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The most famous volcano in Europe is getting closer to the sea as it collapses under its own weight, gravitational instability.
Previously, the researchers had assumed that the collapse was caused by the lava – but they now believe that the danger is even greater.
Dr. Morelia Urlaub, of the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Germany, said that a collapse "could result in a tsunami".
Gravity, not magma, forces Etna to move, which increases the risk of collapse.
She said: "Etna is a very large volcano, over 3,300 meters, and the lava makes it grow all the time.
"So, its own weight causes the flanks to expand in all directions and that's what we mean by gravitational instability."
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"This movement is important to study because it could lead to a catastrophic collapse of the volcano.
"The results of this study suggest that Etna's flanking movement poses a greater risk than expected."
From April 2016 to July 2017, Mr. Urlaub monitored the changes under water thanks to acoustic technology using a network of transponders located at the bottom of the sea.
Dr. Urlaub said, "The principle of this technology is very simple. We can not use GPS or other satellite measurements in the ocean due to the high absorbance of electromagnetic waves in the water.
"So we use sound waves, which work very well in the water. We placed a network of five transponders on the seabed and transmitted acoustic signals.
'Because we know the speed of sound in water, we can convert the flight time of the acoustic signal between transponders into distances.
"When the distances between the transponder change, the seabed has moved."
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