The last eruption of the Etna volcanolocated on the Italian island of Sicily (south) and considered the busiest in Europe, has been terminated, INGV reported, allowing Catania airport to reopen this Monday.
Mount Etna erupted last Thursday and intensified over the weekend, when it ejected a cloud of ash over the city below it, Catania, forcing traffic at its airport to be suspended for several hours for safety reasons.
Ingv confirmed that volcanic activity stabilized at “average values” around noon on Sunday and, after several hours of stability, the airport could be reopened on Monday.
“The changes in inclination and deformation have ceased and the signals are stable and no significant variations are observed“, the experts explained, although they confirmed that “a budding lava flow” from the southeast crater is still being detected.
Etna records frequent eruptions which usually cover the Sicilian cities that surround it with ash.
The latter could only be monitored with technology, since the crater of the volcano, about 3,300 meters high, remains covered by clouds, due to the storm that is currently afflicting the island of Sicily, and its direct observation it’s impossible.
“At the moment it is not possible to establish the position of the most advanced lava front due to the variability of the cloudiness”, said Ingv about an eruption whose rumble was heard in the municipalities of Adrano and Biancavilla, on its southern slope. western.
The explosive activity had begun in the Bocca Nuova crater of Etna last Thursday and it was observed this Monday by the local National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), through the Catania observatory, which issued a “red alert”.
The Civil Protection of the Sicily region has issued a “red alert” in the Etna area due to “the very high probability of an imminent or ongoing fall of lava rivers”; however it was not possible to clearly visualize the column of smoke due to bad weather conditions.
In any case, the head of civil protection, Salvo Cocina, invited the municipal leaders of the area to activate “the community operational centers and the structures themselves, in addition to volunteering, following the measures of the national plan”. reported.ANSA.
For its part, INGV reported that from a seismic point of view the amplitude of the volcanic tremor continues to increase, with peaks close to 2 degrees on the Richter scale.
There have also been clinometric variations in the stations of the Punta Lucía and Pizzi Deneri peaks and, since Wednesday night, indications of a possible passage of magma through internal channels.
Etna’s last eruption started on November 27, 2022 and ended on February 14 of this year.
Italy is a country threatened by its very geography: it has highly seismic zones, as well as the most active volcano in Europe, Etna, and numerous towns and cities dot its orography, at the foot of some Alps which see the collapse their glaciers due to the increase in temperatures or along the Apennines.
A recent report by the Union of Mountain Municipalities (UNCEM) warns that there are 2,902 places subject to high or medium-high seismic activity, 36.3% of the total, while the high risk affects 707 municipalities (8.8%).
Source: Clarin
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