Terminal Strombolian activity at Etna's central craters during summer 2012: The most CO2-rich volcanic gas ever recorded at Mount Etna

By using a permanent network of multi-component gas analyzer systems (Multi-GAS), we report for the first time the H2O-CO2-SO2 composition of the volcanic gases emitted prior to, during, and after terminal Strombolian activity at Mount Etna's central craters (CCs). We show that the summer 2012 Strombolian episodes of the Bocca Nuova crater (BNC), the largest of Etna's CCs, are associated with the emission of the most CO2-rich gas measured at the volcano thus far. The BNC plume was particularly CO2-rich with CO2/SO2 up to 100, H2O/CO2 1 prevailed at the BNC and at other degassing vents such as Voragine and Northeast craters during Strombolian eruptions. Based on the results of numerical simu…