Brief overview of the current news from the slopes of Etna
[link to www.wired.com]
by Eric Klemetti
"I haven’t mentioned it much, but Etna in Italy has had a number of small, strombolian explosions over the last few weeks. Most of the activity has been confined to inside the Bocca Nuova Crater (see above), creating small lava flows and a tephra cone within the confines of the crater. The Osservatorio Etneo has posted an excellent description of these events with some great images, so be sure to check it out to catch up on a month’s worth of activity. As always, you can see a multitude of images taken near Etna on Dr. Boris Behncke’s Flickr Photostream as he keeps watch over the volcano."

[link to www.flickr.com]
"etnaboris' photostream" by Boris Behncke
pic 21/08/2012
[link to farm9.staticflickr.com]
pic 28/08/2012
[link to farm9.staticflickr.com]
...When I visited the summit craters of Etna on 28 August, I found that the gap, which had been present in the crater rim since the 4 March 2012 paroxysm, had significantly widened, and there was a vent from which volcanic gas issued, sometimes forcefully, but without a sound. At the same time, the explosive ash emissions that had occurred in recent week at the nearby Bocca Nuova crater, had apparently ceased. So this might be the beginning of a new chapter in the saga of Etna's current activity, maybe a return of the activity to the New Southeast Crater - certainly, something is once more changing in the dynamics of the volcano...

[link to www.ct.ingv.it]
Etna update, 13 August 2012