Infrared Radiance of Mount Etna, Sicily

Abstract

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Thermal and short-wave infrared images of Mount Etna, acquired using the ASTER sensor on-board the EOS Terra satellite, are presented. The data from the short-wave infrared (SWIR) channel is plotted as a three-dimensional surface map showing the spatial distribution of radiance emitted from the summit craters of the volcano. The utility of using short-wave infrared data in producing such maps, as opposed to using long-wave infrared data, lies in allowing individually active craters to be discerned and differences in their radiant emissions to be quantified. This is an improvement over purely qualitative findings which can be drawn from the use of visual or thermal infrared imagery (TIR) of the same surfaces. The additional advantage of using SWIR bands is that in some cases, the quantitative observations can be related to the physical processes occurring at the volcano at the time of acquisition, thereby negating the requirement for potentially dangerous field observations of actively erupting volcanoes. The utility of SWIR observations in monitoring the behaviour of active volcanoes is therefore confirmed.