Multiple smoke rings have been photographed and filmed above Mount Etna in recent days, how can this phenomenon be explained?
Volcanic eruptions from Mount Etna are always spectacular, and the smoke that emerges can lead to a rather strange phenomenon: a smoke ring. It was not just one ring that was photographed by a Sicilian on April 5th, but a dozen rings in the sky.
These smoke rings all have a perfect circular shape and rise in the sky amidst the smoke of the most active volcano in Europe. The phenomenon is rare, but it occurs almost every year. However, seeing so many rings at the same time is exceptional.
A matter of explosion, cylinder, and wind
This is indeed a natural formation: these rings originate from an explosion that occurs in cylindrical craters. As the hot smoke rises, it encounters colder air at higher altitudes, causing the central part of the smoke ring to collapse. The rings then travel with the wind and can drift far from their source if the upper air currents are neither too weak nor too strong (to avoid breaking them).
According to witnesses, the Etna rings, which measure several tens of meters in diameter, can be seen from over 15 kilometers away.
Similar rings can also be produced with a factory chimney or even during a lightning strike on a tree trunk.