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The incredible morphological changes brought by the latest two eruptions (in 2001 and 2002-2003) on the upper southern flank can be appreciated in these three photographs, all taken from the summit of the Montagnola looking north. The relatively flat, gently sloping area in the foreground of the top photo was, until 2001, known as the "Piano del Lago", since during the spring snowmelt in many years a temporary lake formed there. There will surely never ever be a lake again in that area, because during the 2001 eruption a new cone was built up there, which is well visible in the center photo. With the 2002-2003 eruption the area has once more undergone a profound change: the bottom photograph shows, behind the 2001 cone, a new twin cone, each of the "twins" being twice as tall as the cone of 2001! Furthermore, there is a dark lava field extending from the southern base of this new cone complex (at left). N.B. The photographs were taken in May 2001, September 2001 and July 2003, respectively; note that the bottom photograph is not identical to that on the previous page and all three images are clickable

Etna photo gallery: 2003
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Part 2: July 2003

Etna, Northeast Rift, 12 July 2003

The visit was made in the forenoon, with excellent weather conditions, and for the first time I had the chance to visit the upper portion of the impressive eruptive fissure that cut the northeastern flank of Etna on early 27 October 2002. Some of the vents are still giving off steam, nearly nine months after the events. And, although already shown in some previous photographs, the tremendous chasm in the lower part of the same eruptive fissure, "the barrel of a gun", which emitted the huge lava flow that wiped out Piano Provenzana, never ceases to haunt me and other visitors. Here we see it from different viewing points.

This is the uppermost of the new craters formed on the Northeast Rift of Etna on 27 October 2002, at about 2500 m elevation. Steam is still issuing from this crater, indicating that the dike which fed the eruption is still hot. Fumarolic activity had been common in this area also before the eruption. Diameter of this crater is about 50 m. Photograph taken on 12 July 2003, view is to the south


Left: Lava flows of the October-November 2002 eruption on the Northeast Rift seen from the Pizzi Deneri, at about 2500 m elevation and several kilometers further south. Of the three flows visible in the image, the central one was the first to reach Piano Provenzana at noon on 27 October 2002. The flow further downslope was erupted later that day and buried most of the tourist facilities, including the Hotel "Le Betulle". The large pyroclastic cone seen in the upper central part of the photograph is Monte Nero, formed during a large flank eruption in 1646-1647 Center: Several pit craters in the uppermost section of the October 2002 eruptive fissure on the Northeast Rift. Most of the material erupted from these vents is fragmented old rock. Going downslope, the proportion of fresh magma shows a progressive increase. Large cone in upper left-central part of image is Monte Pizzillo, a severely faulted, prehistoric pyroclastic cone that was partially truncated by a huge explosion crater in 1879. View is toward north Right: A spectacular crater in the lower part of the uppermost section of the October 2002 eruptive fissure on the Northeast Rift. Pre-2002 tephra deposits are exposed in the walls of the pit, which is about 40-60 m wide and 30-40 m deep; at the time the photograph was taken, the loose material from these deposits was constantly sliding into the pit. Welded scoriae and lava flows are exposed in the lower part of the pit. View is southward from northern rim of the pit

Left: One of the intermediate vents on the October 2002 eruptive fissure on the Northeast Rift, seen from south. This vent opened about 40 m away from the arrival shack of one of the ski lifts of Piano Provenzana (seen in the background) but its activity apparently lasted only very briefly, so that the structures were hit by few bombs. Note the feeder dike exposed in the walls and at the bottom of the pit, which is about 60-70 m wide Center and right: Two more photos of the impressive "barrel of a gun", the impressive vent and lava channel in the lower portion of the 2002 eruptive fissure on the Northeast Rift, which brought most of the devastation to Piano Provenzana. Center photograph shows a look into the upper portion of the deep lava channel and lowermost vents of the eruptive fissure, from southern rim of the "barrel of a gun" vent. Right image is a view from slightly further to the north, right into the vent through the deep notch which marks the beginning of the huge lava channel

Etna, Northeast Rift, 17 and 26 July 2003

Both visits were made in the framework of the FASA (Fire Airborne Simulator Arrangement) Etna -- ASI Satellite campaign organized by the Roma Section of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV-Roma), which saw the participation of several Italian universities, the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), and the collaboration of the Institute of Remote Sensing Technology of the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center). The 17 July visit nearly coincided with a M~3 earthquake on the Pernicana Fault, which is closely related to the Northeast Rift (but no one in the field team did feel it). On 26 July, measurements were made on the Piano delle Concazze, above the upper termination of the Northeast Rift, with a gale-force wind blowing from the west. That day, a conspicuous fumarolic area was observed immediately below the eastern rim of the Northeast Crater. This fumarole field had been seen on various occasions in the past, but not since the 2002-2003 eruption. It seems to correspond to a circumferential fracture.

Left: yet another view of the lava flows that cascaded down the steep slope above Piano Provenzana, seen in the late afternoon of 17 July 2003. Piano Provenzana is at center right
Right: one of the most peculiar eruptive vents of the 2002 eruption on the Northeast Rift (already shown in the 12 July photo gallery, photograph at left), in the intermediate section of the October-November 2002 eruptive fissure system. The vent opened 30-40 m from the arrival shack of one of the Piano Provenzana ski lifts (seen immediately behind the vent). Its activity probably lasted only a few minutes. Note the impressive system of dry fractures lying to the right of the ski lift shack, behind the short-lived vent

Eruptive vents in the upper portion of the 2002 eruptive fissure on the Northeast Rift, looking downrift. The large cone seen in the distance in both photographs is Monte Nero, formed during a large eruption in 1646-1647. Note the (pre-2002) stratigraphy exposed in the wall of the large vent in the foreground of left image. Right photograph shows numerous small vents further downslope, and dry (non-eruptive) fractures cutting a large crater rim (of the 1809 eruption) in the background. The photographs were taken on the late afternoon of 17 July 2003

Are these the new tourists that visit Piano Provenzana? Tourism operators and mountain guides on Etna's northeastern flank are living a very difficult period, since there are virtually no tourists coming to that side of the volcano. Photo taken on 26 July 2003 through the windshield of a jeep (this explains the reflections visible in upper center and at extreme right)


Left and center: two more views (taken 26 July 2003) of the peculiar neighborhood of the ski lift and a small vent of the October-November 2002 eruption. Left photograph is a view from west, center image is looking north. The shack at the end of the ski lift was damaged but remained standing. Non-eruptive ground fractures are well visible in the center image, passing about 20 m from the shack Right: this view shows a bit of Etna's geological history: the sole remaining portion of the rim of the Elittico caldera, formed about 15,000 years ago after a series of cataclysmic, highly explosive eruptions. In most places, the caldera rim has been buried by younger eruptive products, but a 1 km-section of it is still visible to the west of the Pizzi Deneri, above the upslope termination of the Northeast Rift. In this photograph the outer slope of the Ellittico edifice is to the right, and caldera fill is to the left, with lava flows erupted during the 1960s to 1970s from the Northeast Crater forming the present surface

Left: The Etna Volcanological Observatory, built in the late 1970s to early 1980s at the Pizzi Deneri, at about 2600 m elevation on Etna's northeastern flank, following the destruction of the first Etna Observatory (which had been located on the southern side of the summit area) in 1971. This is not a permanent observation post (observatories located in remote places on volcanoes have become somewhat obsolete in recent years, as much volcano surveillance is now fully automatic and strongly satellite-supported), but it is used during field campaigns in the summit area Center and right: Etna's summit area on the morning of 26 July 2003. A dense gas plume issues from the Northeast Crater (the tallest of Etna's four summit craters, clearly dominating the view of the volcano from the northern side) and is pushed down by a gale-force wind, partially hiding the cone of the Southeast Crater (visible in the center image). Zoom in right photograph shows a sub-horizontal line of minor fumaroles lying immediately below the eastern (left) rim of the crater

Two views of the same place (Piano Provenzana) from approximately the same viewing point (Pizzi Deneri), ten months apart. Left photograph was taken on 10 September 2002, seven weeks before it was largely covered by lava flows emitted from new fissures and craters on the Northeast Rift. The post-eruption view at right was taken on 26 July 2003 and shows the two main lava flows that descended toward Piano Provenzana, destroying nearly all of it on the first day of the 2002-2003 eruption. The large pyroclastic cone seen in the upper left part of both images is Monte Nero, formed during a much larger eruption in 1646-1647

Part 3: The 1614-1624 lava field, 24 July 2003 (next page)

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Page set up on 11 June 2003, last modified on 11 August 2003

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