Europe’s largest active volcano Mount Etna has erupted once more with fresh drone footage showing bright orange lava pouring from its fissure.
Mount Etna’s latest eruption began on Friday from a fissure about 3,000 metres above sea level, according to the Etna Observatory of the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). By Monday, the lava had descended at least 300 metres lower than the site of its rupture.
Dazzling orange lava lit up Sicily’s sky with red flashes as eruptions continued throughout the week. A thick streak of lava could be seen in the dark, according to drone footage and photos.
The observatory reported on Wednesday that Etna was showing weak explosive activity at the summit craters and no ash cloud had been produced so far.
The aviation alert level remains at a code orange, which means that the “volcano is exhibiting heightened unrest with increased likelihood of eruption” or is “underway with no or minor ash emission”, according to International Civil Aviation Organisation’s aviation colour code.
Etna, located near the city of Catania on the isle of Sicily, remains one of the tallest active volcanoes in Europe, and the tallest peak in Italy south of the Alps with a height of 3350 metres above sea level.
Eruptions on Mount Etna take place frequently without causing much disruption or threat to local people. Italy’s Civil Protection Department has kept the volcano’s alert level, signifying its state of activity, at yellow due to its frequent Strombolian eruptions, which are characterised as mild and rhythmic with minor bursts of gas and magma.
Volcanoes like Vesuvius and Vulcano are currently at a green level where eruptive levels are low or near absent. Due to the unpredictable and sudden nature of Etna, even when the alert level is “green”, there is always a risk, the department has warned.
The volcano last erupted in January at an altitude of 2,100 metres, advancing down to 1,420 metres in just a day. Local authorities considered closing the air space around the volcano after its eruption started to produce ash.
It also erupted in June last year with tremors widely felt in surrounding towns and villages. Footage showed dozens of tourists scramble down the volcano as the eruption began and billowing clouds could be seen in the distance as ash and gas entered the sky.
Mount Etna was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013, who said that its “almost continuous eruptive activity” continued to “influence volcanology, geophysics and other Earth science disciplines.”
