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This photo
gallery covers the ten-and-a-half months period before the 2002-2003 eruption,
during which I made only occasional visits to Etna, but took a large quantity
of photographs to document the changes caused by the 2001 eruption. Many
of these have become historical documents indeed, for they show scenes
and features which no longer exist. They also show how little indicators
there were of a great new eruption, much bigger and destructive than its
predecessor in the summer of 2001.
Climbing
Etna on a splendid winter's day, 30 January 2002
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The
view from the Torre del Filosofo mountain hut toward the summit
craters is dominated by the proudly rising cone of the Southeast
Crater, which in this perspective appears even taller than the
old central summit cone (in left background), although it is slightly
lower. The bulk of this cone formed during a total of 105 episodes
of violent lava fountaining between September 1998 and July 2001,
but as of early 2002, when this photo was taken, the eastern portion
of its summit is beginning to crumble. Yellow sulfur deposits
are visible at the summit and also form a conspicuous stripe on
the southern (near) side of the cone, which coincides with a fissure
that reopened during nearly all of the paroxysmal eruptive episodes
of the year 2000 but remained inactive during their successors
in the spring and early summer of 2001. At the lower end of this
fissure, a small cone formed in the spring of 2000, which was
called "Sudestino" (little Southeast). To the right
of it, half-covered with snow, there is dark, steep-sided cone,
which formed during the July-August 2001 flank eruption |
Distant
glimpes of Etna, April-May 2002
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A
brilliantly clear view of snow-covered Etna from the scenic hills
above the town of Taormina, one early morning in mid-April 2002.
Note the melting of snow in the summit area (the cone of the Southeast
Crater is seen standing to the left of the summit, while the tallest
peak (actually 3318 m in elevation) is the Northeast Crater. Some
melting of snow is taking place on that crater as well |
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Postcard
view of Etna after a heavy snowfall in early May 2002, with parts
of the towns of Taormina (right) and Giardini (left) lining the
scenic coast of the Ionian Sea in the foreground. Note:
the image is not clickable due to low quality of original slide |
Marvellous
Acqua della Rocca, early May 2002
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One
of the most beautiful spots on Etna, the scenic valley with the
dried-up cascade known locally as "Acqua della Rocca"
(water of the rock), on the southeastern flank of the volcano.
This is also one of the geologically most intriguing sites, since
it tells a fascinating story of a torrent of water that once ran
down through this valley, but which ceased flowing a few thousand
years ago because its source, located higher upslope, disappeared.
Some researchers believe that the source was actually a glacier,
which lay on a part of the volcano that was removed in the latest
catastrophic lateral collapse that occurred in the Valle del Bove
area.
The left photograph shows the spectacular outcrop of polished
rock where once the water used to plunge over a cliff about 80
m high. Right image is a view from the top of that cliff, down
into the lower portion of the valley (which is also one of the
greenest areas on the southern side of the mountain), with the
prehistoric pyroclastic cone of Monte Monaco in the center-left
background. Photos were taken on 1 May 2002 |
Two
"different" views of Etna, May 2002
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Left:
the enormous cone of Etna seen from the Monti Nebrodi to the northwest
in early May 2002. The Monti Nebrodi, which are not volcanic,
not only offer breathtaking views to the volcano, but an unexpected
variety of landscapes, with dense forests, lakes, and mountain
ranges that one would rather suggest in Germany or Switzerland,
but not in Sicily
Right: a late snow fall on 24 May 2002 has whitened the large
cone of the Montagnola on Etna's southern flank. This view highlights
a few details that are otherwise less visible: the horseshoe-shaped
crater of the Montagnola, which is open to the observer, and the
peculiar dark ridge of lava which formed below the crater during
its eruption in June-September 1763 (another flank eruption had
occurred earlier that year on the western side of the volcano).
In contrast with most other lava flow-fields on Etna, that of
the Montagnola consists of countless short overlapping lobes that
built up to a thickness of probably more than 100 m in places |
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