Vulcano volcano (Eolian Islands, Italy): alert level raised as gas concentrations in port reach critical levels

The volcanic unrest on the small island has increased and the scenario of new volcanic activity is considered to be more likely now.
As a response, the Sicilian government's Civil Defense unit decided to raise the alert level of the volcano from “yellow” to “orange” and declard the state of crisis and regional emergency for the island of Vulcano, in order to activate a range of measures aimed at protecting the population potentially threatened by volcanic hazards in case of volcanic explosions or a further increase in gas emissions.
Very high gas concentrations have been detected in parts of Porto di Levante, the most popular part of the island, where its famous natural hot mud pools are located that attract many visitors. The concentrations of gasses such as hydrogen sulphur (H2S) and others have passed critical levels that staying overnight in this area is now prohibited due to dangerous gas levels. About 250 people are affected in total and are likely going to be evacuated as soon as possible.

The regional president Musumeci said that “the continued increase in toxic gas emissions recorded by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in recent days requires the adoption of urgent precautions in order to protect public and private safety, close monitoring of the volcanic phenomena, access restrictions to endangered areas, and the possible evacuation of the population from their homes.” He added that “the government is close to the community and committed to working with the mayor and all other national structures in dealing with the emergency”.

In the last few weeks the monitoring network on the island and especially on and around the active volcano has been massively expanded. Very detailed studies are published in the weekly bulletins of INGV Catania. In the latest one from November 16, most parameters (temperatures, gas emissions, ground deformation, seismic activity) had actually decreased a bit in intensity although remained very elevated. Some of them (in particular temperature readings) could have been partially falsified by the recent heavy rainfalls. However, it is also possible that the unrest has increased drastically in the 4 days since this report was published earlier this week.