Mount Etna eruptions becoming more violent

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/mount-etna-eruptions-becoming-more-violent-and-scientists-are-baffled-as-to-why/





Mount Etna eruptions becoming more violent, and scientists are baffled as to why




Posted on May 26, 2013 by The Extinction Protocol





May 26, 2013 – ITALY – Mount
Etna is spitting lava more violently than it has in years, and
scientists are baffled as to why. Despite being the world’s most-studied
volcano, the Sicilian mountain is also its most unpredictable. The
volcano is raging. Fountains of lava, some taller than the Eiffel Tower,
shoot from its mouth every few weeks, flowing in red-hot streams into
the surrounding valleys. There have been 13 eruptions since the
beginning of February. Mount Etna, 3,329 meters (10,922 feet) high,
towers majestically above the Sicilian city of Catania. In June, the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) will decide whether to list it as a World Heritage Site. Etna
is considered the most heavily studied volcano in the world, and it is
thoroughly wired with sensors. In addition to lava, Etna spits out vast
amounts of data — several gigabytes a day, coming from magnetic field
sensors, GPS altimeters and seismic sensors. Despite this wealth of
data, Etna still poses a conundrum to scientists. “The eruptions in recent weeks have been unusually fierce and explosive,”
reports German volcanologist Boris Behncke, who monitors the mountain
together with a few hundred colleagues at Italy’s National Institute of
Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). “There have been lava fountain events in the past, but rarely in such rapid succession.” Behncke has fallen under Etna’s spell. During the day, he maps the lava flows; at night, he hikes along its slopes.