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SBS Australia
08-06-2025
- SBS Australia
For lava chasers and the volcano curious, is the thrill worth the risk?
People viewing the lava field after Iceland's Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted after 800 years in 2021. Source: Getty / Sophia Groves When Italy's Mt Etna erupted this week, it put on the kind of spectacular display that can stir fanatics and the volcano-curious into taking a closer look at some of the world's most awe-inspiring attractions. Amid signs volcano tourism is growing more popular, researchers and travel experts warn there are very real risks to visiting those that don't lie dormant. "There was a big explosion and a crater collapsed but luckily it fell into a deserted area," Salvo Cocina, the head of Sicily's Civil Protection Department, told the Reuters news agency. "It's very hard to block access, you can't fence it off," he added. Cocina said dozens of hikers had ventured on to Etna despite a warning of increased signs of volcanic activity being issued early that day. Mt Etna's eruption was "strombolian", Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said, and produced what might be "one of the most famous pyroclastic flows of our time", Boris Behncke, a volcanologist at the agency, wrote on X. That moniker comes from Italy's Mt Stromboli, which boatloads of tourists visit every year. Many climb up to the summit to experience the thrill of witnessing the dance of fire and ash at this active volcano which has "exhibited nearly constant lava fountains for the past 2,000 years", according to the Global Volcanism program. It has left an everlasting impact on volcanology, in that continuous but mild volcanic activity has come to be known as 'strombolian activity', in which volcanoes fling pieces of very hot rock (as high as 800C) and blobs of lava far and wide. "When volcanoes like Etna in Italy and Kilauea in Hawaii erupt spectacularly like they did this year, there are increased enquiries for tours," said John Seach, an Australian vulcanologist and astrophysicist, who have been in the volcano tour business for 40 years and visited over 200 volcanoes. Not only is Mt Etna a popular tourist attraction — with some reports suggesting it attracts upwards of a million visitors each year — it is also "one of the most active volcanoes on earth and a reasonably frequently-erupting one," said Prof Teresa Ubide Garralda, a volcano scientist at the University of Queensland. "The current activity started in March and has been on and off since then," Garralda said. She said that even though countries have effective monitoring systems in place around active volcanoes, it is difficult to precisely forecast the exact time of an eruption. "Earthquakes triggered by the movement of magma inside the volcano, images of inflation or deflation in the ground and the emission of gases can help forecast potential eruptions but it's difficult to accurately say exactly when that happens," she said. Volcanoes attract million of tourists from around the world, according to the British Geological Survey, and there are signs popularity has grown over time. In Iceland, one of the most volcanically active places in the world, foreign tourist numbers grew from around 488,600 in 2010 to about 2.25 million in 2024. Numbers have hovered around the 2 million mark since 2017, though they dipped between 2020 and 2022 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many countries closed their borders before gradually reopening. Interest has also picked up among Australians since international borders repoened, according to Brett Mitchell, the ANZ managing direction of Intrepid Tours, which sells tours that include volcano experiences. He said there's been a 54 per cent increase in bookings since 2023. When Indonesia's Marapi volcano suddenly erupted in late 2023, there were 75 people hikers on the mountain at the time. Some 24 of them, including young university students, died, according to an ABC report. In 2019, New Zealand's Whakaari, also known as White Island, erupted during a tour group visit. Forty-seven people were on the island at the time and 22 of them, including 17 Australians, died. The others were seriously injured. Judge Evangelos Thomas presided over the subsequent trial brought by New Zealand's workplace health and safety regulator. When it ended in March last year, he said several tour operators and the island's owners, Whakaari Management Limited, had "used an active volcano to make money". He also said one tour operator had not adequately briefed tourists on safety information. Some NZ$10.21 million ($9.56 million) in reparations were ordered to be paid to families of victims and survivors. Whakaari Management Limited, who was ordered to pay $4.57 million of the total figure, appealed that decision. New Zealand's High Court quashed the conviction and its share of the payments in February, with a judge reasoning it did not manage or control the walking tour workplace. Prof Raymond Cas, an emeritus professor at Monash University and one of Australia's leading volcanologist, was engaged as an expert by families of victims and survivors during the trial. "With Whakaari, tourists weren't warned they could die in the event of an eruption," Cas said. "It was clear the information given to those tourists was inadequate. The island is very remote and the tour involves walking inside an amphitheatre-like crater with no exit. The tourist brochure painted the experience as a volcanic wonderland, making it sound very much like the geothermal areas in Rotorua," added Cas, who has visited Whakaari many times as a student and researcher. Cas said the tourists were also not told that a few nights before the tragedy, there was a significant explosive event in which deposits inundated the crater area. He said: "The tour guides weren't qualified vulcanologists — if you're leading a tour group in an active volcano, you must be adequately trained. As far as I'm aware, there's no requirement for volcano tour guides to be qualified vulcanologists." He believes that's "totally unethical". "People don't fully understand the danger. They're making assumptions that because tours are being offered, they must be safe. And that the government and tour operators have done the due diligence regarding legal requirements and other compliance," he said. Seach, who sits at a unique intersection of being a vulcanologist, avid lava chaser and experienced tour guide, says seeing an eruption is "one of the greatest sights in nature, but the challenge must be accepted with common sense and knowledge of the risks". He said participants on his tours travel at their own risk. "All reasonable care is taken on tours, but volcanic activity is unpredictable, and no guarantee can be made about safety on an active volcano. A decision to climb an erupting volcano should be based on a risk-benefit analysis," reads a part of the safety note he provides his tour group members. Travel and tourism New Zealand Share this with family and friends
The Independent
03-06-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Volcanologist reveals exactly what happened at Mount Etna
On Monday morning local time, a huge cloud of ash, hot gas and rock fragments began spewing from Italy's Mount Etna. An enormous plume was seen stretching several kilometres into the sky from the mountain on the island of Sicily, which is the largest active volcano in Europe. While the blast created an impressive sight, the eruption resulted in no reported injuries or damage and barely even disrupted flights on or off the island. Mount Etna eruptions are commonly described as 'Strombolian eruptions' – though as we will see, that may not apply to this event. What happened at Etna? The eruption began with an increase in pressure in the hot gases inside the volcano. This led to the partial collapse of part of one of the craters atop Etna. The collapse allowed what is called a pyroclastic flow: a fast-moving cloud of ash, hot gas and fragments of rock bursting out from inside the volcano. Next, lava began to flow in three different directions down the mountainside. These flows are now cooling down. On Monday evening, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology announced the volcanic activity had ended. Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, so this eruption is reasonably normal. What is a Strombolian eruption? Volcanologists classify eruptions by how explosive they are. More explosive eruptions tend to be more dangerous because they move faster and cover a larger area. At the mildest end are Hawaiian eruptions. You have probably seen pictures of these: lava flowing sedately down the slope of the volcano. The lava damages whatever it runs into, but it's a relatively local effect. As eruptions grow more explosive, they send ash and rock fragments flying further afield. At the more explosive end of the scale are Plinian eruptions. These include the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD, described by the Roman writer Pliny the Younger, which buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under metres of ash. In a Plinian eruption, hot gas, ash, and rock can explode high enough to reach the stratosphere, and when the eruption column collapses, the debris falls to Earth and can wreak terrifying destruction over a huge area. What about Strombolian eruptions? These relatively mild eruptions are named after Stromboli, another Italian volcano, which belches out a minor eruption every 10 to 20 minutes. In a Strombolian eruption, chunks of rock and cinders may travel tens or hundreds of metres through the air, but rarely further. The pyroclastic flow from yesterday's eruption at Etna was rather more explosive than this, so it wasn't strictly Strombolian. Can we forecast volcano eruptions? Volcanic eruptions are a bit like weather. They are very hard to predict in detail, but we are a lot better than we used to be at forecasting them. To understand what a volcano will do in the future, we first need to know what is happening inside it right now. We can't look inside directly, but we do have indirect measurements. For example, before an eruption, magma travels from deep inside the Earth up to the surface. On the way, it pushes rocks apart and can generate earthquakes. If we record the vibrations of these quakes, we can track the magma's journey from the depths. Rising magma can also make the ground near a volcano bulge upwards very slightly, by a few millimetres or centimetres. We can monitor this bulging, for example, with satellites, to gather clues about an upcoming eruption. Some volcanoes release gas even when they are not strictly erupting. We can measure the chemicals in this gas, and if they change, it can tell us that new magma is on its way to the surface. When we have this information about what's happening inside the volcano, we also need to understand its 'personality' to know what the information means for future eruptions. Are volcanic eruptions more common than in the past? As a volcanologist, I often hear from people that it seems there are more volcanic eruptions now than in the past. This is not the case. What is happening, I tell them, is that we have better monitoring systems now, and a very active global media system. So we know about more eruptions – and even see photos of them. Monitoring is extremely important. We are fortunate that many volcanoes in places such as Italy, the United States, Indonesia and New Zealand have excellent monitoring in place. This monitoring allows local authorities to issue warnings when an eruption is imminent. For a visitor or tourist out to see the spectacular natural wonder of a volcano, listening to these warnings is all-important.
New York Times
02-06-2025
- Climate
- New York Times
An Eruption at Mount Etna Sends Hikers Scrambling for Cover
Tourists on the Italian island of Sicily were forced to flee on Monday from the slopes of Mount Etna, one of Europe's largest and most active volcanoes, after an eruption sent clouds of gas, rock and ash billowing into the sky. There were no reports of injuries or deaths, though videos circulating on social media showed hikers scrambling to descend the mountain as plumes rose overhead. More than 20 percent of the flights arriving at the nearby Catania Airport were delayed, according to FlightAware, a company that tracks flight information. Authorities said that there was no risk to the local population. The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said in a statement that the explosions were confined to the summit area, which was closed to tourists, and were of 'strong intensity.' The institute has since announced on its Facebook account that the day's volcanic activity has ended. As a popular tourist destination, Sicily welcomes many millions of travelers annually, with more than a million visiting Mount Etna alone. In recent years, authorities have struggled to control imprudent visitors who failed to appreciate the risks of getting a close look at the island's most prominent landmark. Mount Etna, a stratovolcano, or a conical volcano with relatively steep sides, shows almost continuous activity from its main craters and relatively frequent lava flows from craters and fissures along its sides. A previous major eruption had occurred in February. Hannah and Charlie Camper, a couple from England, were vacationing at Villa Carlino House, which sits about 10 miles east of the volcano's central crater, when volcanic plumes began billowing near the summit. The couple was aware of previous eruptions but thought they would be 'completely fine,' since 'it's active all the time,' Ms. Camper said in a WhatsApp message. Ms. Camper said they weren't sure what to do if the activity worsened. They did not receive any emergency messages on their phones. After filming the video, they ran inside and began searching the internet for safety warnings. 'We were waiting to hear something, but nothing came through even though the smoke was getting bigger and coming toward us,' she said. 'At one point we could see the lava coming down the volcano.' Sicily, the setting for the second season of the hit series 'The White Lotus,' has grown increasingly popular among tourists in recent years, despite being plagued by heat, wildfires and water shortages. Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2025.
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Footage shows Italy's Mount Etna erupting
Social media footage and CCTV in time-lapse released by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology shows Sicily's Mount Etna erupting, sending columns of volcanic steam and ash into the sky. According to the institute, the cloud was probably caused by a collapse of material from the northern flank of the south-east crater. Sicily's civil protection department urged hikers to avoid the volcano's summit until further notice. The eruption has not affected operations at nearby Catania airport. The city mayor told local media that the situation was under control and it was a recurring phenomenon
The Independent
02-06-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
What to know about travelling to Sicily after the eruption of Mount Etna
Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, erupted in Sicily, Italy, sending smoke plumes into the air and causing tourists to flee. The eruption included a pyroclastic flow of hot rock, ash, and gas, along with a lava fountain from the volcano's southeast crater. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Toulouse issued a red aviation warning, but flights are currently experiencing minimal disruptions. Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported that volcanic tremors preceded the eruption, which began around 3.50 am local time (2.50am BST) and has continued with increasing intensity. The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has not issued new travel advice but advises tourists to follow local authority guidance and to be prepared for potential flight cancellations due to volcanic ash.
