Mt. Etna Eruption Plume Mt. Etna has been erupting for hundreds of thousands of years. In late October of 2001, however,
earthquakes triggered a particularly vigorous outburst from this well known volcano on the
Italian island of Sicily. Local schools were closed and air-traffic re-routed as
hot lava poured out and ash spewed out and settled as far away as
Libya. Pictured above was the Mt. Etna ash plume as it appeared to astronauts on the
International Space Station. The view looks toward the southeast. Light colored smoke is due to forest fires caused by lava on the volcano's north face.