Unusual eruptions

6. September 2000

Pierre Cottens reports that «on 6.9.2000 at 05:54 local time, a violent explosion woke up the population. In just a few seconds I was outside my house and could see an already 1km high plume of ash right above the volcano. It was a spectacular display of natures power. Now, I am concerned about the tourists who often sleep on the top despite the recommendations of the authorities not to stay more than a few hours on the summit».

This explosion again shows that Stromboli is capable of producing ununsually large explosions even in times of otherwise relatively low levels of eruptive activity. According to another message from Pierre Cottens (12.9.2000) the eruption was in a vertical direction. Therefore, no fresh bombs are on Pizzo, and consequently nobody was hurt.

Below is the seismic footprint of the explosion as recorded by University of Udine seismic station. The graph shows the radial component of the seismic record, starting at GMT 03:53:23.57 (local time minus 2hrs).