Mount Etna Erupts, Sends Massive Volcanic Ash Cloud Over Eastern Sicily

Mount Etna erupted Monday after a few months of relative calm, catapulting smoke and ash miles into the atmosphere over eastern Sicily. 

Social media platforms are flooded with dramatic pictures and videos of the eruption and a huge ash cloud lingering above Catania, a port city on Sicily’s east coast. AP News reports the ash cloud rose 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) above the crater on the volcano’s southeast side. 

A new Etna eruption on Monday with an impressive ash plume at the top of the volcano forced Palerme and Catane airports to shut down traffic.
View from the slopes of Etna Park. #Sicily. #Italy #volcano #eruption #volcanoes #Climat #Etna #volcanoEtna pic.twitter.com/h71hLS25Jx

— OSIRIS_LEGEND (@osiris_legend) February 21, 2022

#Etna live pic.twitter.com/NnzHpJT7yU

— Roberto Dupplicato (@duppli) February 21, 2022

#BREAKING #ITALY

🔴 ITALY: NEW ERUPTION OF ETNA VOLCANO IN SICILY!

Mount #ETNA belched smoke & ashes in a new eruption on Monday, forcing the temporary closure of the Airport of Catania in #Sicily.#BreakingNews #Video #Eruption #Erupcion #Volcan #Volcano #Eruzione
📹Chris75_r pic.twitter.com/3iOOCxExI0

— loveworld (@LoveWorld_Peopl) February 21, 2022

The eruption was seen from space.  

By Monday afternoon, Vincenzo Bellini, Sicily’s second-largest international airport, halted all traffic and closed off the airspace in the region due to visibility issues. 

“Due to the activity of Etna, the airspace of Catania airport is currently closed to traffic,” Vincenzo Bellini airport in Catania wrote on its Facebook page. “No flight will be able to land or take off.”

Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and has frequently erupted. It’s so active that in 2021 alone, the volcano grew by (30 meters) or about 100 feet.