High level of activity at Stromboli volcano, Italy

Activity at Stromboli volcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy remains at high levels since the end of December 2018.

Today's activity at the volcano is characterized by puffing with high amplitude mainly located at NE vent and by high amplitude explosions at NE e C vent, the Laboratorio Geofisica Sperimentale (LGS) noted in Stromboli Daily Report published by 12:49 UTC on January 21, 2019.

VLP amplitude is medium with a rate showing high values and the tremor is at medium level.

The infrasonic activity is high. The acoustic pressure of explosions is high, 2.91 bar (standard values <1 bar). The amplitude of puffing is high, ~100 mbar. 

Tiltmeters analysis doesn't show any significant deformation. 

Stromboli on January 20, 2019. Video courtesy Volcano Discovery

Thermal activity of explosive events is high. The number of thermal transients in the NE sector of the crater (standard = 100) is high, 164. The amplitude of thermal transients is low, <10 ºF. Exit velocity of pyroclasts, estimated through thermal camera analysis, is high, 44 m/s. 

SO₂ flux in the NE sector of the crater terrace remains up to medium values. 

Rockfall activity is low (zero detections during the last 24 hours) and the SO2 flux in the NE sector of the crater terrace remains up to medium values. The activity is compatible with the thermal anomalies recorded by MODIS (max 15 MW). 

Image credit Laboratorio Geofisica Sperimentale (LGS)

Image credit Laboratorio Geofisica Sperimentale (LGS)

"When observed from close earlier today, there were 6 active vents producing intermittent strombolian explosions of small to large size," volcanologist Dr. Tom Pfeiffer of the Volcano Discovery reported on January 20.

"The new cinder cone that has been built recently around the NE vent displayed mild and continuous lava spattering with intense lava glow at night, as well as strombolian explosions of small to moderate size (ejection heights racing from few tens of meters to approximately 150 m / 492 feet) at intervals of 10 – 20 minutes: 

Stromboli on January 20, 2019. Video courtesy Volcano Discovery

High-quality Stromboli webcam is here.

Geological summary

Spectacular incandescent nighttime explosions at this volcano have long attracted visitors to the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean."

Stromboli, the NE-most of the Aeolian Islands, has lent its name to the frequent mild explosive activity that has characterized its eruptions throughout much of historical time. The small, 924-m-high (3 031 feet) island is the emergent summit of a volcano that grew in two main eruptive cycles, the last of which formed the western portion of the island.

The Neostromboli eruptive period from about 13 000 to 5 000 years ago was followed by formation of the modern Stromboli edifice. The active summit vents are located at the head of the Sciara del Fuoco, a prominent horseshoe-shaped scarp formed about 5 000 years ago as a result of the most recent of a series of slope failures that extend to below sea level.

The modern volcano has been constructed within this scarp, which funnels pyroclastic ejecta and lava flows to the NW. Essentially continuous mild strombolian explosions, sometimes accompanied by lava flows, have been recorded for more than a millennium. (GVP)

Featured image credit: Luciano B. (2013)