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Bolts of volcanic lightning were seen in the sky over eastern Sicily in Italy after a powerful eruption of Mount Etna earlier this week. Photographs shared by the Associated Press showed smoke billowing out and lava erupting from the volcano.
The AP reported that static electricity is generated and discharged within the volcanic plume due to the collision of volcanic ash particles.
Such volcanic storms are rare but can happen in particularly violent eruptions or with volcanoes located near the sea, a volcano expert with Italy’s National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology was cited as saying by phys.org.
Even though ash was spread into the air up to 10 kilometres above sea level, there was no casualty or damage.
Videos of Mount Etna eruption showed night sky getting lit up with explosions and bright red molten lava. Plumes of smoke and ash emerged out of the volcano.
Etna witnessed volcanic lightning in 2021 and 2015, volcanologist Boris Behnke told AP. Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in Europe and its eruptions are frequent.
In January this year, the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai in the Pacific Island nation of Tonga erupted after the region witnessed heavy rainfall, thunder and lightning. Satellite images showed the spectacular eruption with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters. The satellite images</strong> had taken the internet by storm.
Before that, the Semeru volcano on the tallest mountain on Indonesia’s Java island erupted on December 4, 2021, spewing towers of ash and hot clouds. The eruption was accompanied by a thunderstorm and rain, which pushed lava and smouldering debris, and formed thick mud.
