Madrid - Steaming magma is bubbling onto the sea surface. The earth shakes, and a smell of sulphur floats in the air.
For over a month, residents of the Spanish Canary Island of El Hierro have lived with an active underwater volcano that not only poses a security threat, but also scares off tourists and endangers the inhabitants' livelihoods.
Volcanic eruptions could continue for weeks, civil protection science representative Carmen Lopez said this week.
However, the situation has been deemed safe enough for the 550 evacuated residents of the fishing village of La Restinga to return home, though the island was still being hit by earthquakes.
The earth began trembling on El Hierro on July 19, in a sign that magma was rising toward the surface of the smallest Canary Island.
Evacuation
The island of 11 000 residents has a large volcano and more than 250 craters. But its volcanic power had been dormant for centuries, with the last eruption reported in 1793.
El Hierro has now experienced more than 11 000 earthquakes since July. The vast majority were not noticed by the population, but grew in intensity.
Dozens of people were evacuated for fear of rockslides in September, and an army unit was put on standby to help in the event of a mass evacuation.
An underwater eruption occurred on October 10, following an earthquake of a magnitude greater than 4. Scientists observing seismic activity confirmed the eruption. Dead fish were seen floating on the water.
Volcanic activity has since continued intermittently, with witnesses reporting jets of gas and ash spewing several metres above sea level.
The eruptions have sent a large volume of greenish magma spilling into the sea.
An oceanographic vessel discovered a 100m-high volcano with a 120m-diameter crater located at a depth of about 200m.
Eruptions
It is thought possible that magma is also breaking through one or two other outlets. Some of the eruptions have been observed as close as 1.5km off El Hierro's southern coast.
The nearby La Restinga has been evacuated several times. There has also been concern over a possible eruption off Frontera, the island's economic capital in the north, following strong earthquakes in the area. More than 50 people were evacuated.
"The worst scenario would be an eruption on land," Canaries security chief Juan Manuel Santana told the daily El Pais.
There is even a remote possibility of eruptions resulting in new land. Possible names for a new Canary Island have already been suggested on the internet, such as Atlantis or Discovery.
For the moment, however, experts are most concerned about the presence of toxic gases, though there is practically no evidence so far of health damage to the population.
Most El Hierro residents are more worried about their livelihoods than about the simmering volcano.
Emergency
The earthquakes and eruptions have brought fishing and touristic diving to a standstill in La Restinga, some of whose residents had to resort to emergency food aid.
Life is now returning to the village while two nearby coves still remain closed to the public.
The authorities are also maintaining some of the traffic restrictions imposed earlier. Traffic will remain limited in a key tunnel linking Frontera with the island's capital Valverde. The traffic problems have sparked more protests over economic losses.
There were initial hopes that the volcano would draw more tourists to the island, which receives about 7 000 visitors annually.
But the opposite happened, with more than 1 500 cancelling their holidays and causing losses worth hundreds of thousands of euros for the local tourism industry, its representatives said.
Magma now covers some of the island's rich underwater flora and fauna at the Mar de las Calmas marine reserve, which was a favourite among tourists.
Some El Hierro residents are preparing demonstrations, accusing Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government of abandoning them.
"Other emergencies only last a certain time, but that is not the case now," Santana said. "What people want is a return to normality, to routine."
In this Sunday, July 28, 2002 file photo, plumes of lava spew high into the air from Mount Nyamulagira, near the town of Goma in eastern Congo.
By SALEH MWANAMILONGO
updated 11/14/2011 11:41:39 AM ET
KINSHASA, Congo — A national park in Congo best known for its endangered mountain gorillas is now inviting tourists to go on overnight treks to see a volcano spurting fountains of lava nearly 1,000 feet into the air.
Mount Nyamulagira began erupting on Nov. 6 and could continue to do so for days, or even months.
"Last night's was the most spectacular yet," spokeswoman LuAnne Chad said Monday from Virunga National Park.
Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano attracted tourists earlier this year when a fissure had lava spurting 65 feet (20 meters) high. In comparison, volcanologist Dario Tedesco estimated that the lava on Mount Nyamulagira in Congo is spewing up to 980 feet high (300 meters) high.
Park wardens have named the latest Nyamulagira eruption "Kimanura," after the name of the area along the volcano's flank, spokeswoman Chad said.
Rivers of incandescent lava are flowing slowly north into an uninhabited part of the park, but that the lava flows pose no danger to the park's critically endangered mountain gorillas, a statement from the park said.
Virunga Park is home to 200 of the world's 790 mountain gorillas, as well as lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, okapi, forest elephants and buffalo.
The park has set up a tented camp nearly one mile (1.5 kilometers) south of the eruption where tourists can spend the night. For $300, the park provides transportation for the hour-long drive from the eastern capital of Goma and wardens to guide visitors on the three- to four-hour hike to the camp.
Virunga is located in eastern Congo, where numerous militia and rebel groups continue to terrorize the population nearly a decade after the country's civil war ended. Some 360 park rangers protect the park and its wildlife from poachers, rebel groups, illegal miners and land invasions.
Rangers worked through the civil war in eastern Congo's five parks, with more than 150 killed in the last 10 years, according to the statement.
The 3,000 square-mile (7,800 square-kilometer) Virunga National Park is a World Heritage site containing seven of the eight volcanoes in the Virunga mountain range that sprawls across the borders of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Only two are active — Nyamulagira and, closer to Goma, Mount Nyiragongo.
Nyiragongo erupted destructively in 2002, destroying most of Goma city including 14,000 homes and forcing 350,000 residents to flee.
A brand new Canary island is emerging from the sea as an underwater volcano bubbles to the surface.
A brand new Canary island is emerging from the sea as an underwater volcano bubbles to the surface.
Magma off the Canary Island of El Hierro has been spewing 20 metres high as the sea boils with a smell of sulphur.
As it grows and gets closer to the surface, more and more debris such as stones start to shoot out of the volcano which, until now, has only shown its explosive power below the surface.
It is now just 70 metres from the surface and islanders are already trying to come up with a name for the new island. It is quite close to El Hierro and if it continues to erupt it could eventually meet up with the mainland.
It's not known at this point whether Ryanair, famed for flying to out-of-town airports, plans on opening up a route to the new-born island.
Homes have been evacuated and roads closed on the southern-most Canary Island following a government-issued warning about a possible volcanic eruption while shipping has been banned in the area.
The southern tip of El Hierro was shaken by a 4.3-magnitude quake late on Saturday as the underwater volcano just off the coast started spewing. The island, which has 500 volcanic cones, has already experienced more than 10,000 tremors in the past four months.
Renewed fears of an eruption came as vast quantities of magma - the molten rock from just under the earth's crust - began bubbling into the sea off the port of La Restinga.
Witnesses said that explosive plumes and jets could be seen on the ocean surface from the underwater volcano which began erupting last month. Some of the material is being ejected as high as 60ft into the air.
Debris was thrown up two 60ft into the air from the area close to the Canary Islands which has had more than 10,000 tremors in four months
The regional government of the Spanish Canary Island issued a 'yellow' volcanic eruption alert - the second on a four-level scale. La Restinga's 600 residents were evacuated last week after the volcanic activity began.
Now new evacuations have been called for people living along the southern end of the island. Authorities have also shut down access to La Restinga.
Ships have been ordered away from waters around the port and aircraft have been banned from flying over the island's southern tip. The regional government of the Canary Islands says scientists have detected airborne volcanic fragments called pyroclasts rising from the sea off La Restinga.
The government said it awaited scientific reports on the danger posed by pyroclasts, but a research vessel that was collecting samples there has been ordered to stop.
Fears of an eruption have been going since the end of July, when El Hierro experienced the first of what has become more than 10,000 tremors - collectively known as an earthquake 'swarm'.
Residents were evacuated from some areas at the end of September when volcanic activity increased to more than 150 tremors in 24 hours. The army was put on standby for a mass evacuation.
It looks like a new island has been formed, but actually this is just molten rock that is being spewed into the air by the exploding volcano
Volcano expert Juan Carlos Carrecedo said at the time: 'There is a ball of magma rising to the surface producing a series of ruptures which generate seismic activity.
'We don't know if that ball of magma will break through the crust and cause an eruption.'
But he warned an eruption was possible 'in days, weeks or months'. The last eruption on El Hierro was in 1793 and lasted for a month while the last one in the Canary Islands as a whole took place on the island of La Palma in 1971.
The sea around the volcano is heating up and, at times, has reached as much as 35C. Is THIS what's causing localised pockets of warming around the world as the climate experiences more extremes of weather?
A spectacular fire show started last night when Nyamuragira volcano (also known as Nyamulagira) began an eruption that happens about every two years. The eruption could be seen clearly from park headquarters - probably the best view you could ask for. It appears that the eruption is not happening on the volcano itself, but on the side and lower to the ground. We'll fill you in on details once we have them.
This is NOT the volcano that tourists hike to see the lava lake, but a far more active volcano just to the north. Most of the lava flows north into an area where no one lives, so it shouldn't bring harm to people or wildlife as the flow is moving slowly.
Eruptions like this one can go on for days, weeks, or even months.
The Civil Protection Plan for Volcanic Risk in the Islands (PEVOLCA) monitoring the recent seismic activity on El Hierro have ordered the evacuation of the town of la Restinga, on the southern-most coast of the island, close to the recent underwater volcanic eruption.
The decision was made after observing changes in the eruption, which has now increased in intensity, and has now been accompanied with plumes of ash.
Around 250 residents of the town attended a meeting with the Mayor on the local football field, where they were advised by the Emergency Military Unit (UME) to leave their homes and seek temporary accommodation with friends or relatives, or, failing that, seek assistance and a temporary camp that has bee set up in nearby Valverde.
Under normal circumstances the town of la Restinga houses around 600 residents, however many residents have still not returned to the town since the first evacuation took place on the 12th of October.
Major exercises scheduled on November 9 – The day of close approach of asteroid 2005 YU55
Two major hazard excercise are scheduled for November 9 2011 and also close approach of asterois 2005 YU55. Testing of Emergency Alert System (EAS) and PACWAVE11, a multi-scenario exercise that will allow PTWS countries to exercise using a destructive local or regional tsunami scenario are to be held on the date.
Nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test
FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will conduct the first nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test on November 9, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
The nationwide EAS Test will be conducted jointly by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS).
FEMA will test the readiness and effectiveness of the EAS. EAS Participants provide a critical public service to the nation as the resilient backbone of alert and warning when all other means of communication are unavailable. That includes all broadcasters, satellite and digital radio and television, cable television and wireline video providers who ensure the system is at a constant state of readiness.
The alert and warning landscape is in an important state of transition; from the current system of radio, television, cable, satellite, and wireline broadcast media-based alerting to a future system that integrates new technologies for a more universal access to alert and warning messages. Future testing of the EAS will assess the effectiveness and reliability of other technologies to achieve the ultimate goal of timely alert and warning to American public in the preservation of life and property.
The national-level EAS leverages the communications support of all participating analog and digital radio, television, cable, satellite, and wireline providers (also known as EAS Participants) through specialized EAS equipment. A single, live-code alert, called the Emergency Action Notification, (EAN) is sent simultaneously to Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations across the country. PEP stations are designated to relay national alerts to the public and other stations in their coverage area. Local Primary (LP-1) EAS Participants monitor the PEP stations and other sources for an EAS message. Other EAS Participating stations also monitor at least two sources (in most cases the PEP and LP-1 stations) to receive the EAS message, and broadcast the message to the public in their area.
During the test, listeners will hear a message indicating that “This is a test.” The text at the top of the television screen may indicate that an “Emergency Action Notification has been issued.” This notification is used to disseminate a national alert and in this case, the test. In addition, the background image that appears on video screens during an alert may indicate that “This is a test,” but in some instances there might not be an image at all.
FEMA stated that they choose this particular date because it is near the end of hurricane season and before the severe winter weather season. The 2 p.m. Eastern broadcast time will minimize disruption during rush hours, while ensuring that the test can occur during normal business hours across several time zones. (FEMA)
Community Medical Excercise
Medical Reserve Corps issued a call for volunteers needed for community medical excercise which is to be held on November 9. Hospital personnel and various first responder agencies from the MidSouth region will participate in a community medical exercise. This exercise will provide practical training experience to prepare for medical response during a large scale event. On Wednesday November 9th, hospital personnel will work with volunteer patients playing the role of injured victims to provide a realistic and practical experience in treatment and response. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age and preregistration is required. In order to participate in this drill you must be a member of the Medical Reserve Corps.
MILCOM 2011
November 7 -10 is scheduled for MILCOM 2011 / IEEE Military Communications Conference. The unclassified technical program provides a venue for technical papers that do not contain ITAR-sensitive, classified or proprietary information.
Unclassified technical program includes Waveforms and Signal Processing, Network Protocols and Performance, Cyber Security and Network Operations, Middleware Services and Applications, Communications and Network Systems and Department of Defense Programs.
Classified technical program includes Track: Satellite Communications, Tactical Applications and Framework, Tutorial: Enhanced Polar System Overview, Radio Technology, Analysis and Capabilities, Security Challenges and Solutions, Command and Control for Cyberspace, Electronic Warfare/ Communication System Compatibilities, Communication System Susceptibilities and Jamming, Network Security and IA Testing and RF.
Excercise Pacific Wave 11
PacWave11 will be held on 9-10 November 2011 as a multi-scenario exercise that will allow PTWS countries to exercise using a destructive local or regional tsunami scenario. PacWave 11 will also be used to introduce new tsunami advisory products of the PTWC. IOC Circular Letter 2390 was issued on 13 May 2011 announcing the exercise and requesting PTWS Countries to nominate a PacWave11 focal point. IOC Manual and Guides 58 on How to Plan, Conduct, and Evaluate Tsunami Exercises was issued in July 2011. The PacWave11 Exercise Manual (IOC TS 97) was published in August 2011.
In August 2010, the PTWS Steering Committee (SC) met to discuss the progress of the PTWS during the intersessional period, including the next PTWS exercise. Considering the general objectives of PACWAVE08, the SC approved the PACWAVE Summary Report and requested Working Groups 2 and 3 (Tsunami Detection, Warning and Dissemination; Tsunami Awareness and Response) to cooperate in the preparation of an end-to-end communication exercise PACWAVE11 in November 2011. The actual evacuation of local communities (or parts of it) will be left to the decision of local or national authorities. A Task Team is to be formed and elaborate on detailed scenarios. PACWAVE11 will be conducted as a multi-scenario exercise to permit all countries to better participate. (ITIC/IOC)
Travel times are calculated using a point source corresponding to the earthquake epicenter. The software (TTT SDK, Geoware) is used by the NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and is available to tsunami warning centers and responsible national tsunami agencies from ITIC/NGDC.
On 29 April, NASA announced on their website that a massive asteroid will moving very close to earth. It will closer than the moon which orbits 238,857 miles away on average.
This giant asteroid called YU55 founded by Robert McMillan, head of the Nasa-funded Spacewatch Program at the University of Arizona, Tucson since December 2005. It orbits the sun once every 14 year but it is not close to the earth for at least a decade.
Asteroids come within the moon’s distance every so often, but 2005 YU55 is the biggest known asteroid to do so for about the next 17 years. Officially, the asteroid poses no immediate threat to Earth. Its orbit is well known to astronomers – so well known that we can rule out an impact for at least the next century.
According to NASA’s Near Earth Object Program:
Although classified as a potentially hazardous object, 2005 YU55 poses no threat of an Earth collision over at least the next 100 years. However, this will be the closest approach to date by an object this large that we know about in advance and an event of this type will not happen again until 2028 when asteroid (153814) 2001 WN5 will pass to within 0.6 lunar distances.
The animation below, from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shows this asteroid’s sweep past Earth on November 8 and 9.
While this is the largest asteroid (that we know of) to swing past us for the next 17 years or so, YU55 is not an immediate threat to Earth. Its orbit does bring it close enough to our planet that it’s been deemed a potentially hazardous asteroid, but the orbit is well-enough known that we can rule out an impact for at least the next century.
You can see the Earth at the center (the diagonal line if the Earth’s orbit around the Sun), the Moon orbiting the Earth, and the path of YU55. The scale on the bottom is a million kilometers, about 620,000 miles. The Moon’s orbit is roughly 770,000 km (475,000 miles) wide. The path of YU55 cuts a shallow chord across the Moon’s orbit, well away from our planet.
Still, there’s a chance for some real science on this rock. At that distance, it’ll appear so small (1/4 arcseconds across, where the Moon is 1800 arcsec across for comparison) that it’ll be too small even for Hubble to make much of it — at best, in Hubble’s cameras it will appear to be just two pixels across. And that’s even if Hubble could track it, which it can’t.
But the Deep Space Network of radio telescopes can actually get very high resolution imagery using sophisticated techniques, possibly getting images with a resolution of just 4 meters — the size of an SUV — on the asteroid. That means YU55 will be 100 pixels across, enough to see some details on the surface, including craters, boulders, and even possibly a moon if it has one. (BadAstronomy)
The risk of asteroid impact causing tsunami
If an asteroid of size 200 meters hit the ocean (which covers 70% of the Earth), the tsunami would create inflict of catastrophic destruction of coastal cities and substantial worldwide human casualties along coastlines. If an asteroid of size 1 kilometer hit Earth, it would cause a dust cloud which would block out sunlight for at least a year and lead to a deep worldwide winter, exhausting food supplies. The latter is what caused the dinosaur extinction, as well as other major extinctions of smaller creatures in geologic time scales. The 200 meter asteroid hits, which are far more common than the 1 km+ hits, wouldn’t show up much in geologic histories on a global scale.
The statistics on the chances of a near Earth object hitting Earth are vague and subject to change, particularly as regards smaller, Tsunami-sized hits. In the general press, too much emphasis is put on the big, 1 km size asteroids like the one that killed off the dinosaurs, which are unlikely to hit Earth for hundreds of thousands of years. Too little coverage is given on the small asteroids which could cause terrible local destruction but little worldwide impact, and which probably hit once per hundred years. We have good statistical numbers on the big asteroids of 1 km and up, but very little information on the smaller 100 meter asteroids which we still would be lucky to see, and we can’t really say how prevalent such small fragments are relative to the big asteroid chunks. Our best telescopes can hardly see the 100 meter asteroids because they’re so small, hence the vague statistics. (Pernament)
Image from a 3-D calculation of an asteroid impact model in 2002, in which the jet from the transient crater is collapsing and producing a wave of a couple kilometers initial amplitude.
There is uncertainty about the diameter of many asteroids when they are initially discovered. These objects are generally so small and so far away that their diameter has to be inferred from their absolute magnitude. Brightness, in turn, depends on the object’s albedo (amount of light reflected from the surface). An object of magnitude 23 might have a diameter between 65m and 108m. Furthermore, with limited observations, the absolute magnitude may vary by +/-0.5 therefore the estimated diameter can range from 50m to 190m.
Iron asteroids are more likely to reach the ground intact. They comprise perhaps 5% of the smaller asteroids and are disregarded in this analysis.
500m diameter asteroid impacting 5km deep ocean. From Crawford & Mader 1998.
Although, for a given location on the Earth’s surface, the risk of a “direct” hit from an asteroid is slight, researchers realized that an ocean impact had the potential to be much more destructive due to the effects of tsunami. An airburst explosion is a three dimensional event and energy decreases according to the square of the distance but a radiating ocean wave is a two-dimensional phenomenon and, in theory, energy decreases in proportion to distance. Since the early 1990s some advanced computer simulations have been conducted to estimate the effects of asteroid impacts above deep oceans.
For an impact to produce a coherently propagating wave, the “cavity” must be 3 to 5 times broader than the depth of the ocean. Using a rule-of-thumb (derived from simulations) that the cavity diameter is 20 times the asteroid diameter then, for a typical ocean depth of 4km, the impactor must be at least 1 km in diameter to produce a coherent wave. On this basis, for asteroids smaller than about 1km, the wave will dissipate considerably as it travels over thousands of kilometres of ocean.
In the case of asteroids 200m and larger there is likely to be an impact into the ocean. For objects under this diameter there is a reduction in the size of the deepwater wave due to energy dissipation in the atmosphere. Speed, trajectory, density and strength of the object can affect the nature of the explosion. There does not appear to be an empirical formula available to deal with these smaller objects and it is possible that the smaller asteroids produce no appreciable waves. On the other hand, in the case of serious tsunami generated by earthquakes the energy involved is estimated to be equivalent to about 2 Megatons of TNT (Yabushita 1998). The impact by a 100m asteroid typically involves kinetic energy of about 75Mt so it would only involve the conversion of about 3% of this energy to wave energy in order to produce a serious tsunami – albeit, the tsunami could quickly dissipate, compared with an earthquake generated tsunami.
Asteroid impacts have the potential to create the largest MEGAtsunamis.
The radius derived for a 50m asteroid is about the same as the radius of direct devastation for the Tunguska event. Impacts by asteroids 2km and larger exceed the global catastrophe threshold and are disregarded for the purpose of analysing tsunami effects.
Estimated deepwater wave height (above sea level) at a point 100km from asteroid impact (based on extrapolation of Crawford & Mader):
Asteroid Diameter (m)
Deepwater Wave Height (m)
50
0.12
100
0.7
200
3
500
22
1 km
70
2 km
230
This tentative analysis suggests that the risk to a low-lying coastal area from tsunami generated by asteroids is significantly greater than the risk from a “direct” impact by such objects. The average interval between such tsunami events is estimated to range from about 190,000 years for a location with a run-up factor of 40 to about 3 million years for a location with a run-up factor of 5. These compare with an average interval of 14 million years for a “direct hit”.
In some circumstances an ocean impact might even be less hazardous to mankind than a land impact because less debris will be thrown into the atmosphere and indirect effects might be reduced.
The dramatic picture by Don Davis is a little misleading. When an asteroid hits the ocean at 70 000km/h there is a gigantic explosion. The asteroid and water vaporize and leave a huge crater - typically 20 times the diameter of the asteroid (that is, a 100m asteroid will create a 2 kilometre diameter crater). The water rushes back in, overshoots to create a mountain of water at the middle and this spreads out as a massive wave - a tsunami. The centre of the "crater" oscillates up and down several times and a series of waves radiate out.
The risk from asteroid tsunami has been substantially overstated – particularly in popular books about asteroid impacts with Earth. For typical coastal regions the risk of dying from an asteroid-generated tsunami is probably no greater than that of dying from the indirect effects of a large asteroid striking the Earth.
For some coastal regions with unusual vulnerability to tsunami the risk of dying from asteroid-generated tsunami may be several times greater than that of dying from other asteroid-related causes. For these highly vulnerable areas the typical interval between asteroid tsunami events is likely to be about 200,000 years – assuming that impacts are randomly distributed in time. (AustralianSpaceGuardSurvey)
This is Part 7 of the El Hierro Volcano eruption report
Update 04/11 – 15:56 UTC :
The volcano remains very active. Harmonic tremor is still very strong with regular bursts of activity.
Graph of harmonic tremor as registered on November 4 - image courtesy IGN
Update 04/11 – 15:23 UTC :
Another important detail from the picture series published by the government this morning. Hot eruptive material.
Image courtesy IGN - Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias - CSIC - Minesterio de Fomento España
Very important update 04/11 – 14:32 UTC :
New images and video published by the Canary Islands Government are showing a long range of Jacuzzi’s, by far the strongest eruptions so far. These images are showing why Joke Volta was excited to report on it.
Clicking on the image will link to the Flickr webpage of the Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias. The set of pictures shows a lot of eruptive details.
Image courtesy Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias - Click on the picture to see all the other pictures taken today
Update 04/11 – 13:55 UTC :
Scientists of IGN who could overfly the area this morning are now convinced that they have lined up the different eruptive submarine vents. It looks more and more that Las Calmas sea eruptions are fissure like vents opening up at different places.
Very Important Update 04/11 – 13:37 UTC :
Joke Volta reports from La Restinga :
– we just went from El Pinar to La Restinga
– a very sulfurous ‘rotten egg’ odor was noticed on parts of the road
– the viewpoint towards the Las Calmas sea is showing multiple Jacuzzi spots close to the island
– Joke took some pictures, but she is not sure whether it can be see on the pictures (she works with a cheap camera)
– she is now heading back to El Pinar and will send the images shortly
- she also told us that she believes the jacuzzi to be closer to La Restinga than last week
Update 04/11 – 12:24 UTC :
Joke Volta webcam report :
- Good webcam news from El Golfo. Mr. Atilano living in Frontera will direct his webcam to El Golfo this afternoon. Mr. Atilano is a geologist and has also a seat in the El Hierro council. He is monitoring closely the deformation and gases of the Taganasoga mountain / hill, as many are seeing this area as a weak point on the island.
- The Human Webcam of La Restinga is having a chat at El Pinar and did not left the island. Yesterday afternoon she packed her belongings and wanted to fly to the mainland.
- The Tourist service of El Pinar wants to help with the installment of such a a webcam with a view to Las Calmas. They have already a spot with internet connection who would suit the purpose. Only they have no money themselves to buy the equipment. Such a decision takes time (and not only in Spain)
Update 04/11 – 11:19 UTC :
Pevolca will call a meeting in La Restinga at 18:00 local time to inform the villagers about all current activity.
Update 04/11 – 11:09 UTC :
This El Hierro page has just broken the “shares” record of earthquake-report.com. Van, Turkey had the former record at 41,900 shares (sadly enough). El Hierro has now been shared 42,000 times (see above). The volunteers behind Earthquake-Report.com are thanking our many readers for their interest in our planet earth.
Update 04/11 – 10:51 UTC :
An helicopter is currently flying above La Restinga and the Las Calmas Sea. Let us hope that he is shooting images and video.
Update 04/11 – 10:45 UTC :
We have assembled both the image of October 26 and October 29 to highlight the differences.
Images courtesy and copyright RapidEye.net
New October 31 RapidEye satellite picture
What do we see new on this partly too cloudy image.
- the light green stains are far bigger than seen previously as dark green stains on the Guardia Civil pictures (the dark green stains on the RapidEye pictures are shadows of the clouds).
- the grey muddy eruption vent activity was not seen anymore on October 31 (Raymond looks to be wrong here as he stated that the venting continued all the way) OR the grey muddy stain is still present but is hided by the clouds to the south of La Restinga.
- It looks like there is a second eruptive vent at the lower end of the picture (very light concentrated stain). If one carefully looks at the second spot, one can see a light greyish muddy color OR this is the swirl current along an existing seamount as others said it.
- that the current to the right of La Restinga blocks the stain from being spreading to La Estaca
- a big mystery is the coloring in the El Golfo bay. was this coloring created by the sea currents or by new activity
- the dark green patches can also be seen in the El Golfo area (see comment about colors above)! Some people believe that the October 31 coloring at El Golfo are the remainders of the interconnected stain seen on the October 26 RapidEye images, which have been separated by the sea current thereafter.
- why not asking IGN or CSIC scientists to explain what we see on the images, which we repeat, are far better than anything else we have seen so far.
The images have not been ordered by the Spanish state or anybody else, but are an initiative of RapidEye themselves. The least Spanish scientists can do, is sending a “thank You” message to the RapidEye management.
Click on the picture to see the full image
HD-RapidEye satellite image taken on October 31 2011 - courtesy and copyright RapidEye.net
Overview Update 04/11 – 08:31 UTC :
- 16 + M1.5 earthquakes since midnight, 15 were greater than 2 and 10 were greater than 2.5.
- based on the data above, it looks that the seismic activity will further increase today. We expect that we will have multiple +3 quakes during the rest of the day.
- we are not sure at all, but it looks that the new Jacuzzi location is different from the October 10 one. If this would be true then the place of the current eruption will have another depth. We hope that the scientists will publish a report with the exact location parameters and/or depth of the new vent (if new) – so far we haven’t seen them
- Joke barometer says “all quiet” in the village – if someting new did happen, she sees it immediately as people behave more nervous and start discussing the subject
Update 03/11 – 23:45 UTC :
Earthquakes are getting stronger again. Just recently at 23:06 a quake at 22 km depth measuring M 3.2 occurred NW of Frontera (the first one today above 3).
Update 03/11 – 22:53 UTC :
The pictures below are courtesy of the Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias
These pictures have been taken out of a helicopter and are showing the November 3 jacuzzi (burbuja in Spanish). No green stain today but the grey muddy color is present. It looks to us that the new spot is at a bigger distance from the coast.
Click on the pictures to see them at full size – images courtesy Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias
Update 03/11 – 22:50 UTC :
We have been telling our readers a couple of times about a very interesting volcano discussion forum at jonfr.com. One of the people commenting on what is happening is Peter Cobbold. As nobody knows exactly what is going on below the volcano or in the Las Calmas sea, we are all searching for the probable truth. Let’s give Peter a chance to unfold his jacuzzi theory.
Scientists are doing a difficult job and have not had the best equipment. At the start of the jacuzzi they only had one site recording tremor ( CHIE) so could not locate its source. Now with the additional stations – the ones where we are denied access- thay have an ability to locate the tremor source approximately, even in depth. From the brief view we had of the data from those other stations it was clear that the tremor was strongest in the south, and is probably not associated with the deep earthquakes under el Golfo.
The frequencies that dominate the tremor on CHIE are around 1 to 5Hz as we can see from the yellow and red bands on the plot:
So I see the jacuzzi being a conduit of km scale that that fills with sea water which then boils and erupts periodically under steam pressure to cause the bursts of amplitude on the CHIE plot. The photos of the grey stain show a well defined periphery as if a jet of water has been pushed up in a geyser-like fashion, whereas a jet of gas would I think have a more diffuse, and bubbling, appearance. A few weeks back the jacuzzi was described as pulsing every 15 minutes. It would be useful to know if the gray stain expands periodically now, perhaps in time with the CHIE pulses.
I offer these thoughts as an amateur.
Peter
Southern El Hierro coast and the El Julan range - image courtesy http://cantabrico2007.blogspot.com/2009/03/el-hierro-canarias.html
Update 03/11 – 20:44 UTC :
Pevolca has decided not to change their opinion. No evacuation will be organized and they stress that there is NO risk for the populationat the moment (source Diario El Hierro).
Update 03/11 – 19:30 UTC :
Raymond Matabosch, the French volcano follower (see separate article) told us that he will spend the night in a tent at the El Julan heights, which have a great view on the Las Calmas sea. Raymond is convinced that, if the current harmonic tremor /seismic activity continues, a Surtseyan eruption will occur within the next few hours or days, and he does not want to miss such an event.
- 96 species of fish have been affected by the eruption. There are no signs of any marine life within a radius of 1.5 km from the eruptive mouth. In an extended radius of 3 miles, there is almost no marine life perceivable until a depth of 200 meter. Below 700 meter depth and further than 1.5 mile from the eruption vent, marine life is not affected anymore. The results have been reported by Marine professor Alberto Brito from the University of La Laguna, Canary Islands.
- The people responsible for the webcam at El Golfo (LasPuntas.es) (the one directed to the mountains) have reacted on our request to change direction in El Golfo and to install another one towards the Las Calmas sea. The owner of the webcams is a Canary Island professor of geography and history who was born in La Frontera. He wrote :
* In two days will have a camera to the sea of El Golfo.
* I will try to put camera in Las Calmas but is very difficult.
- 30 earthquakes today were greater than M 1.5, a lot less than yesterday
Data update 03/11 – 19:20
- Harmonic tremor continues to be very strong and indicates that the eruptive process increases again.
- The quakes became weaker when the harmonic tremor strengthened. This also happened with the first Jacuzzi or burbuja episode.
- Pevolca is still together discussing the present situation
With the collaboration of Joke Volta, an El Hierro resident.
Southern El Hierro coast and the El Julan range - image courtesy http://cantabrico2007.blogspot.com/2009/03/el-hierro-canarias.html
Update 03/11 – 20:44 UTC :
Pevolca has decided not to change their opinion. No evacuation will be organized and they stress that there is NO risk for the populationat the moment (source Diario El Hierro).
Update 03/11 – 19:30 UTC :
Raymond Matabosch, the French volcano follower (see separate article) told us that he will spend the night in a tent at the El Julan heights, which have a great view on the Las Calmas sea. Raymond is convinced that, if the current harmonic tremor /seismic activity continues, a Surtseyan eruption will occur within the next few hours or days, and he does not want to miss such an event.
- 96 species of fish have been affected by the eruption. There are no signs of any marine life within a radius of 1.5 km from the eruptive mouth. In an extended radius of 3 miles, there is almost no marine life perceivable until a depth of 200 meter. Below 700 meter depth and further than 1.5 mile from the eruption vent, marine life is not affected anymore. The results have been reported by Marine professor Alberto Brito from the University of La Laguna, Canary Islands.
- The people responsible for the webcam at El Golfo (LasPuntas.es) (the one directed to the mountains) have reacted on our request to change direction in El Golfo and to install another one towards the Las Calmas sea. The owner of the webcams is a Canary Island professor of geography and history who was born in La Frontera. He wrote :
* In two days will have a camera to the sea of El Golfo.
* I will try to put camera in Las Calmas but is very difficult.
- 30 earthquakes today were greater than M 1.5, a lot less than yesterday
Data update 03/11 – 19:20
- Harmonic tremor continues to be very strong and indicates that the eruptive process increases again.
- The quakes became weaker when the harmonic tremor strengthened. This also happened with the first Jacuzzi or burbuja episode.
- Pevolca is still together discussing the present situation
Very Important RapidEye News
We talked on the phone a couple of hours ago with a responsible of RapidEye, the commercial satellite company who had published the outstanding satellite pictures earlier on. Mrs. Douglass, working in the Marketing communications department in Brandenburg, Germany, told us that the technicians are currently working on assembling 2 new images. If good enough to show (the images are only of an acceptable quality without clouds or only a thin dispersed cloud cover), they will be online tomorrow morning.
“Once again we stress that we do NOT understand why the Spanish government or the European Union scientific instances are not ordering these HD images as they are a VERY IMPORTANT element for analysis. The NASA Modis and Terra satellite images are only offering 10% of the quality of the RapidEye images. “
Important Update 03/11 – 14:54 UTC :
PEVOLCA has called a meeting for today 18:00 (local time) to discuss the present situation
Update 03/11 – 14:52 UTC :
We have a hard time in following all the events. Joke just told us that the TV Canarias showed helicopter images while overflying the new stains.
Update 03/11 – 14:25 UTC :
The pictures below are from the new green-yellow stain in the Las Calmas sea. The stain could well be observed from La Restinga and from the viewing point at Arena Blanca.
The second picture is a thumbnail from the new Jacuzzi as it appeared a short time in the Las Calmas sea. DiarioElHierro photographer Gelmert Finol was on the watch and could take the picture.
The first picture has apparently been taken yesterday (there is confusion about it) and the second picture from this morning.
A very defined new stain - image courtesy the Government of the Canary Islands
Burbuja or Jacuzzi in the Las Calmas sea on November 3 - image Diario El Hierro - Click on the thumbnail to see the full size picture.
Update 03/11 – 13:45 UTC :
Earthquake-report.com is bringing news as it reaches us. If we are not completely sure on some facts, we will let you know. As the human interaction in very important during these events, we feel that withholding news from our readers is the bad way of dealing with ongoing events.
- Pevolca has said that it has NOT called for an evacuation as the magma movement and registered earthquakes are far too deep to generate an immediate risk.
Update 03/11 – 13:17 UTC :
In our 12:02 update we brought the story of Joke’s friend who was packing her luggage @ La Restinga. We doubted a little later whether it was a mandatory evacuation of a decision from herself. Well it was the latter, but she is followed by other residents of La Restinga at the moment. The La Restinga people seem to auto-evacuate, a known factor for many people around the world. This happens when they have no 100% certainty of what is safe or not, especially during earthquakes.
Pevolca still meets at the moment to discuss the latest data.
Very important Update 03/11 – 12:13 UTC :
Jill, one of our many readers just attracted our attention to an article in the Canarias7.es. Canaria7. es wrote shortly ago that the burbuja or jacuzzi, as the islanders call the eruption spot, has been active for a while. A scientist has been flying to the spot by helicopter and the burbaja was well seen from Arena Blanca, a viewing point in between El Pinar and La Restinga. Canaries7 says also reports that Juan Manuel Santana denied an evacuation order at this moment.
Very important Update 03/11 – 12:02 UTC :
Joke has just called her friend at La Restinga. A lot of movements are going on + the burbuja (Jacuzzi) seems to be back again (not confirmed message in DiarioElHierro). Jokes friend is packing her luggage, she said. But at the moment we do not know whether it is her own decision or a mandatory evacuation.
The information we are getting is conflictual (facts combined with apparently rumors). The question mark in the title is very important.
We expect a message from Pevolca with their current estimate of what exactly is going on soon. Joke is questioning a lot of people in El Pinar and has called some people
Update 03/11 – 11:23 UTC :
PEVOLCA reported that they are currently screening all available data and that they will call for additional measures if they feel it appropriate to do so. They also reported that the people of La Restinga have felt multiple tremors
Important update 03/11 – 10:34 UTC :
A new event is in the making or did happen a while ago. Both harmonic tremor and frequency have changed. We reckon that scientists will explain their opinion later on. The current harmonic tremor graph is at max. (flat horizontal lines).
The number of earthquakes is considerably less than during the same period yesterday.
Harmonic tremor graph until 10:30 UTC - image courtesy IGN
Update 03/11 – 09:07 UTC :
A further climb in harmonic tremor since a number of minutes. The frequency of the tremor has hardly changed since many days. A sharp change in frequency (the colors in the lower part of the graph) will probably coincide with a new “event” (not necessarily a new “vent”).
Overview update 03/11 – 08:47UTC :
In an attempt to give a better view on what we are describing about harmonic tremor in many updates below, we have assembled the data of the last 3 days.
FYI – Wikipedia description of Harmonic tremor : Harmonic tremor describes a long-duration release of seismic energy, with distinct spectral (harmonic) lines, that often precedes or accompanies a volcanic eruption. More generally, a volcanic tremor is a sustained signal that may or may not possess these harmonic spectral features.
A harmonic tremor is a sustained release of seismic and/or infrasonic energy typically associated with the underground movement of magma and/or venting of volcanic gases from magma. Being a long-duration continuous signal from a temporally extended source, a volcanic tremor contrasts distinctly with transient sources of seismic radiation, such as tremors that are typically associated with earthquake and explosion.
3 days harmonic tremor assembled - all data courtesy IGN - Click on the image to watch the bigger size image
Overview update 03/11 – 08:12UTC :
- Pevolca has announced yesterday evening that based on yesterday’s data, they could not conclude that an eruption is imminent.
- Increasing harmonic tremor and a turbulent seismogram are contradicting the words of Pevolca. The IGN scientists at Pevolca have however a lot more data than published on the IGN website. (see below)
- Some of the more experienced amateur volcano followers ( Iceland volcanoes) @ jonfr.com have other opinions, although they admit that not having all the data is a problem to have a truly good view on the situation. The discussions go often very deep and tend to become very technical.
- One of the problems for scientists is that the past Surtseynian eruptions like the ones that happened in Iceland and in the Azores, are not as documented as eruptions are today, which make comparisons rather difficult.
- Earthquake-report.com wants to thank the many readers who are writing us with tips, local contact persons, etc. This help is not only appreciated but essential to verify upcoming events.
- IGN has listed 19 earthquakes since midnight, the strongest one being a 2.7 to the West of Frontera. The depth varies in between 12 km and 22.10 km. Nothing special one would say, but harmonic tremor is indicating constant magma stress below the volcano.
Harmonic tremor since midnight UTC (scale is different) - image courtesy IGN
Update 02/11 – 23:43 UTC :
- IGN server seems to be under heavy load today.
- harmonic tremor is getting stronger and stronger (see graphic below). The vertical spikes are the earthquakes as listed in the IGN earthquake list.
- some strong graphic bulges are not earthquakes and have not been explained so far by scientists. Amateur volcano follower panels and AVCAN are talking about strong magmatic action looking for a way to escape, but luckily not finding it at the moment unless in the Las Calmas sea
- We do not understand why we have NO daily RapidEye satellite picture. The cost of it is peanuts compared to the cost of the present operations. RapidEye was to our knowledge the only means of detecting the different stain colors and the eruption area. Weather permitting RapidEye can take at least a daily HD image.
November 2 harmonic tremor - image courtesy IGN
Update 02/11 – 18:45 UTC :
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 3.8 4.4 (after revision) occurred at 18:10 UTC at a depth of 23 km. Epicenter was in the El Golfo bay. It was felt by the islanders.
Update 02/11 – 17:29 UTC :
- AVCAM has counted 85 quakes since midnight UTC today
- The IGN – CHIE seismogram showed a big unexplainable bulge around 15:18 UTC. The phenomena is not showing up in the earthquake lists, but can be seen almost as strong as this morning 4.3 earthquake as a spike on the harmonic tremor graph. Lesser bulges are appearing more and more on the graph.
Seismic bulge at 15:18 November 2, 2011 - image courtesy IGN
Update 02/11 – 14:00 UTC : Joke Volta and her friends, the El Hierro human webcams :
Joke Volta, our El Hierro contact (living more than 25 years on the island), has a friend in the El Golfo areaand another one living at La Restinga. Both friends have their binoculars almost next to them to search the sea for eventual new events when Joke is asking them to do so. As we have no webcams on both spots (Mr. Alpidio Armas, we live in 2011!), the human webcams have to do the job. On behalf of our readers we thank Joke, her 2 friends and Raymond to keep us updated from El Hierro.
Oh yes, they haven’t noticed anything special in the sea today.
Overview update 02/11 – 14:00 UTC :
The strong earthquake this morning was updated and recalculated by scientists to 4.3 (from 4.0). This is a big difference in energy.
- Fish have disappeared completely from the Las Calmas sea (the sea south of La Restinga were the green stain and jacuzzi were observed).
- The PEVOLCA scientists had plans to visit the El Golfo area this morning, after a serious increase of the seismic activity in that area. The investigation will also look at the situation of the people living in that part of the island. Later today the current measures will be evaluated again on the basis of today’s findings.
- The earthquake list on the IGN website is far from complete. there are more than the 53 listed earthquakes so far.
Update 02/11 – 13:12 UTC :
Diario El Hierro writes that the analysis of the recently found lava stones found in the Las Calmas sea, reveals the possibility of a major explosive character eruption.
The University of Barcelona who analyzed the samples said that the found lava was NOT of the a Surtseynian type, the kind of eruption everybody expected so far.
Update 02/11 – 11:09 UTC :
- IGN had listed 2 shallower earthquakes, 1 at 1 km depth (south of El Pinar) and 1 at 3 km depth nw of Frontera .
- both quakes have been recalculated and revised / deleted (instrumental errors are common in earthquake measuring)
Update 02/11 – 09:09 UTC :
The UME (Unidad Militar de Emergencias = Military Emergency group) has announced that it has transported the necessary equipment to El Hierro to builda shelter with a capacity of 2,000 people, in case that a quick evacuation would be needed. The equipment was brought to El Hierro on the request of Pevolca. The shelter will have all necessary compartments like shops (…), dining room and services.
Material to install a shelter to accommodate 500 people and belonging to the Red Cross is already on the island, ready to be used immediately.
PEVOLCA has stressed that the shelter equipment is one of the many measures to be prepared if a worst case scenario would come true.
The shelters have not been installed so far because nobody knows the location where an eruption would be occurring, if it would occur. The most probable spot would be the current eruptive Las Calmas eruption crater as showed on the Ramon Margalef topographic 3-D image below, but the current set of earthquakes are occurring below the El Golfo bay. Pevoca is this prepared for everything.
Important Data update 02/11 – 08:27 UTC
Rather constant but still strong harmonic tremor (might change after the strong quake).
The magnitude 4.0 earthquake occurred a little while ago and is the strongest earthquake since the 4.4 earthquake on October 8. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 20 km in the bay of El Golfo. The earthquake was of course felt by the islanders.
El Golfo 4.0 earthquake November 2 - image courtesy IGN
Update 01/11 – 23:30 UTC :
Harmonic tremor is further increasing. Harmonic tremor is one of the most important pre-eruption signals. It is is still not as strong as it was before the opening of the Las Calmas / La Restinga vent, but if it continuous to grow tomorrow it can be meaningful.
Harmonic tremor on November 1 - image courtesy IGN
Update 01/11 – 15:47 UTC :
Everybody is really excited about the video who was recorded by the Roman Margalef Liporos 2000 ROV (when where , there is no comment together with it). We have been maybe one of the loudest callers to have the ROV in the eruption waters, but the result is a little disappointing to us . What we have seen in the meantime via the RapidEye satellite images was as convincing as what we see now on the Margalef video images. We hope, of course, to see additional footage from the Roman Margalef the coming days because he has great instruments with him.
The earlier (erased) video and the image proved to be NOT an eruption vent. We were able to conclude this after very intensive contacts with our readers and people at the island. The grey turbulent spot seems to be landmass (see picture below). We thank our many users in adding evidence to exclude the eruption has taken place.
We have erased all information indicating a possible new eruption vent, to exclude further confusion.
This image shows the landmass where the earlier grey muddy spot was seen. - image courtesy Ryukai
Update 01/11 – 16:12 UTC :
Raymond is currently at the intersection of routes HI 40 and HI 55, just above Tigaday, and has a beautiful view of the El Golfo bay. He sees a large green spot and a small gray-brown stain, but this seems to be the one that gets all over the northwest coast of the island and that bypasses the La Punta Orchilla and just flow into the bay of El Golfo… So nothing special as far as this.
Additionally, as said multiple times before, earthquake-report.com trusts on the expertise of Pevolca and we are sure that they would immediately call a meeting if something special would have been noticed.
Data Update 01/11 – 10:37 UTC :
In our 08:19 update we mentioned a stronger harmonic tremor signal being recorded. We have to report that the harmonic tremor became even more stronger the last couple of hours (see below). A very strong harmonic tremor would increase the chance on an eruption considerably. The last earthquake IGN has listed was at 07:18 UTC. It is hard to believe that this list is complete at the moment.
Harmonic tremor up to 10:20 UTC on November 1 2011 - image courtesy IGN
Update 01/11 – 09:16 UTC :
X updates ago we stressed on this page that a quick evacuation of the El Golfo bay area could be jeopardized by the blocking of the Los Roquillos tunnel in the event of a major +4.5 earthquake. Our scenario was feeded by the fact that the authorities closed the Los Roquillos tunnel during the first half of October out of rockfall / landslide fears.
In a document written by the Instituto Geográfico y Minero de España (IGME) is stated that the tunnel is no longer safe for magnitudes greater than 4.5. (source Diario de Avisos)
People who are unfamiliar with volcanic bursts / eruptions have to know that major eruptions almost always coincide with a strong earthquake. We are sure that Pevolca would take action if such a situation would be imminent.
Important update 01/11 – 08:19 UTC
- Scientists have found large smoking lava in the Las Calmas sea in front of La Restinga (earlier jacuzzi area).
- It is hard to believe that we still do not have a webcam (and/or time lapse camera) directed on the stain. Such a camera would not only be great for us followers, but also for science. The Sakurajima volcano is a good example for the results.
- The currently installed webcam @ Frontera should be directed towards the El Golfo Bay during the current events.
- The University of Cadiz has said that the deformation is decreasing in the south because of the eruption and is gradually increasing in the El Golfo area (earthquake area). The university of Cadiz is cannot rule out a possible eruption in the Frontera bay area (ER: nobody can rule out anything at the moment. All instances are making their best guess, a volcano is unpredictable as where and when he/she will erupt. A major earthquake (M 4.5 to 5.5) may put events in a final direction or it may simple stop suddenly.)
- Yesterday was the most seismic active since October 8 – 153 earthquakes were counted and 6 were greater than M 3
- Today a new 3.9 magnitude quake was felt at 04:15 UTC. 2 quakes were greater or equal to M 3
- a stronger harmonic tremor has been recorded since 07:00 this morning (see below at the end of the graphic).
Harmonic tremor the first 7 hours of November 1, 2011 - image courtesy IGN
Data update 31/10 – 23:04 UTC
A 3.9 earthquake occurred at 22:06 UTC. It was the strongest earthquake today. The 3.9 earthquake was felt as a MMI IV, light shaking, earthquake.
Data update 31/10 – 20:20 UTC
The muddy stain looks to be more active than ever before. A satellite image would reveal a far greater stain than last week. The fact that the eruption at La Restinga increased again might be linked to the stronger earthquakes in the El Golfoarea. One of the scenarios earlier discussed at jonfr.com, a dedicated amateur volcano follower discussion group, was that the La Restinga – Las Calmas – Puerto Naos eruption was feeded by deep magma movement at El Golfo. This scenario seems to become more realistic with the current events. The picture belongs to diarioelhierro.es and was taken by Gelmert Finol at 18:00 today!
The oceanographic ship, the Roman Margalef has detected magmatic material with another composition than last week. Apparently the material was red colored and totally different than the initial black stones with a white inner layer.
Picture of the increase muddy grey stain at 18:00 on October 31 2011 - image courtesy and copyright DiarioElHierro.es and Gelmert Finol
Data update 31/10 – 19:00 UTC
A very active earthquake day at El Hierro. IGN listed already 93 earthquakes today! (as much as yesterday during 24 hours). 5 of them had a magnitude of 3 or higher. The strongest one today was a 3.6 magnitude quake.
I guess we will have to a part from this article as it is growing far too long. This will be done tomorrow. The picture below was taken by Gelmert Final for
