Continuing its pattern of intermittent activity, Sicily’s Mount Etna released another plume on December 6, 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture the same day. In contrast to the image acquired on November 24, this picture shows a relatively mild plume that nevertheless remains intact for roughly 100 kilometers as it blows away from Sicily toward the southeast. As with the previous image, MODIS has detected a hotspot, at the volcano’s summit, indicating surface temperatures were much warmer there than in the surroundings.
NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. The Rapid Response Team offers daily images of this region.
