Mount Etna has grown in height to a record 3,357 meters above sea level, after six months of activity, according to Italy’s volcano monitoring agency.
50 episodes of ash and lava have been pouring out of the crater’s mouth since mid-February, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said, giving Etna a new summit.
Etna is the most active volcano in Europe, producing enough lava each year to fill a 108-story skyscraper. It has been producing smoke and ash since February, littering streets, slowing traffic and damaging crops.
The 700,000-year-old volcano is the second most active on Earth, after Hawaii’s Mount Kilauea. Located between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, it generates almost constant eruptions of varying degrees. Each year it produces more than tens of millions of tons of lava and more than 7 million tons of carbon dioxide, water, and sulfur dioxide.
Europe’s tallest active volcano erupted on Monday spewing large amounts of lava with explosions and ash plumes. The eruption continued for at least 5 hours from 1 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. local time. The mountain is located above the Sicilian city of Catania and periodically erupts with its record of eruptions dating back centuries.
Its most severe recent eruption occurred in March 2017, when nearly a dozen people were injured. But eruptions have been recorded since 1500 BC. C. , with a devastating eruption in 1169 that caused an earthquake that killed about 15,000 people.
