04/08/2024

Mount Etna Puffs Giant ‘Smoke Rings’ into the Sky

Etna is Europe’s largest volcano

Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, puffed out a string of near-perfect rings over the weekend, prompting comparisons to smoke rings, or a fleet of giant flying saucers floating gently into the blue sky.

Etna formed the "volcanic vortex rings," as they are known to scientists, through the rapid release of gas and vapors from a newly formed crater.

"The rings look pretty much like the 'smoke rings' produced by an able smoker," Boris Behncke, a volcanologist at the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology's Etna observatory, said in an email Monday.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.