Mount Etna during its 50th eruption in 2021, as seen by the Sentinel 2 satellite on Aug. 30, 2018. Copernicus, image credit
Over the weekend, Italy's Mount Etna volcano erupted 50 times this year. The European Sentinel 2 satellite captured the incredible view from space.
Mount Etna towers above the Mediterranean island Sicily and has had a busy year. Its latest eruption occurred on Sunday, August 29. According to the European Commission's Office of the Director General for Defence Industry and Space (which shared the image on Twitter), this view was captured by Sentinel 2 satellite.
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Since Feb.16, the volcanic lava Etna has been spewing for 100 feet (30 m) more. The southeastern peak is one of Etna's four summits craters. It now stands at just over 11,000 feet (3.357 meters) high. This surpasses the northeastern crater at 10,900 feet (3.324m) which had dominated this volcano for forty-two decades.
Boris Behncke (National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology) says scientists knew that Etna was doing something when it began releasing ash and gas clouds in late 2020.
Behncke stated on Twitter that Etna was preparing for something large (we feared an outbreak from the flank). This involved intense seismic activity and ground deformation. "On 16 Feb, the real series [eruptions] began, seismicity stopped and ground deformation reversed into deflation.
... Etna was preparing for something large (we feared an explosion from the flank), with intense seismicity, ground deformation and degassing. The real series of paroxysms began on 16 February, when seismicity stopped and ground deformation turned to deflation (2/2)August 31, 2020 See more
Since then, satellites have been monitoring Etna. The data used by Airbus, Europe's aerospace company, to reveal the volcano's extraordinary growth was the Pleiades constellation. The European Union's Copernicus Earth observation program has sent Sentinel satellites to monitor the levels of dangerous sulfur dioxide that escapes from Etna.
ADAM, an environmental data analysis platform, posted a Twitter image based on Copernicus Sentinel 5P data on Monday (Aug 30,) showing the sulfur dioxide plume resulting from the latest eruption spreading across Greece and Turkey.
The SO2 plume from the 50th paroxysmof #Etna, which occurred on August 29th, was captured today by #Copernicus @Sentinel5p over #Greece & #Turkey. There are still light emissions visible. @CultureVolcan #volcano #Sicily #Italy pic.twitter.com/lUqfZz05ooAugust 30, 2021 See more
Volcanic plumes can reach extremely high altitudes, and could potentially affect air traffic. At an altitude of 23,000ft (7,000m), a similar plume was detected by Etna in April. Sulfur dioxide, which can cause irritation to the human respiratory system at ground level, can trigger asthma attacks in those who are susceptible.
According to NASA's Earth Observatory, Mount Etna was thought to have been formed as a submarine volcano. It erupted time and again, slowly rising above sea level, solidifying lava, and eventually reaching its current height. It is now covered in lava flows that were formed 300,000 years ago.
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