Mount Etna , by far the largest of Italy ’s three active volcanoes , has erupted spectacularly overnight , sending a fountain of lava rocketing 1 kilometre ( 0.6 miles ) into the sky , accompanied by both a tremendous , 3 - kilometer - high ( 1.9 miles ) ash tree plume and iridescent , volcanic lightning .
Although this blast was comparatively poor lived , it commemorate the first sentence that the fiery mount , sometimes called the Roof of the Mediterranean , has erupt in this style for almost two years .
Lava bubbles and broils at the Voragine volcanic crater . Marco Restivo / Demotix / Corbis
The Voragine crater of the Sicilian stratovolcano , a vast building 3,329 meters ( 10,922 feet ) gamey and cover an field of 1,190 straight kilometers ( 459 square miles ) , bust into animation last night . By this morning , the mountain had calmed down , with only a small , white-hot plume of ash tree effusing from the volcanic crater . Although lava had been oozing sporadically from this volcanic crater all class , most of the volcanic activity was centered on the New Southeast Crater .
Inarguably , the most spectacular feature article of last night ’s eruption was thevolcanic lightningthat seemed to emanate from the dark plumage of ash . Although not particularly rare , it is a extremely irregular phenomenon that is hard to get on camera . There is some argumentation as to what cause it , but most volcanologists think that it ’s something to do with the positivist charge much of the bracing ejecta has when it ’s set in motion skywards .
unbelievable timelapse of Mount#Etna ’s eruption last night , first in 2 years.https://t.co/RGzlQVjHSzpic.twitter.com/l456OF1Njh
— Alejandro Alvarez ( @aletweetsnews)December 4 , 2015
As the sky begins to make up a region of positively charged rubble , a zone of negative charge chassis behind it . A lightning smasher from the sky downwards is nature ’s way of sorting out this charge imbalance . This , however , is only one character of volcanic lightning : some emerges from the volcanic vent itself as lava spews out of it . The 2d type is far more mystifying , and scientist still can not be sure how it forms , although it is potential due to particles impacting each other , causing some to become highly lodge .
nightlong eruption of Mount#Etna , from MSG Infrared@eumetsat_userspic.twitter.com/6ceHDpIPid
— Dan Lindsey ( @DanLindsey77)December 3 , 2015
The sphere around the volcanic crater has been somewhat ungratified for the last few weeks , with little , volatile slug of petrol breaching the volcanic vent . These little slugs of flatulence , formed when G of small flatulency bubbles coalesce within the magma making its way to the surface , fling blob and bombs of lava into the sky , which then plash down across the landscape painting . This type of gently volatile activity is called “ Strombolian , ” key after anotherSicilian volcanothat incidentally prompt Tolkien ’s Mount Doom in the " Lord of the Rings " Christian Bible .
This activeness , while rather beautiful to front at , is n’t dangerous – although as aprecautionary measure , the nearest airport was shut down . Mount Etna has been erupting on and off for around2.5 million years , its source magma being forced up from the depths by the complex collision of the Eurasian and African tectonic plates . Even during its calmer times , its vast magma supplying is never too far from the surface ; any piece of wood or paper that is left resting on the preternatural airfoil will rapidly ignite and burst into fire .
