This is the most recent El Hierro Volcano eruption report
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With the collaboration of Joke Volta, an El Hierro resident and Julio del Castillo Vivero, photographer.
Read also: links to all 30 prior parts of this eruption report please go to the bottom of this page
Useful links : @VolcanoReport - El Hierro Picasa Photo Album
Our Webcam pages : 3 in 1 page – Las Calmas Ustream – La Restinga village – Eruption webcam
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Update 22/02 – 19:55 UTC
- We are suggesting ER readers tonight to use the village webcam. Tonight the “Sardine” will be set in fire at La Restinga. This is an old custom that marks the end of carnival and the start of the fast period.
Update 22/02 – 16:43 UTC
- 5 earthquakes so far today
- On the picture below some of the 34 consuls at La Restinga. The consuls were invited by Alpidio Armas, the president of the Cabildo El Hierro. The consuls were from 3 continents, Europe, Asia and South America
Update 22/02 – 12:24 UTC
- 3 earthquakes so far today. M 1.6, 1.4 and 2.6
- Joke Volta first series of pictures of the day. one of these pictures shows the short-lived jacuzzi which we referred to earlier on today
- Harmonic tremor minimal, but nevertheless the eruption is still continuing at a very limited rate
Update 22/02 – 08:40 UTC
- Also for the first time in many days, a stain could be seen in the Las Calmas sea. This indicates probably some more activity the last couple of hours.
Renewed jacuzzi activity at La Restinga
Update 22/02 – 08:05 UTC
- A few minutes ago, we saw some renewed jacuzzi activity above the main vent. Unfortunately the webcam was zoomed out completely disabling a better detailed view. We should monitor the webcam closely today as this is the first activity we could notice in many days.
- The renewed activity coincided with a 2.6 magnitude earthquake not very far from the main vent. The depth of the hypocenter was 10 km. this earthquake occurred at 7:55.
Update 22/02 – 06:52 UTC
- NO listed earthquakes so far today
Update 21/02 – 23:55 UTC
- We are ending the day with 15 earthquakes. 2 of these earthquakes had a magnitude equal or greater than 2.0
- A news article from Spanish news agency EFE, published in La Información (in Spanish), states that several boats will map the ocean depths of El Hierro. Below a summary of the article translated to English:
“The government will start from March 1st a bathymetric survey program (study of the deep ocean) on the island of El Hierro in order to continue monitoring the underwater volcano. This decision was taken today at a meeting chaired by the General Director of Civil Defense and Emergencies, Juan Antonio Diaz Cruz. These actions will take place as long as the eruption continues.
A schedule for the months of March, April and May has been set, with different vessels assigned to do the bathymetry with a periodicity of about 7 to 10 days. Boats will be from the State Navy, Police, Marine Rescue Society, Ministry of Fisheries and Department of Customs.”
Update 21/02 – 16:12 UTC
ITER Canary Islands and specialized organizations of Cabo Verde are organizing a professional “International Workshop on Oceanic Island Volcanoes & Society El Hierro 2012“. This is an international volcano meeting for commemorating the 1st anniversary of the 2011-12 submarine eruption off the southern coast of El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain). This workshop is planned as an international forum for specialists working on active volcanic islands to discuss about reducing volcanic risk. Many oceanic and active volcanic islands are facing higher levels of vulnerability and exposure to more risk because of increasing population.
Update 21/02 – 13:34 UTC
- As said yesterday, the Atlantic Explorer is carrying the ROV Sirio which was baptized “Wally“. Because of the weather conditions during the first mission, the ROV was unable to be set at work. While anchoring at La Restinga, the crew made a test with “Wally” in the port of La Restinga. Here is the result of this test. The image you see here is the image which you can expect when Wally would be able to dive to the volcano cone next week.
Update 21/02 – 11:53 UTC
- 7 earthquakes since midnight
- Joke Volta set of morning images
Geology course at La Restinga
Update 21/02 – 09:46 UTC
- 6 earthquakes since midnight + continuing not listed weak earthquakes
- no visible jacuzzi or stain
- HT at minimum amplitude
- Another day of Geology course for Joke Volta and she enjoys learning about tectonics, volcano types, magma types, magma viscosity, historic events which can be seen at the island, etc etc. Based on what she told us yesterday, earthquake-report calls the geology course a 5-star course. Every important topic is discussed. An example : it is impossible to talk about volcanoes when Ocean ridges are not discussed. Ocean ridges were a part of the course on day 1.
This 3 day course was organized by the diving centers association and joined by partners like the University of La Laguna and the government of the Canary Islands, etc. The biggest part of the course is given by Ramon Casillas, a professor at the university of La Laguna. Javier Morales, member of the parliament, is also listed on the leaflet as a co-speaker.
Update 20/02 – 23:35 UTC
- we have stranded on 19 earthquakes today
- other interesting data : unchanged
Update 20/02 – 18:17 UTC
- unchanged situation : continuing micro-seismicity, listed earthquakes and minimal HT
- Jesus Machin, a fisherman at La Restinga has made a coastal walk along the Naos bay. He said to Joke that he has seen a lot of sardines. Sardines are common around this time of the year, but so many was a real surprise to him.
Jesus Machin fisherman at La Restinga
Update 20/02 – 11:10 UTC
- Joke is currently following a “geology” class in La Restinga ! 
. It is a free lecture with a focus on what is happening below the island. (click here to see the 5 pictures she has photographed this morning)
- It tends to be a shaky day in El Hierro as we have already 13 listed earthquakes so far.
- The picture below shows that the volcano is still emitting material in the sea (gray area). The picture dates from this morning
Update 20/02 – 08:13 UTC
- No visible stain or jacuzzi this morning
- Accordingly also almost no harmonic tremor
- Micro-seismicity continues to show the continuing magma pressure
- On top of the microseismicity, IGN has listed 8 earthquakes since midnight. All these earthquakes had magnitudes above M1. All the epicenters are or below the island (main crater system) or in the Las Calmas sea in between the main vent and Tacoron.
Update 19/02 – 23:35 UTC
- Sunday’s Cabildo report describing Saturday activity (they are always at least one day behind), mentioned a minor deflation of the vertical GPS deformation. This may be another sign that the eruption is coming to an end.
- IGN listed a total of 8 earthquakes today.
- No change in harmonic tremor
- A pity that the sea was this rough while the Atlantic Explorer was exploring the vent area. The boat was equipped with a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) carrying video cameras. Below an image from this ROV.
ROV on board of the Atlantic Explorer - image courtesy SOS Oceanos
Update 19/02 – 16:04 UTC
- Tremor remains very low, with 3 more earthquakes since last update, making a total of 6 earthquakes since midnight.
Date Time Depth Magn Epicenter
19/02/2012 15:09 10 1.1 W EL PINAR
19/02/2012 15:15 11 1.5 SW FRONTERA
19/02/2012 15:16 9 0.8 SW EL PINAR
Update 19/02 – 13:43 UTC
- 3 earthquakes since midnight
- Joke Volta images of this morning. No stain or no jacuzzi, so Joke went to the harbour and photographed the port, the ships and a nice seagull
Update 19/02 – 08:25 UTC
- 2 earthquakes since midnight + microseismicity also weak (frequency of very weak earthquakes)
- flat harmonic tremor (second day in a row !)
- No visible stain or jacuzzi on the webcam
Update 18/02 – 23:55 UTC
ER reader Sissel is a regular webcam capturer. She could not believe her eyes tonight when she saw the start of the Surtseyan eruption in the Las Calmas sea, even without a rimple on the HT graph. Having the experience of other “so called” fire beacons in the sea, she continued looking at it and finally found out that the volcano was traveling in the sea!. Yes, it was the Atlantic Explorer returning from his mission in the evening darkness. Especially the coloring at the beginning is spectacular and will certainly have glued some people on the screen. Great work Sissel, thank you for sharing it with ER.
Update 18/02 – 23:17 UTC
- 21 earthquakes today, less than yesterday, but still enough to call it active
- HT hasn’t changed almost all day
- The Atlantic Explorer could not use his ROV today due to the weather. The ship has navigated along the coast and later deeper into the sea. It has mainly sampled the bottom were it has found a lot of ash, even away from the cone (probably because of the strong currents). It took the staff about an hour to sample at a depth of 1120 meter. To pull it up another 30 minutes. They had planned to use nets to catch fish close to the vent but could not accomplish this beacause of the rough sea. The crew also said that they have not seen any stain today (we neither).
A long day for the crew as they left the harbour at 08:00 and returned at 20:00, this to use the authorized time frama as much as possible.
The first mission of the ship comes to an end (it was authorized to be 2 days in the forbidden area) and it has to return to Gran Canaria. The people from the Universityof Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will not return with the ship but probably by plane. The Atlantic Explorer is scheduled to be back in approx. 2 weeks for a new campaign.
- A set of new Joke Volta pictures showing sunset and the arrival of the Atlantic Explorer in the port.
- Joke was at the CAP center this afternoon and was authorized to show this big screen (in fact a computer screen projection on the wall). This is what the CAP scientists and personnel are seeing when we get an almost flat HT graph. The picture was photographed earlier today. Of course to see every detail, the picture is heavily zoomed. What we seen is however very weak HT. The bigger amplitudes (a lot of them in some stations) are microseismicity (weak earthquakes not listed by IGN)
Enlarged screen at CAP showing a lot of microseismicity
Update 18/02 – 18:12 UTC
- 12 earthquakes so far today. The 3.3 earthquake was along the coast of Tenerife and is probably tectonic
- HT unchanged
- When the camera was zooming in the Las Calmas sea we could see some minor stirring for a couple of minutes, proving what we told this morning that we have still some minor surviving action (see image below)
Update 18/02 – 13:21 UTC
- 9 listed earthquakes since midnight
- HT almost no change but still rich on microseismicity, which may lead to renewed visible activity in the vent area
- with the current sunlight it will be hard to see any action in the Las Calmas sea
- below the first series of Joke Volta images of February 18
Update 18/02 – 08:48 UTC
- Our title “Did the eruption (in the current vents) stopped completely ?” is based on a number of parameters like :
* very minor harmonic tremor, in a way that we have not seen since long
* no more visible degassing of the main vent
* no jacuzzi
* no visible or hard to see stain on the webcam
- Do we mean with these words that everything has stopped ? NO, not at all, but we only think that the currents vents may have been collapsed in a way that almost NO magma flow is occurring.
- Since midnight IGN has listed 7 earthquakes, all of them below the island itself or in the Las Calmas sea. This indicates that the magma is still trying to find his way to the surface. If the vent does not reopen, the earthquakes may rise again in number or strength (with a new uncertain and risky phase) or the volcano is throwing his towel in the ring (proverb) and the activity will stop for now. Next week will be once more decisive!
- We saw the Atlantic Explorer leaving the port of La Restinga about an hour ago.
Image courtesy SOS Oceanos and qstar.es
Update 17/02 – 22:48 UTC
- IGN has listed 17 earthquakes today + microseismicity most of the day. The strongest of these earthquakes had a magnitude of 2.5 and was felt by Herreños. The epicenter was close to the Tacarón coast.
- Joke did talked to the people behind the Atlantic Explorer and SOS Océanos in the port of La Restinga. The crew/owners will share some findings as open source information (we will bring it to you as soon as we hear it).
- The Atlantic Explorer has taken water samples near the volcanic cone. The sampling started at a depth of around 120-110 meters and was repeated every couple of meter higher. The results will give a beautiful picture of the pollution of the waters above the vent. The water samples contained ash, many gasses, Co2, sulphur, but in La Restinga this is not noticed as the wind blows mostly to the South (direction open ocean).
In the water samples they also found small living creatures, worms, less than a millimeter long. They are some of the first kind of life forms.
- They couldn’t use the ROV for the bad conditions at sea, but they will try it out as soon as it’s possible.
- The reason why not all detailed information will be published is that the University of Las Palmas will write some scientific papers on their findings, but as the owners told Joke, there will be enough to share for everybody
- The story of SOS Océanos and the Atlantic Explorer is something really special. Idealism is the base of their non-profit organization. We will come back onto this later on as we really admire what they are doing. The main actors on the ship and the non-profit organization is a family consisting of the parents (2 pensioned professors) and their sons.
Update 17/02 – 16:28 UTC
- 13 earthquakes so far
- The Atlantic Explorer is heading back to the La Restinga port still out on top of the volcano.
- The first Joke Volta pictures of the day. She made a long walk along the coast and is currently working on the results who will appear later today.
Update 17/02 – 14:02 UTC
- We welcome how open with information SOS Océanos are compared to other organizations. They reported just an hour after leaving the port about sulfur smell above the vent and now they have uploaded photographs from the Atlantic Explorer boat! Click on the photograph to go to their Facebook page.
The Atlantic Explorer taking water samples at El Mar de las Calmas - SOS OCÉANOS
Update 17/02 – 13:45 UTC
- 11 earthquakes so far today with the strongest one just minutes ago, of M 2.5. It may have been felt by some of the population.
17/02/2012 13:16:54 12 2.5 SW EL PINAR
Update 17/02 – 12:17 UTC
- The Atlantic Explorer is currently taking water samples. The crew reports a sulfur smell above the vent.
Update 17/02 – 10:46 UTC
- 8 earthquakes since midnight
- The Atlantic Explorer, oceanographic ship with a SOS OCEANOS person on board is on his way to the vent. For more details see below. In the image below the ship has left the port of La Restinga a few minutes ago. Other crew members are scientists of the Universidad de Las Palmas, also the people behind the U-stream webcam.
The Atlantic Explorer on his way to the vent
Update 17/02 – 07:29 UTC
- 5 earthquakes so far today
- almost flat HT
- no stain at all this morning
- the images from Joke Volta below have been photographed yesterday. Again a nice set of pictures.
Update 17/02 – 00:38 UTC
- We have just seen burning lava balloons on the eruption webcam. Upper left part of the screen. they must be rather big as they burned for several seconds. Hopefully it will be repeated for people who start to look now.
- HT is still very low but as seen in earlier periods, a relation in between HT and SLS was never proved.
- ER reader Martyn was able to capture a few minutes on the webcam. He proves what we were talking about. As the webcam is zoomed out completely, the lights are very small but the flames must have been at least a meter or more on the spot itself.
Update : ER reader New wrote a comment below and is talking about a boat or even stars or planets. She may be right and we may be right.
It is up to everyone to make a guess about it, we respect every opinion.
ER is reporting whatever we see that can be linked to the eruption. The flashes have been noticed a number of times. The video below is only 1 episode. The main reasons why we are convinced that it is SLS was not said before : besides the time of appearing, the flames are also slightly floating to the right, different incandescent colors and the position of the vent in relation to the harbour entrance (even taken into account the possible current). This slight movement is a normal current movement. Very little on this image, but with a webcam completely zoomed out, a slight movement is quite a bit of meters. + Since we look at the webcam every night, we know the star and/or planets (bright points of lights which are only needle points)
Update 16/02 – 21:15 UTC
- Joke Volta and Julio del Castillo Vivero worked together once again, to bring us a new high definition panoramic photograph of Tacarón, one of the impressive landscapes of El Hierro. Click on the image for full size. It was taken on the morning of February 15th.
Another great cooperation in between Joke and Julio are the following pictures. 2 artists working together can make great works. I wish to congratulate Joke and Julio on behalf of our readers.
Rainbow at El Hierro
Update 16/02 – 20:07 UTC
- 5 more earthquakes making it a record number since late November. We will probably arrive at +30 earthquakes today. All the earthquakes are very weak with the majority below M 1.0
On top of the listed earthquakes are a lot of micro-earthquakes, too small to list but showing the continues pressure from the magma to find his way to escape.
Update 16/02 – 16:32 UTC
- 6 more earthquakes bringing the total on 22 today – a 2012 record is in the making
- 4 more pictures of the jacuzzi which started this morning at approx. 09:00 and is still continuing. As seen from the webcam mainly degassing is going on.
- (Horizontal) GPS data are fairly stable at the different El Hierro stations. Vertical GPS data (lifting of the island) are not open source.
Update 16/02 – 14:28 UTC
- Images of the stirring sea area from this morning by Joke Volta
- HT gradually dying again
- Stain still visible but getting fainter and fainter
- 16 earthquakes so far today ! The earthquakes are (if confirmed) shallower than during the earlier days. The 7 km depth looks to be confirmed by IGN which is a serious decrease vs the average 11 to 12 km from the last couple of weeks.
R/V Atlantic Explorer
Update 16/02 – 10:16 UTC
We want to share in this main window the comment Javier from SOS Oceanos made in our comment section.
- The research vessel “Atlantic Explorer” from the company “QSTAR” that has been colaborating in our marine protection projects “SOS OCEANOS”, left early this morning the island of Gran Canaria heading to El Hierro island. Together with the Geology http://www.gi.ulpgc.es/geovol/ and Oceanography department´s of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria they will make several campaigns in the next months (two days campaigns every two weeks) in the area of volcanic eruption on the island of El Hierro. Onboard R/V”Atlantic Explorer” there´s a ROV system and if the conditions are ok they will try to reach the volcano.
Update 16/02 – 08:56 UTC
– the HT signal is slightly increasing again with a prompt jacuzzi in the Las Calmas sea
- As written yesterday, Joke used her new freedom to visit the Tacoron beach, an area she likes a lot. The images below are the result of her Tacoron trip. This site is not only following the El Hierro volcano eruption, but is almost a leaflet of the beauty of El Hierro, all thanks to Joke. We suggest that the El Hierro cabildo should congratulate Joke Volta with her endless energy to show the beauty of the island. Tacoron was closed by Pevolca in October because of high concentration of toxic (eruption) gases.
Update 16/02 – 08:16 UTC
- Flat HT this morning. We cannot say that the eruption stopped completely, but we can state that it almost stopped.
- Earthquakes are picking up at this time , 8 so far since midnight (all below 2.0, but 3 with a depth below 10 km).
- Stain is faintly visible in the Las Calmas sea
Update 15/02 – 23:55 UTC
- Harmonic tremor almost flat (another collapse ?)
- No more substantial earthquakes since 17:56 UTC
Update 15/02 – 19:43 UTC
NASA Earth Observatory has published an HD-image captured on February 10 which was photographed by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. Click on the picture to see it in full format.
Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite image captured on February 10 - Courtesy NASA Earth Observatory - Click on the picture to see it in full size
Update 15/02 – 19:11 UTC
- 3 more earthquakes : we will from now on only change the number in the title.
Nobody knows what will happen next but CAP science center in La Restinga and IGN Madrid, who is following up the instruments via data link, will certainly be on a higher alert than normal.
Update 15/02 – 17:52 UTC
- 4 more earthquakes ! , which brings the total of listed earthquakes to 20 today, the most since many months !
- we have still a minimum HT signal which means that the eruption is still hoing
- NO jacuzzi or even stirring area anymore.
Important Update 15/02 – 15:23 UTC
- 2 great new Ramon Margalef documents (including the bathymetry data) which were the basis of the Pevolca press conference from yesterday (thank you ER reader Julian). Both are in Spanish and are very technical, but some easy conclusions can be distilled from it.
Informe de campaña BIMBACHE1011-9 / 2012
Informe 9‐12 de febrero de 2012. Bimbache1011 leg 10
Image courtesy IEO (Instituto Español de Oceanografia)
- 3 more earthquakes and even more to come
- Yesterday PEVOLCA changed his NO GO policy on the Tacaron coast, today Joke was one of the first persons to enjoy the new freedom. She likes that coast particularly well and used to swim there before. She is still making a selection of her pictures which will be published later today.
Update 15/02 – 12:54 UTC
- Sorry but it will be the first day since a long time that we cannot follow the number of earthquakes in detail. The reason :
Too many ! 13 have registered by IGN since midnight. The number will probably rise further today. The increase in earthquakes is probably the reason that Pevolca reported yesterday that : “magmatic reactivation” is going on. Next to the listed earthquakes AVCAN also reports a number of non-located micro earthquakes (small earthquakes which do not show up in the IGN lists, but who are part of the volcanic process).
- The emission point of the vent is continuously changing. Main reason will not be the vent itself, but the sea currents pushing the ash and gases towards the left and the right. It is very spectacular how these powerful sea currents are constantly changing !
Update 15/02 – 08:55 UTC
- Minimal but still continuing harmonic tremor
- NO jacuzzi and NO visible stain on the webcam this morning
- Nightly webcam views : only stars at the horizon
- 2 2+ earthquakes since midnight. 9 earthquakes already today
Date Time Depth Magn Epicenter
15/02/2012 01:50:54 7 1.4 W EL PINAR
15/02/2012 02:26:24 11 1.4 SW EL PINAR
115/02/2012 04:05:33 10 2.0 SW EL PINAR
15/02/2012 04:15:10 10 1.3 W EL PINAR
15/02/2012 05:02:09 12 1.3 W EL PINAR
15/02/2012 05:21:51 10 2.3 SW FRONTERA
15/02/2012 05:45:47 11 1.5 W EL PINAR
15/02/2012 06:28:28 12 0.8 W EL PINAR
15/02/2012 06:30:49 10 0.9 W EL PINAR
List earthquakes
- the numbers above are clear signs that the pressuring magma is more active than ever, which will make the near future very unsure. Why ? The current eruption flow is not big enough to keep the pressure from below at the same level (increasing number and strength of earthquakes). If HT remains at the current low amplitude, the number and magnitude of earthquakes will gradually build up to several tens per day until it finds a way out. The same vent ? Nobody knows. All scenarios are possible at that moment, also the complete stop of the eruption.
Update 14/02 – 23:22 UTC
- 3 more earthquakes, which brings the total so far today on 10.
14/02/2012 20:06:09 Depth 10 km M 1.3 SW EL PINAR
14/02/2012 22:11:31 Depth 10 km M 1.2 W FRONTERA
14/02/2012 23:45:11 Depth 10 km M 1.2 SW EL PINAR
- harmonic tremor still very low, causing a mainly degassing vent
Update 14/02 – 20:52 UTC
1 additional earthquake
14/02/2012 18:23 Depth 9 km M 1.6 SW EL PINAR
Update 14/02 – 16:45 UTC
- There has been an official communication [In Spanish] from the Government of Canary Islands that clarifies previous reports including an image from the bathymetry.
- “Eruption is still active, with a process of magmatic reactivation, constant vigilance will remain.
Scientists responsible of IOE, from Ramón Margalef, have confirmed to PEVOLCA that the depth of the main cone is 120 meters.
Also, from the bathymetry works done last week, scientists have recorded the emergence of a secondary cone attached to the side of the main cone having a height of 75 meters and whose summit is 200 meters from the surface.”
Bathymetry Map - Courtesy IEO - Instituto Oceanográfico Español
- “It is also apparent that the emission of material varies around the main summit. The area, East of El Julan, is the only place in which submarine volcanic activity has been detected in all surveyed areas, in the various campaigns.”
Update 14/02 – 15:38 UTC
- 2 new earthquakes since our last update
14/02/2012 12:51:26 Depth 11 km M 1.9 SW EL PINAR
14/02/2012 13:01:12 Depth 6 km M 2.2 W EL PINAR
Important Update 14/02 – 13:58 UTC
- ER reader Max just wrote in the comments section that local newspaper Canarias 7 cites PEVOLCA that 2 active cones have been detected (probably during the latest bathymetry from the Ramon Margalef) in the current area. One of the vents has a depth of 125 meter BUT the other one has a depth of ONLY 75 meter. Pevolcan also told Canarias7 that a magmatic reactivation is taking place … If true, a depth of 75 meter is considered by specialists as being able to start a Surtseyan phase if the eruption reactivates at full force (currently minor).
This news isn’t changing the danger for the area. The vents are far enough away from La Restinga to NOT cause any direct treat to the population.
Update after the initial important update : Confusion all over / The initial text of Canarias7 has been modified to “El cono principal tiene más de 300 metros de altura y se encuentra a 125 metros de la superficie. Y el segundo ha alcanzado ya una altura de 75 metros alturas.” A description almost nobody can translate for sure at present.
” The principal cone has more then 300 meter height and is currently at a depth of 125 meter (he seems to have collapsed a little bit compared to the earlier bathymetry – which is indeed possible). The second vent has grown to 75 meter. A simple calculations means that the second cone is at a depth of 35o meter ? – if we talk about the same base). It surely could have been communicated simpler. We will follow up further and will report it asap.
- PEVOLCA has also decided to open the Tacaron coast
Update 14/02 – 13:08 UTC
– The IGN personnel will have seen something special in the vent today as the Salvamar Adhara went out to the vent in a rough sea. We do not know yet whether SLS were found, but Joke will certainly tell us afterwards if this was the case. Below a screen capture from ER reader Penny showing the return to the La Restinga port of the Salvamar Adhara.
Update 14/02 – 10:45 UTC
- 1 new earthquake since our latest update
14/02/2012 08:23 Depth 14 km M 1.6 SW EL PINAR
- strong jacuzzi this morning. The current seem to have changed completely as the vent is still at the same location but the emitted material is now being carried to the left (east).
- Joke has already send a first batch of pictures this morning.
Update 14/02 – 08:55 UTC
- HT (harmonic tremor) has been at minimum all night
- The vent emission point is very visible on the webcam, although a strong surf is hampering visibility. Hopefully there are no SLS this morning because if the Salvamar Adhara would go out to the vent, it may lead to a very bad stomach feeling for the crew.
- 3 earthquakes since midnight UTC. Based on the location of the epicenters, we can conclude that the magma is till active and present from Frontera to the greater vent area to the south of La Restinga. The only difference with a couple of months ago, is that we have less earthquakes in the sea to the west of Frontera.
14/02/2012 00:42:01 Depth 17 km M 1.1 SW FRONTERA
14/02/2012 01:15:10 Depth 12 km M 1.6 W EL PINAR
14/02/2012 07:22:43 Depth 16 km M 1.1 SW EL PINAR
Update 14/02 – 00:17 UTC
- The UME emergency division has now completely left El Hierro. In case the volcano would suddenly decide to change his scenario, they will have to deploy again.
- A group of 7 dolphins has made an excursion along the corridor and was spotted at Las Playas. The coast guard told them to respect the 450 meter corridor.
Joke’s image for Valentine day !
Update 13/02 – 22:45 UTC
- INVOLCAN has just published two amazing videos of today’s flight:
- Here is the second video
- 2 new earthquakes while harmonic tremor remains very low.
This brings the total to 10 earthquakes today.
13/02/2012 20:10 Depth 10 km M 1.5 SW FRONTERA
13/02/2012 21:06 Depth 12 km M 1.5 W EL PINAR
Update 13/02 – 20:04 UTC
- 2 new earthquakes
13/02/2012 17:42 Depth 11 km M 1.5 SW EL PINAR
13/02/2012 18:03 Depth 10 km M 1.3 SW EL PINAR
Update 13/02 – 19:21 UTC
Enjoy today’s beautiful images as been photographed by Guardia Civil helicopteres and Involcan. We expect video later tonight.
All images courtesy and copyright Guardia Civil helicopeteres and Involcan
Update 13/02 – 17:08 UTC
Patrick Allard, a French volcanologist was invited by French Radio Network France Inter to tell the French audience about the El Hierro volcano. He and Jesús Gomez Gonzalo an IGN director were invited in Mathieu Vidard’s ”La tête au carré“, a scientific radio program. Click here for the “Audio broadcast” (French). Thank you ER reader Jean-Patrick for telling us.
- HT is at “surviving” value right now.
Update 13/02 – 13:37 UTC
- 3 more earthquakes since the latest update
13/02/2012 08:51 Depth 6 km M 0.8 W FRONTERA
13/02/2012 10:16 Depth 16 km M 0.9 SW FRONTERA
13/02/2012 12:52 Depth 11 km M 0.6 W EL PINAR
- Joke Volta February 13 morning images. The seagull image is dedicated to Pam, who follows the birds in relation to the eruption like a dedicated scientist!
Update 13/02 – 09:34 UTC – 09:59 UTC
- 3 earthquakes so far today
13/02/2012 06:10 Depth 10 km M 1.1 SW EL PINAR
13/02/2012 07:41 Depth 10 km M 1.7 SW EL PINAR
13/02/2012 08:27 Depth 11 km M 1.8 W EL PINAR
- variable HT periods, the latest one rather subsiding to very minimal
- the behavior of the stain has less and less relation with the HT reading. One very big obstacle we have as “open source” followers, is that we cannot see HT in real time but only delayed by approx. 20 to 30 minutes.
- the center of the stain (gray pumice) is back to the location of the main vent (yesterday, we had multiple jacuzzi areas).
- we may expect new beautiful stain images tonight as we see the helicopter from the Guardia Civil and Involcan flying over the vent at 09:59.
Harmonic tremor from midnight to 9 AM - image courtesy IGN
Update 12/02 – 23:50 UTC
- Today we have seen a present jacuzzi through the whole day, even at early morning hours as captured in the webcam. Here is a time lapse from Julio del Castillo Vivero from 04:30 till 20:05 UTC showing a strong jacuzzi with also currents moving the stain. Speeds have been adjusted at different times of the day.
- 3 earthquakes since last update, making a total of 10 earthquakes today
12/02/2012 21:53 Depth 23 km M 1.4 W FRONTERA
12/02/2012 22:06 Depth 9 km M 1.6 W EL PINAR
12/02/2012 22:22 Depth 12 km M 1.1 W EL PINAR
Update 12/02 – 19:13 UTC
- Very strange jacuzzi today. The camera is still on the same mast, but the normal location of the jacuzzi is no longer the same. We seem to have multiple gas emission points this afternoon. Lets hope that Joke will have taken some pictures of the different locations.
- HT decreasing again after having had a strong period (see below)
HT graph from 01:00 until 19:30 UTC - image courtesy IGN
Update 12/02 – 13:33 UTC
- Joke Volta’s February 12 morning images. Some really beautiful images, once more
- Joke also detected the “mystery” sailing catamaran on top of the vent ! Probably someone who cannot count to 0.25 or 450 ! The catamaran does not look really oceanographic to us. Joke just told us that the catamaran was coming from Gomera, was filling the water tanks and were heading west to the America’s.
Mystery Catamaran above the vent
Update 12/02 – 13:09 UTC
– Just like yesterday, a powerful jacuzzi is presently stirring the Las Calmas sea
- HT had increased bit by bit and is presently at low medium levels
- 1 new earthquake : 12/02/2012 11:28 Depth 10 km M 2.0 SW EL PINAR
Update 12/02 – 09:44 UTC
- 6 earthquakes so far today. We have to mention, as ER reader Julian commented, that the depth of the earthquakes is getting shallower every day. The only question in all this is that some of these values are recalculated to “usual” depths later on. We do not see any conspiracy here, an erroneous instrument may be the reason. On top of the 2 soon after midnight, these are the 4 other earthquakes
12/02/2012 01:01 Depth 8 km M 1.1 SW FRONTERA
12/02/2012 02:48 Depth 10 km M 0.7 SE FRONTERA
12/02/2012 03:12 M 1.4 SW EL PINAR
12/02/2012 07:35 Depth 3 km M 0.8 W FRONTERA
- HT was very low until a little after 4, but gradually picked up after that. In general terms however, we consider it low (= small eruption flow)
- Stain is visible but no jacuzzi this morning
- Early this morning we saw an “unusual” ship on top of the stain.
- We want to express our special thanks to the webcam operator who is following instructions from AVCAN and Julio to zoom at night into a specific angle. We really appreciate all this.
Update 12/02 – 04:25 UTC
- Ramón Margalef has left the island according to vessel tracking websites. Until further notice, this has been the last mission in El Hierro for the IEO team.
Lets hope they will publish soon bathymetry data and graphs along with any possible footage obtained of the volcano.
- At this time of night we can observe a very big stain on the eruption webcam with some faint jacuzzi action! As captured by Julio del Castillo Vivero:
Update 12/02 – 01:35 UTC
- 2 Earthquakes since midnight, yesterday a total of 5.
12/02/2012 00:16 Depth 11 km M 1.5 SW FRONTERA
12/02/2012 00:18 Depth 10 km M 1.3 SW FRONTERA
- Harmomic tremor decreased from 16:00 UTC yesterday, but still alive now. Below a graph from IGN showing yesterday tremor:
Update 11/02 – 16:04 UTC
- Some spots in the sea may be misleading as they could be taken for new vents (like we had to admit earlier).
Time lapse video of the sunlight / fata morgana vent effect by Julio del Castillo Vivero.
Update 11/02 – 14:55 UTC
- The Ramon Margalef is again hanging around on the stain and very close to the main vent. Sporadically we see some action in the faint jacuzzi.
Update 11/02 – 13:53 UTC
- We have just published the morning batch of Joke Volta images. Click here to watch them in our picasaweb
- Due to the calm sea today, we could capture an image showing another vent more the the right of the present main vent. Are we sure about this ? Note entirely of course as the sun can suddenly throws some light on the sea, only in this case this jacuzzi had the same pattern than the main jacuzzi minutes earlier. Update 14:55 : After carefully viewing the Las Calmas sea, we have found similar ‘so called’ jacuzzi’s also deeper in the sea. We are convinced that those are sunlight jacuzzi’s, which makes it highly probable that also this was a sunlight jacuzzi (it has not repeated within a reasonable time after this image).
Click on the picture to see the time lapse of this other vent jacuzzi
Update 11/02 – 13:35 UTC
- We have been observing jacuzzis above vents of the volcano forming every few minutes lasting for a short period. Here is a screen shot captured by Julio del Castillo Vivero that shows a very strong episode, moments ago. Click on the image to see a time lapse of the moment.
Update 11/02 – 11:40 UTC
- Enjoying the new 450 meter freedom with an active volcano in the background.
Update 11/02 – 11:30 UTC
- Harmonic tremor continues to show medium low values. A stable but surely continuous eruption.
- Almost NO jacuzzi but a big very visible stain in the Las Calmas sea in front of La Restinga.
- 4 earthquakes so far today
11/02/2012 02:06 ND M 0.9 W FRONTERA
11/02/2012 05:23 Depth 10 km M 1.2 SW EL PINAR
11/02/2012 05:31 Depth 12 km M 1.2 SW EL PINAR
11/02/2012 10:10 Depth 13 km M 1.8 SW EL PINAR
Links to earlier parts of this extensive El Hierro eruption report :
(28/7 – early 09) – (25/09 – 10/10) - (11/10 – 13/10) - (14/10 – 17-10) - (18/10 – 21/10) - (22/10 – 26/10 ) – (27/10 – 31/10 ) – (01/11 – 03/11 ) - (04/11 – 06/11 ) – (07/11 – 08/11) – (09/11- 11/11) – (12/11 – 15/11) – (16/11 – 19/11) – (20/11 – 23/11) – (24/11 – 27/11) – (28/11 – 02/12) - (03/12 – 07/12) – (08/12 – 11/12) – (12/12 – 15/12) – (16/12 – 18/12) – (19/12 – 25/12) – (26/12 – 31/12) – (01/01 – 03/01) – (04/01 – 07/01) – (08/01 – 13/01) – (14/01 – 19/01) - (20/01 – 25/01) - (26/01 – 30/01) – (31/01 – 04/02) – Part 30 (05/02 – 10/02)
Read also : Scientific paper reveals massive historic Tenerife volcano flank collapse
Read also: Economic impact on El Hierro and the Canary Islands if an aerial eruption would occur
Volcano Discussion Panel : If you are a person who wants to discuss and read about all aspects of volcanoes, this discussion panel might be a very good place to hang around. Especially if we start speculating about what to happen next, this panel is a great place to look at. Give it a chance.
1127964 22/02/2012 07:00:29 27.7123 -18.0440 6 1.6 mbLg W EL PINAR.IHI [+]
Have you seen this recent NASA photo Armand, taken by the International Space Station astronauts on 10 February?
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77171&src=eoa-iotd
We have published this image when Nasa Earth Observatory did so. Please check the many earlier articles at the bottom of this page
A international volcano meeting for reducing volcanic risk because of increasing population.
I hope you all are safe but this seems like a fancy way of saying Evacuate!!
Take care .
Increasing population is meant to be general. Remote islands are becoming more and more idyllic dream islands for tourists. This initiative is really necessary. Cabo Verde, the co-organizer is also a volcanic chain the middle of the Ocean and gets more and more tourists.
Coincidentally, I am jetting off to Cabo Verde next Monday!
On yor way to Fogo volcano !
Hello Armand,
I think we need a calm day, to be able to see any activity. An aerial or even satellite view would be good too.
Best Regards
Colin
I agree Colin, there is still some minor activity going on, only it is very hard to see with the webcam. Jokes image this morning was showing the pumice rich waters.
Ha ha Armand! The gull looks as impatient as we all are waiting for the next development!