Mount Etna is an incredible pot in the Sicilian landscape . The impressive and very active volcano is the scenic backcloth to cities including Catania and Taormina and as of this yr , Europe ’s tallest active vent will appear quite a bite taller . The growth in top is due to the vivid volcanic activity that Etna has experienced this year , in finicky from February onward .
Latest measurements from theNational Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology(INGV ) estimate that the south - easterly crater has reached an elevation of 3,357 meter ( 11,013 metrical foot ) above sea degree . An increase of several tenner of meters above the previous top elevation but only slightly taller than its record from the former 1980s .
Between 1980 and 1981 , the northeast crater , traditionally considered the big sidekick of the two , get an intensive erupting phase that culminate with the rims of the volcanic crater reaching an ALT of 3,350 meters ( just timid of 11,000 ft ) . Over the decade since , the lip collapsed . In 2018 , it was figure that it had decreased to an altitude of 3,326 metre ( 10,912 ) . Still , it remained the highest tip of the vent .
Well , not anymore .
The volcanic bodily process this class began on February 16 and has lie in of about 50 igneous episode so far , spewing out ash and lava , which delivered a significant pinnacle hike to the south - easterly crater . The bam is ongoing suggesting that it might get even taller . The continuous activeness made the volcano taller but also made the genuine measurement a lot surd to obtain .
The INGV had to consider two sets of three images from the Pléiades orbiter from July 13 and July 25 . These were taken as part of an international collaborationism with theGeohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratories . To translate the changes to the vent , the team used a digital Reconstruction Period of the terrain from 2015 , which is where things get more complex .
During the observations , the craters were liberate accelerator making the estimates difficult . By combining the two observations , the team was capable to remove the natural gas and estimate that the highest peak of the volcano is located on the northerly flange of the southeasterly volcanic crater .
Mount Etna is the big of the three fighting vent in Italy , almost two and half metre taller than the second , the notoriousMount Vesuviusthat destroyed the popish metropolis of Pompeii , Herculaneum , Oplontis , and Stabiae in August 79 CE . Etna is also among the humanity ’s most active volcanoes .
In Greek mythology , it was believe to be the prison of the freak Typhon and the location of the forges of Hephaestus .
