Ash Plume Streams from Mt. Etna, Sicily : Image of the Day

WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES

06.26.2011

Courtesy Photo

NASA

When this southward-looking photograph was taken by the Expedition 2 crew aboard the International Space Station, the city of Catania (in shadow, ~25 km SSE of the volcano) was covered by a layer of ash and Fontanarossa International Airport was closed. On that day an ash cloud was reported to have reached a maximum height of ~5.2 km. Plumes from two sources are visible here--a dense, darker mass from one of the three summit craters and a lighter, lower one. The record of historical volcanism of Mt. Etna is one of the longest in the world, dating back to 1500 BC. Two styles of activity are typical: explosive eruptions, sometimes with minor lava flows, from the summit craters and flank eruptions from fissures.

• Date Taken: 06.26.2011
• Date Posted: 02.08.2013 13:19
• Photo ID: 848884
• Resolution: 3060x2035
• Size: 1.99 MB
• Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., US