Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the second largest active volcano in Europe, currently standing 3,329 metres (10,922 ft) high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m (69 ft) lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km² (460 sq mi) with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European region (though geographically Tenerife is an island of Africa).
In 2002-2003, a much larger eruption threw up a huge column of ash that could easily be seen from space and fell as far away as Libya, 600 km south across the Mediterranean Sea. Seismic activity in this eruption caused the eastern flanks of the volcano to slip by up to two metres, and many houses on the flanks of the volcano experienced structural damage. The eruption also completely destroyed the tourist station Piano Provenzana, on the northeastern flank of the volcano, and part of the tourist station “Etna Sud” around the Rifugio Sapienza on the south flank. Footage from the eruptions was recorded by Lucasfilm and integrated into the landscape of the planet Mustafar in the 2005 film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Rifugio Sapienza is near the site of a cable car station which had previously been destroyed in the 1983 eruption; it has now been rebuilt.
Etna’s Sept. 2007 eruption as seen from the southeast crater ridgeline.
Following a rather silent, slow and non-destructive lava outflow on the upper southeastern flank between September 2004 and March 2005, intense eruptions occurred at the Southeast Crater in July-December 2006. These were followed by four episodes of lava fountaining, again at the Southeast Crater, on 29 March, 11 April, 29 April and 7 May 2007. Ash emissions and Strombolian explosions started from a vent on the eastern side of the Southeast Crater in mid-August 2007.
House destroyed by lava on the slopes of Etna.
On 4 September 2007 Etna violently erupted at around 8:00 p.m. local time, spewing lava up to 400 m into the air along with strong winds that sent ash and smoke into the underlying towns. This Southeast Crater eruption was visible far into the plains of Sicily, ending the following morning between the hours of 5 to 7 am local time. Catania-Fontanarossa Airport shut down operations during the night for safety precautions. A similar paroxysm occurred during the night of 23-24 November 2007, lasting for 6 hours and causing ash and lapilli falls to the north of the volcano. Again, the source of the activity was the Southeast Crater. Following several months of rather minor activity from the Southeast Crater and flurries of seismic activity especially in the eastern sector of the mountain, a new powerful eruptive paroxysm occurred on the late afternoon of 10 May 2008. Due to bad weather, it was not possible to see much of the activity at the vent, but several branches of lava traveled down the eastern flank of the volcano, into the Valle del Bove depression. This latest paroxysm lasted about 4 hours, ending on the evening of 10 May 2008.
A new eruption started on the morning of 13 May 2008 immediately to the east of Etna’s summit craters, accompanied by a swarm of more than 200 earthquakes and significant ground deformation in the summit area. On the afternoon of the same day, a new eruptive fissure opened at about 2800 m above sea-level, with a number of vents displaying Strombolian activity and emission of lava flows toward the Valle del Bove. During the following 24 hours the lava traveled approximately 6 km to the east, but thereafter its advance slowed and stopped, the most distant lava fronts stagnating about 3 km from the nearest village, Milo. Ash emissions became more frequent between 16 and 18 May and produced small but spectacular clouds, whereas the rate of lava emission showed a gradual diminution. During late May and the first week of June, the activity continued at low levels, with lava flows advancing only a few hundred meters from the vents as of 4 June. Four days later, on 8 June, there was a considerable increase in the vigor of Strombolian activity and lava output rate. During the following week, lava flows advanced up to 5 km from the source vents. In June and July, the eruption continued with mild Strombolian activity from two vents at about 2800 m elevation, and lava advancing up to 4 km eastward, remaining confined to the Valle del Bove collapse depression.[11] Activity in mid-July produced loud detonations that were well audible in numerous population centers around the volcano. In late-July, explosive activity waned, but lava emission continued at a fairly low rate, feeding short lava flows that advanced little more than 1 km.
