Red alert on Etna: closure of Catania airport due to ash cloud

Red alert on Etna due to strong ash emission. Due to a volcanic cloud that rose for 4 km, the space corresponding to sectors C1 and B3 of Catania airport was closed. All arriving and departing flight activities were therefore suspended until 10pm. Based on the data from the surveillance cameras, the cloud is moving southwards, i.e. in the direction of the airport. The phenomenon is observed with visible and thermal surveillance cameras. This was communicated by SAC, the management company of Catania airport, which has ordered that national and international arrivals be diverted to other Sicilian infrastructures, including the Falcone-Borsellino in Palermo.

Continuous ash emissions

According to what emerges from the INGV bulletin on the activity of Etna, variable regime degassing activities are underway in the volcano from the summit craters, associated with almost continuous ash emissions from the North-East Crater, a weak Strombolian activity and sporadic ash emissions from the Bocca Nuova crater. It was in the "expected scenarios", those of a "frequent explosive activity at the summit craters" with the formation of ash clouds and fallout of coarse pyroclastic products, accompanied by lava emissions in the summit area: "It is not possible to exclude a rapid evolution of the ongoing phenomena towards a more energetic activity with the formation of eruptive columns, ash clouds and collapse of portions of the summit cones with the formation of pyroclastic flows".