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El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow alert – Images of Glowing Lava at 70 meter depth

Last update: March 19, 2012 at 6:41 pm by By 

VERY IMPORTANT Update 19/03 – 17:02 UTC
– ER reader Roland (see comments) has given us the lead to a report of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria showing the still erupting submarine El Hierro volcano with glowing lava seen floating at a depth of 70 meter.
What nobody could accomplish so far, has been done by the ROV E-Wally on board of the SOS-Oceanos, Q-Star, Atlantic Explorer ship by the scientists of the Universidad de Las Palmas the Gran Canaria.
– The images have been captured on March 14 as the date on the images reveal. The images are of course foggy as a lot of suspended material is polluting the water.
– No doubt that Q-Star and the University has also some video footage that they will probably release later on (the pictures are probably screen captures of the video).
We are however VERY PLEASED that all those who cooperated on this mission have proved that the eruptive process is not yet entirely finished (at least it was not after the date that Pevolca said that the eruption stopped).

Original images courtesy Q-Star and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

ER manipulation of the color saturation and contrast from the original picture above, a lot more details are appearing

 

Image Courtesy Q-Star and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Update 19/03 – 16:00 UTC
– Images of Joke Volta of today March 19

Update 19/03 – 11:17 UTC
– Nothing unusual this morning.
– Since midnight NO listed earthquakes since Saturday
– Sunday afternoon we noticed increased microseismicity. The variation in HT signal is often caused by changes in tide, wind, waves etc, external factors which have nothing linked to the eruption. However, a minimal HT is still present.
– Joke continues taking her daily pictures, with of course more focus to the island itself these days. She does not want to give up right now as the eruption might get stronger again.

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow alert – Atlantic Explorer will try to use the ROV on Tuesday

Last update: March 12, 2012 at 3:19 pm by By 


Update 12/03 – 07:28
– The Atlantic Explorer vessel of the company QSTAR SLU, hired by members of ‘Universidad de las Palmas de Gran Canaria’ (ULPGC) and collaborating, the non-profit organisation, SOS Océanos is back in town. Julio received an Email from one of the people in charge that they will try to use the ROV today on Tuesday, weather permitting of course.
– 2 earthquakes so far today – M &.1 and M 1.3 both at a depth of 12 km

Update 11/03 – 23:55
– New images from Joke Volta have been loaded in our picasaweb
– A 5th earthquake with a magnitude of 0.6 occurred at 21:37

Update 11/03 – 22:58
– no more new earthquakes
– some people are looking for a new name for the new volcano. IGN scientists are talking internally about “El Volcan de La Restinga”  but a new name is certainly desirable.
– Involcan and ITER have published the new CO2 graphs who are showing a light increase to 934 ton per day.

Update 11/03 – 21:34 UTC
– Today a number of people and Joke saw a faint jacuzzi or rather degassing in the vent area. This was also confirmed by scientists.
– The degassing started already yesterday afternoon and was mentioned by some ER readers, Julio and AVCAN.
– We think it is probably too early to talk about a reactivation of the eruptive process.

Update 11/03 – 18:38 UTC
– Images Joke Volta from today showing a beautiful sunrise and a few images with a super faint jacuzzi. Click here.

Update 11/03 – 08:38 UTC
– 4 earthquakes so far since midnight. Resp. 1.8, 1.5, 0.3 and 1.7. Depths in between 8 and 12 km.

Update 10/03 – 23:10 UTC
– The Atlantic Explorer vessel is currently navigating to El Hierro for a new campaign. In the team, members from the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and SOS Océanos. Lets hope this time the conditions will be good enough for deploying the ROV.
Update 10/03 – 21:45 UTC
– The following video shows the activity at ‘El Mar de Las Calmas’ from 18:55 to 19:55 UTC  x10 normal speed, by Julio del Castillo Vivero.

– AVCAN (Actualidad Volcánica de Canarias) believe the eruption was not over and continues.
– Joke Volta has spoken with Ramón Ortiz and here we have translate his words for what he believes could be happening:

” What can be observed now we saw 2 weeks ago. I have looked at the seismic network, and there has been no variation, no anomalies. When there is an eruptive activity this is reflected in the seismic network. What could be happening is that as magma is still hot, it takes time to cool down, this material is still releasing heat and vapor, and there is still gas release. That is why there is still an exclusion zone around the volcano. Tides can affect the process that we see. As the tide changes, the pressure does too and this can alter what is happening. The effect of the tides we have observed it two weeks ago when there was a decrease in activity. The visibility of the volcano changes and this is also due to the tides.

– What we are sure of is there has been no official communication about what is happening.

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow-Red alert

Last update: March 1, 2012 at 3:49 pm by By 

Update 01/03 – 15:49 UTC
– NO new earthquakes
– NO change in HT
– ITER is currently installing more instruments at the Tacoron area. Currently someone has to go to Tacoron to do a number of manual measurements.  The new instruments will send data in real-time to the analysts. Once this has been tested, people will be allowed to enter this sector of the island.
– Joke Volta March 1 morning images

Update 01/03 – 09:12 UTC
– A short revival of harmonic tremor for a couple of minutes at 01:16. It has not repeated since then.
– The eruption webcam is frozen again for the second day in a row.  Hopefully the disturbance is not due to a serious problem.
– 4 earthquakes since midnight varying from M 0.6 to M 1.3, depths from 10 to 16 km. Epicenters on the usual line from Frontera to the main vent.
– Today is the last day of the INVOLCAN course Joke is following. She is very positive about this initiative. Compared to the Geology course given by Ramon Casillas from the University of La Laguna who was focusing more to the specific technical details of volcanoes and tectonics, the Involcan course is zooming in on the many dangers for property and population. Joke was surprised that Lahars, toxic gases, lava flows, landslides, explosions etc has caused many casualties in the past.  The El Hierro eruption goes on and on and looks like a peaceful event (what it surely is at this time), but in other places of the world volcanoes can cause a lot of misery. The pictures below have been taken during the Involcan course.
– Poets from everywhere in the world showed their solidarity with the people of El Hierro during a poetry event yesterday at La Restinga (pictures of this event : click here)

Involcan course about volcano risks at El Pinar

Update 29/02 – 23:55 UTC
– The day ended with only 4 earthquakes
– almost no HT
– No stain or jacuzzi
– we are very curious for the next couple of days. If the present situation continues for another week, Pevolca might decrease the alert levels

Update 29/02 – 15:46 UTC
– 4 earthquakes so far today
– In the many mails we received from Joke yesterday and after midnight today (yes, she often works until after midnight), something escaped our attention. An earthquake at 05:02 yesterday morning with an epicenter to the east of the La Restinga reef (in between El Hierro and Tenerife).
In a message later yesterday and before Joke had seen this earthquake location, she told us about a stain in that same area. When climbing montaña La Restinga, she usually looks both sides of the La Restinga. She found it strange to see a stain in that part of the sea (especially as we had no more stains above the main vent for many days). She indicated the stain spot in her image series from yesterday afternoon, adding a map with the location.  There are no signs that this is a viable reason for a new emission vent as the quake was reported at a depth of 20 km, but the least we can say is that this event is rather unusual and not immediately explainable, unless the stain drifted away from the main vent.

Update 29/02 – 09:23 UTC
– 2 great videos for Volcano Lovers : with special thanks to AVCAN, who gave us the lead for them.  We have embedded them in our Volcano News updates.

Update 29/02 – 07:55 UTC
– 3 earthquakes so far today. Magnitudes : 1.1, 0.8 and 1.3. Depths in between 7 and 12 km.
– unchanged harmonic tremor
– continuing micro-seismicity
– no visible stain or jacuzzi on the eruption webcam

for more information, go to:   http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow-Red alert – 7 earthquakes since midnight + test video ROV “Wally”

Last update: February 21, 2012 at 1:37 pm by By 

This is the most recent El Hierro Volcano eruption report

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.

for more information, updates, and history of the eruption, go to:  earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

2/8 El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow-Red alert – Joke Volta images of tonight’s Smoking Lava Balloons

Last update: February 8, 2012 at 11:29 pm by By 

This is the most recent El Hierro Volcano eruption report

Update 08/02 – 23:18 UTC

Remember our update from 17:56 yesterday, when somebody of CAP told Joke that he had seen much stronger activity than usual in the Jacuzzi. ER reader Sissel has recorded the webcam at that time. The 4 minutes video shows the more intense activity. The activity occurred when we lived through 5 minutes of the most powerful HT since many days. The graph can  be seen at the end of the recording.

Update 08/02 – 21:11 UTC
For the interested people : Etna is erupting right now ! (Thank you Nataly for telling us)
http://www.guide-etna.com/webcam/

Update 08/02 – 20:33 UTC
– There have been 3 more earthquakes while harmonic tremor its continuing at minimum levels:
08/02/2012    18:38      Depth 14 km        M 1.3    W EL PINAR
08/02/2012    18:51       Depth 12 km        M 1.3    W FRONTERA
08/02/2012    19:18       Depth 12 km        M 1.3    W FRONTERA

Update 08/02 – 20:32 UTC
– When Pam and New wrote us “SLS”, we immediately forwarded the message to Joke who was on her way to El Pinar. She asked the bus driver to stop, got a lift from a friendly person to Montana Naos, took some pictures and hitchhiked again towards El Pinar.  These are Jokes pictures.

Update 08/02 – 16:39 UTC
– Just after writing about the calm day, ER readers Pam and New notified us of Smoking Lava Stones.

Update 08/02 – 16:23 UTC
– A calm day at El Hierro with few spectacular events but with the very beautiful pictures of Joke Volta.
– only 1 new earthquake since the last update, but a medium powerful one which can well be seen on the IGN HT graph.
08/02/2012    15:35     Depth 12 km     M 2.2    SW EL PINAR

Update 08/02 – 10:21 UTC
– Very minor harmonic tremor all night and morning so far, a little increase in HT at 03:05 for about an hour.
– Jacuzzi activity was very much present all night long in a very sensitive webcam seting. We enjoy this setting for maximum observation at night.
– 5 earthquakes so far today!
08/02/2012    00:42      Depth 14 km        M 1.3    W EL PINAR
08/02/2012    00:43      Depth 12 km        M 1.3    SW FRONTERA
08/02/2012    02:52      Depth 11 km        M 1.4    W EL PINAR
08/02/2012    06:12      Depth 14 km        M 0.8    SW EL PINAR
08/02/2012    07:33      Depth 20 km        M 1.4    SW EL PINAR

Update 07/02 – 23:55 UTC
2 new earthquakes are making it a total of 10 today.
07/02/2012    22:57     Depth 11 km        M 1.8     SW FRONTERA 
07/02/2012    23:30     Depth 12 km        M 1.7     SW FRONTERA

Update 07/02 – 23:02 UTC
– the current high sensitive webcam image shows the action in the jacuzzi. Hard to say what the light effects are (waves or hot material).  That will be a question for CAP for Joke tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
– Harmonic tremor has been minimal for many hours again, but the eruption is still going on.
– 2 new earthquakes that make it a total of 8 today
07/02/2012    20:20     Depth 13 km        M 1.0    SW EL PINAR
07/02/2012    22:25     Depth 10 km        M 1.2    S EL PINAR
– Readers like Julian have seen the Ramon Margalef continuing his bathymetry mission after dark.
– Images Joke Volta from today February 7 2012

Update 07/02 – 19:30 UTC
ER reader Julian writes in our comment section : In an interview with Ramon Ortiz (Volcanologist of CSIC) in local newspaper Canarias7, Mr. Ortiz says that according to past experiences, the eruptive process is finishing. The new HT increase of the last couple of days are the normal evolution to a new phase.
He says that two different possibilities are: 1- that this process ends in few days and/or a new eruption is going on in another location.
He says that right now there are two different eruptions. The one in Las Calmas, and another one elsewhere which we may never know where it is, beacuse of the depth in the north area.
(ER : the supposedly second vent in the north has been a fierce debate among scientists from the very beginning).  We refer to some updates we wrote during the weeks after the coloring of the sea).

Update 07/02 – 17:56 UTC
– A CAP scientists who met Joke in El Pinar a few hours ago said to her that he has seen an extraordinary jacuzzi around noon UTC today. He was quiet fascinated about it.
– We are also fascinated about the strange harmonic tremor we see today. A lot of powerful starts gradually winding down, again and again. Now it is calm again, but we cannot remind having seen the same pattern since a long time. It may be very wise to follow HT the following hours in combination with the webcam.

Update 07/02 – 15:08 UTC
– 2 new earthquakes:
07/02/2012    13:31      Depth 12 km        M 1.4     SW EL PINAR
07/02/2012    13:58     Depth 10 km        M 1.6     SW FRONTERA

Update 07/02 – 13:55 UTC
– The Ramón Margalef IEO Oceanographic vessel is back in town. He is making a new bathymetry session enabling IEO to measure the depth of the vent and to make new maps of the submarine cones. Meanwhile the local Canary Island press is quoting local volcanologists who are saying that IEO is not sharing the submarine research details with other (scientific) partners. It will at least take 2 to 3 days to get a new depth figure.
– 4 earthquakes so far today
07/02/2012    02:21      Depth 11 km        M 1.0     SW EL PINAR
07/02/2012    10:29      Depth 15 km        M 1.4     SW EL PINAR
07/02/2012    10:55      Depth 14 km        M 1.3     SW FRONTERA
07/02/2012    11:37      Depth 13 km        M 2.3     SW EL PINAR
 – Harmonic tremor started to grow gradually after 03:00 as Ursula said in the comments (she lives in Australia and is looking at the HT graph and webcam while most Europeans sleep), winding down just before noon. Very suddenly everything restarted forcefully at 13:32 UTC, although nothing more than degassing can be seen at the surface.

Harmonic tremor from midnight UTC until 13:40 UTC – image courtesy IGN

Image Joke Volta

Update 06/02 – 23:55 UTC
– Joke Volta pictures of February 6, 2012. No SLS today.

Update 06/02 – 23:24 UTC
– INVOLCAN has just published two high definition videos of today’s flight. We can see how they measured gas levels and took thermal images, which would be useful if they made public. There is a strong degassing, blue stain, that can be observed.


– Second video shows the green stain in La Restinga port.

– Eruption webcam is showing a good view the stain even now that is dark. A near full moon illuminates the sea enough for the camera to capture an image. Also, the webcam was cleaned today for better image quality.

– Another earthquake since our last update
06/02/2012    21:43    Depth 15 km    M 1.7     W EL PINAR

Update 06/02 – 21:50 UTC
– One more earthquake since last update:
06/02/2012    18:04    Depth 11 km    M 1.7

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow-Red alert – at least 300 SLS in 2 hours time

Last update: January 28, 2012 at 3:01 pm by By 

Update 28/01 – 14:59 UTC
– Julio del Castillo Vivero Time lapse from the volcano activity from 07:20 until 13:00 today, including the Salvamar Adhara lava balloon fishing.

Update 28/01 – 12:36 UTC
– Joke was very busy taking pictures this morning. This is a selection from the many she has taken. These images are so big that a simple cutout can give the detail as can be seen below. Click on one of the 2 images to see the full series.

Update 28/01 – 11:32 UTC
– A lot of SLS this morning
– NO earthquakes since midnight UTC
– Harmonic tremor had a hard time surviving at 02:00 but picked up at 07:01 and remains minimally active until now.
– Salvamar Adhara is out fishing lava balloons. Some stones seem to be really big today. Look at the size of the black stones in the water in relation to the size of the Salvamar Adhara.
– Joke just reported that in 2 hours time (from 08:00 until 10:00) she has seen more than 300 SLS. She also pointed out that the lava baloons are surfacing further to Tenerife (to the left) than ever before. We think this is normal as it was described in the lava balloon document we have published a few weeks ago. Some SLS are only starting to float during the rolling down process from the vent to the base of the volcano. The reason was not explained, but it might be the breaking apart during the rolling process of a  heavier part enabling gas inside to start the floating process.

Salvamar Adhara and smoking Lava stones – fishing stones close to the action – Image captured by ER reader Penny

Update 27/01 – 13:59 UTC
– 12 earthquakes today, even more than in the beginning of January.
– as so many among you reported, a few strong smoking spectacular lava balloons today.
– Harmonic tremor strated to be more active again from 14:27, so any link with the sudden strong LB episode is hard to find.
– Joke and some friends made some great shots of what was going on today. Click here to see them in our Picaweb
– A lot of you must have seen the Salvamar Adhara out in the sea. Joke waited for them when they arrived in the port and has some pictures of the (meager) catch. One Lava Balloon and 2 jellyfish!
– Another regular contributor to Earthquake-Report.com is Julio del Castillo Vivero. Julio is recording a lot during the day and starts to look at his recordings if he reads some emotional comments. Here are Julios images captured during the 16:00 action
– I do apolize for not being able to instantly report on events as i am on a holiday with limited time at the PC. Sometimes i am on new developments and sometimes i try to catch up a little later.

Lava Balloon surfacing with a lot of smoke – image captured by Julio del Castillo Vivero

Update 27/01 – 13:59 UTC
The first set of pictures made by Joke this morning. Click here

Update 27/01 – 13:00 UTC
Dr. Elena González Cárdenas, has written an article showing fault lines, different vents and building up a theory as what probably is happening at the seafloor.  What wonders us most is all these new pictures which are shown in this document, pictures which are probably only circulating in a narrow scientific circle. This document reveals much more from what is going on, than weeks of Pevolca communication. Congratulations to Dr. Cardenas and Avcan (the people who have probably asked Dr. Cardenas to write the document).  Click here to read the Spanish document and use Google translate to pick up most of the content. We are sure that people following this eruption a long time will perfectly understand the scenario as written by Dr. Cardenas. Thanks to a number of ER readers + Joke who attracted our attention to this document.

Image courtesy AVCAN and Guardia Civil helicopteres / Involcan

Update 27/01 – 12:22 UTC
– 4 more earthquakes stressing the pressure of the magma beneath the island and creating a new phase of the eruption. Will the current vent remain the only vent, and if not, where will the magma try to find his way up.
27/01/2012    06:57    15    0.7    4     W FRONTERA.IHI
27/01/2012    07:39    9    0.4    4     SW EL PINAR.IHI
27/01/2012    07:55    15    0.5    4     W FRONTERA.IHI
27/01/2012    09:18    12    0.9    4     W EL PINAR.IHI
– The 04:24 earthquake as mentioned by ER reader Ann-Kristin has probably a tectonic origin (based on the graph and as the form is totally different from volcanic earthquakes). It can be triggered though through deformation of the island.
– As for deformation (lateral deformation), no big changes. Values are a little higher yesterday. We are very curious if the many earthquakes from today will not chnage this pattern, as it did in early January.
– The jacuzzi and stain are still surviving. No surprise as a minimal HT is still present on the graph.

Update 27/01 – 07:09 UTC
– 5 earthquakes since midnight
27/01/2012    01:02            12        0.9    SW EL PINAR.IHI
27/01/2012    02:13        13        0.9    SW EL PINAR.IHI
27/01/2012    04:24        13        2.0    W EL PINAR.IHI
27/01/2012    06:27           11        0.4    EL PINAR.IHI
27/01/2012    06:27        11        0.4    W EL PINAR.IHI
– continuing minor harmonic tremor

 

for more information and updates, go to this well researched and articulate site:   http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow-Red alert – probable partial collapse of the eruption vent

Update 16/01 – 17:49 UTC
– Regular strong Jacuzzi bursts (among the strongest of the last couple of days)

Update 16/01 – 15:12 UTC
– A partial collapse of the vent occurred at 11:40.  At 11:40, the HT was still at medium strength but the many hydromagmatic explosions were an indication that a partial or complete collapse could happen. Harmonic tremor is minimal at this moment but has a tendency to increase again.

Harmonic tremor in between midnight and 15:00 UTC – image courtesy IGN

Update 16/01 – 14:00 UTC
– Morning images Joke Volta

 

Update 16/01 – 08:46 UTC
– NO earthquakes have occurred since midnight UTC
– Harmonic tremor decreased a lot since the peak yesterday evening. A possible reason may be a partly collapse of the vent (a process which happens regularly)
– Big stain with a defined jacuzzi area in a Las Calmas sea with a strong surf
– Below more pictures of the opening ceremony of the “Restingolita Info Center” at La Restinga.


Update 15/01 – 10:07 UTC
– Harmonic tremor decreased a little during the night and stands rather low
– calm jacuzzi area but visible stain
– NO earthquakes since midnight

Update 14/01 – 17:16 UTC
– Based on the current and past position of the Ramon Margalef  (gradually and slowly getting closer to the jacuzzi) we suppose that the Oceanographip ship is using one of his ROV‘s to have a close look to what is happening beneath the surface. The ROV’s are able to navigate to deep depths and are manipulated out of a control room on board of the ship. Depending on the visibility, which may be good out of the current, we might be able to look at great video one of the coming days. If the ship isn’t using his rov’s ha may be taking samples of the different waters newt to the vent. Both possibilities are realistic.

for more information, pictures, and updates, go to:   http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

Update on El Hierro Activity

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow-Red alert – the eruption continues at a moderate rate

Last update: December 24, 2011 at 3:13 pm by By 

Update 24/12 – 15:13 UTC
– NO NASA Modis satellite image today as it was too cloudy when the satellite was padding by.
– NO new earthquakes
– continuous harmonic tremor slightly decreasing since 06:00
– The video below is the morning time lapse video from the Telefonica / Cabildo La Restinga village webcam as captured by Julio del Castillo Vivero. The emitting vent and corresponding stain can well be seen from the middle of the morning until the end

Joke Volta early morning pictures

Click on the picture to see all images in full size

Update 24/12 – 09:14 UTC
– NO new earthquakes
– continuous harmonic tremor with a lot of action from 03:30 until 04:00
– a very small stain can be seen on the El Pinar / Ustream and La Restinga village webcams
– Joke reports that the she saw a very vast stain from her starting point at El Pinar this morning. Now she is in La Restinga and says that she sees the source of the stain at the main vent. The emitted material is carried by the current to the west (hard to see on the webcam)
– IEO (Oceonographic Institute of Spain) has reported that they are currently analyzing the bathymetry data(depth measuring of the sea floor) from their latest mission. They have a lot of work to do before a final report can be issued as many irregular measurements have to be eliminated. The emission gases, floating and suspended sediments and water conditions are resulting in false data.

Christmas tree in CAP science center in La Restinga. The tree hangers are images of the main events of the eruption

Update 23/12 – 18:43 UTC
Joke has created a small video from the pictures that she made while traveling with the bus from La Restinga to El Pinar.  Additionally, click here to see the pictures Joke made today.

Update 23/12 – 14:00 UTC / updated 15:43 UTC
Today’s NASA Modis satellite image (from max. a couple of hours ago) shows a very strange picture from the stain and the emission vent. The left white patch is the main vent emission point and small stain. The right white patch at the smallest point of the stain maybe a small remaining cloud patch from the bigger cloud range below it or a new vent (highly unlikely on this location). Click here to see the location of the satellite image.

NASA Modis satellite image of today December 23 – zoomed version (cloud has been blackened)

NASA Modis image without blackened clouds

Update 23/12 – 11:30 UTC
– an active fresh stain visible from La Restinga.
– periods with increased harmonic tremor

image courtesy IGN

La Restinga eruption stain on December 23 – image courtesy Cabildo de El Hierro and Telefonica

Update 23/12 – 08:07 UTC
– 2 new earthquakes since midnight UTC . Both had a magnitude of 1.6 at a depth of respectively 16 and 15 km. The first one happened at 02:16 (epicenter location) and the second at 04:09 (epicenter location)
– variable harmonic tremor
– 25 cruise ships have planned to visit El Hierro next year. The port of La Estaca will be the embarkation port. The average number of passengers will be 300 per ship.
– the company running the Christmas lottery, one of the first lotteries in the world, has decided to pay 60,000 euro as a gift to the people of El Hierro.
– the Terencio supermarket chain did send a food load of 4200 kg to help the Herreños

This information comes from: earthquakereport.com.  For more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow-Red alert – Combined time lapse video with harmonic tremor graph

Last update: December 13, 2011 at 7:17 pm by By 

This is the most recent El Hierro Volcano eruption report

Update 13/12 – 19:15 UTC

A new 4’48″ Julio del Castillo Vivero time lapse video. The original images have been altered to bring up detail of the steam coming out of the water (ER : water vapor not a volcanic cloud) . Time Lapse comprehending the period between 16.35 – 17.32 GMT/UTC With water bubbling and ‘jacuzzi’ style at El Mar de las Calmas, near La Restinga, El Hierro.

 

Update 13/12 – 17:21 UTC
People still looking at the eruption webcam can see clearly the drifting water vapor .
To prove our case,  we have been increasing the contrast of the Telefonica Cabildo Eruption webcam image and below is the result. Above the active jacuzzi you can see the foggy water vapor, below the Las Calmas sea without the steam.

Steaming vent on December 13, 2011 on the Telefonica, Cabildo Eruption webcam

Update 13/12 – 15:50 UTC
Those looking at the webcam have the daily difficulty of the backlight of the sun. Nevertheless the eruption jacuzzi, champagne area can still be seen very well on the Cabildo Eruption webcam.

Update 13/12 – 15:34 UTC
A REMARKABLE 3 minute Julio del Castillo Vivero Time Lapse video comprehending the period between 12.42 – 13.42 GMT/UTC With water bubbling and ‘jacuzzi’ style at El Mar de las Calmas, near La Restinga, El Hierro.  Julio combined 3 different elements with each other a) the image of the RTVC webcam (which has no clock !) b) a clock he connected himself to the video and c) the harmonic tremor graph from IGN. Thecombination of the tremor graph and the webcam image has not been published anywhere else as far as we know. Congratulations to Julio.

Update 13/12 – 13:34 UTC
Currently another interesting feature can be followed on the webcam(s) – see image below
We think, but we are nor sure for 100%, that the current activity above the vent looks like degassing bubbles, which means if this process continues from now on that the bubbles of the vent gas expansion reach the surface.

RTVC webcam capture image showing strong degassing bubbles above the vent

To make our case, we have been surfing on the internet and came out at the activity of the Eifuku volcano located at the Mariana Islands arc.  The activity of the volcano was videotaped by the Ropos rov (Remotely Operated submarine Vehicle). The vent of the volcano was in this case 1350 meter below sea level.  A similar kind of activity may be the case here. The images below are courtesy vulkaner.no.  People who want to find out more about these pictures can click on the vulkaner.no link.

Champagne emitting vents in a submarine volcano at the Mariana Islands – image courtesy vulkaner.no

Data Update 13/12 – 13:25 UTC
As we told you yesterday, Joke felt that she had to take the bus from El Pinar to La Restinga enabling her to take pictures from the Las Calmas sea and surroundings. The series below are very beautiful.  Unfortunately there was other weather today than yesterday (a cloud deck) and our experiment to show the vent making clouds has not succeeded today.  One picture in the series shows however a low cloud forming above the vent. It might have been also in this case purely coincidence :) . If you want to see the pictures in full format, please click in the main picture screen.

Data Update 13/12 – 13:15 UTC
It is very unfortunate that the Guardia Civil helicopter is not flying above the vent anymore. It would enabled us to compare the present jacuzzi with the earlier ones.  Reader Penny  did send us a Cabildo Telefonica webcam capture of bulging water this morning.
– the jacuzzi is keeping his strength
– still NO earthquakes
– the tremor signal seems to have subsided a little unless IGN did some rescaling of the graph. Bursts are less frequent than this morning and yesterday.

Image captured this morning on the Cabildo Telefonica webcam by reader Penny

Update 13/12 – 10:21 UTC – A round of honor to the players in the field
We remind our readers that what we witness right now at El Hierro is unprecedented volcano reporting in modern times. A Submarine volcano gradually growing from the sea floor to the surface. Thanks to the data of IGN, IEO and CSIC, the great images and videos from INVOLCAN, ITER and the GUARDIA CIVIL HELICOPTERES , the lively discussions and guiding in Spanish from AVCAN and in English from Jonfr and Volcanocafe , the webcams of the El Hierro Cabildo and Telefonica, RTVC and the Canary Island government and the El Pinar authority, the time lapse videos from Julio del Castillo Vivero, some internet sites (ER is only one of them) and last but not least the support of our volunteers, Joke Volta and Ian Carson, a submarine volcano has never been documented so much.  We thank all of them on behalf of the thousands of daily readers following this volcano birth in the earthquake-report.com website.

Update 13/12 – 10:21 UTC
– The RTVC webcam is showing a very turbulent Jacuzzi activity. The hydromagmatic bursts are having a growing impact on the surface waters and more than once the water is bulging.

Update 13/12 – 09:49 UTC
– Joke is still taking pictures at montaña Naos of this mornings cloud, jacuzzi and stain. The weather conditions are however totally different than yesterday, so we think that yesterdays vapor clouds may not be present today.
– As expected, a VERY large and powerful Jacuzzi this morning. How do we see this ? During the last couple of weeks the Telefonica Cabildo webcam had to zoom into the jacuzzi sometimes beyond the buoy (laid there a couple of weeks ago). In todays image the webcam had to zoom out to be able to get an image of the extended jacuzzi. The jacuzzi activity is growing every day

Red point : Buoy – Jacuzzi December 13 – courtesy Cabildo and Telefonica El Hierro

Data Update 13/12 – 06:25 UTC
– NO earthquakes
– Medium harmonic tremor with periods of strong bursts and periods of lesser bursts

Data Update 12/12 – 22:22 UTC
INVOLCAN new CO² data shows a considerable further decrease. On December 5  the amount of carbon dioxide amounted to 1560 ton daily, yesterday 978 tons.

Data Update 12/12 – 21:21 UTC
Lets talk something serious now :
– NO earthquakes today
– Medium harmonic tremor with bursts every 5 to 10 minutes (hydromagmatic activity – see link to paper below). This happened all the day long – see graph.

Harmonic tremor graph December 12 2011 – image courtesy IGN

for more information, photos, videos, etc., go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano (Canary Islands) : Red alert – A Sunday full with volcano action (including images and videos)

Last update: November 28, 2011 at 12:22 am by By 

This is the most recent El Hierro Volcano eruption report

 Data Update 27/11 – 23:50 

– A total of 16 earthquakes today
– Only 6 earthquakes were M 1.5 or greater
– the extremely shallow El Golfo 1.9 earthquake from this morning was not followed by other shallow quakes(luckily)
– harmonic tremor wad severe to very strong today and is still continuing that way around midnight. The IGN graph shows very strong tremor in between 20:00 and 21:00 and very strong again with a lot of powerful bursts from 22:00 on until the time of this update.

Update 27/11 – 23:30 
Jesus Perez Quintero, the person in charge for Safety at El Pinar was aboard of the Salvamar when the ship navigated to the eruption spot this morning and this afternoon (see also images Joke Volta and Ian Carson). 3 heavily shaking videos were recorded during this trip. Collecting fresh lava stones was very important for science, a risky task but also well planned.  We have embedded 1 video, the 2 others have to be viewed via the link below. These videos are the same than showed in the Avcan facebook site.  The Videos are courtesy Jesus Perez Quintero and Avcan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFrHnAmwt8s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHyBiEHjQAY

Update 27/11 – 19:56 – Ian Carson reports

I cannot commend enough the personnel of IGN who have been very informative and so helpful and wanting to impart knowledge and information. If this had been in the UK, we wouldn’t have got near to  the scientists or the stones. More pictures of Ian have been added to todays Picasa image report

Update 27/11 – 17:56 – Images made by Joke Volta 
Joke Volta was many hours in La Restinga today. She enjoyed being there and looking at the action. She paid a lot of attention at the Salvamar, the ship of the coast guard who went to the Jacuzzi to pick up the lava stones and pieces. Click on this image to see more pictures of what she has seen today.

Update 27/11 – 16:20 – Ian Carson reports from La Restinga 
– Scientists back confirmed been into Jacuzzi but lots of gas, sulfur and chlorine.
– Vent confirmed at 1.8 km from coast.
– Length of ship,’ Salvamar Adhara’ for comparison purposes is 21 meters.
– Steaming stones area bigger + brown stain.
– Rocks are hot when arriving at the surface, they have to use gloves to handle

Update 27/11 – 15:46 
We have to thank the Cabildo of El Hierro, Telefonica, The Presidencia of the Canary Islands, Ian Carson, Hans-Werner, Birgit, Jean-Patrick and ourselves for this great series of images from today’s activity (.. and the day is not over yet)

 

Click on the images to watch the Picasa group of photos we have uploaded today November 27 2011

Data Update 27/11 – 14:24 

– Joke just wrote us to make publicity for the Sunday El Hierro Volcano show !
– A pity for the backlight in all the webcams at the moment. The eruption is still taking place.
– 12 earthquakes since midnight
– Irregular but strong harmonic tremor on the IGN graph.
– while looking at the eruption webcam, ejected material can be spotted at regular times

Update 27/11 – 13:44 
Ian just had a talk with a geologist. He confirmed that the present erupted material (as can be seen also on the picture below) is pure lava. The Restingolita stones were mixed seabed stones with new lava.
What people are seeing today is “the next step” in the eruption process. Almost over said scientists a couple of days ago, never been that active since the beginning.

Update 27/11 – 13:44 
Below a really huge lava piece which was picked up this morning by the Coast Guard boat. The boat takes a big risk is getting so near to the eruption area. If ejected and still hot, the boat can be heavily damaged by this kind of magma.

 

Lava bombs picked up by the coast guard out of the El Hierro Las Calmas sea on November 27 – image courtesy Spanish Authorities

 

Update 27/11 – 11:49 
We have recorded the strongest part of today’s activity and time lapsed more than 1 hour recording into 8 minutes. Enjoy the activity of the El Hierro undersea volcano. The ship (after a few minutes) is a small coast guard ship taking pictures from the Restingolitas. We hope, together with you, that these pictures will arrive in the open internet later today.


YouTube Direkt

Data Update 27/11 – 10:52 
– 10 earthquakes since midnight UTC
– strongest earthquake being a M 2.3
– the remaining earthquakes having a magnitude 1.3 and 1.5
– a VERY IMPORTANT new fact we have seen tonight is a shallow earthquake at a depth of ONLY 1.9 km (providing the data is correct). If new earthquakes would occur at this depth, an eruption event in the El Golfo bay cannot be excluded.
– Harmonic tremor is medium to strong at some times. The graph below gives an overview of harmonic tremor from 8 AM to 10 AM UTC or local Canary island time.

 

Harmic tremor on November 27 from 08:00 until 10:00 – image courtesy IGN

 

Update 27/11 – 09:14 
The activity at the eruption area gets even stronger than before. The webcam operator just zoomed out a little to have a wider scoop. Earthquake-report.com expects more action today. A stronger Jacuzzi and from time to time a swelling geyser type action.

 

Sunday morning action in the Las Calmas sea

 

Update 27/11 – 08:50 
The coast guard boat on the image will have the best pictures. What he does is however very risky as nobody can predict the start of a subaerial phase of the eruption.

 

Coast guard ship on the eruption site – screenshot courtesy Birgit Hartinger

 

Data Update 27/11 – 08:09 
– the action which started yesterday by floating smoking stones is continuing this morning,  hot pyroclastic material is floating to the surface. Just behind a weak Jacuzzi is formed. All this can be seen on the Telefonica eruption webcam.

for more information, updates, and missing videos. go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/