*ETNA ERUPTION 2021* and Living with ETNA: Interview with Dr. Boris Behncke

Today I have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Boris Behncke from the Volcano Observatory at Etna in Sicily. Boris kindly agreed to answer some of the big questions associated with the ongoing eruption at Etna and about living with natural hazards like volcanoes in one's backyard.

Boris Behncke graduated from the University of Kiel in 1996 (MSc) and received his doctorate from the University of Catania in 2000. He began work with INGV (the *Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia*), the organisation in charge of the Etna Volcano Observatory, in 2005 and since 2010 he is a Senior Researcher at the INGV and a key player at the Catania branch that is in charge of monitoring the activity at Etna. In February this year, Etna started a new cycle of eruption activity, which is still ongoing, and I like to speak with Boris about these events and about some general aspects concerning one of Europe's great volcanoes.

Thank You Boris for being available for some questions!

Questions:
Can you give us a quick summary of the recent eruptive activity at Etna?
What is the biggest hazard at the moment for the local population?
What are the biggest threats in the long term, i.e. is there any black swan type events that are conceivable?
There is a series of ancient myths surrounding Etna that i part describe its activity. Can you say a few words about these?
Some people claim Sicily is a very dangerous place to live because of the volcanoes. Is this the case, and what is the upside of living next to a volcano like Etna?

SEE ALSO: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...
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MORE INFO on ETNA VOLCANO Observatory: http://www2.ct.ingv.it/en/component/c...