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Archived updates: Most recent updates Part 11: Lava flow episodes from SE crater (July 2016 - Mar 2017) Paroxysms in Voragine in May 2015 (Dec 2015-June 2016) Paroxysms from Voragine in Dec 2015 Paroxysms from NSEC in Feb and May, weak summit activity (Jan-Nov 2015) Intermittent ash emissions and lava flows from New SE crater (May 2014 - Jan 2015) Lava flows and strombolian activity at New SE crater, pyroclastic flow 11 Feb (Jan-April 2014) Paroxysms and lava flows from New SE crater (Dec 2013) Paroxysms from New SE crater (Nov 2013) Paroxysms from New SE crater and quiet (April-Oct 2013) Paroxysms from New SE crater (Feb-Mar 2013) Intermittent strombolian activity from Bocca Nuova and New SE crater (archived entries April 2012 - Jan 2013) Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #25 on 24 April 2012 (archived entries 12-24 April 2012) Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #24 on 12 April 2012 (archived entries 1-12 April 2012) Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #23 on 1 April 2012 (archived entries 18 March - 1 April 2012) Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #22 on 18 March 2012 (archived entries 4-18 March 2012) Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #21 on 4 March 2012 (archived entries 18 Feb - 4 March 2012)

Etna activity February - March 2013: 8 paroxysms from New SE crater

Etna calm, two recent small earthquake swarms

At the surface, Etna remains calm. The current seismic signal and tremor values at the moment don't suggest a new paroxysm from the New SE crater is be expected very soon (although some paroxysms have shown build-up phases of less than a few hours only). Interestingly, two weak earthquake swarms have occurred two days ago under the flanks of the volcano at opposite sides of the mountain: the first, weaker one, was at depths around 25 km under Monte Spagnolo on the NW flank, the second occurred shortly after at depths around 15 km under the area of Milo on the SE flank. The largest quake was a magnitude 2 event. (We don't think these small swarms mean much, however.) A visit to the summit area and current tremor levels showed the volcano is currently calm. No explosive activity was heard or seen from any of the summit craters.
The area of bomb impacts from the last New SE crater paroxysm on 16 March was impressive - the whole area between Torre del Filosofo, the 2002-03 craters and the area of Cisternazza NE of the Cono del Lago was littered with bombs of various sizes (20-50 cm mostly). The Belvedere was found totally covered with scoria and bombs.
10 days since the last paroxysm, tremor is still low and doesn't suggest a new eruption is imminent. Bad weather mostly prevented observations during the past days. No glow could be seen last night from any of the summit craters.
Beautiful snow-clad Etna remains restless. While the wait is on for a new SE crater paroxysm (which is likely to occur anywhere between days or few weeks from now), a few pronounced tremor spikes show up on the tremor graph. These probably correspond to strombolian activity from one of the summit craters, likely the Voragine. A pronounced tremor spike showed up this morning, leading perhaps to the suspicion of a follow-up paroxysm (as Etna has sometimes done in the past). However, looking at webcam images from that time, it seems that an explosion and/or a collapse event (more likely) occurred from Voragine crater and produced a marked tremor spike. An ash plume and minor amounts of hot material can be seen rising a few 100 meters at around 04:51 local time. Typical for Etna's paroxysms, activity has ended quickly after reaching an impressive climax with lava fountains around and perhaps even above 1 km in height.
The eruption still increases, the wind has turned to the north and the webcams on Montagnola are now getting into the ash plume. Tremor and the intensity of fountains are still increasing. Their height seems to be even more than 1 km at times.

Lava fountains of 1 km height!

The intensity of the lava fountains is increasing still. Similar to the paroxysm #5 on 23 Feb , most energy seems to go into the fountains this time, which are reaching (if not surpassing) 1 km in height.

8th New SE crater paroxysm

The 8th paroxysm from the New SE crater is now in full swing. Lava fountains several 100 m in height are rising from the summit and saddle vents of the New SE crater. A tall ash column has started to rise and drifts eastwards. The activity during this 8th paroxysm of the New SE crater still continues to increase, and strombolian bursts are now starting to merge into lava fountains. The intensity of the (probably starting 8th paroxysmal) eruption is increasing relatively slowly, but steadily. At the moment, strong strombolian activity can be seen from the New SE crater. The volcanic tremor continues to rise exponentially (note the now logarithmic scale of INGV's tremor graphs). It seems that a new paroxysm is in the making. The tremor signal is showing a pronounced rise, typical for the beginning of the New SE crater paroxysms. Unfortunately, weather conditions don't currently allow visual verification.
Weather has remained mostly bad for direct visual observations, but some strombolian activity has been occurring, at least intermittently, from one of the summit craters, likely Voragine.
The latest seismic signal seems more agitated than normal, probably corresponding to another such phase (if not a precursor to a paroxysm).

Waiting for the next paroxysm, new live data

Views of the summit area have been limited due to mostly poor weather, but except for occasional weak glow from the New SE crater and Voragine, probably weak strombolian activity, there has not been any new major activity. Looking at the intervals of the past 7 paroxysms, it would be not surprising if an 8th one was to occur these days...
Something else interesting: INGV Catania has recently re-structured again their website and added new seismic data plots.
We have also updated our live webcam viewer with new / updated webcam and online data, in particular for Etna: webcams.volcanodiscovery.com/Etna.
Ash emissions were observed from the central crater (Voragine) and weak strombolian activity took place from the New SE crat3er over night.

7th New SE crater paroxysm

Another paroxysm occurred from the New SE crater during the night. Following a period of increasing strombolian activity, large lava fountains were rising from vent in the saddle between the old and new SE crater as well its summit vent. Activity at the Voragine crater continues with an impressive glow at night.
With the seismic stations and some of the webcams (in particular, the ones at Belvedere) being unavailable for the time being (they were overrun by lava flows from Friday's paroxysm), it is getting more difficult to have live data from Etna. However, the Bocca Nuova and several other webcams are still functional and observers on GeoForum collected some image that show that strombolian activity from Voragine continued this night, and also ash eruptions from the New SE crater were seen this morning. This could be a precursor of a new paroxysm. Strombolian activity at the Voragine continued during the night and seems quite intense. You can check the current activity on our Webcam Tool.

Continuing strombolian activity from Voragine

As night falls, glow and some ejections from ongoing strombolian activity inside Voragine crater become visible.
Seismic and eruptive activity have gradually declined, after the lava flows from yesterday's paroxysm continued to advance for a while and strombolian activity took place from Voragine during the night.
The Radiostudio 7 Belvedere Webcam has barely escaped destruction from the flows, but unless moved, it is probably only a matter of time until it suffers the same fate as the INGV seismic station.

6th paroxysm from New SE crater

The 6th paroxysm from the New SE crater occurred this morning. It was characterized by very strong explosions and tall lava fountains 3-600m tall from vents on the fissure cutting through the New SE crater. Lava flows from the eruption traveled south and SE from the cone onto Belvedere, where they destroyed the seismic station and telecamera, and into Valle del Bove.
Photos can be found here.

Eruptive episode from Voragine crater

Today, we observed an eruptive episode characterized by strombolian explosions and ash emissions took place from a new "player", the Voragine summit crater (NOT Bocca Nuova).
The New SE crater has stayed calm, but now at night, an incandescent fumarole and some glow from its crater are visible (although the latter could still be from the Voragine).
For now, Etna has stayed quiet. It seems that - if the series continues - the intervals between paroxysms are getting again longer.
The 5th paroxysm of the New SE crater is occurring. Tall lava fountains are erupting from the fissure vent of the New SE crater. This time, the eruption is much bigger than the previous ones. Judging from webcam images, lava fountains might be reaching one km in height.

New SE crater paroxysm #5

Another paroxysm is probably in the making. A lava flow is active from a fissure SE of the New SE crater's base, and the tremor signal has begun to rise. It seems that tremor has just started to rise again, but it is difficult to verify any activity due to cluod cover at the moment.
So far, the volcano has been quiet, but for how will this last?
It seems that a small effusive fissure vent has been active a few 100 m SE of the base of the New SE crater. No further paroxysm has (yet) occurred.
A 4th paroxysm from the New SE crater just ended. It followed the previous one with only about 18 hours interval. It will be interesting to see how long Etna will keep up this busy pace.
You can follow the eruption on webcams live at webcams.volcanodiscovery.com:

3rd paroxysm from New SE crater

Incredible: Etna is having a 3rd paroxysm in a short succession.

Second paroxysm shortly after previous one

A second paroxysm from the New SE crater followed shortly after midnight, less than 24 hours after the one during the previous night.

New paroxysm from New SE crater

What started last night in fact became in a true paroxysm this time, with tall lava fountains and lava flows from the New SE crater. The strombolian activity progressively increased and merged into lava fountains at around 04h40 local time. A lava flow descended into Valle del Bove and reached about 2600 m elevation on the slope north of Sierra Giannicola Picola. The eruption ended rapidly by about 06h30. This marks the first "true" paroxysm this year, very similar to the spectacular ones during 2011-12, but comparably weaker than these. Tremor is rising and probably, this means that some strombolian activity is present in either New SE crater or Bocca Nuova, but visibility is poor due to bad weather.

Eruptive episode #11 from New SE crater

A strong phase of strombolian activity took place over night at the New SE crater, marked by a peak in tremor. No activity has been observed from Bocca Nuova.
Weak strombolian activity has been taking place from the New SE crater since last night. At the moment, the tremor signal is still low. It will be interesting to see whether (and when) this activity will increase in the near future.

New eruptive episode from Bocca Nuova 8-9 Feb

Another short eruptive episode with intense strombolian activity occurred from Bocca Nuova last night.

New eruptive episode

Another eruption has just occurred from Etna, indicated by the typical steep spike in the tremor signal. However, bad visibility due to clouds has not allowed visual observations.
The New SE crater has been producing occasional ash emissions and weak explosions over the past 24 hours, but so far, the volcano seems not to be in the mood of making another mini-paroxysm eruption. The tremor signal is at low levels, but unstable. Etna has stayed quiet, but for how long? If the rhythm of the recent eruptions remains, we could expect another one to be very soon. By coincidence, they all happened at night. So, if you're into watching volcanoes live, be sure to tune into webcams.volcanodiscovery.com/Etna (or go to Sicily, much better!)

New eruptive episode from both SE crater and Bocca Nuova

After a day with ash emissions from New SE crater and occasionally from Bocca Nuova, another eruptive episode with strong strombolian activity occurred over night from both the New SE crater and Bocca Nuova.
The start of strombolian activity was at 02h59 local time when weak incandescence visible at the New SE crater quickly increased to strombolian explosions. While this activity slowly increased, the eastern vent of Bocca Nuova also became active and joined in with strombolian explosions at around 04:30.
Shortly after the onset of activity from Bocca Nuova, the one from the New SE crater decreased and finished shortly after 05:30. Bocca Nuova remained active until the dawn and then progressively waned.
This is then the 8th event this year so far.
Etna is calm this morning, but some weak ash emissions are occurring from the New SE crater.

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