The July/August 2019 Lava Flows at the Sciara del Fuoco, Stromboli–Analysis from Multi-Sensor Infrared Satellite Imagery

Abstract

On 3 July 2019 a rapid sequence of paroxysmal explosions at the summit craters of Stromboli (Aeolian-Islands, Italy) occurred, followed by a period of intense Strombolian and effusive activity in July, and continuing until the end of August 2019. We present a joint analysis of multi-sensor infrared satellite imagery to investigate this eruption episode. Data from the Spinning-Enhanced-Visible-and-InfraRed-Imager (SEVIRI) was used in combination with those from the Multispectral-Instrument (MSI), the Operational-Land-Imager (OLI), the Advanced-Very High-Resolution-Radiometer (AVHRR), and the Visible-Infrared-Imaging-Radiometer-Suite (VIIRS). The analysis of infrared SEVIRI-data allowed us to detect eruption onset and to investigate short-term variations of thermal volcanic activity, providing information in agreement with that inferred by nighttime-AVHRR-observations. By using Sentinel-2-MSI and Landsat-8-OLI imagery, we better localized the active lava-flows. The latter were quantitatively characterized using infrared VIIRS-data, estimating an erupted lava volume of 6.33 × 10 6 ± 3.17 × 10 6 m3 and a mean output rate of 1.26 ± 0.63 m3/s for the July/August 2019 eruption period. The estimated mean-output-rate was higher than the ones in the 2002–2003 and 2014 Stromboli effusive eruptions, but was lower than in the 2007-eruption. These results confirmed that a multi-sensor-approach might provide a relevant contribution to investigate, monitor and characterize thermal volcanic activity in high-risk areas.