February 23, 2023 - Sicily

Sicily
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The triangular-shaped island of Sicily sits at the heart of the
Mediterranean Sea, positioned roughly 100 miles (160 km) north of
Tunisia, in north Africa, and just 2 miles (3 km) from the southern tip
of mainland Italy. This strategic location has placed the
Mediterranean’s largest island at the crossroads of history for many
thousands of years and through a variety of civilizations. The island
has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years.

On February 22, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
Sicily surrounded by the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, colored
in green, and the highest peaks topped with winter snow.

In the east, a light gray plume can be seen rising from Sicily’s most
iconic feature, Mount Etna, and blowing towards the southeast over the
Mediterranean. Standing at 3,329 meters high (10,922 feet), the volcano
is in almost continuous eruption. In late November 2022 a new fissure
vent opened on Etna’s southeast crater, permitting lava to flow and
beginning a new effusive eruption. On February 8, 2023, the volcano
observatory in Catania released a bulletin for aviation services
mentioning that the effusive eruption at the summit craters had ended.
Low level activity above background levels have continued, with very
little ash emission. The light gray plume captured in this image is
likely primarily volcanic gases with little ash.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 2/22/2023
Resolutions: 1km (159.2 KB), 500m (401.4 KB), 250m (711.6
KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-02-23

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