The island of Stromboli is an Island belonging to the archipelago of the Aeolian islands, in Sicily. It is an active volcano that is part of the Aeolian arch. Located in the Tyrrhenian basin of the western Mediterranean sea, the island is the northernmost of the Aeolian islands and covers an area of 12.2 km².

The volcanic building is 926 m above sea level. and reaches a depth between 1300 m and 2400 m below sea level .

Stromboli has a persistent explosive activity and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. A few hundred meters north-east of the island of Stromboli is the Strombolicchio neck, the remains of an ancient volcanic chimney. The islet houses a navy beacon, uninhabited and automated.

The volcanic building is 926 m above sea level. and reaches a depth between 1300 m and 2400 m below sea level.

Stromboli has a persistent explosive activity and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. A few hundred meters north-east of the island of Stromboli is the Strombolicchio neck, the remains of an ancient volcanic chimney. The islet houses a navy beacon, uninhabited and automated.

Volcanism of Stromboli

Geology

Stromboli is an explosive volcano and its eruptions occur at an average frequency of about an hour. Its “ordinary” activity takes place at an altitude of 750 m s.l.m. from the different eruptive vents present in the crater area and aligned in the NE-SW direction.

This activity consists in intermittent explosions of medium energy, lasting a few seconds at intervals of 10-20 minutes, during which small amounts of incandescent scoriaceous bombs, lapilli, ashes and blocks are emitted, with an output speed ranging from 20 to 120 meters per second and heights ranging from a few tens up to a few hundred meters. The eruptive activity is associated with a nearly continuous degassing from the crater area, whose estimated volume is 6000-12000 t / day, and which consists mainly of H2O (3200-6300 t / g), CO2 (2900-5800 t / g), SO2 (400-800 t / g) and minor amounts of HCl and HF.

Activity periods

Periods of total inactivity, without throwing material, are quite rare. The longest of those recorded lasted for about two years, from 1908 to 1910. Periods of prolonged quiescence, lasting a few months, were recorded several times. Normal activity can be periodically interrupted by higher energy explosions, called “major explosions”. These events consist of brief but violent explosions, during which ballistic launches of blocks and bombs of dimensions, even metric, are produced at distances of several hundred meters, associated with rains of lapilli and ash; the distribution of products is usually confined within the crater area. They are not homogeneously distributed over time, but on average they are 2.1 events each year.

Big Eruptions

The most violent strombolian eruptions ever occurred in historical times date back to 1919 and 1930, and both (apparently) were caused by large infiltration of sea water in the volcanic chimney: the magma, in contact with water, would have caused violent explosions with great emission of vapors and slag, accompanied by violent earthquakes. For the first and so far only time in the history of the volcano, lava flows were also poured out of the Sciara del Fuoco, reaching the inhabited centers (Piscità was touched just 20 meters), causing extensive damage and numerous victims, and causing a small tsunami that generated a wave of 2-3 m that came to do damage to Capo Vaticano, in Calabria.

Paroxysms represent the most energetic manifestations of the Stromboli volcano; they consist of violent and sudden “cannon-like” explosions, during which the sustained emission of incandescent slag, ashes, bombs and lithic blocks occurs at considerable distances, up to affect the inhabited areas of the island. Such explosions can produce convective clouds that reach shares of 10 km. During paroxysms, significantly higher volumes of materials are emitted than normal and larger eruptions and profound modifications of the crater area can frequently occur. The last paroxysmal event took place on March 15th 2007 within the February-April 2007 eruption.

Last eruptions

On 27 February 2007, with an initial effusion of lava from the NE crater, which lasted several hours and followed by the opening of an effusive mouth in the Sciara del Fuoco, at an altitude of 400 m above sea level. about. On March 9, 2007 a second mouth was opened again on the Sciara del Fuoco, but positioned at about 500 m s.l.m .; the activity of this mouth was however short (about 24 hours). Finally, on 2 April 2007, the outpouring of lava from the mouth at an altitude of 400 m s.l.m. On 4 May 2009, the volcano resumed its eruptive activity .

On 30 December 2002, an anomalous wave of about twenty meters caused six injuries, the damage of several boats and triggered the evacuation plan of the island.

Tourism and Economics

From Naples, Lipari, Milazzo and Messina Stromboli can be reached by ferry and, in summer, also by hydrofoil from Messina, Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia and Tropea. The tourist flow to the island, which is the main economic resource of Stromboli, until the seventies was mainly represented by people looking for a particular environment, natural and intact and not without inconveniences such as lack of electricity, water scarcity . In the decades that followed, the inconveniences are much reduced and tourism has grown considerably, even though it remains limited to the central summer months. The island is a destination for tourists in search of tranquility: even for this reason, in the clubs of the island it is forbidden to spread music over two o’clock at night.

Excursions over the Island

Furthermore, day trips to the volcano are organized with expert guides, which lead to over 900 meters above sea level. By boat it is also possible to reach the nearby and lively Panarea, the rock of Strombolicchio and Ginostra, a characteristic locality on the island of Stromboli where the only means of transport are mules (there are a dozen in all) and that it is unattainable by land on the other inhabited part of the island. Stromboli is also a destination, albeit to a lesser extent, of many young people, who go to clubs and beach parties periodically organized in the summer season. Characteristic of the island, in addition to the narrow streets passable only by the motor vehicle and electric scooters, which tourists rent on the island itself, is the lack of night lighting in the streets, which the Municipality to which the island refers, namely that of Lipari , wants to keep it as an important tourist attraction. Finally, from the Observatory, you can see the lava of the volcano, the only one of the Aeolian Islands perpetually in activity and the starry sky highlighted by the lack of lighting. During the tourist season boats leave to allow tourists to take a bath at the rock of Strombolicchio.