Extremely strong activity 23.-27.10.1999The pictures on this page link to larger photos (usually 20 to 70 K). All times are local and approximate (+/- 30 mins). In order to give
an idea of the perspective, focal lengths of the camera lenses are given (e.g. f=28mm: wide angle lens). | |||
 23 Oct 1999 11h local. f=300mm from Monte Vetore. Paroxysm 5. Fire fountains 100 m high spill from the W BN fissure. Some phases of the paroxysm eject dense ash clouds. |  23 Oct 1999 11h local. f=300mm from Monte Vetore. Paroxysm 5. All the slopes of the Central Crater are covered by haze coming from the impact of hundreds of meter sized bombs. |  25 Oct 1999 11h local. f=135mm from Piano del Lago. Paroxysm 6. Lava fountains 50 m high rise on the BN SW vent. Torre del Filosofo in the right foreground and SITAS jeep in the central one. |  25 Oct 1999 13h local. f=50mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Paroxysm 6. Franco Emmi (right) observes the active aa-lava flow which has reached the jeep road on the W rim of Cratere Ellittico. |
 25 Oct 1999 13h local. f=135mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Paroxysm 6. Due to the pressure of the lava inside BN, its W rim collapses into landslides of hot old lava. |  25 Oct 1999 13h local. f=135mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Paroxysm 6. The landslide is heated so much by the fresh lava entering into the BN W rim cracks that it becomes a small pyroclastic flow. |  25 Oct 1999 13h local. f=135mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Paroxysm 6. Landslides from the W rim continue for hours. In the right background, lava fountains 50 m high rising from the BN NW vent. |  25 Oct 1999 14h local. f=135mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Paroxysm 6. Magma bubble 100 m wide bursts in the BN SW vent. In the foreground, Roby is using the last battery power of his videocam. |
 25 Oct 1999 15h local. f=300mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Paroxysm 6. Lava fountains 50 m high rise above the BN SW vent. |  25 Oct 1999 16h local. f=135mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Paroxysm 6. The lava in the BN NW vent continues to push out the W BN rim after having it lifted by 20 m. |  25 Oct 1999 16h local. f=300mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Paroxysm 6. Lava fountains 30 m high rise above the BN NW vent. In the left foreground, the 20 m uplifted and rotated old W rim of BN. |  26 Oct 1999 10h local. f=28mm from Piano Provenzana. BN ejects a smoke ring about 200 m wide. Autumn is coming on Etna. |
 26 Oct 1999 20h local. f=50mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Strombolian eruptions from the BN NW and SW vents. Below the NW vent, a new vent ejects a slow lava flow. Its front is visible on the left. |  26 Oct 1999 20h local. f=50mm from W rim of Cratere Ellittico Strombolian jets 300 m high from the BN NW and SW vents. The bomb furthest on the left breaks into two pieces during its fall. Perseus and Andromeda in the sky. |  27 Oct 1999 11h local. f=135mm from Monte Intraleo Paroxysm 7. The lava flow on the left crosses the Cratere Ellittico rim and releases avalanches of blocks rolling down the W Etna flank. |  27 Oct 1999 11h local. f=135mm from Monte Intraleo Paroxysm 7. Lava fountains 100 m high in the BN NW vent eject two lava flows, the sothernmost one on the right, the main one on the left. |