Etna volcano - eruption update

The paroxysm ended abruptly (as usual). The aftermath is impressive: the SE cone covered with incandescent material and two bright lava flows still descending on its flanks, the eastern one into Valle del Bove.

New series of paroxysms still continues, spectacular lava fountains and lava flow from SE Crater

Following periods of short-lived strombolian-style explosions from the volcano's from the Southeast Crater over the past three weeks, the eruptive activity has culminated in a strong eruptive episode (high magnitude explosive eruptions) today, known as paroxysms.
The intense constant strombolian activity from the crater continued until 18:00 local time since it has been picking up by forming high lava fountains.
Some lava jets are surpassing several hundreds of meters, throwing molten lava bombs on the crater flanks, which in turn form incandescent avalanches spreading in various directions.
A few minutes later, a new lava flow started to appear traveling over the flank towards the crater base. It formed as hot, fluid blebs of lava from fire fountains have been falling to the ground, coalescing thereby forming lava flow.
According to the VAAC Toulouse, continuous emissions of ash have been reaching an altitude of 30,000 ft (9,100 m) in the eastern direction.
Prior to the paroxysm episode, seismic recordings detected a strongly rising signal of volcanic tremor, hinting rapid magma flux towards the surface. The volcanic tremor continues to be localized in the SE Crater area at an altitude of 2900 meters above sea level.
The paroxysm activity is continuing at the time of this update, and you can watch a live stream here.

#Etna #Sicily eruption 01.12.2023, 2h timelapse, 64x speed, ongoingsource: lasiciliaweb: https://t.co/SAyD3kJdCg pic.twitter.com/DyBS857SyA

— Rita Bauer (@wischweg) December 1, 2023

Another amazing livestream of Etna. Just look at her go Link: https://t.co/lHLIjAuxKl pic.twitter.com/N7GD2zz4sZ

— Volcaholic (@volcaholic1) December 1, 2023

Phases of short-lived strombolian-style eruptions continue

Strombolian activity, commencing on 19 November, has continued at the volcano over the past few days.
The eruptive activity from the Southeast Crater is defined by short sequences in series lasting at roughly regular intervals of 10-30 minutes combined with a period of 60-70 minutes of quiescence.
Typical bright fluidal lava bombs (spatter) have been ejected from the crater to an approx. height of several dozens to hundreds. Some of the lava bombs fall outside the crater.
Ash, gas and water vapor emissions extended toward the east-southeast.
Periods of mean amplitudes of the volcanic tremor have been varying between medium and high values. The volcanic tremor continues to be localized in the SE Crater area.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 30 November 2023

Giant smoke ring puffing from crater

These ring vortexes form when pulsating gas / steam emissions pass through a perfectly circular vent, generating this rare phenomenon.

Mt Etna blowing giant volcanic vortex rings!Etna Guide (old video) pic.twitter.com/AOLBTfQ5i9

— Volcaholic (@volcaholic1) November 25, 2023

Strombolian activity from SE Crater persists

Strombolian activity, commencing on 19 November, has continued at the volcano throughout yesterday.
The eruptive activity from the Southeast Crater is defined by short sequences in series lasting at roughly regular intervals of 10-30 minutes combined with a period of 30-60 minutes of quiescence.
Typical bright fluidal lava bombs (spatter) have been ejected from the crater to an approx. height of several dozens to hundreds. Some of the lava bombs fall outside the crater.
Ash, gas and water vapor emissions extended toward the east.
Periods of mean amplitudes of the volcanic tremor have been varying between medium and high values. The volcanic tremor continues to be localized in the SE Crater area.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 26 November 2023

Strombolian activity at #Etna's Southeast Crater on the morning of 24 November 2023, seen from Piano Vetore, 6 km to the southwest of the crater. pic.twitter.com/jpJBjNIJhJ

— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) November 25, 2023

Strombolian activity at #Etna's Southeast Crater on the morning of 24 November 2023, seen from Piano Vetore, 6 km to the southwest of the crater. pic.twitter.com/jpJBjNIJhJ

— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) November 25, 2023

Vigorous strombolian eruption last night

The INGV volcano observatory reported an increasing strombolian-style activity from the Southeast Crater at 03:36 UTC last night.
Ash emissions, glowing lava bombs and emissions of steam and gas were ejected off the crater. Emissions dissipated to the north-northwest of the volcano.
Periods of medium-to-low amplitude tremor accompanied the eruption. The volcanic tremor were localized in the SE Crater area.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 24 November 2023

Strombolian activity from SE Crater last night

After several days of a calm period at the volcano, minor strombolian-type explosions took place from the Southeast Crater last night.
Given the recent paroxysm, weak strombolian explosions preceded the lava-fountaining phase. It might be a precursor of another strong eruptive episode.

New series of paroxysm

A new strong eruptive episode (high magnitude explosive eruptions classified as paroxysm) is now in progress at the volcano's Southeast Crater.
Bursting intense lava fountains release glowing scoria lapilli-to-bomb sized material ejecting up to perhaps a few hundreds meters above the vent. The activity is associated with usual copious ash and gas emissions.
An eruption onset of paroxysm was dominated by increasing strombolian activity along with a typical several-hour rise in volcanic tremor since midnight. First, increasing gradually over hours, then very sharply peaked until it led magma flux towards the surface. Locations of tremor events rapidly shifted beneath the Southeast Crater at 2900 meters altitude.
A new batch of magma arrived in the inner vent therefore, from where overflowed the crater saddle rim and currently remains confined in the crater area.
The INGV observatory detected a usual precursor at 09:00 this morning when strombolian explosions started and have become stronger and near-continuous, culminating into the recently formed powerful lava-fountaining phase.
Ashfall has been reported in the town of Milo.
Etna's tendency to produce such events is nothing unusual and it occurs from time to time. Furthermore, it could be a beginning of a new series of paroxysm.

Parossismo dell'#Etna nel corso del pomeriggio di domenica visto da San Giovanni la Punta (CT) pic.twitter.com/zrho420hJB

— Local Team (@localteamit) November 12, 2023

The increasing strombolian activity before the paroxysm fountaining episode (source: Boris Behncke)

Eruptive activity is increasing once more at #Etna's Southeast Crater; cloud cover renders observations difficult. Video was taken while visibility was still decent, view is from home in Tremestieri Etneo, using my 3000 mm zoom. 12 November 2023 pic.twitter.com/pQTwljdemK

— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) November 12, 2023

Small lava overflow from SE Crater last night

An increased phase of strombolian activity occurred at the volcano's Southeast Crater last night.
This eruption culminated in a short-lived lava overflow.
The activity ceased some time during the night to Saturday and reactivated a bit before noon today.

Sporadic mild strombolian activity at SE crater

The volcano has been relatively calm, at least at the surface, during the past weeks.
However, there are clear signs that Etna is not in a deep slumber and might wake up with a more vigorous phase of eruptions at any time. The most telling is in the form of occasional, mild strombolian explosions from the SE crater such as observed last night, indicating that magma inside the conduits remains high.
In many cases, such activity has been prelude for violent lava-fountaining episodes known as paroxysms, such as last in August this year. The onset of these is usually characterized by increasing strombolian activity along with a rise in volcanic tremor, first increasing gradually over hours or days, then very sharply during few minutes until reaching impressive peaks of violent activity.
Whether the current activity is going to evolve this way is impossible to say, or when it might do so. It remains a possible scenario for the near to medium future. For the moment, volcanic tremor remains low, meaning it is not imminent.

Etna volcano, Italy: sudden ash eruption from SE crater this morning

While the volcano has been overall relatively calm during the past weeks, a sudden explosion occurred this morning from the southeast summit crater.
The eruption lasted about two minutes only and produced a dense brown ash plume that rose a few 100 meters and quickly dispersed to the southwest. No significant changes in volcanic tremor accompanied the event and there has been no official statement from the volcano observatory so far.
It is possible that the event did not involve any fresh magma and was driven purely by an internal phreatic explosion as trapped water can interact with hot rocks or residual magma inside the conduit.

Woahhh!! Wow! Out of nowhere This is Mt Etna today!!Thanks for this @Centinela_35 : https://t.co/uak220jn1Z #Etna #volcano #eruption #Sicily pic.twitter.com/4rR3HTW91d

— Volcaholic (@volcaholic1) July 10, 2023

Effusive eruption officially declared to have ended

The volcano observatory in Catania released a bulletin for aviation services (VONA) mentioning that the effusive eruption (lava flow) at the summit craters has ended.
The volcano still shows unrest above background, but no other particular activity. Ash emissions are negligible.

Lava flow activity has paused or ceased

The effusive activity from the fissure vent on the eastern foot of the SE crater has been pausing for at approx. two days now.
It is uncertain whether it is another pause, longer than the shorter pauses in previous weeks, or the effective end of this eruptive phase that had been going on since late November last year. Volcanic tremor is at similar levels as during the past weeks, which could indicate that the ascent rate of magma inside the conduits hasn't changed significantly.
This in turn could favor a resumption of activity in the near future, but Etna (and volcanoes in general) is always unpredictable.

Lava flow active (again), new surface flow near vent

The lava flow from the vent at the southern base of the SE crater is active again this morning, and a new lava flow has been advancing on the surface.
Webcam imagery indicates that this new surface flow started to advance from the vent during the early morning hours.
It is unclear whether it had completely ceased during a brief pause yesterday or whether it's activity had simply dropped significantly and now increased again, which is suggested by a bulletin of the volcano observatory mentioning that there was a lava flow in the summit area yesterday afternoon.
In alignment with the visual impression of a temporary pause or drop in activity, the volcanic tremor has risen again today as well.

Lava flow seems to have stopped

According to webcam imagery and the impression of one of our friends, mountain guide on Etna, the lava flow at the southern base of the SE crater has likely stopped. We still wait for official confirmation.
However, the recorded volcanic tremor has dropped as well during the past 24-48 hours, suggesting that this is likely indeed the case, thus marking the end of the most recent effusive episode that had started in late November last year.

Lava effusion stopped

It seems the effusive activity at Etna ceased, at least according to the latest satellite imagery on 16 June.
This was later confirmed by the National Institute of Volcanology in Catania (INGV) as well, the fissure vent at 1900 m altitude stopped some time during the night between 15 and 16 June, another ones at 2850 and 2730 m elevation ended on 13 June.
The volcanic tremor continues at medium levels, located at 2,9-3 km altitude.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 19 June 2022

New fissure vent opened in Serracozzo again

A new eruptive fissure opened in the northern wall of Valle del Bove yesterday.
The new vent is situated in Serracozzo area at 1900 m altitude, in the close vicinity of the latest, already ceased fissure vent erupted on 7 June.
A new, poorly-supplied lava flow started to emerge from the vent slowly advancing a few tens of meters further.
Fissure vents, located at 2850 and 2730 m elevation, continue to feed lava on the Southeast crater sliding down along the Valle del Bove.
Sporadic ash emissions continued at the Southeast crater today.
The volcanic tremor continues at medium levels, located at 2,9-3 km altitude.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 12 June 2022

Lava flow eruption from SE crater continues, short lava spill out on N slope has stopped

The effusive activity at the volcano continues.
Fissure vents, located at 2850 and 2730 m elevation, continue to feed lava from the Southeast crater sliding down along the Valle del Bove.
The short lava flow on the northern flank of Valle del Bove from the evening of 7 June ceased some time during the next day on 8 June.
The volcanic tremor continues at medium values.

The lava flow on the N slope of Valle del Bove has been cooling off at a quick pace on 7 June (source: @INGVvulcani/twitter)

Immagini della colate laviche in raffreddamento emesse dalla fessura eruttiva alla base di Serracozzo (1980 m) e riprese durante un sopralluogo eseguito il 7 giugno 2022 dai colleghi INGV-OE Francesco Ciancitto e Daniele Andronico. #ingv #etna #osservatorioetneo #monitoraggio pic.twitter.com/mM7sdkWPyn

— INGVvulcani (@INGVvulcani) June 10, 2022

Small short-lived lava flow started to quickly crystallize

The effusive eruption at the volcano continues.
The new lava flow front has shortly increased since yesterday and has reached only about 170 meters distance from the fissure. Molten rock continues to cool off, meaning the crystallization process is now in progress at 1938 m elevation.
The National Institute of Volcanology in Catania (INGV) did GPS measurements to confirm the origin new fissure elevation point at 1979 m.
The volcanic tremor continues at medium-high values.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 8 June 2022

New eruptive fissures opened today

New eruptive fissures opened on the northern flank of Valle del Bove today.
It actually seems to consist of two close-by fractures, of which one started to erupt a small lava flow at altitude between 1900 and 1950 meters advancing a few tens of meters further.
The volcanic tremor decreased to medium-high values yesterday late afternoon, located at 2,9 km altitude.
Lava spill-outs from 29 May continue to keep flows active, currently about 700 m and 900 m long so far.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 7 June 2022

Sustained ash-rich emissions today, decreased tremor stays at high values

The National Institute of Volcanology in Catania (INGV) reported about emitting dense ash emissions from the Southeast crater started at about 17:00 local time.
Advancing lava flows have reached approx. 2100 m elevation today.
The internal volcanic tremor, currently located at 3000 m altitude, continued at stable levels until it started to decrease at 16:00 local time today, but still remains at high levels.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 1 June 2022

Beautiful video of new lava flow from close

Enjoy an impressive video of the new pāhoehoe-type lava flow from the close view that is being fed by two vents that opened yesterday.

Le due bocche eruttive che si sono aperte ieri mattina nella parte alta della Valle del Bove dell'#Etna continuano ad alimentare una colata lavica che si sta dividendo in più bracci. L'attività rimane puramente effusiva. Video di Etna Guide pic.twitter.com/hhVkw8ATnT

— Il Mondo dei Terremoti (@mondoterremoti) May 30, 2022

New effusive flank vent opened this morning

A new eruptive fissure opened at 06:05 local time this morning at altitude of 2800 meters at the E-NE upper part of the Valle del Bove.
The flank vent started to effuse a new lava flow.
Preceded the eruption, the fluctuated volcanic tremor rapidly decreased to medium-high values, but later strongly peaked, which indicated rapid magma flux towards the surface.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 29 May 2022

Spectacular video of vent opening and intense summit explosions on 20 May

An amazing brief video of the onset of the recent eruption phase on 20 May has been published by Giuseppe Distefano from Etna Walk.
The footage depicts the intensified activity of the Southeast crater accompanied by the opening of the vent generating the new lava flow and hot avalanches.

Pyroclastic Flows at Southeast Crater / #Etna EruptionThree phases in sequence: #pyroclastic flows, new vent opening with #lava emission and increasing of the explosive activity even with volcanic ash - 20/5/2022© Giuseppe Distefanohttps://t.co/HmsuFUmkTu

— Etna Walk® (@etnawalk) May 26, 2022

Intense strombolian eruptions continue with lava flows from flank vents

The INGV local observatory detected that strombolian activity at the Southeast crater began to increase gradually at 17:40 local time yesterday.
Ash emissions have increased and reached 5 km altitude in the southern direction.
Active lava flows continue to advance from both fissure vents and have been reaching 2800 and 2700 m elevation into the Valle del Leone.
The high level volcanic tremor has been fluctuating a lot during the past few days, currently located at 3 km altitude beneath the Southeast crater.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 23 May 2022

New fissure vent, two lava flows

A new fissure vent opened on the north slope of the Southeast crater at altitude of approx. 3250 m at 15:30 local time today.
Opening of the new vent, located to the northwest of the latest fissure, was accompanied by intermittent ash emissions and lava spattering that has changed to erupting small lava fountains and spilling a new lava flow out towards the northeast.
In parallel, the advancing lava flow from 12 May remains active traveling E-NE direction into the Valle del Bove.
Intense strombolian-type explosions continue from the Southeast crater with glowing ejecta of lapilli and lava bombs.
Preceded to the eruption, a typical sharp peak in tremor accompanied the event which continues at fluctuating intensity at high values.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 20 May 2022

The current effusive activity at Etna volcano (source: Boris Behncke)

#Etna's Southeast Crater erupting, 19-20 May 2022. Video is shaky (and sound off) due to strong wind that shook my tripod. pic.twitter.com/dS0glyF6lI

— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) May 20, 2022

Small, but intense lava fountains feeding lava flow + stunning video footage of lava

The new fissure vent continues to feed lava flowing into the Valle del Bove in the E-NE direction.
Behavior of the volcano has changed over the last 24 hours and slowly, but surely intensified characterized by strombolian activity at the vent.
It appears (and judging from the live stream) that the vent started to produce pulsating small lava fountains likely caused by magma change composition from basaltic gas-poor to gas-rich melt.
Currently there are no signs to cease the eruption in the near future as indicate the high and stable volcanic tremor.

A beautiful video of 'A'ā lava flow at Etna characterized by typical jumble of loose, irregularly shaped cindery blocks (source: @mondoterremoti/twitter)

Ecco la colata di lava alimentata dalla bocca effusiva che si è aperta giovedì scorso sul fianco settentrionale del cratere di sud-est dell'#Etna. L'attività di questi giorni è molto scenografica e tranquilla e al momento non si sta intensificando. Video di Michele Mammino pic.twitter.com/mKOZbDhG3m

— Il Mondo dei Terremoti (@mondoterremoti) May 18, 2022

Strombolian explosions, outpouring lava flow continues

The emitting lava flow has reached 2300-2400 meters elevation and continues to travel toward the Valle del Bove in the E-NE direction.
Strombolian activity at the Southeast crater has been mostly mild only, but at intense values has produced ash emissions.
The strong volcanic tremor has been located at about 3 km above sea level.
No significant ground deformation was detected.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 17 May 2022

Smoothly flowing lava glows over Catania

The lava flow continues to be active on the northern flank of the Southeast crater for almost 60 hours since the effusive eruption started on Friday the 13th.
The volcanic tremor has continued at stable conditions over the weekend and is still continuing. This likely suggests a delicate equilibrium of effusion rates of magma.

Lava flow eruption continues

The effusive episode is still in progress at the volcano (live stream).
The lava continues to keep the flow active, emerging from the new eruptive fissure and advancing onto the northern flank of the Southeast crater.
Presence of snow and ice in interaction with the flow front generates ash-steam-rich plumes as visible in the attached video below from Etnasentieri Irene.

New eruptive fissure and lava flow tonight

A new fissure vent opened at the volcano that started to produce a new small lava flow at about 19:45 this evening as reported by the INGV local observatory.
The new lava flow is currently descending to the base of the northern flank of the Southeast crater.
The opening of the vent was accompanied by ash emissions from the Southeast crater at around 19:00 local time today generating an ash column to 3,5 km height towards the SW direction.
Prior to the eruption, the volcanic tremor started to evolve at about 22:00 local time yesterday to medium-high levels. It remains at high values for now at altitude of about 3000 m, suggesting continuing effusion of magma.
The effusive eruption at the time of this update is still continuing which proves also the Skyline webcam link here.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 12 May 2022

Calm continues at surface, but increasing deep-seated explosion signals

The volcano remains relatively calm at the surface although many people are almost expecting it to produce another paroxysms in the very near future.
Whether this might happen or not cannot be predicted, but deep-seated explosions have increased again, as detected by low-frequency acoustic pressure waves by the network of the Experimental Laboratory of Volcanology of the University of Florence (LGS). Most of these come from the conduit feeding the New SE crater complex, indicating the presence of degassing magma not too far from the surface.
On the other hand, volcanic tremor and other parameters remain at low levels of intensity, but things can change very quickly at Etna as we know.

Ash emissions yesterday

The local observatory INGV informed that ash emissions were observed from the Northeast crater at 12:38 local time yesterday.
Volcanic ash dispersed towards the S-SE direction.
The seismic tremor remained at low levels located at the area between Bocca Nuova and the Southeast crater in 2000-2500 meters elevation.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 25 February 2022

Lava fountaining episode ended

The volcano observatory in Catania (INGV) reported that the latest paroxysm episode on 21 Feb ended.
After the eruption ceased, the activity within the New SE crater showed signs of weak strombolian activity by passive emissions of steam and ash drifting towards the south.
The lava flow on the eastern flank of the New SE crater decreased its advance as it is in the progress of cooling.
Volcanic tremor continues at medium-low levels.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 23 February 2022

Very strong lava fountaining episode (paroxysm) in progress

10 days since the lava-fountaining episode, known as paroxysm, from the volcano's New SE crater, another powerful paroxysm is started today and is now in full swing.
Lava fountains are shooting into the Sicilian sky for probably more than 1000 meters and a dark ash column is rising to estimated 10 km height, drifting east where heavy lapilli and ash fall are occurring.
The activity started around 9 a.m. local time, when a thermal anomaly and soon after, weak strombolian activity were first observed at the New SE crater. At the same time, volcanic tremor started to increase. These are the typical short-term precursors for Etna's paroxysms.
By noon, the strombolian activity began to increase significantly, and quickly turned into lava fountaining by around 12.20 that generated a tall eruption column rising to approx. 10-11 km.
A lava flow started to erupt from the southern breach of the SE crater complex and has been traveling towards the SW, overlapping the many previous flows from the paroxysmal episodes that have been occurring since February last year at the volcano.
At the time of this update, the activity is still increasing, but likely is near or at its peak.

Continuing ash emissions from SE crater

Although yesterday's vigorous paroxysm activity ended, emissions continue from the SE crater, with only venting of small ash.
The lava flow from last night has stopped and is no longer active. The flow front reached approx. 2850 m elevation west of Monte Frumento Supino.
Volcanic tremor remains at average levels at 2800 m altitude.
A thermal anomaly has been detected at 10:25 local time at the southeastern base of the SE crater at altitude of 3000 m.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 11 February 2022

First paroxysm episode in 2022, pyroclastic flows in Valle del Bove, spectacular lava fountains and lava flow

The volcano observatory in Catania (INGV) reported that the explosive activity at the volcano's South East summit crater has been renewed last night.
Minor ash emissions have been rising from the crater, but from 01:30 local time today, volcanic tremor started to rise to average values.
The activity intensified about 13:30 local time, accompanied by a strongly rising signal of volcanic tremor, located at 2800 m elevation, indicating rapid magma flux towards the surface.
At 14:32 local time, a new lava started overflowing the SE crater rim and has been emerging on the west-southwest slopes.
Strombolian activity picked up and became stronger at the SE summit crater starting around 16:00 local time accompanied by periods of high amplitude tremor. The lava has continued to ooze out, kept the flow active and reached approx. 2900 m elevation.
At about 20:40 local time, a new lava-fountaining episode (classified as paroxysm) started at the SE summit crater producing a tall and dense ash and gas-rich plume that rose to estimated 10 km altitude drifting west.
The strong paroxysm episode followed a sharp peak in tremor.
The paroxysm activity culminated in (unusually, but common) three pumice-and-ash flows observed at 20:40, 21:19 and 21:26 local time traveling in the Valle del Bove direction. Pumice-and-ash flows are the result of column (or fountain) collapse.
After the maximum amplitude of a seismic signal at 21:00 local time, volcanic tremor started to decrease back to medium values.
The fountaining activity ended, although the eruption column continues to dissipate to 8000 m height towards the west.
The lava flow remains active and the front seems to have cooled at 2700 m elevation.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 10 February 2022

A small pyroclastic flow during the paroxysm episode tonight (source: Boris Behncke)

#Etna is not exactly famous for producing pyroclastic flows, though they are pretty common during her violent paroxysmal episodes. Here is a nice little one during the powerful paroxysm on the evening of 10 February 2022. pic.twitter.com/p1b5HxuKr0

— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) February 10, 2022

Lava fountains at the SE crater today (source: Boris Behncke)

Activity at #Etna's Southeast Crater has been increasing during the evening of 10 February 2022, and is now in a full paroxysmal phase, with lava fountains 500-600 m tall, lava flows to southwest and southeast, and an eruption column several kilometers high. pic.twitter.com/0dFHPYZAC5

— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) February 10, 2022

Strombolian activity ceased

The volcano observatory in Catania (INGV) reported that strombolian activity at the volcano has ended for now.
The volcanic tremor continues at low levels as seismic signals are detected in the area between central craters and SE crater.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 4 February 2022

Renewed strombolian activity continues

The volcano observatory in Catania (INGV) reported about the resumption of the activity after almost 7 weeks that picked up shortly after midnight, at around 00:15 local time yesterday.
Weak strombolian explosions continue from the New SE crater characterized by sporadic small-to-moderate ash emissions and glowing ejecta thrown from the crater.
The volcanic tremor has been located on the SE of the New SE crater at 3000 m elevation accompanied by medium-to-low values.
Source: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia volcano activity update 31 January 2022

Etna quiet again after ash-rich eruptive phase

The activity from the New SE crater yesterday did not develop into a lava fountaining phase such as the many paroxysms observed during this year, although it shared many characteristics of it.
Rather than sustained fountains with significant amounts of liquid lava bombs, it produced mostly a dense ash column that rose up to 6-7 km altitude (much less than during most paroxysms).
Only little glowing material could be seen in the eruption column. Activity waned at around 5 pm., then picked up again during the evening, to continue with less intensity and mild strombolian eruptions during much of the night. It gradually decreased in the early morning hours and seems to have stopped by now.
The small lava flow that had been erupted in the Valle del Bove during the day before yesterday and yesterday has also stopped.
Etna is again calm, but for how long nobody knows...
Some images of yesterday's activity from Etna Walk:

Increasing ash emissions, New SE crater heading for paroxysm

The activity at the New SE crater has been increasing, with dense ash columns rising to estimated 20,000 / 6 km altitude or more. At the same time, volcanic tremor has been increasing as well. It looks likely that the volcano is about to produce another lava fountaining-phase, known as paroxysm from its most active summit vent.
It is unclear at the moment whether the lava effusion from the small fissure vent in the Valle del Bove that had opened yesterday still continues.
It had been modestly active throughout the night, producing a small lava flow, but there was no sign of explosive activity. Volcanologists interpreted it as old (degassed) magma from the conduit leading towards the summit vents, that had simply "leaked" through a small lateral fissure. No inflation or particular seismic signals that would be typical for larger flank eruptions involving new magma had been detected accompanying it.

Weak but constant strombolian activity continues

Ongoing strombolian activity is now in progress from the South-East crater characterized by weak ash emissions extending to the E-NE of the volcano today.
A volcanic tremor has slowly increased, but remains at medium values detected at 2700 meters altitude.
No significant ground deformation was recorded.

Strombolian activity started and may trigger paroxysm

After a six weeks since the last strong eruptive episode (classified as paroxysm), it seems the activity to have picked up again.
The volcano observatory in Catania (INGV) reported that strombolian explosion started from the South-East crater at 16:10 local time today.
The instruments detected a strongly rising signal of volcanic tremor indicating rapid magma flux towards the surface, typical sign for an impending series of paroxysm in the coming days, weeks.

Weak explosions reported from Northeast crater

In the past weeks, Etna has been more or less calm. Today, small intermittent explosions resumed at the North-East crater, the volcano observatory in Catania (INGV) reported.
According to a report, these explosions began at 11.16 a.m. local time and have been producing small ash plumes that dispersed quickly in the area of the summit craters. Volcanic tremor shows no significant variations and remains at low to medium levels.
Apart from this, the Bocca Nuova seems to be the most active crater at the moment, producing dense steam plumes with some pulsating activity as can be seen in the image attached.

Occasional ash emissions from SE crater

After last Saturday's paroxysm, the volcano has not remained completely calm, but produces ash emissions from the New SE crater from time to time.
Volcanic tremor is at low to moderate levels, something that can change any time.

Volcanic tremor slowly rising

In tandem with the reported increase of activity in form of strombolian explosions at the SE crater, volcanic tremor has been gradually rising.
Whether this is a first sign the volcano is heading towards another fire-fountaining episode, known as paroxysm, as it did more than 50 times this year alone so far, will be likely seen in the near future (hours to few days from now).

Volcano remains restless

The volcano has remained more or less calm, but it is only a matter of time when activity will pick up again.
The summit craters continue to show marked thermal anomalies at the New SE crater, Voragine and Bocca Nuova complex as well as the NE crater. All of these emit gas and steam plumes and instruments detect frequent small acoustitc signals from dee-seated explosions, likely strombolian in type.
The volcanological institute of the University of Florence (LGS) reported more than 6000 infrasonic (explosion-related) events during 24 hours, with maximum pressures of up to 3.21 Pa. Volcanic tremor remains low, but as often in the past, it can change very quickly.

Small pyroclastic flow during small landslide on east flank of SE crater

At 7.41 am local time, an avalanche of brown ash could be seen originating from a point on the lower east flank of the New SE crater and descending several 100 meters towards the Valle del Bove.
While it looks as if a new vent opened, according to INGV Catania, it was a small landslide from the eastern flank of the SE crater and only involved cold material, without involving a new vent (which would have shown as hot thermal signals).

Impressive SO2 plume from latest paroxysm drifting over Ionian Sea and Greece

The SO2 aerosol plume from the volcano's latest paroxysm during the night Saturday-Sunday can be traced drifting over the Ionian Sea and Greece now, extending more than 430 km east.
Note that the automatic association of "Stromboli" as the volcano culprit in the image attached is wrong; the plume is from Mt Etna - the system tries to match the closest active volcano, which is usually, but like here not always the source of the emission.

Francesco Tomarchio sent us a small selection of his videos and photos he took during the remarkable and very powerful lava fountaining episode from Etna's New SE crater on 31 July-1 Aug 2021:


See the photos!

Paroxysm seems ending after 2 hours of intense lava fountaining

Short time after the previous update, activity is now decreasing rapidly; the paroxysm is likely to be over soon. However, the lava fountaining phase lasted about 2 hours!

Violent lava fountaining phase at New SE crater in progress

After several days of alternating phases of quiet and shifting activity at moderate to strong levels from the New SE crater following a brief interlude of strong ash emission at the NE crater, the volcano has once again started to enter a paroxysmal phase or paroxysm at the New SE crater, still in progress:
At the time of update, the lava fountaining activity seems to be at or near its climax, with lava fountains reaching 500-1000 m in height.

A summary of the previous days and the build-up of the activity follows:
26 July: from 20:20 in the evening strong ash emissions from NE crater, reaching 6000 m altitude.
28 July: early in the morning, at 05:25, intermittent strombolian activity begins at the New SE crater and culminates in a violent explosion in the afternoon. Activity ceases almost completely in the late evening.
31 July: After 2 and a half day of relative calm, activity sets in at the New SE crater again crater again in the evening at around 19:15, accompanied by a rising volcanic tremor signal, which starts to climb steeply from around 19:30.
Explosive activity at the crater increases from 19:50, and markedly again at 20:15, when it produces an ash plume rising to 5000 m by 20:15.
From 21:15, a lava flow starts to descend from the crater towards the SW.
Around 23:20, the now very intense strombolian activity begins to merge into lava fountains reaching several hundred meters in height.
By midnight, the lava flow has reached an elevation of 2800 m west of the 2002 craters.

Rising tremor - probably new paroxysm ahead

After little more than a week of calm, the volcano started to be restless again during the past 2 days, and has been increasing its activity at the New SE crater in the past two hours or so.
Accompanied by strongly fluctuating tremor, ash emissions and mild explosive activity began again at the New SE crater yesterday. Right now, the volcanic tremor signal is rising sharply, which in the past months always announced a new lava fountaining episode to occur very soon.

Ash emissions, strongly fluctuating tremor signal

The volcano has been restless during the past days, but not (yet?) produced another paroxysm.
Although visibility hasn't been very good, friends on location reported ash emissions from the New SE crater. Volcanic tremor is fluctuating strongly between low to medium and medium to high values, but generally showing an increasing trend - it looks as if the volcano is currently "undecided" whether to erupt or not.

Powerful lava fountain episode Wednesday noon sends ash to Calabria

Following 5 and a half day of quiet, the New SE crater produced yet another paroxysm, and one of the most powerful ones in the current series, perhaps as a result of the longer-then-usual interval that had passed since the previous episode Thursday evening last week.
Events building up to the eruption followed the usual pattern:
Volcanic tremor increased in the morning after 09:50 local time, and strombolian activity restarted at the New SE crater from around 11:05. A lava flow started from the southern crater rim to travel to the SW from around 12:40.
At the summit vent, explosive activity increased gradually and merged into lava fountaining by around 1 pm, lasted for approx. one hour and half. During the peak phase from 1.40-2.20 pm, the lava fountains reached 600-1000 m in height and produced a thick eruption column that rose to more than 9000 m above sea level, which drifted NE, causing lapilli and ash fall as far as Taormina and Reggio Calabria.
In the summit regions, large incandescent bombs were seen reaching the southern slopes of Bocca Nuova crater.
After around 2.30 pm, summit activity rapidly dropped, although intermittent, sometimes large strombolian explosions went on for a while before stopping again by late afternoon. The lava flow to the SW of the SE cone remained active for a while before ceasing as well.

New paroxysxm at noon

A new paroxysm occurred at the New SE crater today around noon. It seems to be ending at the time of this update. More details will be posted later.
You can watch the activity live at various webcams, e.g.: Skyline Webcam on Montagnola.

Volcano quiet so far for more than 4 days

The volcano has been relatively calm for more than 4.5 days now since the latest paroxysm late Thursday evening. This marks the longest so-far interval in the record-breaking series of more than than 40 lava fountaining episodes that had started on 19 May this year.
The only activity has been in the form of intermittent small and mostly passive ash emissions from the New SE crater's summit vent.
Whether the series of paroxysms is over for now or whether the interval is just going to be much longer until a next one occurs is impossible to predict.

Powerful lava fountain during night 8-9 July 2021, ash plume to 11 km altitude

During last night (8-9 July 2021), yet another paroxysm (lava fountaining episode) occurred from the New SE crater, after an interval of less than 48 hours since the previous one.
Etna continues its breathtaking, record-breaking sequence of regular paroxysms at intervals around 2 days now, with no end in sight... The sequence of events was almost identical to the previous events, but this time, the eruption seems to have been significantly stronger as it produced a tall eruptive column that rose to estimated 11 km altitude.
Strombolian activity had reappeared around 9pm local time, gradually increased afterwards to merge into sustained tall lava fountains by 22:45, lasting for about 2 hours until 00:45 this morning.
Heavy lapilli and ash fall occurred on the southern and eastern sectors of Etna, including Zafferana Etnea, Fleri, Pedara and Cannizzaro.
A small lava flow was also produced as lava overflowing the southern crater rim and moving over the previously emplaced flows SW of the cone.

New lava fountain episode during night 6-7 July 2021

Two and a half days since the last one, another lava fountaining episode or paroxysm took place at the New SE crater, following more or less the same usual pattern:
Strombolian activity resumed at the New SE crater starting at 11:30 pm local time last night 6 July. After a phase of intense explosive activity until around midnight, it shifted gradually to lava fountaining of several hundred meters height and producing an eruptive column reaching about 5 km above sea level.
Ash and lapilli fell on the south side of the volcano including Tremestieri and Nicolosi towns. Shortly after 2 am this morning, the lava fountain activity ended, replaced by a weak Strombolian activity with minor ash emissions. The activity also produced a small lava flow on the southern flank of the Southeast Crater cone, which traveled until about 2800 m elevation.
As of now, it seems the volcano is completely quiet again, probably only to return to maybe yet another paroxysm in the near future; if the current rhythmic pattern persists, it could probably be expected to occur during Friday...

New lava fountaining episode after less than 3 days of calm

Less than 3 days since the last paroxysm early morning last Friday, another similar eruption occurred yesterday afternoon (4 July 2021). During the afternoon, strombolian activity resumed at the SE Crater, quickly increased and produced a lava fountain from 17:25-19:00.
The activity also produced two lava overflows from the SW and NNE crater rims, the latter of which reached the upper part of the Valle del Bove.
After the cessation of lava fountaining, intermittent weak strombolian activity continued at the crater for a while before stopping as well.

New spectacular paroxysm after 4 days of quiet

Another spectacular fire-fountaining episode or paroxysm occurred at the New SE crater during the last night, marking it the 42th such event in 2021 so far.
It came after a significantly longer interval of 4 and a half days since the preceding event on Sunday, but its evolution followed the same pattern observed during nearly all paroxysms this year:
Around 00:40 local time, strombolian activity resumed at the South-East crater, accompanied by quickly rising volcanic tremor amplitude and the source of the tremor having moved to shallow depth beneath the crater itself, indicating the rising magma inside the conduits.
At 01:24, the activity became lava fountains reaching several hundred meters of height and producing a lava overflow on the southern side that traveled SW. The lava fountain lasted until 02:50, after which moment the activity quickly dropped again.
Video:

Series of spectacular summit eruptions continues

The amazingly regular series of paroxysms from the New SE crater at very regular intervals of approx. 20-30 hours continues with no signs of ending soon. Since the last update, two more lava-fountaining episodes occurred Sunday and yesterday:
After having rested for less than 18 hours, strombolian activity restarted at 09:12 local time Sunday (27 June) morning, increased rapidly after around 10 am and turned into lava fountaining by 11 am, which lasted until 11:50, creating an eruption plume that rose to approx. 6.5 km altitude.
Another lava flow traveled from the southern rim of the cone towards the SW. Strombolian activity continued for a while at the summit vent and finally ceased by 14:30.
The volcano stayed calm until yesterday afternoon only: the next paroxysm occurred about 30 hours since Sunday's, following the almost identical pattern as during the previous episodes. Strombolian activity began at 16:00 local time, increased gradually and then very fast from 16:27, turning into lava fountains by 17:00, which lasted until 17:30 and then returned to intermittent explosions. Another lava flow as over-spill of lava from the southern rim and traveling to the SW below the cone was erupted as well.
While the lava fountain phase of the last paroxysm was “only” about 30 minute, it was more powerful than the previous episodes and produced an eruption column that rose to 10 km altitude.

Lava fountains at clockwork rhythm

The very regular pattern of paroxysms (lava-fountaining episodes) continues at the volcano. After a slightly longer interval of about 24 hours since the last one, yet another paroxysm occurred yesterday evening.
It followed the same sequence of events as usual: first signs of new activity began around 16:20 local time when volcanic tremor started to rise, followed by strombolian explosions appearing at the New SE crater shortly after.
An hour and half later, this activity had reached lava fountaining stage by 17:48 and an eruptive column rose to approx. 5 km altitude, i.e. significantly lower than during the previous eruptions.
As lava fountains set in, lava over-spilled the southern rim and created another lava flow towards the SW, overlapping the numerous previous flows in this area. At 19:05, the lava fountains ceased and activity returned to intermittent strombolian explosions that ceased by around 22:40, when then eruption was essentially over.
As to the effusive fissure at the lower SE flank of the New SE crater cone, which has opened during the paroxysm on Thursday 24 June, it became active again during this episode and produced a weakly alimented lava flow that reached a few hundred meters length. It remained active during much of the night, but then gradually weakened. By early morning today, it seems to have stopped.

Two spectacular lava fountains in one day

Following the short lava-fountaining episode Thursday noon, which had been remarkable by the dual activity of a new lava flow from a flank fissure and the fountaining at the summit, the volcano produced two similar eruptions in rapid succession yesterday, one in the morning and one in the evening:

The first one announced itself early on Friday (25 June 2021), when strombolian activity started at the New SE crater again from 01:17 am local time, while the lava flow from the effusive vent at the SE base of the cone at around 3050 m elevation continued to be active and formed two main branches into the upper Valle del Bove.
Shortly afterwards, volcanic tremor started to rise sharply, and from 01:50 on, explosive activity also picked up rapidly, merging into lava fountains by around 3 am, which lasted little less than an hour and produced a tall eruption column rising to 8.5 km altitude and drifting east.
From 3:15 am, lava overflowed from the southern crater rim and produced a second flow towards the SW. The lava effusion from the lower vent at the SE side mentioned earlier continued without changing significantly during the whole event.
The paroxysm (lava fountaining phase) ended at 3:48, with continuing mild strombolian explosions at the summit. The lava flow towards the SW had by then reached approx. 2900 m elevation, while the other flows from the SE fissure vent had active fronts at 2700 m in the western flank of the Valle del Bove. This activity continued also after the summit eruption had paused. At 6:15 am, a third flow emerged from this vent following a path further to the north, and reached an elevation of 2800 m by early afternoon.

Second paroxysm:
During the morning, activity at the summit vents more or less ceased temporarily. The lava over-flow towards the SW was no longer active by 2 pm, while lava continued to feed the active flows from the fissure at the SE side. The most advanced flow front had descended to 2550 m elevation by then.
About 18 hours past the beginning of the previous paroxysm, another similar eruptive episode took place in the evening. At 19:37, strombolian activity began at the summit vents of the New SE crater and tremor began again to increase steeply. Activity increased from 20:05 and from 20:25, lava overspilled the southern rim and formed a new flow towards the SW. Lava fountaining stage was reached by 20:40 and lasted until 21:15, generating an eruption column rising to approx. 7 km altitude and drifting east.
The lava flows from the fissure vent at the SE base at 3050 m elevation had gradually decreased in their activity earlier. Only the 3rd of them, on the northern side that had started after the end of the previous paroxysm was still weakly active in the evening, but seemed to die down.

New paroxysm at noon

Etna is accelerating its rhythm of intermittent strong eruptions: Only about 16 hours since last evening's paroxysm, another similar event occurred today around noon:
Accompanied by the usual rising tremor signal, sign of magma on the move upwards, shortly after 11 am local time, strombolian activity started to occur again at the New SE crater. At the same time, a small lava flow continued to be active from a fissure vent on its lower SE flank.
By noon, the explosive activity had increased to reach lava fountaining and an additional lava flow over-topped the southern rim and traveled to the SW.
The lava fountains reached 400-500 m height and produced an eruption column that rose to 9-10 km above sea level, again drifting towards the ESE where heavy ash and lapilli fall occurred, in particular in the town of Linguaglossa.
The paroxysm lasted approx. one hour and activity rapidly decreased around 1 pm. While explosive activity ceased, the lava flow from the effusive vent at the southeastern flank of the cone, at approx. 3050 m elevation, was reactivated and began to feed a small lava flow that remained active until the time of this update. By early afternoon, it had reached an elevation of 2800 m in the western slope of the Valle del Bove.

Spectacular activity of lava fountains and flows, southeast crater opens its flank

Following yesterday early morning's paroxysm, the volcano, known for its capricious mood, surprised us again by a dramatic change in activity, both involving opening new fissures feeding lava flows AND producing another lava fountain episode from the New SE crater in the evening of the same day...:
First, two small lava flows started to flow from two new effusive vents that opened in the lower part of the southeastern flank of the crater in the early morning, a higher one at 06:25 local time, and a lower one at 07:59 am.
These two lava flows remained well alimented and the most advanced fronts reached the western headwall of the Valle del Bove at an estimated altitude of about 2900 m a.s.l.
Tremor did not decrease as much as usually after paroxysms, reflecting the ongoing magma supply. The effusive activity at these vents seemed to gradually decrease during the course of the day.
Another paroxysm was about to occur in the evening - less than 24 hours since the previous one: Strombolian activity from the summit vents set in in the evening at about 19:17 local time, and volcanic tremor began to rise sharply from 18:30. Strombolian activity also increased noticeably from 19:45. Starting from around 20:00, the activity at the summit vents merged to a lava fountain, producing an eruptive cloud that reached an estimated height of about 9 km a.s.l. that dispersed in an East-North-East direction.
Furthermore, starting at 20:28 UTC, an eruptive vent opened on the high eastern slope of the Southeast Crater, producing both explosive activity and a lava flow that spread in an easterly direction. It appears that this vent is close (likely located on the same fissure) to the effusive vents that had opened earlier described above.
In addition, the lava fountains caused another lava overflow from the southern crater rim that traveled towards the SW.
After the cessation of the lava fountains at around 21:00, weak strombolian activity continued for some tens of minutes before stopping as well. However, the lava effusion from the vents on the eastern flank of the cone continued during the night, at decreasing rate. The new lava flow had reached about 2600 m elevation on the western wall of Valle del Bove at its most advanced point by early this morning.
At dawn today, only a small flow, some tens of meters long, was still active near the effusive vent.

What comes next?
The underlying rhythmic supply of magma surges at short intervals of 24-36 hours seems to be quite stable, but the mechanisms how the magma is erupted at the vents is perhaps changing as more and more fractures weaken the New SE cone, favoring the opening of vents on its flank as was seen yesterday.
It seems likely that we might see more of mixed explosive-effusive eruptive episodes similar to the past ones in the near future. For how long this could continue and what might come afterwards is impossible to predict. With more than 40 paroxysms this year alone, it approaches the record of 66 paroxysms at the SE crater in 2000, which later was followed by the 2001 and 2002 flank eruptions.

New paroxysm lights up morning sky

Only about 24 hours since the last one, yet another paroxysm occurred at the New SE crater in the early hours today, marking it the 42th or so event this year alone.
As during the previous ones, the episode announced itself with a shift and increase of tremor from around midnight, before strombolian activity began from at least 3 vents at the New SE crater from around 2:30 am (local time). From 4:15, a lava flow started to travel from the southern crater rim towards the SW.
Explosive activity increased quickly and reached lava fountaining by 4:45 am, lasting about an hour before ceasing abruptly around 5:45.
During the eruption, a second short lava flow was erupted towards the east, and the eruption column rose to more than 9 km height above sea level, according to the volcano observatory. Ash and lapilli fall occurred the eastern sector around Milo and Giarre towns.
The paroxysm today seems to have been more violent than the past ones and it came only about 24 hours since the preceding one: it seems that the intervals between events in the current series are gradually becoming shorter. It is impossible to predict how long this pattern might last and what will come next at the volcano.

New paroxysm in the early morning of 22 June 2021

The volcano continues to produce lava fountaining episodes (paroxysms) from the New SE crater at almost constant time intervals. About 30 hours since the preceding one around midnight between Sunday-Monday, a new paroxysm occurred early this morning.
The event unfold very much in a similar fashion as the preceding ones: At 04:15 local time, strombolian activity began to appear again at the New SE crater and volcanic tremor began to rise. Shortly after, at 04:30, this activity started to increase rapidly and reached lava fountaining stage by 04:55. The paroxysm lasted about an hour and quickly ceased at around 6 am in the early morning.
During the eruption, yet another lava overflow issued from the crater towards the SW, overlapping the numerous earlier flows.
A tall ash plume rose from the vent and drifted ENE.

Two more lava fountains at clockwork rhythm

The volcano is again in a phase with very regular rhythmic eruptive behavior, as short, but violent lava fountaining episodes (paroxysms) continue to occur from the New SE crater at intervals of approx. 36-48 hours, with little to no activity in the times between.
The latest ones happened Saturday evening (19 June 2021) between 20:45-21:30 local time and this night between around midnight to 1:45 am this morning.
In both cases, strombolian activity started to reappear about an hour before the lava fountaining phase, then quickly intensified to merge into fountains, which abruptly ceased after reaching their peak phase with heights of several hundred meters.
New lava flows were erupted in both cases from the southern part of the cone towards the SW into the Torre del Filosofo area, which is becoming a thick shield of overlapping recent lava flows.
This behavior is well reflected by the sharp spikes in volcanic tremor that separate quiet, recharging phases during the intervals.

New paroxysm 36 hours after previous one

Only about a day and a half since the paroxysm in the early afternoon of 16 June, another one occurred early on 18 June from the New SE crater:
After a quiet interval of approx. 30 hours, weak strombolian activity started again to appear at the New SE crater after midnight 17-18 June, then quickly intensified and produced sustained lava fountains several hundred meters tall between 1.20 - 2.10 am (local time). Another lava flow traveled from the southern crater rim towards the SW.
The similarity of the latest events and their quite regular occurrence at similar but decreasing trend suggest that the volcano again is in a phase of rhythmic behavior of short-lived, but violent lava fountaining episodes following each other at similar intervals of currently around 36-40 hours. A next event like this might well occur during the afternoon of Sat, 19 June, if the pattern continues to repeat.

New SE crater has paroxysm in less than 2 days

Yet another short-lived lava fountaining episode, or paroxysm, occurred today at the New SE crater only about 40 hours since the previous one.
Accompanied by a steeply rising volcanic tremor signal, strombolian activity began to appear at the crater in the early afternoon and increased quickly from 13:30 local time, reaching lava fountains by 14:08. These lasted until 14:50, making it one of the shorter episodes.
Just as during the previous ones, a lava overflow traveled from the southern crater rim area to the SW during the event.

Another powerful lava fountaining episode over night

Just two days since the preceding one, another paroxysm occurred at the New SE crater over last night 14-15 June 2021. As the intervals had been longer and the beginning of the most recent paroxysms was generally a longer period of fluctuating and overall increasing activity, it came a bit as a surprise.
Very weak and intermittent strombolian activity restarted at the crater probably during the afternoon or early evening yesterday. At around 22:56, this activity began to increase quickly, along with a sharp increase of volcanic tremor to high values. By 23:45 had reached the stage of continuous, tall lava fountains rising several hundred meters. The eruption column produced an ash plume that rose to approx. 6000 m above sea level. The peak phase occurred around midnight and lasted until about 00:20, when activity - as usual - dropped sharply and more or less ceased.
As during the previous paroxysms, some of the lava formed a flow issued from the southern part of the crater and traveling to the SW.
Link: Video of the eruption (Roberto Viglianisi / facebook)

New paroxysm Saturday evening - lava fountains light up Sicily's sky

A powerful paroxysm - or lava fountaining episode - is in progress at the volcano now at the SE crater. After a week of activity fluctuating between moderate and high levels, Etna decided again to escalate into a short-lived phase of intense lava fountains.
This episode comes about a week since the last one on 4 June. In the time between, the volcano had not calmed down as usual during intervals, but remained active with weak to moderate strombolian activity from the crater, and moderate to high tremor levels, indicating that the magma column had not subsided a lot since.
The newest episode this evening began to produce lava fountains from around 21:45 pm local time and lasted until about midnight. This time, the activity was noticeable stronger than during the previous shorter episodes observed in late May and more similar to typical paroxysms such as those in February and March earlier this year.
The lava flow from the southern flank of the crater was well alimented and continued to travel towards the SW. Another lava flow emerged during the paroxysm from the east side of the cone and reached the western headwall of the Valle del Bove.

Increasing activity and small lava flow from New SE crater

Things remain very dynamic at Europe's most active volcano: Since yesterday morning, strombolian activity at the New SE crater began to increase, followed by the appearance of a lava overflow issued from a vent on the southern flank of the cone, which traveled towards the southwest.
The mean amplitude of the volcanic tremor continued to grow reaching high values and its source was found to be at shallow depths beneath the crater - all pointing towards a possible new paroxysm.
This trend reversed itself again temporarily, and then recovered and seems to be on the increase again now: it looks as if the New SE crater is undecided whether or not to go for a paroxysm or not...

Volcano becoming restless, strombolian activity at SE crater increases

The volcano's New SE crater has become more and more active over the past few days, and started to show weak strombolian activity of varying intensity since yesterday morning. This activity produces occasional ash emissions which are rapidly dispersed in the summit area.
Over the past days, volcanic tremor amplitude has been showing continuous oscillations, with an overall gradually increasing trend, reaching high values during the past 24 hours. According to the volcano observatory, the source of the tremor - corresponding to the area of magma movement - is located under the SE Crater area at an elevation of 2800-2900 m above sea level, or 300-400 m below the crater rims.
No significant variations of ground deformation have been observed.
Although it has not (yet) produced another paroxysm since the last one past Friday, it might be heading towards one, or otherwise maybe shift towards a longer phase of moderate, persistent activity.

New paroxysm Friday evening

Two and a half days after the previous one, the New SE crater produced yet another phase of lava fountaining (paroxysm) yesterday evening 4 June 2021.
It was preceded by a relatively long phase of weak to moderate, but intermittent strombolian activity and fluctuating tremor levels - contrary to most other episodes, the activity had not dropped to low levels after the previous paroxysm, but remained moderate.
The activity increased rapidly after 18:00 local time, then passed to lava fountaining at around 18:20, which generated an ash plume that rose to approx. 6500 meters above sea level and drifted SE.
Like during the previous paroxysms, a lava flow traveled from the rim of the saddle vent area of the New SE crater towards the SW.
The lava fountain ended around 19:30 and activity dropped again sharply. However, the lava flow remained weakly alimented for several hours. By midnight, it had reached an elevation of 2800 m below the Torre del Filosofo area.

New paroxysm this morning with lava fountains up to 400 m tall

The volcano produced yet another lava-fountaining episode or paroxysm from the New SE crater this morning. 3 days since the previous one, it followed the by now "usual pattern":
Volcanic tremor began to increase from around 8 am, followed by the onset of weak strombolian explosions at the New SE crater's saddle vent from around 9:45. This activity increased slowly first, then very quickly reached the phase of lava fountains at 10:30 local time, generating an eruptive column that rose several kilometers and drifted east-southeast.
Ash and small lapilli (up to 1.0-1.5 cm) was falling in the northern part of Zafferana Etnea and in Santa Venerina town.
The activity also produced a modest overflow of lava, which traveled southwest. During the phase of maximum intensity, the lava fountains reached heights of 300-400 m. Two vents were periodically active in the "saddle" area, as already observed during the eruptive episodes on 28 and 30 May 2021.
The lava fountain activity lasted until about 12:40 local time, after when the explosive activity quickly decreased and mostly finished at 12:50.

The magnitude of the volcanic tremor showed the usual, rather sudden increase at the beginning of the episode, and a rapid collapse at the end; during the paroxysm, its source was located under the Southeast Crater. The infrasonic signals also came from the same crater; small variations in tilt were recorded, as usual during the eruptive episodes at the Southeast Crater.

Source: adapted from INGVvulcani / facebook

Paroxysm on the morning of 30 May 2021

Since the latest lava fountaining phase at the New SE crater early on Sunday 30 May 2021, the volcano has remained more or less calm.
The so-far latest paroxysm began to announce itself 03:10 local time, when volcanic tremor began to rise, followed by the onset of strombolian activity at around 05:45. This activity rapidly increased and turned into lava fountaining by 06:30 which lasted about an hour and produced an ash plume that rose to estimated 6500 m altitude.
By 07:45, it had ceased. Similar as during the previous episodes, a the lava fountaining produced a lava overflow from the rim of the crater towards the SW.
Due to bad weather conditions, the event was not very well observed visually.

Two short lava fountains in the afternoon and evening of 28 May

Two short lava fountaining episodes occurred last evening. The first weak one from 18:00-18:15 local time, followed by a pause of activity until 21:47 when strombolian activity again set in at the New SE crater, leading to a another lava fountaining phase from around 22:00-22:40 local time.

Another paroxysm with this afternoon, and likely one more to come soon

Another intense eruptive phase likely with lava fountains occurred this afternoon, but due to cloud cover, it was not possible to observe it very well visually.
Tremor started to rise in the morning, followed by increasing explosions and ash emissions from the New SE crater. It reached high peak values between around 14:40 and 15:15 local time, when the activity likely consisted in sustained lava fountains. Activity dropped sharply afterwards only to pick up again after about 2 hours and is currently again rising, possibly giving way to yet another lava fountain phase in the next hours or so.

4th lava foutnaining phase in less than a day

Shortly after the short lava fountaining phase in the morning, another similar eruptive phase occurred only about 90 minutes later: at around 11:40 local time, activity at the New SE crater again picked up and passed to lava fountaining by noon.
Yet another small lava flow was erupted to the SW. The lava fountaining phase lasted until around 13:30 and activity rapidly decreased as usual. The eruption plume reached 7000 m above sea level according to an activity update of INGV Catania.
Video of the eruption:

After 4 small paroxysms in little more than 12 hours, Etna so far has stayed more or less calm for the rest of today so far.

Intense fireworks - two lava fountain episodes over night

After the rather surprising onset of a new intense phase of activity in the late afternoon, the New SE crater produced not only one, but two paroxysms during the night, marking them the 26th and 27th such episodes for 2021 so far.
Likely compensating the suddenly much shorter intervals, the eruptions were significantly weaker, though, when compared with earlier paroxysms observed in Feb-Mar and May this year.
Last night's activity reached its peak between around 20:30-21:30 local time, when explosions from the New SE crater merged into lava fountains and the lava flow towards the SW was most strongly fed.
Activity abruptly ceased and volcanic tremor dropped sharply and returned to low levels by 22:30. The volcano remained calm until 02:40 am early this morning. Calm, this is except occasional glow hinting towards that strombolian explosions from Voragine central summit crater still go on as well. Like the other summit vents of Bocca Nova and NE crater, the Voragine seems to act almost completely unaffected by what is happening at the New SE crater.
The calm didn't last very long, though: at 02:40, activity suddenly picked up again at the New SE crater and quickly developed a second paroxysm with lava fountaining that lasted until around 4am, before ceasing again. As during the preceding phase, yet another lava flow was erupted from the main vent of the New SE crater towards the southwestern base.
The following time-lapse shows the whole sequence of activity between yesterday afternoon and this morning:


How the activity likely will continue is uncertain - given that the volcano has broken the rather stable pattern of 40-48 hours between individual events, it hints that it is in a more unstable phase right now, and it can only be speculated upon what and when might come next.

Intense strombolian activity from New SE crater - possibly new paroxysm after less than 24 hours?

Starting from 17:30 local time, volcanic tremor once again started to rise sharply and from around 18:20, intense strombolian activity started at the New SE crater, producing dense ash plumes that rose a few 100 meters and drifted into easterly directions.
This activity seems to be still increasing and if continues might well lead up to yet another paroxysm, this time less than 24 hours since the previous one!

Clockwork Etna - 4th paroxysm in a row of near-identical intervals

Like clockwork, approx. 48 hours after the previous one, Etna produced a 4th paroxysm in a row with near-identical time intervals from the New SE crater last night. It marked the 25th lava-fountaining episode during 2021.
The eruption followed very much the style observed during the previous lava-fountaining episodes: first, from 20:58 local time, strombolian activity resumed at the New SE crater while volcanic tremor began again to rise and its source moved to the area of underneath the New SE crater.
About 1 and a half hour later, activity had increased towards sustained lava fountains from 22:25 on. A tall plume of ash and scoria lapilli drifted ENE. The lava fountain lasted until midnight, when it rapidly ceased.
A lava flow was erupted that like during the previous episodes last week traveled to the SW from the New SE crater.

Lava fountains light up Sicily's sky during Etna's 3rd paroxysm in May 2021

The latest paroxysm of Etna occurred during last night 22-23 May 2021, following about 40 hours since the previous one during 20-21 May, and marking the 3rd such episode in a row in May or number 20 during the year 2021 so far.
Similar as during the preceding two eruptions, the main active vent was in the summit region of the New SE crater, the one known as "saddle vent" (because it used to be in a small depression between the old SE crater and the "New" SE crater, which has been growing a large cone complex to the side of it since 2011).
The peak phase of the eruption occurred between 22:30 local time and midnight. As typical for such paroxysms, the activity ended abruptly, and had ceased by 00:30. Approx. two hours later, a brief phase of reactivation with strong explosions occurred again from the New SE crater, but ceased again quickly.
During the eruption, another rather small lava flow was formed from the cone that traveled to the SW and overlapped older lava flows in this area.

Increasing tremor and beginning of small explosions at New SE crater

Activity at the New SE crater is again gradually picking up.
Starting from 07:30 local time, a constant increase in volcanic tremor amplitude was registered and its source moved to the vicinity of the SE Crater at a depth of about 2.8 km above sea level (or approx. 500 m below the crater rim itself).
Sporadic deep-seated intra-crater explosions and later small strombolian explosions are being observed from the summit vent of the SE Crater.
Small ash plumes were generated that drift east-southeast.
This might be an early indication that the volcano is again heading towards a paroxysm, which might (or not) follow the same intervals of 48 hours as it did often in the past, but it is still early to know for sure.

Spectacular new lava fountaining episode just after 48 hours

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

Intermittent strombolian activity from New SE crater

After a period of mild activity during the last days of April, the volcano had been again calm until yesterday evening, when intermittent mild strombolian activity returned once again to the New SE crater.
Current values of volcanic tremor are low, not suggesting that the activity is about to increase any time soon. It is open to speculation whether the series of particular violent lava fountain episodes during Feb-early April have now emptied the reservoir that contained eruptible magma for good, at least for the time being, and the volcano will stay relatively calm for some time now.
It is unclear whether the activity in the other summit craters (Bocca Nuova, Voragine and NE crater) still continues; it had been largely unaffected by the activity of the New SE crater and had been going on at fluctuating intensity for many months. Thermal anomalies are still present in at least some of the other vents, suggesting that mild intra-crater activity is still present, but the current near-total absence of visitors and direct observations make it difficult to know for sure.

Archived updates

Most recent updates
Part 14: New SE crater paroxysms #8-17 (Mar-April 2021)
Part 13: New SE crater paroxysms #1-7 during Feb-Mar 2021 (Feb-Mar 2021)
Part 12: Activity at New SE and other summit vents (May 2017 - Dec 2020)
Part 11: Lava flow episodes from SE crater (July 2016 - Mar 2017)
Paroxysms in Voragine in May 2015 (Dec 2015-June 2016)
Paroxysms from Voragine in Dec 2015
Paroxysms from NSEC in Feb and May, weak summit activity (Jan-Nov 2015)
Intermittent ash emissions and lava flows from New SE crater (May 2014 - Jan 2015)
Lava flows and strombolian activity at New SE crater, pyroclastic flow 11 Feb (Jan-April 2014)
Paroxysms and lava flows from New SE crater (Dec 2013)
Paroxysms from New SE crater (Nov 2013)
Paroxysms from New SE crater and quiet (April-Oct 2013)
Paroxysms from New SE crater (Feb-Mar 2013)
Intermittent strombolian activity from Bocca Nuova and New SE crater (archived entries April 2012 - Jan 2013)
Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #25 on 24 April 2012 (archived entries 12-24 April 2012)
Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #24 on 12 April 2012 (archived entries 1-12 April 2012)
Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #23 on 1 April 2012 (archived entries 18 March - 1 April 2012)
Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #22 on 18 March 2012 (archived entries 4-18 March 2012)
Etna's New SE crater paroxysm #21 on 4 March 2012 (archived entries 18 Feb - 4 March 2012)

The latest updates are on the top. Reload this page from time to time if you want to check for updates.