EtnaUpdater @EtnaUpdater@qoto.org

#Etna
Some weak earthquakes at shallow depths at the Southeast Crater complex last night. Then a sharp decrease in tremor amplitude. Now again a strong increase of the tremor. I wonder what the old lady is brewing up?

#volcano #volcanology

I tried to do something on the PC....😂
Happy #caturday !

#introduction

Hello everyone!
My name is Oliver Beck. I'm here mainly to report on the current activity of the Mt Etna volcano. I was infected by the volcano virus as an 11-year-old boy when I visited Etna in the summer of 1979 and was able to observe explosive activity directly at the summit craters. In 2002 I returned to the mountain and in 2004 I started to report regularly about Mt Etna in German language on my website. Since then I have climbed the volcano many times and experienced several #eruptions.
Of course I am also interested in other volcanoes (LaPalma, Stromboli, Turrialba and many more) and volcanology in general. I love stones and minerals and their chemistry. So I hope to learn more here as well. I live in Hesse (Germany) on the edge of the Vogelsberg. This is the largest extinct volcanic area in Europe. I love nature and hiking. I like to visit abandoned quarries, which reveal a lot about the former activity of the Vogelsberg. So I will also report about my backyard geology here from time to time.
I work as a laboratory assistant at a large pharmaceutical company, where I deal with instrumental analysis (GC, HPLC). My focus is not only on chemistry, but also on Chromatography Data System support and software development. Besides volcanology, programming is another of my great passions. At the moment I work a lot with C#, VBA and SQL. It all started with a Commodore 64, where after BASIC I soon switched to Assembler and then to Pascal. Later I worked a lot with Perl, C++, Java and Javascript.
Other interests of mine are my garden, cooking and my Sphinx cats.

#Etna, #volcano, #volcanology, #eruption, #sicilia, #catania, #lapalma, #stromboli, #INGV, #stones, #minerals, #chemistry, #Vogelsberg, #chemistry, #C#, #C++, #VBA, #SQL, #perl, #java, #javascript, #sphinxcats

- #Etna Update October 2022 -

Observations at the summit craters:
At Bocca Nuova, the powerful and pulsating gas emission continued in October. Deep-seated explosions accompanied by loud thunder also occurred frequent. However, no material was ejected. At the Southeast Crater complex, gas was continuously released from the central crater area (between the New and Old Southeast crater). Fractures along the upper southern flank of the cone persistently released some gas. Gas emission from fumaroles also occurred on the upper northern flank of the cone. A hot spot exists on the inner western crater wall, which is perceived as a glowing spot at night by means of light-sensitive webcams. Voragine and Northeast Crater are blocked and released little gas.

Geophisical parameters:
Seismic activity was low and concentrated on the northeast flank. The strongest quake had a magnitude of 2.4.
Volcanic tremor continued at medium levels in October and was localised below the central crater at 2500 - 3000 m altitude.
GPS measurements showed a continuation of the slow expansion of the volcanic edifice, with a slight increase in velocity.

Gas emissions:
Sulphur dioxide emissions at the summit craters were at a medium level in October.
Ground carbon dioxide emissions (ETNAGAS station) fluctuated on the limit between medium and low levels in October. They were lower than in September.
The concentration of Helium isotopes (3He/4He ratio) in the Etna area, determined on 13 October, was slightly higher than last month. The measured value reached a high level.

My interpretation of the data and speculations about the further development:
The inflation of the volcanic edifice continued in October and even accelerated somewhat. Presumably, magma continues to rise beneath the mountain and migrate at depth along the various rift systems. This process is slowly pushing Etna's eastern flank further east. The slight increase in the helium isotope 3He indicates that more fresh magma rose again in October. In contrast, carbon dioxide emissions decreased. Seismicity also remained low. From these data, I conclude that new eruptive activity is not imminent. In a few months, however, there could be renewed Strombolian activity. This is probably most likely to occur at the Southeast Crater complex or in Bocca Nuova.

Source:
- Own observations via webcams.
- INGV-Sezione di Catania. 2022. Etna - BOLLETTINO MENSILE MESE DI RIFERIMENTO OTTOBRE 2022