The lava flow seems to have decreased over night although probably remains active in the upper part of the Sciara del Fuoco.
After our recent Etna special tour, Tom decided to visit Stromboli island on his way home. At 3.30, while the ferry was at neighboring Panarea island, a large brownish ash plume could be seen rising from the area of the Sciara del Fuoco on Stromboli island in the distance, a tell-tale sign that a landslide had occurred, which was the case, as a result or trigger, or both, of a magma surge leading to the new lava overflow.
Last night, the activity was very impressive to observe: A well-fed flow emerged from a breach in the northern crater rim, then split into two arms, one of which formed a broad lava fall over a cliff about 50 m from the vent. Below this area, the lava formed 3 parallel arms that entered a gully (formed by previous landslides), hiding the flow from direct view.
Judging from the glow, the lava flow front reached a few hundred meters below the crater area. Occasional glowing rockfalls descended to near the coast.
The typical strombolian-type activity continued from the northeastern summit vents as well, at intervals of 5-20 minutes. Most eruptions were small, but occasional larger ones formed small fountains reaching approx. 200 m height. In addition, some of the vents produced loud degassing noises from time to time.
