Strombolian activity at Mount Etna, Italy
Featured image: Etna on September 20, 2020. Credit: INGV
Strombolian activity with sporadic ash emissions continues intermittently at Mount Etna's 'saddle crater' since around July 10, 2020.
The image below shows strombolian activity at the newest crater, referred to as the 'cono della sella' (saddle cone). The crater emerged during early 2017 in the area between Southeast Crater (SEC) and New Southeast Crater (NSEC).

Etna on September 20, 2020. Credit: INGV
At the same time, there is also a strombolian activity within the Northeast Crater, and there are sporadic ash emissions from the Voragine Crater.
Finally managed to get to 3300m altitude – the top of #Etna yesterday.
Amazing to gaze into the Central Crater before traversing round the west ridge to look at the new SE crater and saddle vents.
This was the day before significant Stombolian activity began!#volcanism #geology pic.twitter.com/AnAYvJDOjt— Charles Simpson (@unknownsymmetry) September 20, 2020
Spectacular lightning and thunder on the evening of 21 September 2020 in the area of #Etna (which is in eruption at the same time, but veiled in thick cloud). View is from home in Tremestieri Etneo, on the south flank of the volcano. pic.twitter.com/BoMwtfA4V0
— Boris Behncke (@etnaboris) September 21, 2020
A quick look through the eyes of ESA's Sentinel-2 satellite reveals a prominent thermal anomaly over the volcano today:

Thermal anomaly at Mount Etna on September 21, 2020. Credit: Copernicus EU/Sentinel-2, @platformAdam/Antonio Vecoli
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
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