Freeway - Stromboli

Stromboli

· Stromboli, Italy -Location: 38.8 N, 15.2 E -Elevation: 2,900 feet (900 m)

Stromboli is one of the Aeolian Islands of Italy. The island is about 3 miles (2 km) in diameter and 2,900 feet (900 m) above sea level. It rises 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above the floor of the Tyrrhenian Sea. This photo shows the volcanic island of Stromboli. Photograph courtesy of and copyrighted by Mike Lyvers.

Stromboli is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. It has been in nearly continuous eruption for about 2,000 years (some volcanologists suggest 5,000 years). Most of the present cone was well developed 15,000 years ago. This photo shows the volcano and town of Stromboli. Photographs courtesy of and copyrighted by Mike Lyvers.

Most eruptions at Stromboli consists of small gas explosions that hurl incandescent blobs of lava above the crater rim. Several explosions occur each hour. Larger eruptions and lava flows are less frequent. When this type of eruption is observed at other volcanoes it is often referred to as a Strombolian eruption.

Violent eruptions are rare at Stromboli. In 1919, four people were killed and twelve homes destroyed by blocks, some of which weighed 60 tons (50 metric tons). In 1930, during the largest eruption of Stromboli this century, three people were killed by pyroclastic flows. A fourth was scalded to death in the sea near the point the flows entered the ocean. The amount of ash erupted in the explosive eruptions in 1930 was equivalent to that produced during five years of normal, quiet activity. Most recently, in 1986, a biologist was killed by a block while on the crater rim.

Some bracking news
26. August 1999: Explosion throws scoria on the path
At 00:58 of this morning (local time) a new strong explosion was observed at Stromboli volcano. The first report came from Gianfranco Cincotta, via a GSM short message. Gianfranco reports this sequence of events: a normal explosion at Crater 3, followed by a more intense one at Crater 1. Then, after a tremor, the paroxysmal event in the vent in front of Crater 2, which we continue to consider part of Crater 3 for "historical" reasons but has almost reached the status of an independent crater. Gianfranco also mentions 8 injured people, but this is not confirmed.

What is sure is that once again good fortune has "saved" the official tourist groups that climb with the guides. The paroxysmal event happened just while the evening group was descending the volcano and the night one was still climbing it. The pyroclastic material was clearly visible from the village and fell over a wide area including the path section with the observation points around the 700m level. Fortunately this time few pyroclasts reached the reed vegetation on the upper slopes of the volcano. Nevertheless Danielle Cottens reports seeing some small fires from Scari.

Sources: Gianfranco Cincotta, Franco Iacop, Danielle Cottens, Klaus Jäger, and then many others in the following days. UPDATE: According to Gianfranco Cincotta, 10 tourists asked for medical assistance (5 Italian, 2 German and 3 French). All were slightly injured, mostly because of the sudden run away from the craters. A man was inside his sleeping bag on the Pizzo, and this was slightly burnt by the pyroclasts. This is once again a warning against sleeping on the top of the volcano!!!

9. April 1999: Probable new strong explosion
I was woken up by two explosions separated by a few minutes: local time 03:05 and 03:09. The second one was stronger. From the Hotel Ossidiana where I was sleeping, nothing can be seen on the volcano, as it had been raining since midnight, and fog covered the top of Stromboli. A group of geologists from Cosenza was in the hotel that night, and they all confirm having been woken up. Wind was from N-NW, 25-30 km/h, relative humidity 90%. Compared with the sound of the eruptions of last november/december, these two could be considered as unusual, probably dangerous also for tourists, that fortunately were not on the top due to bad weather. As we already had, by stormy weather, lightnings, with only one strong and very short thunder, this might be another explanation. (Report by: Pierre Cottens)

28. December 1998: The series of strong explosions continues
During the night, at 2:45 local time, another strong bang was heard in the village, a bit less loud than the one of 24 November. The magma could be seen from my house (Volcavento). I estimated the height at about 450-500 meters. This morning we found ashes on our terraces, brought by the wind. The activity is raising in the last few days, after that during all the month of December until 24.12, we could not see the lights of the volcano from the village.
(Report by: Pierre Cottens)

24. November 1998: Another strong explosion At 18:05 local time, a strong explosion happened at the summit of Stromboli, two bangs separated by 5-8 seconds. From my office, I went out to the terrace, and I saw the magma still raising vertically. The height reached by the blocks was quite high, I estimated about 700 m. During one minute or more, I saw the magma. The mountain was very spectacular, all incandescent red, for about 15 minutes. At 18:20 all was again dark. The explosion was not very loud. One of the bangs made the doors and windows tremble, but not as strong as in 1996. The next day the volcano guide Zazà climbed the volcano. He found all the summit covered by the yellowish magma that is often erupted in these strong events. (Report by: Pierre Cottens)
8. September 1998: Another, possibly even more powerful explosion! We were informed by Pierre Cottens that Stromboli produced another big explosion on 8.9.1998 at 19:14 local time (17:14 GMT). The news reached us less than 10 minutes after the event. Pierre Cottens is, at the moment, in Zuerich and he was called by phone by his wife who is on Stromboli. The explosion was then confirmed by Klaus Jaeger, Fabio Annunziato and Gianfranco Cincotta, who reports a considerable atmospheric shock wave, with broken windows at San Bartolo and the"usual" bush fires on the upper volcano slopes. It seems that the eruptionwas considerably stronger than the one on 23. August. Nobody was injured as a result of the eruption. Italian press reports.

AN EXPLOSION EXPERIENCE! Explosion of 26. August 1999 Report by Henrik Berger, Ilmenau, Germany; hberger@smail.Uni-Koeln.DE My friend and I and another couple had climbed Stromboli on 25.8.99 on the normal route. We camped exactly on Pizzo. Next to us was a further couple, further away a single person, i.e. there were seven people on the summit.

The whole thing started with a normal eruption of Crater 3, which produced the usual amount of ash and littly glowing lava. Maybe one minute later, at 0:57 (according to my watch, 26.8.99), a significant tremor occurred. In my memory it lasted less than the five seconds mentioned in the newspapers. Immediately this was followed by a eruption at Crater 1. Less than one seconds afterwards the small middle hole exploded (which previously had glowed red) with an incredible bang. Out of this hole and out of Crater 1 the lava shot to about twice the «usual» height. Most pyroclasts were ejected by Crater 1.

We fled backwards in panic. Near us, bombs impacted audibly. The largest, which continued to glow for quite some time, were about 50 x 30 centimeters large. Also a lot of non-glowing material was ejected. Nobody was directly hit, except one lady, whose hand was hit by a glowing piece of scoria. She suffered an injury on one finger. My girlfriend had, unfortunately, been sleeping barefoot in her sleeping bag. During our escape, she stepped on some glowing lava and suffered minor burns on her feet, some others on the hands and a very large concussion on the left upper thigh. On the other side of Pizzo another person must have fallen over a larger junk of lava as he suffered burns on his belly.