NASA's FIRMS system publishes thermal anomalies detected by the VIIRS instruments (375 m resolution) on the Suomi NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 satellites. During eruptions, lava fountains and flows show up as clusters of hot pixels at the summit. Detections are shown exactly as NASA publishes them — and note that FIRMS flags any strong heat source, including wildfires and agricultural burns, so distance from the summit craters matters.
VIIRS 375 m detections in the Etna area · Suomi NPP + NOAA-20 + NOAA-21
| acquired (utc) | satellite | frp (mw) | brightness | conf. | From Etna |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Sept, 00:58 UTC | NOAA-21 | 1.9 | 302 K | nominal | 4.2 km |
| 12 Sept, 00:58 UTC | NOAA-21 | 1.8 | 300 K | nominal | 4.6 km |
| 12 Sept, 00:58 UTC | NOAA-21 | 1.7 | 305 K | nominal | 5.8 km |
| 12 Sept, 00:58 UTC | NOAA-21 | 1.7 | 304 K | nominal | 6.2 km |
FRP = Fire Radiative Power, the radiant heat output of the detection. FIRMS flags any strong heat source — wildfires, agricultural burns, industrial heat — not only volcanic activity; detections are not filtered or reclassified by this dashboard.
They are thermal anomalies detected by the VIIRS instruments (375 m resolution) aboard the Suomi NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 satellites, published by NASA's FIRMS system. Each point is a pixel where the satellite measured a temperature far above the surrounding background. During Etna eruptions, lava fountains and flows produce clusters of detections in the summit area.
Not by itself. FIRMS flags any strong heat source: wildfires, agricultural burns, industrial plants. That is why every detection shows its distance from the summit craters — points within a few kilometres of the summit during an eruptive episode are almost certainly lava, distant ones probably are not. For volcanological confirmation, INGV's official communications are authoritative.
Each satellite passes over Sicily roughly twice a day (around 01:30 and 13:30 local time), so three satellites give about six passes per day. NASA's near-real-time processing adds up to a few hours of latency. Every detection carries its acquisition time in UTC — this is not a continuous feed like tremor.
FRP (Fire Radiative Power) is the radiant heat output of the source, in megawatts: the higher it is, the more intense the heat source. Brightness is the pixel's brightness temperature in the I-4 infrared band, in Kelvin. During lava fountains, summit-area FRP can rise by orders of magnitude.