphurous gas rising from summit craters in this view from the east, near the coastal town of Giarre, shot on a hot late August evening in 2011. At around 3,326 m (10,900 ft), Etna is Western Europe’s highest active volcano and is Italy’s highest peak south of the Alps. Activity began around 500,000 years ago, with many highly explosive eruptions ever since. Some send massive rivers of lava that threaten the many towns and villages built on its fertile slopes. Wind-borne ash from Etna has landed near Rome, 500 miles north, and in Libya, 370 miles south. About 8,000 years ago, a catastrophic collapse in the volcano’s eastern flank caused an enormous landslide and a Mediterranean tsunami. The most destructive eruption since ancient Roman times began in March 1669. Lava destroyed at least 10 villages before the flows reached the city walls of Catania. Although some buildings were destroyed, the walls deflected most of the lava into the sea, filling the harbour. Human deaths directly caused by Etna’s eruptions since records began have been put at only 77, including two tourists killed in 1987 by an explosion near the summit. Etna’s activity has increased over the last few centuries. There have been 60 eruptions since 1600 through vents and many more from the summit, mostly in the last 120 years. Since 2000, there have been four eruptions through flank vents, as well as summit eruptions in 2006, 2007-8, 2012 and 2018. Although 2011 was a fairly quiet year in Etna’s history, several months of intense activity began in January 2012, temporarily closing Catania airport, and the surrounding airspace was closed again in December 2018.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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