Volcanologists have witnessed dramatic rings of steam and gas being blown out of volcanic vents on the side of mighty Mount Etna in Sicily.
Etna is the tallest and most active volcano in Europe, situated where the European and African geological plates are colliding. Dr Jug Alean and Dr Marco Fulle have been investigating Etna’s growing level of activity and in February they saw the ejection of several spectacular hoops from the Bocca Nuova region of the mountain.
“This wonderful specimen gently drifted overhead and past the Sun which was tinted orange by aerosols in the smoke,” Dr Alean told BBC News Online.
It is difficult to gauge the size of what the scientists are calling “steam rings”. They drift across the blue sky with no points of reference. However, the volcanologists estimate the hoops to be about 200m across and up to 1000m above the ground.
Looks like a photoshop job to me.
Cool !
Obviously and NSA plot.
Even if it is photoshopped it is still frik’n cool.
Read about volcanoes — you’ll learn this ain’t so unusual.
that will end soon….the E.U. has strict rules about smoking in public.
I have seen this happen with very big industrial chimney stacks when the furnaces flash on. And from steam geysers errupting on very cold windless mornings. I saw a failing jet engine on a Boeing making them, when I was flying high over Iran in 1979. All that is needed is a stationary layer of cold air above a cone or a pipe, from which suddenly pushes a shot of warm, moist air. Too much hot air and the ring disperses, too little and the denser cold air layer will bounce it back into the cone. Once you have a free turbulent ring, it becomes incredibly stable and can endure for many minutes.