Etna, March 7, 2021. At dawn the tenth paroxysm

picture 1 The CSE cone and the lava flow, from the Schiena dell'Asino thermal camera, after the end of the paroxysm at 08:10picture 2 One of the moments of greatest intensity, seen from the Bronte thermal camerapicture 3 The beginning of Strombolian activity at the CSE, from the Montagnola thermal camera

In the early hours of Sunday 7 March, Etna produced another spectacular paroxysmal event at the Southeast Crater, the tenth in the sequence that began last 16 February. Indeed, in the very early hours of the morning of 7 March, a new lava flow began to be emitted from the Etna crater. INGV communicated this phenomenon as early as 2:00 in the night, together with the beginning of the increase in the volcanic tremor and the Strombolian activity of the South-East Crater which, this night, was added to that, never interrupted, of the other summit craters. The crescendo of intensity of the phenomena continued for hours and at 4:30 the intense Strombolian activity produced an ash cloud that reached a height of 5000m and was pushed by the winds towards the East. In the meantime, the lava flow slowly reached an altitude of 2900m. The volcanic tremor also progressively increased during the night. In the early hours of the morning, in fact, at around 6:00 it was at high values ​​while the lava flow, descending, reached an altitude of 2700m. It should be emphasized, however, that up to that moment, the explosive activity, albeit intense, had not yet shown lava fountains. Around 7:00 in the morning, the intensity of the paroxysm produced a real lava fountain and at 7:20 the eruptive column reached 10.000m of altitude producing a copious fallout of ash and lapilli on the Etna villages of Milo , Fornazzo, Trepunti, Giarre, Macchia di Giarre, Mascali, Riposto and Torre Archirafi. From 7:45 the volcanic tremor showed a rapid decrease in amplitude reaching medium-low levels and the lava fountain ended at 8:10, although a weak ash emission from the South-East Crater remained. However, shortly before 11:00, the increase in the amplitude of the volcanic tremor resumed, until it reached medium-high values ​​again, accompanied by a new intense Strombolian activity at the same Crater and with an ash cloud that it is dispersed in the eastern sector of the volcano. This activity is still ongoing and INGV is constantly following its development. As in past events, INGV OE personnel are carrying out soil surveys for sampling the fallout products and subsequent laboratory analyses.

INGV promptly disseminates all information on Etna's paroxysms on INGV's social channels. In particular, the INGVVulcani channels of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are continuously updated also with the press releases constantly issued by the INGV Etna Observatory and with significant photos and images of the phenomena.