Mount Etna lights up the sky with huge bursts of lava in its largest eruption for months
- Europe's tallest active volcano located in Sicily erupted on Monday
- Mount Etna's latest series of eruptions has lasted several weeks but this was the largest in months
- The resulting ash cloud caused flights at Catania airport to be cancelled
PUBLISHED: 04:33 EST, 18 December 2013 | UPDATED: 04:46 EST, 18 December 2013
These spectacular photos show the breath-taking moment lava burst into the sky as Mount Etna had its largest eruption in months.
The huge explosions are captured lighting up the night sky on Sunday night before lava streams flowed down the side of the 10,810-ft-high volcano on the east coast of Sicily.
The resulting ash cloud forced the closure of Catania's airport in eastern Sicily on Monday.
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Spectacular: Mount Etna in Sicily spews lava during its largest eruption in months on Sunday
Sec, the company that manages Catania airport, said the 'direction and intensity of the wind' caused the ash to pose a danger to flights.
The closure of airspace meant that twenty-one scheduled departures had to be cancelled and 26 arrivals re-routed to other destinations. At least two flights were diverted to Palermo's airport in the western part of the Mediterranean island.
While Etna is Europe's tallest most active volcano, its last major eruption occurred in 1992.
Lighting up the night: Mount Etna shoots lava into the sky in its latest series of eruptions
Residential area: Mount Etna is located near the town of Catania, on the east coast of Sicily, but residents did not need to be evacuated
But its latest series of eruptions has lasted for weeks now, occasionally causing a change in flight routes. The eruption hasn't forced evacuation of the villages on the mountain's slopes.
In the past, the Italian authorities have had to use explosives, concrete dams, and ditches to divert lava flows away from towns and villages surrounding the mountain, including Catania.
Covering an area of 459 square miles with a basal circumference of 140 km, Etna is by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, and is about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius.
Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region.
Hazard: The huge ash cloud from the eruption caused all flights to the nearby Catania airport to be cancelled on Monday
Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and covers an area of 459 square miles
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