Mount Etna Reawakens

Europe's most active volcano has awakened from its brief nap. Mount Etna, which drew tourists from around the world when it began spewing lava in February, began erupting anew on Monday morning, sending ash high into the air above the Italian island of Sicily. Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the first tremors were felt around midnight local time and the eruption began around 3:50am. Activity has been "almost continuous" since then with "increasing intensity," it said, per the Independent.

Footage on social media showed people running down the side of the volcano "as a thick column of smoke intensified above them," per the Independent. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Toulouse, France, said the ash plume had reached an altitude of 6,400 meters or 21,000 feet. Newsweek describes this as a Strombolian eruption, marked by intermittent explosions which can send rock, magma, or gas high into the air. "The discrete blasts in this eruption style are caused by vesiculation of the lava at the vent. A sustained eruptive column is not developed," according to the National Park Service. You can take in the action from a safe distance by tuning in to one of two livestreams. (More Mount Etna stories.)