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Since the late forenoon of 27 January 2012, the New Southeast Crater at the summit of Mount Etna has been producing sporadic emissions of dark gray ash. One of these, on the late afternoon of the same day, is seen here from my home in Trecastagni, on the southeast flank of the volcano.
This activity, the first since the spectacular paroxysmal eruptive episode early on 5 January 2012, might be a sign that a new episode - the 20th since January 2011 - will occur soon, possibly during the next 24 hours

Almost exactly ten years have passed since I took this photo, during my first hike to the summit craters of Etna for many months, on 30 January 2002. The place is called "Torre del Filosofo" (based on the legend of Greek philosopher Empedocles who is said to have jumped into the former main crater of the volcano, leaving one of his sandals on the crater rim), and since the late-1960s, an ugly concrete building stood in the place. Repeatedly threatened by lava flows (1971, 1989, 2000), the building that should have become a mountain hut was never put in use, but provided shelter for hikers during bad weather or violent eruptive activity at the nearby summit craters. Once more, in July 2001, the building narrowly escaped destruction when new vents opened just a few hundred meters to the north, at the base of the conspicuous cone in the right center of the image. This is the Southeast Crater cone, which grew mainly between 1989 and 2001; the small, partly snow-covered cone standing in front of it was built around the July 2001 vents.

If you visit the same place today, things look quite different. The "Torre del Filosofo" building is still there but lies several meters underground, buried under a thick deposit of scoriae and bombs from a huge crater immediately to the south, which erupted in the fall of 2002. The shape of the Southeast Crater changed during a series of renewed eruptions in 2006-2007 (the last activity at its summit vent was early on 7 May 2007), although it did not grow much in height. The Bocca Nuova, another of Etna's four summit craters, which lies to the left, has lost the nose-shaped rim visible where the dense gas plume is issuing. Most significantly, there is a new cone standing on the right side of the Southeast Crater cone, near the right margin of this view - this cone, 200 m tall, has grown in less than a year since January 2011, and we informally call it the "New Southeast Crater" for want of a more original name, and because it is essentially the continuation of the activity of the old Southeast Crater.

Photo taken with a Canon AE1 and scanned from original Ektachrome color slide

Everybody knows that nearly every eruption of Etna produces lava flows. It is less known that also Stromboli volcano, on the northernmost of the Aeolian Islands to the north of Sicily, sometimes emits true lava flows. This happens at irregular intervals - in 1967, 1975, 1985-1986, 2002-2003, and 2007 major lava flows were emitted, which descended the steep slope of the "Sciara del Fuoco" (fire slide) on the northwest flank of the volcano and entered into the sea. Minor lava flows limited to the immediate crater area and the upper Sciara del Fuoco slope have occurred frequently since 2009.

The major eruption that started on 28 December 2002 - a mere two months after the violent onset of a double flank eruption at Etna, which was continuing at the time - came in a period of my life when I for the first time felt that I might well leave Sicily and its volcanoes. It was a time of frustration with my work situation (I had yet to get hired by the INGV), it was also the time when my father had only a short time to live (he died 28 January 2003). But on the positive side, it was the first phase of my relationship with the girl who is now my wife and the mother of our daughter. I was actually with her in St-Malo, France, when Stromboli started emitting lava on 28 December 2002, and when a portion of the Sciara del Fuoco slope collapsed into the sea, generating a destructive tsunami two days later. I learned of these events in the news, and felt more remote from them than ever.

A few months later, in the spring of 2003, I accompanied a couple of hiking groups to the Aeolian Islands, and we also visited Stromboli, where lava continued to flow, though the active lava flows were no longer reaching the sea. I took a series of photographs of the flowing lava one evening in June 2003, of which this one is one of the most suggestive. Shortly thereafter I ran into an old friend of mine, who works as a professor in volcanology in Alaska, and we had a lot of beer in a bar in the village of Stromboli later that evening.

It took me some time to get back in terms with my Sicilian life, and re-discover Stromboli and Etna after the massive changes brought about by the eruptions of 2002-2003.

Photo taken with a Canon AE1 and scanned from original Ektachrome color slide

In a few months, all people at Etna will remember the 10th anniversary of one of the most dramatic eruptions of this volcano in the past decades - that of 2002-2003, which started simultaneously on two opposite flanks of the mountain, brought swift and relentless destruction to the Piano Provenzana tourist station, and shed volcanic ash over eastern Sicily for months.

I will post more photos of that eruption here on Flickr once we're getting close to the 10th anniversary (27 October), but here's a foretaste: a rather apocalyptic view of the volcano emitting two dark columns of ash against the setting sun on 1 November 2002, seen from the northeast flank of Etna near the Rifugio Citelli. Not far away, fires were still smoldering in the beautiful Ragabo pine forest, through which new lava flows had cut a broad, fuming swath, and the air was filled with smoke, volcanic gas, and ash. Piano Provenzana, a place we all had loved, lay buried under a sheet of lava. Ash was falling up to several hundred kilometers away, giving millions of people in a vast area a taste of what Etna can be like when she's in a really bad mood.

For a number of reasons, I did not like this eruption, though it was certainly spectacular and of extraordinary scientific interest. I was not the only one who didn't like it. For many of us who live and work on Etna, and who dearly love this unique volcano, the eruption that started on 27 October 2002 was a turning point. Our lives would never be the same. And neither Etna would ever be the same again.

Taken with a Canon AE1 and scanned from original Ektachrome color slide

Just five months ago, the total number of visits to my photo stream had reached an amazing 50,000, and now - with a little help from Etna - it's roared past 75,000 (seventy-five thousand !!!) visitors.

So in return you'll get to see how that dark monster sitting near the summit of Etna, the New Southeast Crater, looked early this morning, 19 January 2012. It is silent but all snow that has recently fallen on it has melted (indicating that the huge pile of volcanic rock that has accumulated in little more than one year). Moreover, the gas issuing from a fumarole (volcanic gas vent) on its northeastern rim has shown a somewhat "dirty", dark hue since yesterday, so we might not be all that far away from the next paroxysmal eruptive episode from this crater. Yet, it's always the volcano to have the last word on the issue, and so we all patiently wait and, in the meantime, enjoy the return of crystal-clear, sunny (though unusually cold) weather to Sicily.

Thank you all, Flickr friends and everybody else, for casting the occasional eye on my photostream. As we're heading toward 100,000, be sure that I strongly appreciate every single visit and every comment and fave, though often I do not find the time to thank all of you individually.