Breaking:

Micky Beisenherz: Failed on the tennis court

Civil war in Sudan: Is there a threat of a new Darfur? "The danger is definitely there"

2nd league: Hamburg city duel: between reputation and promotion

Speed offender: 50 years "Points in Flensburg" – funny speed camera photos and the points record holder

Etna with a difference: the volcano blows pretty curls into the sky

0

Sicily
Etna with a difference: the volcano blows pretty curls into the sky

Vortex rings emerge from Sicily’s Etna volcano. photo

© Giuseppe Di Stefano/AP/dpa

Mount Etna in Sicily usually attracts attention with its powerful eruptions. But now Europe’s most active volcano is suddenly looking very nice.

The Etna, Europe’s most active volcano with a sometimes extremely threatening appearance, is currently making quite a difference: the more than 3,300 meter high mountain on the Italian Mediterranean island of Sicily is currently blowing out white curls of smoke, which then rise far up into the sky – unusually peaceful scenes . The so-called volcanic vortex rings come from a newly formed crater on the southeast crater. They are caused by small explosions of gas bubbles in a narrow throat above a magma chamber.

Sicily
New mine crater on Etna shows a playful side

4 pictures
51 minutes ago

It is by no means the first time that such figures have been seen above Etna: such rings were first mentioned 300 years ago, in 1724. However, the phenomenon occurs rather rarely – and when it does, then not with such frequency. Thousands of rings have been spotted since the new mouth opened. Etna (in Italian: Etna) was given the name “Lady of the Rings” by locals based on the novel “Lord of the Rings” – in Italian, a mountain (la montagna) is female.

Vortex rings are not a new phenomenon

The term volcanic vortex rings was coined by the English physicist William Thomson (1824–1907). Such rings have also been spotted on another well-known Italian volcano, Stromboli on the island of the same name in the Mediterranean. According to experts, they are completely harmless and show no signs of an impending eruption. Mount Etna is Europe’s largest active volcano. The mountain is about 3350 meters high. However, the exact height changes again and again due to eruptions and cinder cones.

German volcanologist Boris Behncke, active on social networks as Etnaboris, wrote: “No volcano on earth produces as many steam rings as Etna. Now it seems to be breaking all records.” The small chasm opened on Tuesday. Since then, the mountain has produced thousands of rings, said the expert from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania. On

The smoke signals over Etna also attracted many locals and tourists near the mountain. Despite temperatures around 25 degrees, it is still early season in Sicily. In the past centuries there have been repeated spectacular eruptions on Etna. According to historical records, more than 20,000 people died there in 1669, in what is believed to be the worst catastrophe. Around a dozen towns were destroyed at that time.