Mt. Etna, Sicily, July 2001 - picture 5




Explosions like this one are accompanied by a violent sonic boom when the hot gases and fractionated magma reach the surface like in a gunbarrel. This boom sounds very much like a massive thunderbolt - however, it is still audible at many kilometres away from the volcano.
The picture was taken at around 400 m distance with an exposure time of 20 seconds.


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