In February of 2021, Mount Etna erupts. The image is from the Getty.
One of the most extreme examples of Earth's power is the volcano. Every year, we are surprised by the unpredictability of volcanoes, and this year was no different. Here are 10 times that volcano blew our minds.
The church in Catania, Italy is not damaged by Mount Etna. The image is from the Getty.
Mount Etna is the most active volcano in Europe, so it's not surprising that it erupted again in 2021. When it blew its top in February, photographers were able to capture some amazing images of lava oozing from the summit.
In one particularly impressive image, oozing tendrils of magma spread across the night sky behind a church. The church is more than 25 kilometers from the volcano crater, but it looks as if the lava were hundreds of feet away.
There were no serious injuries or damage during the eruption. According to Live Science's sister site Space.com, Mount Etna has erupted at least 50 times this year.
There are lava tendrils on Mount Etna.
Hikers look at the lava flowing from the volcano. The image is courtesy of Jeremie Richard/AFP.
In March of this year, the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted for the first time in more than 900 years, and volcano enthusiasts came to the site, including one who flew a drone directly into the fiery cone.
The pilot followed a lazy river of bright-orange magma before diving into a bubbling lava cauldron at the summit of a small cone.
Live Science reported at the time that there were more than 20,000 earthquakes before the eruption. Local people faced limited risk because it was an effusive eruption, in which lava slowly trickles out of the ground rather than building up and exploding.
Dramatic volcanic eruption in Iceland is revealed in drone footage.
There is volcanic glass at Kilauea.
The eruption of the volcano was visible at dawn on Sept. 30. There are lava fountains spurting out at multiple fissure locations at the base and west wall of the crater. The image is from B. Carr/USGS.
In September, the Halema'uma'u crater on Hawaii's Big Island began to erupt from a small vent near the larger Kilauea caldera. Several pilots flying aircraft near the eruption reported seeing a rare type of volcanic glass.
When gas bubbles within lava burst at the surface, glass forms in Pele's hair. The goddess of fire and volcanoes is named after the phenomenon.
The skin of the bursting bubbles can be stretched into long threads as long as a couple of feet.
Live Science reported that there were more than 140 earthquakes in just 12 hours in August preceding the eruption at Kilauea.
The lava eruption at Kilauea has caused volcanic glass to fly into Hawaii's skies.
La Cumbre Vieja.
The lava fountains were shot into the air in September. The photo was taken by Desiree Martin.
One of the biggest volcano stories of the year was the eruption of the La Palma volcano. The activity grabbed headlines because of a long-standing theory that an eruption on La Palma could cause a "mega-tsunami" that could impact the eastern coastline of the U.S., but experts quickly shut down that idea.
The eruption caused the destruction of around 2,000 buildings and forced the evacuation of more than 7,000 people, but there were no serious injuries or deaths. The La Palma eruption ended in December.
The volcano belched stunning lava flows that were captured from space, and one Spanish politician suggested bombing the volcano to stop the eruption. Scientists say an explotion wouldn't stop the eruption, despite the fact that dynamite has been used to divert lava flows before.
The La Palma volcano has lava hundreds of feet in the air, but don't expect a mega-tsunami.
There are rare bull's-eye clouds.
The cloud rings above La Palma were created by the volcano. The image is from the NASA Earth Observatory.
NASA's Aqua satellite spotted a rare bull's-eye cloud formation over La Cumbre Vieja, which was caused by the La Palma eruption.
The bull's-eye clouds were a combination of the volcano's eruption and a temperature inversion. This condition occurs when a temporary layer of hot air forms in the lower atmosphere, trapping the eruption from the volcano. The cloud rings form because of volcanic activity.
This type of cloud formation is called a gravity wave. The formation is completely different from the ripples in space-time called gravitational waves.
Striking bull's-eye-shaped clouds form above the La Palma volcano.
People are being evacuated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
There was an eruption of Mount Nyiragongo. Mike Korostelev is the photographer.
Thousands of people fled across the border into Rwanda in May after Mount Nyiragongo erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The last time this volcano erupted, in January 2002, lava covered the nearby city of Goma and left up to 250 people dead and more than 100,000 without homes. In 1977 the volcano blew its top, sending lava across Goma and killing 2,000 people.
The lava flow stopped just short of Goma in the most recent eruption. The World Bank cut funding to the Goma Volcano Observatory because of corruption allegations, despite Mount Nyiragongo being one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
Thousands of people fled across the border after the Mount Nyiragongo volcano blew its top.
There are simultaneous eruptions in Alaska.
A satellite image from 2016 of Mount Pavlof. Photo DigitalGlobe is credited with the image.
Three volcanoes in Alaska's Aleutian Islands began to erupt at the same time. The eruptions were not close to people and posed no risk.
It's not uncommon for a triple combo. "Alaska has a lot of volcanoes, and we typically see one eruption every year, on average," Matthew Loewen, a research geologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, told NBC News. It is less common to have three erupt at the same time.
The Aleutian Arc is a chain of volcanoes that sit on the boundary between two plates. The last time three volcanoes erupted in the same place was seven years ago.
Three volcanoes erupt at the same time in Alaska.
"ice volcano" is intriguing.
A visitor is standing in front of a volcano.
There was a rare "ice volcano" in southeastern Kazakhstan in February. The icy cone, which is not a volcano, spits out a light snow spray instead of lava and ash.
The ice volcano erupts with steam that freezes into ice as it leaves the structure. The structure reached a height of 45 feet. Visitors were able to take photos with the rare formation.
The term "ice volcano" is used to refer to ice structures that can appear around the edges of large bodies of water, but this version formed directly above a hot spring.
The 'ice volcano' is 45 feet tall.
A volcano on the ocean.
The underwater volcano is shown in a digital rendition. Poncelet C. and C. Scalabrin have their picture taken.
Scientists discovered a 2,690-foot-tall underwater volcano in the western Indian Ocean. The volcano is 1.5 times the height of New York's One World Trade Center and was created after the largest underwater eruption ever recorded.
The eruption occurred in the year of 2018, after a series of earthquakes struck near what is normally a quiet area. More than 11,000 earthquakes shook the area between May and May. Since 1972, only two earthquakes have been detected in the region.
The volcano is located on the deepest volcanic magma reservoir known to scientists, which is about 55 km underground. Researchers think similar eruptions have happened in the past.
The world's biggest underwater eruption created a skyscraper-size volcano.
"Eye of Sauron"
The 'Eye of Sauron' is a 3D map of the caldera. 3D imagery courtesy of the CSIRO.
The remains of a collapsed underwater volcano were found in the Indian Ocean in July, and it was similar to the "Eye of Sauron" from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."
The eye is a depression that is 3 miles wide and 6.9 miles long. The caldera was left over from the collapse of a volcano. The caldera is surrounded by a rim that is 984 feet tall and a peak that looks like a pupil.
The volcano remnant is thought to be around 100 million years old. They named two seamounts after places from the evil realm of Middle-earth.
The 'Eye of Sauron' volcano and other deep-sea structures have been discovered.
Live Science published the original article.
