MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact:  Enrico Piazza  (818) 354-0478

IMAGE ADVISORY
August 3, 2001

ETNA VOLCANO:  UPDATE FROM SPACE

Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, continues to spill rivers of
lava  following a July 17 eruption. The recent activity of the 3,315-meter
(10,876-foot) high volcano can be seen in two images taken Sunday, July
29 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
on NASA's Terra spacecraft.

The images are available at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/volcano .

One image shows the lava advancing toward the town of Nicolosi on the
Italian island of Sicily. While the last two days have been relatively
calm, a river of lava is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away from the
town. Thick ash clouds caused airport closures and forced residents in
the nearby city of Catania to use umbrellas while walking outside. 
The other image shows a large sulfur dioxide plume coming from the summit
of the  volcano.

More information on Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection 
Radiometer is available at:

http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov.

The Terra spacecraft, the flagship of a fleet of satellites dedicated to 
understanding our global environment, is part of NASA's Earth Sciences
Enterprise, a long-term research program dedicated to understanding how
human-induced and natural changes affect our world. JPL is managed by the
California Institute of Technology in  Pasadena.

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