The Etna eruption continues: incoming flights to Catania further reduced

SAC, the management company of Catania airport, announces that, “due to the eruptive activity of Etna and the simultaneous emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, the closure of the airspace corresponding to sectors B1 and B2 has been ordered.” Therefore, “incoming flight activities are limited to 5 planes per hour, until 2 PM today, Monday, August 17. No restrictions on departures.” SAC therefore invites passengers, “before going to the airport, to check the status of their flight with the airlines.” The explosive activity of the Etna Voragine crater remains intense. The volcanic tremor, which signals the energy present in the internal magmatic conduits, is rising and remains at very high levels.

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The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Etna Observatory, in Catania, indeed reports that “effusive activity continues from vents at an altitude of 2,750 1,990 meters above sea level” and that “the most advanced front of the lava flows is located at an altitude of 1,395 meters, between Rocca delle Palombe and Rocca Musarra.” “From 09:40 to 12:40 – reads the INGV note released on the evening of August 16 – a series of short explosions occurred from the Northeast crater, generating an ash plume that dispersed in the summit area towards the Southeast. At 18:22 strombolian activity resumed at the Voragine crater. Subsequently, starting from 18:45, ash emission activity intensified at the Northeast crater. From a seismic point of view, since late yesterday evening the average amplitude of the volcanic tremor has shown wide oscillations between low and medium values, increasingly growing in amplitude. In the last hours of today – continues the INGV note released on the evening of August 16 – the increase has been more marked and from around 18:00 the tremor amplitude shifted from medium to high values. The centroids of the tremor sources are located between the Northeast and Voragine craters, at an altitude between 2,800 and 3,000 meters above sea level.”

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