Quiescent Mount Etna

Quiescent Mount Etna

Even while quiescent, Mount Etna—Italy’s most active volcano—shows signs of life. A plume of translucent brown puffs extends southwest from the Southeast Crater, while small white plumes rise above the Central Crater (also known as Bocca Nuova) and the Northeast Crater. According to the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia Sezione di Catania, degassing has occurred at the summit craters since Etna’s last eruption ended in June of 2009.

This natural-color satellite image was acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard Earth-Observing-1 (EO-1) on March 17, 2010.

NASA image by Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data from the NASA EO-1 team. Caption by Robert Simmon.

References & Resources

  • Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia Sezione di Catania. (2010, March 1). Attività dei vulcani siciliani. Accessed March 22, 2010.
  • Global Volcanism Program (n.d.). Etna. Accessed March 22, 2010.