Vulcano, 14 October 2021 – Also the island of Vulcano – the southernmost of the Aeolian islands – is in turmoil. Like the rest of the Sicilian archipelago, Vulcano originated from the action of volcanic phenomena, and for about 5500 years the active volcanic center has been the tuff cone of the crater The Pit, in the north of the island, which erupted the last time over 130 years ago. A increase in volcanic activity in the area, which also led toevacuation of some families.
Summary
Several inhabitants they had to temporarily leave their homes in the district Porto Levante, following some reports of the presence of fumes coming from the subsoil. On one occasion, these had even caused pet illnesses. After clearing the houses, the military requested the intervention of the personnel of theNational Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Ingv), which confirmed a phenomenon of degassamento with a percentage of carbon dioxide (CO2) above normal values.
“The summit values of the volcano are also changing,” he said yesterday Mayor of Lipari, Marco Giorgianni, during a live Facebook. In the last few hours “a monitoring activity has intensified on Vulcano – he explained – to check the levels of presence of carbon dioxide and whether this condition is linked to that place or to other places with the same characteristics. The firefighters are verifying , and following this monitoring we will see if the area affected by this phenomenon is small, the same in the area of the campsite affected by the same phenomenon at the end of the 1980s, or if it is more extensive. “. The mayor also said he intended to take “more restrictive measures for access”.
Already since September the Ingv experts highlight the variation of some geophysical and geochemical signals on the island, especially those related to the activity of hydrothermal system which feeds the fumaroles of the Fossa crater. The temperature has risen of gases, and their composition shows a increase of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. There was also a increased local seismicity, which led to the installation of new monitoring stations and the preparation of a thermal camera to frame the activity of the crater. October 1st the Civil Protection Department has ordered, as a consequence of the new developments, the passing the alert level on the island from green (basic condition, considered to be equilibrium, in which, however, according to the Ingv the island “presents a certain degree of exposure to dangerous phenomena such as toxic or asphyxiating gases released by fumaroles and with high temperatures in various areas”) to yellow (which provides for “an enhancement of monitoring and surveillance activities, a constant information link between the scientific community and the various components and operational structures of the National Civil Protection Service, an update of the civil protection plans and a broad information activity towards the resident population on the island and tourists, with specific reference to raising the level of risk “).
On the island, the atmosphere that reigns is yes of attention, ma fear does not seem to prevail. “The situation on the island is normal,” he says Giuseppina, inhabitant of the place. “Of course, there is a bit of concern. We know that living on an active island we have to expect everything, and we are aware of the situation. The evacuated area is subject to these phenomena. Many years ago there was a campsite, which was then closed due to carbon dioxide fumes. The houses were built nearby. Unfortunately, we know, people do not realize the situation “. Paolo, another resident, confirms the state of mind of the population of Vulcano: “I have lived and frequented the island for about 50 years. I have always looked at the Volcano with a certain reverence, but never with fear. Now in this last month the phenomena of activities have increased and on the island, now almost without tourists, the attention of me and of the approximately 1000 inhabitants among residents and commuters is more constant. In fact, the presence of volcanologists and scholars puts some thought. thought, and not fear. It is part of those who live at the foot of a volcano accept the presence of this ‘friend’. Here in Vulcano, when we meet, we briefly mention the state of health of “Iddu”. Perhaps you try not to think about it or perhaps it falls within the fatalism inherent in many islanders. Or perhaps in order not to generate alarmism that could damage tourism and the island’s economy “.
The history of Vulcano is directly intertwined with what happens between the tectonic plates on which it stands. The Greeks they considered the island, called Hiera, come the kitchen of the god Hephaestus, due to the already known eruptive activity. With the Romans that god became Vulcano, and this name has been universally adopted over the centuries for the volcanic formations. The newer part of the island is Weather in Vulcanello, a northern formation generated from 126 a.C. which until the Middle Ages it gradually widened, joining through an isthmus at the center of La Fossa around the 1550. Center that has had, in the last 500 years, two cycles of prolonged eruptions, or that between 1727 and 1739 and the last, which took place between 1888 and 1890. Precisely this led to the introduction by the scholar Giuseppe Mercalli, of the term “Vulcan activity”. It is described by the Ingv as “eruptions characterized by intense degassing, by pulsating explosions, of short duration and very thundering – Mercalli wrote: ‘… explosions like cannon fire at irregular intervals …’ – with the emission of dense gray-dark clouds with vertical development, rich in ashes and fragments of magma destined to fall back to the ground both in the form of rain of almost solid fragments (produced by falling) and in the form of diluted streams of gas and particles (magmatic) that flow to the ground, along the flanks of the volcano ” . The explosions occur due to theextreme pressure to which the domes of solidified magma in the duct are subjected, and fragments can shoot into the air, including the large “bread crust” bombs (so called for their characteristic surface). In the last century, the longest and most important phase of increasing fumarolic activity it was that between 1987 and 1993, in which they were reached temperatures of almost 700 ° C (normally between 100 and 450 ° C). In recent weeks these have reached peaks of 340 ° C, with points on the side of the crater where growth exceeded 100 ° C. The Institute itself claims to not being able to predict the next evolution of these phenomena, because “the careful study of past unrest episodes teaches us that in the coming weeks / months the anomalies of the various parameters observed today could worsen or diminish to return to the values recorded in the past months / years”.
“We will see in the next few days how the situation evolves” concludes Giuseppina. “We all hope that it is just a phase and that everything returns to normal, but as the experts say ‘only he knows what he will do’“.
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