Figure 2. A frame captured from video recorded by the thermal monitoring camera of the INGV-Osservatorio Etneo (Catania) on the Montagnola, roughly 3 km south of Etna's summit, at 19:06 GMT on 27 January 2012. At right, an ash plume produced by an explosion at the New Southeast Crater is seen rising about 400 m above the crater

Figure 3. A frame captured from video recorded by the Montagnola thermal camera at 14:48 GMT on 28 January 2012. Note the emission of hot material (yellow-red anomaly at right) from the New Southeast Crater

At 11:24 GMT on 27 January 2012, an explosive emission of ash and hot material occurred from an eruptive vent within the New Southeast Crater (New SEC) of Etna, the first eruptive activity at this crater since the end of the 5 January 2012 paroxysmal eruptive episode. The first explosion was followed by others (Figures 1 and 2) that were less intense, at intervals varying from a few minutes to more than one hour. An explosion at 21:40 GMT launched incandescent material in a narrow vertical jet to a few tens of meters above the crater rim; a much smaller Strombolian explosion occurred at 22:31 GMT.

During the forenoon of 28 January 2012, sporadic ash emissions continued from the New SEC at irregular intervals, without any clear tendency toward an augmentation. Some of the emissions contain hot material, which appear as anomalies in the video images of the thermal monitoring camera of the INGV-Osservatorio Etneo (Catania) on the Montagnola, about 3 km south of the summit craters of Etna (Figure 3). The source of these emissions is a single vent located in the western portion of the crater floor. As of 15:30 GMT on 28 January, there is no evidence of lava overflow or strong Strombolian activity. Furthermore, the volcanic tremor amplitude continues to fluctuate at low levels, comparable to those of the preceding days. However, the current activity might well be a precursor to a new paroxysmal eruptive episode similar to those seen since January 2011.