Etna Volcano (Italy), October 2002

CATANIA, Sicily - Fountains of ash and sand continued raining down from Mount Etna for a second day, as at least two rivers of lava poured down its slopes and more cracks opened up. However, the lava did not go past an altitude of about 2,200 meters, posing no threats to towns or villages, the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology said.

The new eruption of Europe's biggest and most active volcano on Monday 28th October 2002 forced officials to keep Sicily's main eastern airport, Catania's Fontanarossa, shut down. 
One stream of lava was coming down the northeastern side of the mountain and the other one on the southern side, said Antonino Mostaccio of the Vulcanology Institute.

Map of Area

	ERS-2 ATSR image acquired on 28 October 2002. This is a composite image with 1.6,0.87,0.65 micron. The plume of smoke is very evident in this image.
	ERS-2 ATSR image acquired on 28 October 2002. This image is made with the 11 micron infrared channel.
	Envisat MERIS  image acquired on 29 October 2002.  This image is composed using three bands (Band Combination 15,9,1).
	Envisat  MERIS  image acquired on 29 October 2002. This image is composed using three bands (Band Combination 12,7,4).
	ERS-2 ATSR  image acquired on the 29 October 2002.

The images below are from TERRA satellite and from the International Space Station.
All images are copyright NASA.

	This image, taken by TERRA MODIS on 29 October 2002, shows details using three bands (Band Combination 5,2,1).  The plume of smoke is very evident, due to the temperature difference between the smoke and the sea.
	TERRA MODIS image of the volcano acquired from Matera on 29 October 2002. This image is composed using three bands (Band Combination 5,4,3).

29 October 2002: pictures taken by the crew on board the International Space Station.

Legenda of TERRA's instruments:

MODIS: Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer