Chaos, fears, seismic unrest and lava flow continue on the Spanish isle of La Palma after a MONTH of sustained eruption. Altough many believed the eruption would be short lived, yesterday’s official statement indicates that there’s no immediate end in sight to the volcanic eruption.
And today, at 11:45 am local time (6:45 am ET) another eruption was captured on camera:
Así está la erupción a las 11,45 hora canaria / There is the eruption at 11,45 Canarian time pic.twitter.com/wUOjhXzRas
— INVOLCAN (@involcan) October 17, 2021
“There are no signs that an end of the eruption is imminent even though this is the greatest desire of everyone,” President Angel Víctor Torres said at a Socialist party conference in Valencia, citing the view of scientists.
Un mes de erupción en #LaPalma
— EFE Canarias (@EFE_Canarias) October 17, 2021
Las impactantes cifras de un volcán "de manual"
📸 Elvira Urquijo, Carlos de Saá, Ángel Medina, Ramón de la Rochahttps://t.co/D8ug2SVBx0 pic.twitter.com/6f9Rn3fqXC
Over 35,000 earthquakes and tremors have been recorded in La Palma during the past four weeks. The most intense, a M4.6, was recorded yesterday, Oct. 16th. Today, 42 tremors rattled the island, with the strongest registering M4.3.
PEVOLCA has confirmed the appearance of a NEW eruptive vent on the SOUTH face of the volcanic cone, after a sudden explosion.
This new eruption has ejected frothy, pumice-textured xenoliths, likely a “pre-island” sedimentary rock, carried to the surface by magma:
The cone of the Cumbre Vieja Volcano is now 656 ft high or 200 meters. Vulcanologists from Pevolca say the main cone and its surroundings has most of activity. The higher part of the cone shows two vents of gases and ashes. The lava river originates and flows from a lower area on the north-west of the cone.
The latest lava front continues its journey towards the sea at about 15 meters per hour and with a temperature of 1,270 °C (2,318 °F). It is now located around 200 meters from the cliff’s edge at 12:15pm Canarian time (7:15 ET).
El frente de colada que se mueve hacia el mar lo hace a 15 m/h y a 1270°C. Se encuentra a 200 metros del acantilado a las 12,15 hora canaria / The lava front that moves to the sea does so at 15 m/h & 1270 ° C. It is located 200 meters from the cliff at 12:15 Canarian time pic.twitter.com/i3pDLikbfq
— INVOLCAN (@involcan) October 17, 2021
Thursday, a fast-moving river of lava flowed from the Cumbre Vieja volcano. The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute called the flow a lava “tsunami.”
A fast-moving river of lava flowed from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma island in Spain Thursday. The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute called the flow a lava "tsunami.” pic.twitter.com/MhXl5F9Pxd
— News 3 Now / Channel 3000 (@WISCTV_News3) October 16, 2021
As of today, streams of lava have laid waste to more than 753.8 hectares (1863 acres) of land. This is an increase of 16.9 hectares in the last seven hours. The flows of lava destroyed almost 2,000 buildings on La Palma – nine more than in the last report – since the volcano started erupting on Sept. 19.
EMSR546 #ErupciónLaPalma
— Copernicus EMS (@CopernicusEMS) October 17, 2021
Our #RapidMappingTeam has released its 2️⃣2⃣nd updated product for #LaPalma🇪🇸#CumbreVieja eruption using radar imagery acquired on 15 October at 18:56 UTC
▶️Extent of the🌋lava flow: 753.8 ha (+16.9 ha in 7h)
▶️1,835 destroyed buildings🏠detected (+9) pic.twitter.com/2BMQ3aLN8H
New eruptions from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Saturday prompted further evacuations, as lava flow advanced toward Tacande, a suburban region in the south of the Canary Island La Palma.
New eruptions from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Saturday prompted further evacuations, as lava flow advanced toward Tacande, a suburban region in the south of the Canary Island La Palma. pic.twitter.com/HflVrvN3y5
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 17, 2021
In overall, about 7,000 people have been evacuated from their homes on the island, which has about 83,000 inhabitants.
Airline Binter said it had cancelled all its flights to La Palma until 1 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Sunday because of ash from the volcano. The decision was a ‘force majeure’. So far, the rest of the airports of the Canary Islands are operational.
Almost half – 22 out of 38 – of all flights to the island on Sunday have been cancelled, state airport operator Aena said, but the airport there remains open. Almost all cancellations are inter-island flights, but six connections, split between Bilbao, Zurich and Madrid, have also been suspended.