Stromboli volcano (Eolian Islands, Italy) update: lava flow remains active
The lava flow on Stromboli’s Sciara del Fuoco earlier today (image: LGS webcam at Punta Labronzo)
The lava flow on the Sciara del Fuoco remains active. According to the latest information from INGV Catania, it is still well alimented although its active front has receded to the upper middle portion of the slope, suggesting that effusion rate has been declining.
Lava spattering continues from several vents in the crater terrace, particularly the northeastern ones. Intermittent mild strombolian explosions also occur from various vents.
Etna volcano update: Spectacular new lava fountaining episode just after 48 hours
Lava fountain at Etna early this morning (image: Giorgio Costa / faceebook)
Another spectacular lava fountaining episode (or paroxysm) occurred at the volcano over night, again from the New SE crater. It came almost exactly 48 hours after the surprise eruption that had taken place during the night of 18-19 May:
It evolved in a very typical fashion, again. After having been almost completely silent since the end of the previous eruption, signs of life returned around 1.30 local time early this morning. From 1.34 am, strombolian activity set in at the New SE crater’s summit vent and began to quickly pick up in frequency and intensity over the next 90 minutes.
By 3 am, it had merged into sustained lava fountains that reached heights of approx. 500 meters. The lava fountaining phase lasted about 2 hours, and, as typical for Etna’s paroxysms, suddenly and rapidly ceased at around 5 am in the morning.
During the eruption, the eastern vents of the SE crater were not or only weakly active, while most activity had been from vents on the central and western vents. Only a small lava flow was erupted as overflow from the central crater area towards the SW (Torre del Filosofo area), following and overlying the paths of numerous previous lava flows erupted in the past months and years.
Are we at the beginning of another series of lava fountaining phases with regular and rather short intervals? Only Etna knows, but it might very well be so. It will be interesting to see what happens at the volcano in the next 48 hours or so…
Image credit: Giorgio Costa / facebook
The eruption seen from the Sciena dell’Asino – only the summit and western vents were involved (LAVE webcam)
