Measurements of ground temperature at shallow depth continuously transmitted and stored in a data base can be of value to follow volcanic events and to give information about heat flux at the surface of the volcano. We propose models to calculate heat flux from temperature measurements for the following cases: conductive transfer, convective transfer, and conductive and convective transfer. Then we examine the results obtained in the summit area of Mount Etna. In convective areas it is difficult to estimate the flux in the absence of complementary information about the liquid content of the outgoing fluid, but the steady flux is more important than the unsteady one. At the Torre Del Filosofo station the transfer is conductive, it can be used as a reference station, and geothermal heat flux can be approached. ¿American Geophysical Union 1987