Etna volcano rumbles back to life in Sicily

[lurkey]

Etna volcano rumbles back to life in Sicily

May 13 07:56 AM US/Eastern
12 Comments

The Etna volcano in Sicily rumbled back to life on Tuesday with a "seismic event" followed by a burst of ash, volcanologists said three days after minor eruptions shook the cone.
A "seismic event provoking a strong explosion was recorded Tuesday at 0424 GMT (6:42 am local) in parts of the peak of the volcano," the National Geophysics and Vulcanology Institute in Sicily's Catania region said in a statement.

The explosion on Etna, Europe's tallest active volcano at 3,295 metres (10,810 feet), was followed by a rain of ash on the southeast crater, "where significant gas emissions are occurring," the statement said.

The institute dispatched experts on Tuesday to the site, but "the phenomenon currently represents no danger to people or property," it said.

Saturday's eruption, accompanied by streams of lava, was also at the volcano's southeast crater.

The last eruption of Mount Etna was in November 2007, two months after another eruption forced a temporary closure of nearby Catania airport due to flowing lava and clouds of ash.

The last major eruption was in 2001.

[senorpepr]

FVAW31 KGWC 131749
VOLCANIC ASH ERUPTION ALERT

VOLCANO: ETNA 0101-06

LOCATION: 3744N 01500E AREA: ITALY

SUMMIT ELEVATION: 10991 FT (3350 M)

1. DETECTION SOURCE: MET-9.

2. ERUPTION DETAILS: REPORT OF ASH AT 13/1710Z.
TRAJECTORY: ASH TO FL400 MOVG NNE AT 30-40 KTS.

3. REMARKS: ASH VISIBLE ON 13/1630Z MET-9 VIS IMAGE EXTENDING 80 NM NNE
OF SUMMIT.

PUFF DETAILS: PUFF MODEL FORECAST ARE CURRENT AND POSTED TO JAAWIN
AND VERIFY WELL WITH CURRENT SATELLITE IMAGERY.

4. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION SEE LATEST WVIY LIIB SIGMET.

WEBSITE INFO: FOR METSAT ANALYSIS AND PUFF MODEL FORECAST BASED ON
GFS DATA SEE
HTTPS: //WEATHER.AFWA.AF.MIL/ENVIRONMENTAL(UNDERSCORE)EVENTS.HTML
(LOWER-CASE ONLY).

5. THIS BULLETIN WILL BE UPDATED BY 14MAY2008 AT 0000Z.

PREPARED BY HEATH