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Archived Volcano News - John Seach
October 2002
News reports posted in Eastern Australian Time (UT + 10 hr)
Reports written by John Seach
Mt Etna Volcano, Italy
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Thursday 31st October 2002
Mount Etna appeared calmer Wednesday, but a cloud of ash hung over the Sicilian town of Catania and small quakes were still shaking the mountain, Europe's largest and most active volcano.
In Santa Venerina, a town hard hit by a strong tremor Tuesday, several hundred people spent the night in tents, hotels or in cars, in case their homes had suffered structural damage during the quake, said Carmela Floreno, a civil defense official in Catania.
Many buildings in the small town, which lies at the foot of the volcano, were declared unsafe by authorities and evacuated.
"One church bell tower in the town was badly cracked ... and could collapse," Floreno said. Hundreds of homes, churches and other buildings would be inspected for structural damage, she said. Etna's tremor activity appeared to have "stabilized" Wednesday, the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology said in a statement.
Three minor earthquakes struck the area during the night, but none came close to Tuesday's main tremor, which had a 4.4 magnitude.
Meanwhile, Catania and other nearby towns were assessing the damage caused by a series of quakes that hit the area in the wake of the volcano's eruption.
In Catania the airport remained closed as ash continued to pour onto the city, albeit in smaller quantities than in previous days.
Since the eruption started Sunday, the lava has flowed more than halfway down the sides of the 11,000-foot high mountain.
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Mt Etna Volcano (Italy)
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Thursday 31st October 2002
Residents of the Italian city of Catania have been advised to wear protective masks as Mt Etna spewed ash and lava for a third day.
Ash has been raining down on the Sicilian city since Europe's most active volcano began its present bout of activity on Monday.
Residents have to carry umbrellas to protect themselves from particles.
"We strongly advise to wear protective masks, especially in case of chronic bronchitis, asthma and allergies," said Professor Nunzio Crimi, of "Ascoli Tomaselli" hospital's institute for breathing diseases and allergies.
Lava sand contains silicon, iron and sulphur particles, all of which are highly irritating to the lining of the airways. Downpours of ash and streams of lava from the volcano forced authorities to keep Catania's airport closed for a third day and order the shutdown of schools in the city and several nearby towns.
Lava flowed more than halfway down the sides of the 3300m mountain.
But officials said lava and ash activity had slackened since Monday and volcanologists believe there is little danger of a giant eruption from Mt Etna because of a series of vents that allows pressure within the volcano to be released.
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Mt Etna State of Emergency
Mt Etna Volcano (Italy)
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Wednesday 30th October 2002
The Italian Government has declared a state of emergency in parts of Sicily, after a series of earthquakes accompanying the eruption of Mount Etna forced about 1,000 people flee their homes. The decision was taken at an emergency cabinet meeting in Rome.
Hundreds of tremors have been registered since the eruption began on Sunday, but Tuesday's was the largest, at 4.3 on the Richter scale. It was followed by two more quakes registering 3.6 and 4.0, adding to the panic of local villagers.
More than 100 homes were damaged in Santa Venerina, and holiday hotels have been requisitioned to accommodate the displaced families.
A ship equipped with a medical clinic aboard was positioned off Catania - to the south of the volcano - to be ready in case of emergency, the Civil Defence press office said.
"We are concerned and we are trying to find out... if we can expect even more worrying developments," Italy's European Affairs Minister Rocco Butiglione told AFP news agency.
Meanwhile, two streams of lava are continuing to flow down the southern and northern slopes of the volcano. Residential areas are not threatened but tourist facilities have been swallowed up, and acres of pine forest have been consumed by fire.
Etna is a popular skiing area, and the season would normally be beginning soon.
Ski lifts on the southern side of the volcano were swamped by lava last year.
Those on the northern slopes have already been damaged by this latest eruption.
Emergency workers have been digging channels in the earth in an attempt to divert the northern flow away from the town of Linguaglossa.
Schools in the town have been shut down, although the church has remained open for people to pray. Apart from Santa Venerina, Tuesday's earthquake also affected the villages of Giarre, and Zafferana Etnea. Civil defence official Enrico Galeani said some people had been slightly injured. The airport outside the city of Catania remained closed on Tuesday for a third day.
Ash has been falling continuously on the city, and drifting across the Mediterranean as far as Libya. Europe's biggest and most active volcano has been throwing lava more than 100 metres (330 feet) into the air, in a spectacular display.
The lava has swallowed buildings, including at least one restaurant, knocked down power lines and pushed over ski-lift pylons. Volcanologists have warned that it is gradually becoming more explosive and more dangerous over the years.
Etna is almost constantly rumbling, but had not erupted since July and August last year, which experts described as one of the most erratic and complex displays in 300 years.
More on Mt Etna Volcano...
Mt Etna Volcano (Italy)
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Wednesday 30th October 2002
A new quake rocked Sicily on Tuesday, sparking fresh streams of lava and ash from Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, and leaving hundreds of panicked families temporarily homeless.
The tremor, which registered 4.4 on the Richter scale, jolted the town of Santa Venerina, south-east of Etna, at about 11 am local time, damaging hundreds of homes, shops and the local church, although no injuries were immediately reported.
"We were cleaning the church. We were really lucky that we were outside when it hit," said Maria Lagana, a local resident. "Nobody was hurt but can you imagine the terror with all these children around."
The latest shock comes three days after a series of earthquakes rocked Etna awake, sending rivers of lava flowing down the mountain and streams of ash into the sky.
Screaming mothers ran into the streets clutching their children in Santa Venerina.
The quake damaged an entire block of houses which were declared uninhabitable by officials. The families will be put up in tents temporarily.
Over the last three days, boiling lava has sparked fires in nearby pine forests and thick ash has painted the sky above Catania, Sicily's second-largest city, black, although towns did not appear to run any immediate risk of being engulfed.
While firefighters and ambulances attended to the shocked residents of Santa Venerina, planes continued to dump gallons of water on the flaming trees on Tuesday.
About 50 sleepless residents in Linguaglossa, a popular ski town about 12 kilometres from the biggest lava river, spent the night praying in the town's main church, while schools remained closed.
But rescue workers stressed the town, which lies 500 metres up the 3,350-metre volcano and whose name means "tongue of lava", would not be eaten up.
"The fact that the people of Linguaglossa are very worried is reasonable and justified, but at the moment I can exclude any danger for the town," Vincenzo Crimi, taking a break from co-ordinating rescue efforts on his radio, said.
Higher up the mountain, bulldozers moved in to build barricades to direct the lava flow away from ski resorts and restaurants nestled in the woods.
Etna began rumbling on Sunday after hundreds of small tremors shook the eastern edge of Sicily and parts of mainland Italy.
Ash continued to rain down on Catania and residents carried umbrellas to protect themselves from flaming particles. The dark clouds stretched as far as Africa and were visible from space.
Catania's main airport was closed for the third day, with flights redirected to Sicily's capital Palermo.
Etna is almost constantly rumbling, but experts say its fissures act like vents, releasing pressure at regular intervals instead of allowing it to build up into a massive explosion.
Civil protection officials said on Tuesday that some of those fissures may have widened overnight because of continued tremors.
Etna has not produced any serious activity since a series of eruptions in July and August last year, described as one of the most erratic and complex displays in 300 years.
More on Mt Etna Volcano...
Mt Etna Volcano (Italy)
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Wednesday 30th October 2002
MORE than 100 small earthquakes shook the Mediterranean island of Sicily yesterday as Mount Etna spewed fountains of ash and magma up to 650ft into the air.
Rivers of molten rock moved down the side of Europe’s highest volcano, igniting the forests like parched timber and destroying everything in their path.
The tremors, which measured between 1.1 and 3.5 on the Richter scale, were accompanied by clouds of hot ash and soot which choked the skies, making day seem like night.
To thousands of Sicilians, the second day of violent geological activity on the 3,350m volcano meant significant disruption to their daily lives. To an unfortunate few, it also meant the loss of businesses and homes.
The eruptions began in the early hours of Sunday, after several small tremors shook the island’s eastern edge and parts of mainland Italy. The epicentre was located just one mile south of the centre of Etna’s crater.
Yesterday, Italian rescue teams sent water-carrying planes into the skies to try to stem the rivers of boiling magma which snaked down the mountainside to an altitude of about 5,000ft.
While no towns on the slopes have been endangered so far, officials evacuated several areas in the flow’s path on Sunday after a new vent opened.
By late Sunday afternoon, the eruption had destroyed a line of ski-lift pylons to the volcano’s summit, as well as a considerable area of pine forest.
Yesterday, residents of Linguaglossa, a popular ski resort on the northern side of the island, whose name means "big tongue of lava", nervously eyed the glowing rocks and boiling liquid as it continued to stream down the mountainside.
The earthquakes which accompanied the eruptions were recorded by Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology.
Bulldozers worked throughout the day to divert the lava from the buildings and surrounding roads. Two schools were shut down but the parish priest decided to keep open the main church to allow the area’s faithful to pray.
"What can I say?" Felice Stagnitta, the town’s mayor, told reporters as pine trees crackled with fire behind him. "Just look at it. My heart is bleeding."
Another local, Graziella Pappalardo, wept on a friend’s shoulder as she realised her family’s restaurant, Racabo Refuge, had been engulfed in lava further up the mountain.
"The emergency services are a mess. The lava has already arrived here. They’re just a mess," she said, blinking back tears as the mountain continued to roar behind her.
People in the town prayed before a statue of Padre Pio, asking the Italian monk who was made a saint this year to stop the lava flow.
On the southern side, as many as 15 cracks opened up, feeding one stream of lava.
The lava was just over two kilometres away from the Piano Vetore astrophysics observatory, said Antonino Mostaccio, of the Vulcanology institute.
The main airport for the eastern part of the island, Catania’s Fontanarossa, has been ordered to shut down until at least dawn today.
Officials had hoped to reopen it yesterday, following the closure on Sunday, but a thick cloud of black ash that has hampered vision and coated runways with slick ash made that impossible. The ash clouds can also choke the engines of any aircraft that tries to fly through them.
Alitalia, Italy’s national airline, diverted many of its flights to Palermo.
Motorbikes, considered too dangerous to be permitted on the ash-coated streets, were also forbidden to circulate for at least two days.
Etna is almost constantly rumbling, but has not produced any serious activity since a series of eruptions in July and August last year, which experts described as one of the most erratic and complex displays in 300 years. Its last major explosion was in 1992.
Analysts said the eruption was expected to continue for several more days.
"There are no signs of a decrease in the eruption, but the situation is expected to remain stable," said Stefano Cresta, a geology professor with Catania’s university.
The city of Catania was almost completely reconstructed in the mid-1700s after the twin cataclysms of Etna’s 1669 eruption and one of Europe’s most destructive earthquakes in 1693.
More on Mt Etna Volcano...
Mt Etna Lava Destroys Buildings
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Tuesday 29th October 2002
In the course of the day an increase in lava flow occurs on with dimensions North and the station of Provenzana Piano is entirely destroyed by the lava (3 hotels, 5 restaurants and all huts are memories). The hotel restoring "Betulle" which had suffered at the time of the seismic activity entirely is destroyed and covered by the lava. The only building which remains is the Provenzana restaurant which also was damaged by the seismic activity on Saturday and Sunday but which was saved from lava.
The lava continues its advance in the pine forest in direction of Linguaglossa. Its advance for this morning has been a hundred meters, the face of lava is this evening has 1400m approximately and the width passed from 200 to 400 meters.
On the southern side lava flows at a much slower rate than in the first hours of the morning. The fountains of lava which occurred on the fracture in the zone of 2700 meters between the crater Monte Frumento Supino and the old station of the cable car destroyed into 1983 is on the other hand more intense. The eruption height is approximately 500 m and 15-20 cm diameter lava bombs reach 2500m elevation on the volcano.
The seismic activity continues with a new jolt at 1251hr of magnitude 2.8 and the epicentre is located at the NW of Milo.
The airport of Catania remains closed to the movement of planes because of the significant presence of ashes on the runway. In the evening the town of Nicolosi is completely covered by emissions with ashes, in the streets the visibility is reduced as if we are in fog.
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Mt Etna Update (Italy)
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Tuesday 29th October 2002
Mount Etna spewed thick clouds of ash and magma for a second day Monday, prompting officials to close some schools as the air turned sooty over much of eastern Sicily.
The lava descended to an altitude of aout 5,000 feet, but so far no towns on the mountainside were endangered, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said.
In a spectacular show of flaming and flying stone, Etna hurled lava more than 330 feet into the air. The main airport for the eastern part of the island, Catania's Fontanarossa, was ordered shut down till at least Tuesday morning. Officials had hoped to reopen the airport on Monday after Sunday's closure, but a thick cloud of black ash that hampered vision and coated runways made reopening it unlikely.
Italy's national airline, Alitalia, said many of its flights would be diverted to Palermo instead.
Some of Catania's 350,000 residents used umbrellas and hats to shield themselves from the rain of ash. Motorbikes, considered too dangerous on the ash-coated streets, were forbidden for at least two days.
One stream of lava was coming down the northeastern side of the mountain and the other one on the southern side, said Antonino Mostaccio of the Volcanology Institute.
On the northern side, fires raged in a pine forest near Piano Provenzana, with helicopters and planes trying to douse the flames. Some of the trees caught fire in the extreme heat before the lava even reached them.
On Monday, emergency crews with bulldozers and other heavy equipment started working to divert the lava from Linguaglossa, a town in the northern side, and state roads around it.
Two schools in Linguaglossa were shut down, while the town's parish priest decided to keep the main church open.
Television showed people in town praying before a statue of Padre Pio, asking the Italian monk who was made a saint this year to stop the lava flow.
On the southern side, as many as 15 cracks opened up, feeding one stream of lava.
The lava was about 1.5 miles away from the Piano Vetore astrophysics observatory, said Mostaccio.
The volcano, Europe's most active, came to life Sunday, after a series of 200 small earthquakes rattled eastern Sicily, sending some people into the streets in panic.
The quakes continued Monday, but the seismic activity was decreasing, Mostaccio said. The strongest quake Monday had a preliminary magnitude of 3.8.
On Sunday, a flow of lava started toward Piano Provenzana, a starting point for mountain hikes. The stream of lava toppled power lines, destroyed ski lift pylons and a ski school building.
No injuries were reported, and the Piano Provenzana area, usually busy with tourists and hikers, was evacuated before the lava. The eruption was expected to continue for a few more days.
More on Mt Etna Volcano...
Mt Etna (Italy)
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Monday 28th October 2002
The eruption continues at Mt Etna. During the night incandescent material was visible in 3 new craters which have formed at 2700 m elevation, under the Torre del Filosofo (between SE crater and Montagnola). Catania airport has been closed due to ashfall. Seismic activity is still significant with a jolt of magnitude of 3.8 on the scale of Richter recorded with 0302 hr.
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Mt Etna Volcano Erupts (Italy)
37.73 N, 15.00 E, summit elevation 3350 m, Shield volcano
Monday 28th October 2002
Rivers of boiling lava poured down Mount Etna on Sunday, ploughing over ski-lifts and surrounding a mountain restaurant after a series of earthquakes aggravated Europe's most active volcano. Pine trees caught fire almost instantly as the heat of the lava engulfed them and the stench of sulphur filled the air as cracks opened up in the ground, witnesses said.
Civil protection officials in Catania, which sits in Etna's shadow, called a crisis meeting and were preparing to send water-carrying planes into the skies to try to bring the fires under control.
The eruptions began in the early hours of Sunday, shortly after a series of small earthquakes shook the eastern edge of Sicily and parts of mainland Italy.
Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology said more than 100 tremors measuring 1.1 to 3.5 on the Richter scale struck the region, with the epicentre just 1.5 km south-east of the centre of Etna's crater. The volcano, Europe's highest at 3,350 metres, pumped out huge dark clouds of ash and spurted streams of lava 200 metres into the air.
More than 10 hours after the first eruptions, an immense mushroom-shaped cloud still hung over the mountain top, and in Catania, city workers were sweeping thick layers of ash from the streets.
Italy's ANSA news agency reported three tongues of lava snaking down the mountain from fissures at a height of around 2,300 to 2,500 metres. Cracks were also found at about 1,500 metres, but no lava activity was reported at that altitude.
The heaviest flow was descending on Piano Provenzana, a popular area for tourists to take mountain walks in summer and for skiing and other activities in the winter.
The flow pushed over ski-lift pylons, knocked down power lines and swallowed a ski-school hut before surrounding an empty mountain restaurant. Officials said no one was injured.
Etna is almost constantly rumbling, but has not produced any serious activity since a series of eruptions in July and August 2001, which experts described as one of the most erratic and complex displays in 300 years.
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Gorely Volcano (Russia)
52.55 N, 158.03 E, summit elevation 1829 m, caldera
Saturday 26th October 2002
The volcano Gorely, which is situated on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Sea of Okhotsk, has woken up to heightened seismic activity.
According to a source in the Laboratory of Active Volcanism at the Institute of Volcanology, a seismic station located on the top of the Gorely registered continuous tremors that were four times stronger than the background tremors, with smoke and steam up to 300 meters high. Volcanologists believe the volcano, which has been dormant since 1985, may shortly erupt again. The volcano is situated in the southern part of Kamchatka, 75 kilometres southwest of the peninsula's administrative center of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
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Rabaul Volcano (Papua New Guinea)
4.271 S, 152.203 E, summit elevation 688 m, Caldera
Saturday 26th October 2002
A volcano which destroyed the Papua New Guinea town of Rabaul in 1994 is again erupting, spewing volcanic ash on to homes and forcing the nation's carrier Air Nuigini to suspend flights to the port. A Rabaul volcanologist said Mount Tavurvur on New Britain island began erupting on Sunday with a series of large explosions, but the eruption was not regarded as serious at this stage as activity had subsided in recent days. There has been no lava, but the explosions have thrown rocks up to 700 metres from the summit. Light ash had fallen on Rabaul, a port town on New Britain island 800 km northeast of the capital Port Moresby. Air Nuigini stopped flights to Rabaul on Wednesday. "Volcanic ash is within the vicinity of the aerodrome and we can't get in. We have suspended flights indefinitely," said an Air Nuigini official. (Reuters)
The current level of activity is expected to continue. Rabaul Volcano Observatory advise that a major eruption seems unlikely.
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Rabaul Volcano (Papua New Guinea)
4.271 S, 152.203 E, summit elevation 688 m, Caldera
Monday 21st October 2002
ERUPTION DETAILS: Large explosion at 1347 local [0347 hr] on 20 October 2002. The eruption produced a thick dark ash plume to about 3km in height before dispersing to the north and northwest. Similar explosions are expected to continue for the next couple of days.
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Mauna Loa Volcano (Hawaii)
19.47 N, 155.60 W, summit elevation 4170 m, shield volcano
Sunday 20th October, 2002
Scientists at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory have fielded more than 1,000 phone calls and e-mails from people concerned about a possible eruption of Mauna Loa.
That's because of national news reports warning that large sections of the Big Island could be inundated with lava by early next year. While inflation of the type currently under way at the volcano could lead to an eruption, this is by no means certain. Such periods of inflation are often followed by deflation. It's sure that Mauna Loa will erupt again, but it is not known if this current inflation will lead to eruption.
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Kilauea Volcano (Hawaii)
19.425 N, 155.292 W, summit elevation 1222 m, Shield volcano
Friday 4th October, 2002
Eruptive activity of Kilauea Volcano continued unabated at the Pu`u `O`o vent during the past week. Molten lava is flowing near the end of the Chain of Craters road, and the National Park Service is allowing visitors to get up close to the action where it is safe. The new ocean entry at Middle Highcastle between the older West Highcastle and Highcastle entries has developed a delta that measures 570 m (1,870 ft) along the coastline and extends 50 m (165 ft) beyond the old shoreline. There has been a disturbing report from a late night viewer describing stupid people going beyond the boundary of the safe viewing area and on to the unstable bench of the active Wilipe`a ocean entry. Shortly after leaving the bench, the area collapsed into the sea!
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Mauna Loa Volcano (Hawaii)
19.47 N, 155.60 W, summit elevation 4170 m, shield volcano
Thursday 3rd October, 2002
The summit area of Mauna Loa volcano has been slowly swelling and stretching since May 2002. Distances across the summit caldera are lengthening at a rate of 5-6 cm (2-2.5 inches) per year. That means that, as of today, the caldera has widened about 2 cm (0.8 inches) since May 12. This marks a noticeable, perhaps notable, change from the pattern of the preceding 9 years. The GPS measurements also show that the summit area is getting slightly higher, consistent with swelling. This slow swelling has not been accompanied by an increase in number or size of earthquakes because the rocks will probably bend before they break. Before the last two eruptions (1975, 1984), there were large increases in both numbers of earthquakes and the amount of energy released by these earthquakes. On that basis alone, there is no reason to say that an eruption will take place in the next few weeks.
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Lava Boosts Big Island Tourism
Kilauea Volcano (Hawaii)
19.425 N, 155.292 W, summit elevation 1222 m, Shield volcano
Wednesday 2nd October, 2002
The Big Island got 500 to 800 domestic visitors most days in September, about 100 more people a day than was typical last summer, because of the conveniently-located Mother's Day lava flow. The eruptive phase that began on Mother's Day this spring come so close to the end of Chain of Craters Road that the best lava show in years has drawn extra visitors from other islands, the U.S. mainland, and even from Japan. Eruptive activity of Kilauea Volcano continued unabated at the Puu Oo vent last week, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported. "Molten lava is flowing near the end of the Chain of Craters road, and the National Park Service is allowing visitors to get up close to the action," the National Geological Survey said. "The lava delta at Wilipea continues to grow, and lava is now also entering the ocean intermittently near West Highcastle."
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