Explosive column from the november eruptive phase. 2002 Photo by Ben Kennedy.

Etna has the longest history of documented eruptions of any volcano. The first reported eruption was in 1,500 BC.

Close up view of the effusive vent taken on June 4, 1998. 

Photo by Boris Behncke.

June 4, 1998 eruption of the southwestern vent of Voragine. 

Photo by Boris Behncke.

Eruptive activity at the intracrater cone on August 5, 1997.

Lights of the urban center on the Eastern flank of Etna can be seen to the right.

Photo by Boris Behncke.

Intense Strombolian activity at SE Crater on July 11, 1997. Photo by Boris Behncke.

Mt. Etna, April 29, 1993. Photograph by Steve O'Meara.

Additional Sources of Information:

Check out Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology Online for more great information and images of Etna

Mauro Coltelli and Massimo Pompilio, Istituto Internazionale di Vulcanologia-Catania (Italy), email communication posted on Volcano ListServ

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 1995, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., v. 20, no. 8, p. 2.

McClelland, L., Simkin, T., Summers, M., Nielson, E., Stein, T.C., 1989, Global volcanism 1975-1985: Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and American Geophysical Union, Washington DC, 655 p.

Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the world: Geoscience Press, Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.