A major eruption took place from fissure vents on the N and S flanks of Italy's Etna volcano beginning on 26 October 2002. Lava flows cut across roads, and several hotels, restaurants, a ski school, ski lift pylons, and power lines were destroyed. This photo, taken on the 28th, looks towards the summit from the lower NE rift zone and shows lava fountaining and an ash plume from the two upper vents as well as small white plumes from the upper part of the eruptive fissure (far middle right).

Photo by Jean-Claude Tanguy, 2002 (University of Paris).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license terms.

Keywords: eruption | ash plume | gas plume | Strombolian | vent | scoria cone

Etna