Every breath you take, every move you make ... I'll be watching you!!!

Every breath you take, every move you make ... I'll be watching you, a photo by etnaboris on Flickr.

Mount Etna is one of the most intensely monitored and studied volcanoes on Earth - a privilege that is well merited because it is also one of the most active and most densely populated volcanoes on this planet. The instrumental monitoring network that is maintained by the INGV-Osservatorio Etneo (INGV-OE) consists of tens of seismic stations all over the mountain, including seven in the summit area, as well as dozens of automatic GPS stations, nine gas measurement stations, and loads of gravity and magnetism meters, plus eight infrasound stations, one radiometer (which measures heat emission), a doppler radar (Voldorad) station, and nine monitoring cameras (five visible-light and four thermal). Thanks to these instruments, virtually all signals that the volcano produces are now captured, and from these precious information can be gained about the state of the volcano. Unfortunately, the signals do not tell us exactly when, how, and where the volcano will erupt next until a few days before an eruption. Currently there is no sign of an imminent major eruption (that is, a flank eruption), though renewed activity at the summit may resume anytime, as it has done many times in the past.
One of the most important monitoring stations of the INGV-OE on Etna lies about 0.7 km southeast of the New Southeast Crater cone. The station is called Belvedere (the beautiful view, for obvious reasons), and is seen here in front of the huge new cone on 26 September 2012. The New Southeast Crater was the site of 25 lava fountaining episodes between January 2011 and April 2012. On 4 March 2012, lava flows passed just a few meters from the station, and it was feared that lava from the next episode would destroy it. However, lava did not take the same path again, and since 24 April 2012, there has been no further activity at the New Southeast Crater - except the formation of a new pit on the southwestern rim of the crater on 27 August 2012. I have come to call it "il pittino" (the little pit). A few further ash emissions occurred on 6-7 September from the "pittino", and since then it has been steaming vigorously but not shown any other activity. Gas emissions were conspicuous on 27 September 2012, but there is no further sign of activity - for the moment. In the meantime, all those instruments are faithfully recording every tiny blip, every move, every game the big volcano lady plays.