Estimates of lava discharge rate of 2018 Kilauea Volcano, Hawai'i eruption using multi-sensor satellite and laboratory measurements

Abstract

The 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption (LERZ) at Kilauea Volcano, Hawai'i, was the largest event of the last 200 years at the LERZ. Here, we present a lava discharge rate estimation of this eruption by combining a joint analysis of multi-sensor infrared (IR) satellite remote sensing imagery of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) with laboratory measurements of lava properties. The time-averaged discharge rate (TADR) based estimation of the erupted lava volume resulted in circa 9.24 × 10^8 ± 4.62 × 10^8 m³ for the subaerial part of the 2018 LERZ eruption. The lava effusion at the LERZ began on 3 May 2018, with relatively low mean output rates of 2.82 ± 1.41 m³/s, which then almost doubled after 12 May to 4.94 ± 2.47 m³/s, increased after 19 May to 64.97 ± 32.48 m³/s and from 28 May onwards until beginning of August 2018 up to 137.67 ± 68.83 m³/s.