Investigating Mauna Loa (Hawaii) eruption of November-December 2022 from space: recent results from GOES-R, Sentinel-2, and Landsat 8/9 observations

On 27 November 2022, an eruption started at the Mauna Loa (Hawaii; USA) volcano after about 38 years of quiescence. The eruption took place at the summit caldera; the day after, it migrated to the upper Northeast Rift Zone, where lava effusion initially occurred from three fissure vents. In this work, we investigate the Mauna Loa 2022 eruption, ending on 13 December, by means of a virtual network of multi-sensor infrared satellite observations. In particular, we show the results achieved by implementing the Normalized Hotspot Indices (NHI) on GOES-R ABI data, at 10 min temporal resolution, and by using Sentinel-2 MSI and Landsat-8/9 OLI/OLI-2 observations at mid-high spatial resolution via the Google Earth Engine tool developed to map volcanic thermal anomalies at global scale.. Both the eruption onset and the short-term variations of thermal activity were well identified by NHI, using GOES-R ABI data. Moreover, an accurate mapping and characterization of active lava flows was performed. These results confirm that SWIR (short wave infrared) observations, at different temporal and spatial resolution, if properly analysed, may support the monitoring and surveillance of active volcanoes from space.