Schlagwort: volcano

Steam and ash plume from last night’s beginning of the new eruption at Kilauea volcano ( image taken at approximately 10:30 p.m., 12/20/20, NPS Photo/J. Wei)

Shortly after the eruption began, lava erupted form the new fissures inside the summit crater came in direct contact with the existing water lake. The result was a very explosive interaction that evaporated the lake completely, now being replaced by a pond of lava.

The Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park posted a spectacular image showing this activity. The explosions between lava and water not only generated massive amounts of steam, but also fragmented lots of rock and lava material, generating a tall steam and ash plume that rose to approx. 9000 m initially. By now, this activity has died out as most available water disappeared.

The eruption column of Etna volcano this morning (image: Andrea Pulvirenti / facebook)

Another lava-fountaining episode (paroxysm) occurred this morning at the volcano.

Visibility of the new eruptive phase was very limited due to dense clouds, but some observers could catch glimpses of the lava fountain and ash column that rose several kilometers. It appears that the new paroxysm was shorter but stronger than the previous paroxysm on 13-14 Dec.

A sharp peak in tremor accompanied the event, which seems to have lasted less than two hours, as typical for Etna’s paroxysms. Preceding the eruption today, the New SE crater had been showing intense strombolian activity in the past few days, with increasing tendency during the last night.

Given two paroxysms in just over a week and Etna’s tendency to produce such events in series at roughly regular intervals during certain phases (such as in 2000 or 2011-13), it could be a beginning of a new series of paroxysms in the coming days, weeks or months.

Intense strombolian activity from the New SE crater last night (image: INGV webcam)