What a mess! Sure, she's beautiful when she erupts - but the mess she leaves behind is debilitating! There's so much ash all over it's unreal! You can follow Etna through the last couple of years at this link:
right now I can see the vulcano Etna from my hotel window spreading red lava and It is quite exciting because we were there this right morning...lovely to watch from our window. It is 22.25pm april 23th 2012.
The ongoing eruption at Etna, seen from Radiostudio 7 webcam (http://www.radiostudio7.it) located at Belvedere
A little bit later, the lava flow already has reached the slope into Valle del Bove and lava fountains are seen from the summit vent as well.
A new eruptive episode is in progress at the New SE crater of Etna today. Starting this morning, tremor has been rising steeply and at the time of writing, the first strombolian explosions, or even small lava fountains, and perhaps already a small lava flow can be seen emerging from the SE-trending fissure cutting through the cone. All signs point towards that this is going to be the long-awaited 18th paroxysm of the New SE crater in 2011, following the previous one on 23 Oct after 23 days, the longest-so-far interval since July. [read all]
Another paroxysmal eruption (the 17th in 2011) is in progress at Etna's New SE crater at the time of writing. The volcanic tremor recorded by INGV has risen sharply to 50 times above background levels, and strong strombolian activity and/or lava fountains, as well as a lava flow into the Valle del Bove are visible from various webcams. ...more
This eruption comes more than 15 days after the previous one on 8 Oct, which marks the longest so far interval between paroxysms, and might be a sign of exhaustion of the magma reservoir and the dynamics feeding this exceptional serious of eruptions. [less]
The lava fountains from the lower part of the SE fissure at the beginning of the 16th paroxysm of Etna's New SE crater, ca. 15h30, 8 Oct 2011
Following 10 days of quiet, a new paroxysmal eruption (nr 16 in 2011) took place from the New SE crater of Etna volcano during the afternoon of 8 October 2011. ...more
Tom Pfeiffer and his group of VolcanoDiscovery's Stromboli to Etna tour were lucky to be able to witness the eruption from close range. The activity started a slow gradual increase of volcanic tremor visible since around 9am, and with increasing and noisy strombolian explosions from one and later several vents inside the crater fissure of the New SE cone at around 1h00 pm; a lava flow emerged from the narrow SE directed channel aroud 3 pm, accompanied by a row of low liquid lava fountains just outside the gap of the crater, aligned on the SE trending fissure dividing it. Heavy fog, hail, very cold temperatures and strong winds prohibited detailed observations of the main phase of the eruption between ca. 3 and 4 pm, when taller lava fountains could be heard. A dense column of ash was sometimes seen rising above the clouds and drifting east. The eruption was over by around 5pm, by which time, the summit area again cleared. By then, the lava flow had descended the steep wall of the Valle del Bove and reached its base. [less]
lava flows from the 15th paroxysm of the New SE crater of Etna volcano (webcam image from http://www.radiostudio7.it/webcam.asp)
The 15th paroxysm of Etna's New SE crater occurred in the evening of 28 Sep, a few days earlier than what statistically had been expected (based on thze steady increasing intervals between the past similar events). ...more
Bad visibility due to clouds and rain prevented detailed observations, but the activity started slowly during the afternoon, with exponentially rising levels of volcanic tremor, ash emissions and increasing strombolian activity originating from probably several vents inside the new crater. The eruption culminated in a brief (1 hour approx) phase of lava fountaining around 9-10 pm, and produced large lava flows towards the E and ESE into the Valle del Bove. The eruption was over at around 11pm, after a peak between around 9-10pm. This marks #15 in the series of powerful eruptions of the New SE crater in 2011, and followed the previous one on 19 SSep after an interval of 9 days. [less]
Tremor measured by INGV Catania during the 14th paroxysm
The 14th paroxysm of Etna's New SE crater is in progress at the time of writing. Bad weather conditions hide the eruption, but the seismic signals of INGV Catania show that a major eruptive episode is occurring. Since 9am, volcanic tremor has been gradually increasing to (at the moment) 30+ times background levels, and is still rising. Most likely, lava fountains are being ejected from vents inside the crater and lava flows descending into Valle del Bove if the new episode is similar to the previous ones. ...more
Paroxysm nr 14 thus follows almost exactly 11 days after the previous, confirming the steady increase of invervals between eruptions from 6,7,8,9,10, and now 11 days. Will the next eruption then occur on 19 Sep + 12 days = 1 October? We will see (... by coincidence our next tour in Sicily starts on Etna on 1 October!). [less]
The 13th paroxysm from Etna's New SE crater occurred this morning between ca. 8 and 10am, following a steep increase in tremor and a short period of rapidply increasing strombolian activity from several vents inside the new crater. The eruption intensified into lava fountains generating a tall ash plume drifting SSE and showering a narrow sector south of Etna with ash. ...more
During the eruption, the eastern half of the south wall of the crater collapsed, leaving an impressive array of blocks and a steep spine standing in the collapse area. Lava flows generated in the eruption partly went through the breach and passed only a few 100 m north of Belvedere and descended into the Valle del Bove. [less]
Another powerful eruption with an intense peak activity of tall lava fountains - a so-called paroxysm - occurred at Etna volcano's New SE crater earlier today. This marks the 12th event of the series in 2011 so far. The main phase of the eruption lasted between around 5 and 7 am local time. ...more
A video on YouTube shows the eruption at dawn quite well: The eruption is from a fissure inside the New SE cone and produces a curtain of fire with at least 3 major lava fountains, the tallest one reaching more than 500 m is coming from the upper (left in image) vent. [less]
The 11st paroxysm of Etna's New SE crater is taking place. Strombolian activity and increased degassing started late during the night and early morning. The activity increased into lava fountains producing a tall ash column probably between 8 and 9 am. A lava flow is emitted that descends into the Valle del Bove.
Beginning lava fountains at Etna (RadioStudio7 webcam)
View of Etna from distance (RadioStudio7 webcam)
The 10th paroxysm of the New SE crater at Etna volcano is in progress. Strombolian activity as well as tremor amplitude increased sharply at around 9am local time and are now (ca. 10 am local time) becoming lava fountains.
Strombolian activity has restarted at the "New SE crater" of Etna volcano, which means that, most likely, the 10th paroxysm is under way - IF the volcano behaves as during the past 9 episodes, where strombolian activity increased to violent lava fountain eruptions within 12-72 hours after the onset of such strombolian activity. ...more
Seismic recording showing the paroxysm (INGV Catania; for local time add 2 hours)
A new paroxysm (nr 9 in 2011) from the "New SE crater" of Etna is occurring at the time of writing. Following a brief period of intermittent weak explosions starting mid-day today, strombolian activity started to increase sharply the evening of 5 August; activity has now reached near continuous low lava fountaining and is likely to increase in the next hour(s). A lava flow has started to descend into the Valle del Bove. Our team member Marco Fulle is on location documenting this spectacular event. ...more
The eruption was somewhat smaller in size than the previous paroxysms. Its main phase lasted from 22h00 to ca. 1 am on 7 August when activity dropped sharply again. The big question is what will come next! Possibly, more paroxsysms (in 2000, a similar series of 66(!) paroxysms occurred from the SE crater), the next one perhaps again in ca. 6 days... Or, a new flank eruption hat finally allows the huge magma storage inside Etna to drain effectively. Or, simply nothing for a while. Volcanoes are unpredictable. [less]
The 8th paroxysm in 2011 from the new SE crater of Etna occurred in the evening of 30 July 2011. Spectacular continuous lava fountains rose to more than 500 m between 9.30pm and 11pm. The paroxysm followed a gradual build-up of strombolian activity during the previous days. Large lava flows forming a broad sheet descended into the Valle del Bove and reached more than 2 km length..
Another powerful paroxysm occurred early today at Etna volcano from the new SE crater, making this episode Nr 7 of this kind in 2011, almost exactly 6 days after the last eruption on 19 July. It seems that the intervals between single paroxysms are becoming shorter.
A new powerful paroxysm occurred on Etna volcano from the SE crater during the second half of the night 18-19 July. Tom who was guiding a group of VolcanoDiscovery were able to witness the eruption: during the afternoon of 18 July, we visited the area around the new cone at the SE flank of the SE crater (now often called the "New SE crater", or the former "pit") and noticed many radial fractures in the ground SE of the cone, but only weak ash emissions suggesting that magma had dropped deep within the conduit. Around midnight, we noticed that strombolian activity had resumed around midnight and tremor was rapidly rising, and decided to walk to a viewpoint on the rim of the Valle del Bove, where we arrived at around 2:30am. At that time, strombolian activity had apparently just turned into fountaining (other observers who had been on the spot half an hour earlier did only report strombolian activity and thought it was decreasing...). The fountains quickly increased to ca. 500 m height, and a lava flow had started to advance a few 100 meters. At the peak of the eruption at around 3am, the fountains pulsated between an estimated 500-800 m height, with large incandescent bombs visible more than 1 km above the vent and landing behind SE crater. The lava flow advanced with 3 main branches onto the steeper parts of the wall of the Valle del Bove. The fountain-fed ash plume drifted east towards Giarre. ...more
The fountains gradually decreased by around 4am and the activity turned into exploding giant lava bubbles, detonating with loud noise, and throwing large bombs up to 1 km in spherical directions above the crater. This activity slowly waned until dawn. While the fountains lasted, the crater wall was completely covered by incandescent lava, but later on, when this cover became less dense, an interesting feature became visible: A lava-dome-like incandescent 10-20 m wide and ca. 5 m high rectangular area half way up on the S side of the crater cone, which was feeding a small lava flow of cascading lava rocks could be seen; it remained active until dawn. [less]
A powerful paroxysm occurred at the vent SE of the SE crater of Etna volcano during the afternoon of July 9, 2011, and was observed close-up by Tom Pfeiffer. The eruption started with approximately 8 hours of slowly increasing strombolian activity, accompanied by increasing tremor since the morning of 9 July. Towards 14h30 h local time, the intensity rapidly increased into high lava fountaining lasting for ca. 1.5-2 hrs, generating a tall tephra column and producing heavy ash fall S-SE of the summit area. The eruption waned at around 17h00 and stopped around 18h00. A large lava flow with several branches went down into the Valle del Bove. ...more
At 1 km distance, near Belvedere, approximately 1 meter of scoria lapilli and bombs were deposited, the upper parts of the dirt road towards Torre del Filosofo were completely buried and only recognizeable by the deliminating marker sticks at the sides of it. Although not in the main direction of the ash fall, the airport of Catania was temporarily closed due to ash fall. Tom, together with Marco Fulle (VolcanoDiscovery Team), Giovanni Tomarchio (Rai 1), Etna mountain guides and other people watched the eruption from as close as safely possible from locations west of the bomb rain. [less]
You can watch the developing activity on Etna volcano over the last two hours. Increasing seismic activity and ash eruptions to Strombolian eruptions... Tom Pfeiffer is still near the eruption.
Tom Pfeiffer reports an increasing seismic activity and the possibility of a new paroxysm on Etna volcano. The activity is increasing in the last two hours. More reports later...
Due to recent activity of Etna volcano the airport of Catania remains closed until 13 May 6:00. Flights are diverted to Palermo. There is a free transfer to Catania by bus.
On 10 April 2011, the activity which had started with weak strombolian activity from the collapse carter on the east foot of the SE crater evolved inot a new, violent and spectacular eruption (paroxysm), including lava fountains, 3 km long lava flows and a tall column of ash. This was the 3rd such event in 2011. ...more
The lava fountains started around 11:30 local time and lasted about 2 hours, then gradually declined. At night 10-11 April, there was still some incandescence, but no more eruptive activity. [less]
A second paroxysmal eruption occured at Etna's SE crater on 18 February, 36 days after the previous one (12-13 January 2011). The eruption started around 3am and lasted 11 hours. It could not be well observed due to bad weather, but consisted of strong Strombolian activity and pulsating lava fountains, feeding a flow that superimposed itself on the path of the previous flow from January. ...more
More detailed information is available from INGV Catania. [less]
A paroxysm occured at the at Etna volcano's SE crater on the evening of 12 Jan, producing ca. 3-500 m tall lava fountains and a long lava flow. ...more
The eruption followed renewed, initially week strombolian activity from the collapse pit on the E side of the SE cone. This activity increased gradually during the evening of 12 Jan and turned into continuous fountaining between around 10pm and 11:45 pm. A lava flow from the same vent travelled east down into the Valle del Bove and reached an elevation of ca. 1630 m. Ash fall occured in a narrow sector to the SSW down to Sicily's south coast. Explosive activity ceased rapidly at the end of the eruption. If Etna's past behaviour is taken as comparison, such as the series of lava fountains from the SE crater in 2000 and 2001, it seems likely that more such explosive phases could follow in the coming days or weeks. [less]
Summit activity at Etna volcano seems to be resuming. ...more
The latest GVP/USGS report summarizes information from the INGV Catania about the recent activity: An explosion from the Bocca Nuova's western pit crater on 22 Dec produced an ash plume a few kilometers high and caused ash fall as far as Linguaglossa 17 km to the NE. A day later, hot sulphur dioxide indicating magma near the surface was visible from the large pit crater at the base of the SE crater. Bright incandescence was intermittently visible and on 29 December, small amounts of lava could be observed being ejected from the crater. The activity increased on 2 January with a phase of vigorous strombolian activity from the same crater and decreased later. Possibly, other eruptive phases occured but were undetected due to the frequently bad winter weather conditions. [less]
