Italy’s Stromboli Volcano Erupts Without Warning, Rains Down Lava Bombs

One of the most active volcanoes in Italy recently erupted without any warning. According to a report by a local agency, the sudden eruption sent lava and other volcanic debris onto the areas surrounding the volcano.

The volcano that recently erupted in Italy has been identified as Stromboli. It is located in a small island off the northern coast of Sicily and is one of the three active volcanoes in Italy.

Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology’s Observatory at Etna reported that Stromboli erupted on July 19. The incident came as a surprise because even though its an active volcano, Stromboli did not show signs of increased volcanic activity before the eruption.

According to the agency, the eruption caused lava to flow from the crater of the volcano onto its slope known as Sciara del Fuoco, which is accessible to hikers. Cameras monitoring the volcano also detected lava bombs, which are clumps of molten rock ejected by the volcano, and other volcanic debris coming from the crater of Stromboli.

Volcano Discovery, which confirmed the eruption, noted that Stromboli’s explosion was significantly more powerful than its previous eruptions.

“According to geophysical data, this morning's explosion was about 10 times stronger than the average size of explosions at the volcano and comparable to the large eruption on 15 March 2017, but still about one order of magnitude smaller than the two paroxysms last year on 3 July and 28 August 2019,” Dr. Tom Pfeiffer of Volcano Discovery stated in a report.

Pfeiffer noted that minutes before the eruption, instruments monitoring the volcano detected deformations on the ground. The expert added that these were most likely caused by the rising gas bubble from the volcano’s magma channels.

“Instruments detected significant ground deformation (as a larger gas bubble rose towards the surface inside the magma-filled conduit) during the 4 minutes before the eruption,” he explained.

As the volcano erupted, it produced a massive ash cloud. Although the exact height of the ash plume was not recorded, images of the eruption revealed it could be about two to three kilometers high from the volcano’s summit.