07/10 New Sud Est crater strombolian activity?
Dr. Henning wrote on 5th:
“Dear David,
is there new activity?
On webcam 1 of Etnatrekking I can observe an eruption. The position in
the black picture of the night could be SEC (see picture).
Best wishes
Klaus Henning”
Unfortunately I was (and I am) sick so I can’t verify. If anybody has news please use ‘Comments’ to this article.
Time: 13:40 – 13:50 British Summer Time, Tuesday October 7th.
I don’t know if there’s a connection, but if you look at Etna Trekking’s Camera 3 (Etna Nord) there is what looks like a small eruption cloud on the extreme left of the picture. I’m not 100% sure though if it’s ash+vapour or simply weather cloud. Sometimes though the ‘cauliflower’ convolutions look very hard and tight-packed which suggests eruption not weather.
I suggest that to resolve the issue someone goes up there and takes a look. I’d go myself if I had the money! Any other volunteers? Bear in mind that the approach from Etna South seems covered in mist – always a hazard with mountain hiking. Perhaps a small group led by an experienced guide could go?
There’s also a lot of fume from the cone on the right (NE Crater?) and rising from the slope in the centre of the picure. The latter suggests the lava flows are still active.
I’ll have another look tonight sometime. The more I look at it now the more I think it is an eruption cloud. The only factor against it being a volcanic cloud is that somehow it doesn’t look solid enough. Maybe lots of vapour with just a little ash?
View from the Etna Trekking ‘Val de Bove’ webcam is obscured by cloud.
Time: 15:20 British Summer Time, Tuesday October 7th.
Yes, me again. I’ve just looked at the Etna Trekking’s ‘Etna Nord’ camera again and the extreme left of the picture is showing a vapour plume coming out of a hole the ground (actually at 15:22 this seems to have stopped). This vapour plume is as far as I can see on the same spot as what was almost certainly an eruption cloud which I reported at 13:40-13:50. This was either vapour mixed with some ash or, at the very least, a very great deal of vapour. I still think that perhaps someone should go take a look.
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(I presume the black spot visible on the Etna Nord camera just now at top right is where the webcam’s photon detectors protect themselves from direct sunlight)
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15:30 – Vapour activity from the place I reported at 13:40 still seems to have ceased.
I think what Etna Trekking cam 1 shows, are secondary flows from ephemaral vents. The vents are located inside the lava field feed by the eruptive fissure, active since May, 13th. This flows change position and activity from day to day, so ist looks sometimes like new activity. The vents at 2800 m are also still emiting steam and little ash. It is possible that there was weak strombolian activity at the vents in the last days, because tremor was a little bit enhanced.
Time: 22:40 British Summer Time, Tuesday October 7th.
I’ve looked at Etna Trekking cameras nos. 1 and 3 (Val de Bove and Etna Nord). No 1 shows lava flows emerging more or less dead centre (and has done now for several weeks I think). No. 3 shows lava flows emerging on the extreme right about 1/2-2/3 of the way down.
I wish Dr Henning the best of luck with his observations. I think a human eye-witness is better than a webcam anytime, but webcams are very useful for just keeping an eye on things so that we know when it’s best to visit personally.
I can tell that there has been no activity at the Southeast Crater for many months now. Every now and then there is a bit of vapor rising from the vent that produced the lava fountains of 4-5 September and 23-24 November 2007 and 10 May 2008, but I climbed to the rim of the vent in August during a period of continuous vapor emission and there was no eruptive activity at all.