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Analyzed, through multidisciplinary techniques, the lava fountain event that affected Etna on March 12, 2021.  The study, conducted by a team from the INGV Etna Observatory, made it possible to define how long it takes for a lava fountain to form an eruptive column and for how long the latter is dispersed in the atmosphere.

Among the various episodes of lava fountains that affected Etna in the first half of 2021, the one on 12 March was able to be studied in detail thanks to the exceptional weather conditions that allowed optimal visibility of the phenomenon.

The research showed that the ash plume formed within half an hour of the start of the event, reached an altitude of 12,6 km and remained in the atmosphere for about two hours after the fountains ceased. These are some of the results of the study "Anatomy of a Paroxysmal Lava Fountain at Etna Volcano: The Case of the 12 March 2021, Episode” conducted by researchers of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and recently published in the journal 'Remote Sensing'.

 "during this year”, explains the researcher Sonia Calvari, first author of the study, “Etna has had several episodes of lava fountaining. We wanted to analyze with multiparametric methods what seemed to us the most intense and which, among other things, took place during the day and with favorable weather conditions. 

In detail, we have used three different methods in which each of the authors of the research is a specialist. I analyzed the images from the monitoring cameras managed by the INGV Etna Observatory, Gaetana Ganci used satellite techniques and automatic routines specially developed by her for the analysis of thermal images obtained from fixed cameras, and Alessandro Bonaccorso used the analysis of the deformations detected with a dilatometer station, or a sensor installed in a well about 150 meters deep, located about 10 km from the summit area of ​​Etna, which thus records a signal free from any surface influence of an anthropic or meteorological nature ”. 

“By comparing the collected data we were able to obtain the total volume erupted. We were also able to detect, for the first time, how the total volume of the material erupted during this lava fountain was less than the sum of the lava flows and the pyroclastic part: in fact, there is a part of the material produced by the fountains which flows back along the slope of the volcano and feeds the lava flows".

"Indeed", continues the researcher “We have calculated that a total volume of 3 million cubic meters of material was emitted during this eruptive event, a value obtained from the dilatometer. From satellite data we obtained the quantity of erupted lava, equal to 2,4 million cubic metres, while from the analysis of the camera images we obtained 1,6 million erupted in the form of pyroclastic material. The difference between the total value obtained from the dilatometer and the sum of the two partials obtained from the analysis of the cameras and satellite data, which corresponds to 30% of the pyroclastic material, it is due to the fact that the latter flowed back down the slope by gravity and went to feed the lava flows".

 "Research", concludes Sonia, Calvari "will continue with the analysis of all the lava fountaining events that have occurred since December last year and that still occur, in order to grasp the variations over time that can make us understand the possible evolution of the phenomenon and the processes that take place in the volcano's feed system".

 #ingv #etna #sicilia #eruption #volcano #research #geosciences #remotesensing


 

Etna. Analyzed the 12 March 2021 lava fountain and the formation of the eruptive column

Analyzed, through multidisciplinary techniques, the lava fountain event that occurred at Etna on 12 March 2021. The study, carried out by a team of the INGV Osservatorio Etneo, allowed us to define how much time a lava fountain would take to form an eruptive column and for how long the latter will expand into the atmosphere.

Among the various episodes of lava fountains that occurred at Etna in the first half of 2021, that of 12 March was studied in detail thanks to the exceptional weather conditions that allowed for optimal visibility of the phenomenon.

The research has shown that the ash plume was formed within 30 minutes from the start of the event, reached 12.6 km of elevation, and remained in the atmosphere for about two hours after the cessation of the fountains. These are some of the results of the study"Anatomy of a Paroxysmal Lava Fountain at Etna Volcano: The Case of the 12 March 2021, Episode" carried out by researchers from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and recently published in the journal 'Remote Sensing'.

 "During this year", explains the researcher Sonia Calvari, first author of the study, "Etna had several episodes of lava fountains. We wanted to analyze with multiparametric methods what seemed to us the most intense and which, among other things, occurred during the day and with favorable weather conditions.

In detail, we used three different methods of which each of the authors of the research is a specialist. I analyzed the images of the monitoring cameras managed by the INGV Osservatorio Etneo, Gaetana Ganci used satellite techniques and automatic routines that she developed specifically for the analysis of thermal images obtained from fixed cameras, and Alessandro Bonaccorso used the analysis of the deformations detected with a dilatometric station, ie a sensor installed in a well about 150 meters deep, located about 10 km from the summit area of ​​Etna, which records a signal free from any surface influence of anthropic or meteorological nature".

 “By using the dilatometer data we were able to obtain the total erupted volume. Furthermore, we were able to detect, for the first time, how the total volume of the material erupted during this lava fountain was less than the sum of the lava flows and the pyroclastic part: there is in fact a part of the material produced by the fountains that flows along the slope of the volcano and feeds the lava flows".

 “In fact”, continues the researcher,”we calculated that during this eruptive event a total volume of 3 million cubic meters of material was emitted, a value obtained from the dilatometer. From satellite data we obtained the amount of lava erupted, equal to 2.4 million cubic meters, while from the analysis of the camera images we obtained 1.6 million cubic meters erupted in the form of pyroclastic materialThe difference between the total value obtained from the dilatometer and the sum of the two partials obtained from the analysis of the cameras and satellite data, which corresponds to 30% of the pyroclastic material, is due to the fact that the latter flowed along the slope by gravity and went to feed the lava flows ".

 "The research" concludes Sonia Calvari "will continue with the analysis of all the events of lava fountains that have occurred since December last year and that still occur, in order to capture variations over time that can make us understand the possible evolution of the phenomenon and the processes that take place in the volcano's feeding system".

 #ingv ##ingv #etna #sicily #eruption #volcano #research #geoscience #remotesensing

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