Mount Etna: Catania airport closed volcano in pictures
- Published
This is Mount Etna, an active volcano in Sicily. It's the most active volcano in Europe, and regularly erupts, spilling ash onto the nearby city of Catania.
Expert volcanologists started to see clues that the volcano was going to erupt. Gas started to rise out of the top of the volcano, showing magma was rising to the surface. And check out that gas ring to the top left!
The rising gas caused these rings to be formed in the air. They are formed when gas bubbles are pushed through the narrow shaft of the volcano, creating a ring shape. It's considered quite a rare phenomenon!
Finally, the volcano erupted. This happens quite often - it's erupted many times in the past 500,000 years.
The city of Catania sits underneath Mount Etna. With the regular eruptions, it's quite often covered in ash, but not often significantly damaged. This time, the airport was closed, which often happens due to ash clouds in the air.
Look at that! You can see the lava exploding out of the top, a bright orange colour against the dark night sky.