Strombolian, Hawaiian and Plinian Eruptions and the Mount St. Helens Eruption 1980

Abstract

Europeans who choose not to spend their money on New Years Eve on fireworks, can instead book a flight to Naples and take a 2-h boat trip to the Aeolian Islands. They can climb the steep slopes of 960-m-high Stromboli volcano and enjoy natural fireworks every 10–20 min, all year-round. Except during the last week of December 2002 when part of the island collapsed into the sea and magma escaped from the flank (Sciara di Fuoco) instead of on the top. The ancient Romans, pragmatic as they were, probably did not think much about the source of the gases, the gas pressure, or the velocity with which particles of magma are thrown out of the several craters in Stromboli, but simply called Stromboli the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.