Marc Szeglat

State: Spain | Coordinates: 28.57, -17.84 | Eruption: Hawaiian

The eruption on La Palma continues and is stable. LiveCam videos show that the remaining lava fountain has been producing lava all night. Lava flows continued to advance, but moved more slowly than anticipated and the postulated Ocean Entry is still a long time coming. Last night, there was a magnitude 3.8 earthquake event, followed by other earth tremors that were somewhat weaker. Further evacuations were initiated due to the new vent that opened yesterday afternoon. There are no signs that the volcanic eruption will end soon.

This afternoon, at about 15:12 local time, the volcano Cumbre Vieja erupted on La Palma. At the edge of the volcanic ridge Cumbre Vieja opened eruption fissures and lava fountains generate lava flows since then. The eruption began with the rise of an ash cloud. The eruption site is close to a settlement and it is likely that destruction of infrastructure will occur. A road has already been overrun by lava. The formation of an ocean entry is also conceivable.

Update 23.00: The eruption on La Palma continues and even intensified. In the late afternoon, more vents opened along a 2nd fissure. In the evening, at least 11 vents were active: 2 vents were strombolian active and produced ash clouds and incandescent tephra, lava fountains were generated from the other vents. The lava ignited trees and flowed from Montaña Rajada towards the settlement of El Paraiso. The first buildings have already been destroyed and major damage is expected. The lava is moving relatively slowly and people have time to flee. More than 1400 people have already left their homes. Emergency plans call for up to 10,000 more people to follow. Besides the lava, there are concerns about forest fires and air pollution.

State: Spain | Coordinates: 28.57, -17.84 | Eruption: magma intrusion

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake occurred at Cumbre Vieja on La Palma, with a hypocenter at a depth of only 2 km. The seismicity continued to intensify during the last hours. Several earthquakes could be felt by the population. Since the beginning of the swarm earthquake, 6632 tremors were detected. If the earthquakes in the micorseismic area are added, there were more than 25,000 shakings. The ground uplift is up to 15 cm. It is noticeable that the number of shallow earthquakes increases at depths of less than 6 km. It cannot be excluded that the final magma uplift has already started and that an eruption will occur already in the next hours/days. As always, no one knows for sure what will happen. The magma could still get stuck in the earth’s crust.