A significant event just occurred at Stromboli: friends of ours on the island just alerted us of a huge ash plume seen rising from the area of the Sciara del Fuoco at 14:51 local time.
What exactly happened is currently still unclear, but it could be – most likely – a larger rockfall event, or / and, possible in combination with a larger-than-usual explosion.
Check again later for more updates!
Over the past 1-2 weeks, activity at the volcano had already been increasing significantly, from low to high levels.
Note: It might come at least as a strange coincidence that Etna volcano on Sicily also had an unexpected eruption earlier today – although scientists do not have evidence for a direct link between the activity levels of the two volcanoes, local belief that there is one is strong, and cases like when both volcanoes produce something out of the usual are not the first time to be observed.
