Life on Etna, 1997

First summit visit, 14 June 1997

Left: the impressive funnel-shaped pit of the Voragine on 14 June 1997. The degassing vent on the crater bottom is seen to be blocked by landslides from the crater walls
Right: eruptive activity at the northwestern vent cluster of the Bocca Nuova, with effusion of two lava flows on the crater bottom, 14 June 1997

	Left: the craggy summit of the Northeast Crater cone seen from the northwestern rim of the Bocca Nuova, 14 June 1997. Right: the hostile world of Etna's summit craters seen from the top of the Northeast Crater on 14 June 1997. The sharp crest in the center separates the Voragine from the Bocca Nuova (background)
	Left: complex pyroclastic cone built on the southwestern rim of the Northeast Crater during the activity of July-August 1996, seen from north Right: summit of the 1996 cone complex on the southwestern rim of the Northeast Crater, 14 June 1997
	Left: the steep northwestern rim of the Northeast Crater (of which a portion is visible in right center), looking north Right: small craters on the top of the 1996 pyroclastic cone complex, with high northwestern rim of the Northeast Crater in the background, 14 June 1996
	Left: small 1996 vent on southwestern rim of the Northeast Crater, 14 June 1997 Right: view from the southern rim of the Northeast Crater into the gaping central pit of the crater on 14 June 1997

Second summit visit, 11 July 1997

Two photographs of eruptive activity at the northwestern vent cluster in the Bocca Nuova on the evening of 11 July 1997. Small Strombolian explosions are occurring at three vents, and a fourth vent (visible in right center in right photograph) is emitting lava

This is how the Southeast Crater looked like on the evening of 11 July 1997 when seen from the southeastern rim of the former Central Crater (which is now largely replaced by the Bocca Nuova and the Voragine). At that time the Southeast Crater was a broad, low cone with a 150 m-diameter depression at its summit. Eruptive activity started in early November 1996, after five years of quiet, from a small vent on the crater botton. During the following months a very small cone was built around the vent, which also emitted lava at an extremely low rate; this lava began to fill the lower parts of the crater. By mid-July 1997, the active intracrater cone had grown a few tens of meters high, and lava issued from vents on its flanks or near its base; the level of the lava fill was still about 5-10 m below the lowest point of the crater rim (seen behind the active glowing lava flow in this photograph) but rose constantly and overflowed on 19 July, 8 days after this image was taken

	Descending the slope of the central summit cone toward the Southeast Crater (left) and climbing to the rim of the crater (right) reveals the beautiful display of the mild Strombolian activity and lava emission from the small intracrater cone on the evening of 11 July 1997
	Two photographs of a small lava flow, less than 100 m long, which issues from a vent on the southern side of the intracrater cone of the Southeast Crater and descends to the crater floor. Lights of Acireale and surrounding villages can be seen in the background of the left photograph. 11 July 1997
	Classical "persistent" activity (Strombolian bursts and slow lava effusion) at the small intracrater cone of the Southeast Crater on the evening of 11 July 1997, seen from western rim of the crater

Third summit visit, 16 July 1997

	Left: geologist Vittorio Scribano of the University of Catania walking on the sharp western rim of the Bocca Nuova (the deep pit to the right), 16 July 1997. The Northeast Crater is in the background Right: symmetrical pyroclastic cone growing at northwestern vent cluster on the floor of the Bocca Nuova, about 30 m tall
	Looking down onto the growing pyroclastic cone in the northwestern part of the Bocca Nuova, 16 July 1997. Visibility is hampered by dense gas clouds, but some glow can be seen at the vent of the active cone

	Two daylight views down on the Southeast Crater from the southeastern side of the former Central Crater, taken on 16 July 1997 (compare to 11 July 1997 photo). The small cone within the crater is clearly visible
	Intracrater cone (left) and lava field in southern part of the Southeast Crater (right), 16 July 1997. The level of the lava fill within the crater still stands a few meters below low point on crater rim (left background in right photograph) but will overflow three days later

Photomosaic of the Southeast Crater showing intracrater cone and surrounding lava field, 16 July 1997. Images were taken from the southwestern rim of the crater. Note lava flow channels in center, where an active lava flow was observed on the evening of 11 July 1997 (see photos above)

Fourth summit visit, 19 July 1997

	Left: a small active lava lobe is piling up against the low eastern point of the rim of the Southeast Crater, at dusk on 19 July 1997 Right: Strombolian activity from two vents on the intracrater cone of the Southeast Crater, 19 July 1997
	Two photographs of continuous Strombolian bursts from two vents at the summit of the intracrater cone of the Southeast Crater on the evening of 19 July 1997. Note that vent at right (east) is gradually becoming more active
	Strong activity at the more easterly of the two eruptive vents on the intracrater cone of the Southeast Crater as night falls on 19 July 1997
	Left: continued Strombolian bursts, note trajectory of a large, rotating bomb in right part of the image Right: a brightly glowing surge of lava spills down the eastern face of the intracrater cone and heads toward low point in eastern crater rim, 19 July 1997

The first overflow of lava from the Southeast Crater occurs late on the evening of 19 July 1997, as repeated surges of lava from the active intracrater cone (seen in Strombolian activity in the background) pile up against low point on the crater rim. This awesome display takes place in a suggestive landscape shaped by the lava flows that have been emplaced during the previous days

Fifth summit visit, 25 July 1997

First view of a place that I fell in love with two years later, and which was devastated by an eruption five years later: Piano Provenzana. This photograph was taken on 25 July 1997, when visiting the observatory at the Pizzi Deneri (about 2700 m elevation on Etna's northeastern flank). Piano Provenzana is the flat spot amidst the forest that occupies much of the center right of the photograph. The large pyroclastic cone at center left is Monte Nero, formed during a flank eruption in 1646-1647. Concrete structure in the foreground hosts a water-tube tiltmeter

The Etna Observatory (rebuilt in 1979 after the old observatory was destroyed by the 1971 eruption) lies on the Pizzi Deneri, on the northern rim of the Valle del Leone, and hosts monitoring equipment as well as rooms where scientists can stay during measuring campaigns. The Northeast Crater (right) forms a scenic background


Large vent in the northwestern part of the Bocca Nuova in vigorous activity on 25 July 1997. The vent, about 40 m wide, is filled with boiling lava that frequently shoots up in short-lived fountains, at times rising higher than the crater rim from which these photographs were taken

The Voragine awakens! After about six years without eruptive activity, mild Strombolian activity starts within this crater sometime around 20 July 1997 and is first observed directly five days later, when this photograph was taken. A very small cone, about 10 m tall, has begun to grow on the crater floor, in exactly the same location of the former degassing pit, which in mid-June was seen to be obstructed. Frequent Strombolian bursts eject incandescent scoriae and bombs only to a few tens of meters above the vent. Difficult to imagine that one year later, and again in 1999, the same crater will produce some of the most powerful explosive eruptive events ever seen on Etna

The Southeast Crater and its dark intracrater cone on 25 July 1997, seen from south-southwestern crater rim. From this point the intracrater cone appears quite symmetrical, although a rugged area on the right (eastern) flank of the cone marks an area where lava has issued. The summit vent, site of mild Strombolian activity, is only a few meters in diameter



The Southeast Crater and its intracrater cone, seen from different spots on the crater rim during a clockwise tour of the crater. First two photographs in upper row were taken from western crater rim and show a peculiar "collar" surrounding the top of the intracrater cone, probably formed as lava intruded into the cone and caused its flanks to bulge. A more distinct bulge can be seen in the third photograph on the northeastern side of the cone, which is still more plainly visible in the left photograph in the lower row. This bulge surrounds an active effusive vent (second photograph in lower row), which feeds a small lava flow that is shown close-up in the last photograph. Photos were taken on 25 July 1997

Panoramic view from the southeastern rim of the Southeast Crater toward the Piano del Lago, the Montagnola (peak in the background), and the Valle del Bove (left). The flat area at the base of the Southeast Crater still shows the eruptive fissures of December 1991, where the large flank eruption of 1991-1993 started. The building seen in front of the Montagnola at right is the Torre del Filosofo mountain hut. Photograph taken on 25 July 1997


Continuation of the clockwise tour around the Southeast Crater, 25 July 1997. Left photograph shows small lava overflow of 19 July (see photos above) over low southeastern point of the crater rim, which has lasted only a few hours but will be repeated during the following days. Middle photograph shows the peculiar shape of the intracrater cone, which resembles a lava dome crowned by a small spatter cone. This is the "collar" that has been visible in some of the previous photographs of 25 July. Right image is a panorama of the Southeast Crater from south-southeast, with the lava field filling the crater and the active intracrater cone at left. The huge fuming cone of which part can be seen in the left background is the Northeast Crater

Upper portion of the intracrater cone of the Southeast Crater, showing once more the "collar"-shaped structure surrounding the pyroclastic conelet at the summit. Note that many small lava lobes have issued from the crest of the "collar"


Eruptive activity at the summit of the intracrater cone of the Southeast Crater, 25 July 1997. Left photograph is a wide-angle view from the western rim of the crater, while the other two images are zooms on the active explosive vent displaying small Strombolian bursts. At that time the intracrater cone was still small enough to permit observers to look right down into its vent; about two months later the cone had grown as high as the observation point on the high western rim of the Southeast Crater

Sixth summit visit, 29 July 1997

Chaotic, steaming terrain surrounding a single eruptive vent in the northwestern part of the Bocca Nuova, 29 July 1997. Even though I visited Etna about twice a week in the summer of that year, the morphology of this vent area changed surprisingly rapidly

The Southeast Crater seen from the southeastern rim of the former Central Crater on 29 July 1997 (compare to photographs taken from the same spot on 11 and 16 July 1997). Note that both the summit of the intracrater cone and the level of the lava fill within the crater have risen notably


Left: the Southeast Crater seen from Torre del Filosofo, 29 July 1997. Dark streak on extreme right flank of the cone is a lobe of lava that has overflowed the crater rim after the 25 July visit and extended much further downslope than the first overflow on 19 July. Center: viewed from south-southwest, the intracrater cone appears as regular as during the previous visit, four days earlier. Right: little change is evident also once the same cone is viewed from south-southeast


Left: lava spillover on low southeastern rim of the Southeast Crater, 29 July 1997, rendering a full round tour of the crater impossible. Center: wide-angle view of the intracrater cone from western rim of the Southeast Crater. Note lava effusion on left (northern) side of the intracrater cone. Right: zoom on the lava-spitting mouth of the intracrater cone, 29 July. On this day the activity was much stronger than during the previous visit four days earlier


Mild explosive activity at the Southeast Crater's intracrater cone on 29 July 1997, seen from southeast (left) and west (right)

Copyright © Boris Behncke, "Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology"