Etna volcano update: Very strong lava fountaining episode (paroxysm) in progress

10 days since the lava-fountaining episode, known as paroxysm, from the volcano's New SE crater, another powerful paroxysm is started today and is now in full swing.

Lava fountains are shooting into the Sicilian sky for probably more than 1000 meters and a dark ash column is rising to estimated 11 km height, drifting east where heavy lapilli and ash fall are occurring.
The activity started around 9 a.m. local time, when a thermal anomaly and soon after, weak strombolian activity were first observed at the New SE crater. At the same time, volcanic tremor started to increase. These are the typical short-term precursors for Etna's paroxysms.
By noon, the strombolian activity began to increase significantly, and quickly turned into lava fountaining by around 12.20 that generated a tall eruption column rising to approx. 10-11 km.
A lava flow started to erupt from the southern breach of the SE crater complex and has been traveling towards the SW, overlapping the many previous flows from the paroxysmal episodes that have been occurring since February last year at the volcano.
At the time of this update, the activity is still increasing, but likely is near or at its peak.