A stronger-than-usual explosion occurred at 22:01 local time at the volcano. Friends on the island sent us a message saying that they suddenly head a very loud detonation from the volcano, but could not see anything.
The event is visible as a strong peak in the seismic recording and as a spike in volcanic tremor. It was strong enough to prompt the volcano observatory INGV Catania to publish a an advisory:
„The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Etneo Observatory, informs that at 20:01 UTC the monitoring network recorded a major explosive event … in the Central / Central-South crater terrace sector. The analysis of the images indicated that the eruptive activity produced a significant emission of material that reached heights of over 150 meters above the vent and was dispersed beyond the crater terrace affecting the Pizzo area and rolling along the Sciara del Fuoco.“
After the explosion, activity returned to normal levels and no significant changes in other monitoring parameters (e.g. deformation, tremor, degassing etc) was recorded.
