A graphic of the earthquake swarm that has struck the island of El Hierro.
A graphic of the earthquake swarm that has struck the island of El Hierro.
I beat you :)
Here’s a continuously updated earthquake list, they are getting bigger but not shallower:
http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/sismoListadoTerremotos.do?zona=1&cantidad_dias=10
Here’s the original thread from two days ago with some great links from Blam and others
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2784674/posts
(Sorry about the PM, pushed wrong button)
La Palma is currently the most volcanically active island in the Canary Islands Archipelago. It is likely that several eruptions would be required before failure would occur on Cumbre Vieja. However, the western half of the volcano has an approximate volume of 500 km3 (5 x 1011 m3) and an estimated mass of 1.5 x 1015 kg. If it were to catastrophically slide into the ocean, it could generate a wave with an initial height of about 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) at the island, and a likely height of around 50 metres (164 ft) at the Caribbean and the Eastern North American seaboard when it runs ashore eight or more hours later.
“Scientists are saying that a ball of magma is rising to the surface”
“Hey, Jimmy - know where we put that bigass bottle of Prilosec? No reason....”
Colonel, USAFR
Sometime in the late 70s, while at college, I travelled to the Canary Islands with some friends. We never visited Hierro, but went to the main island, Tenerife, and up to the summit of the Teide volcano. It’s been about 300 years since the last eruption, but walking around the summit I was startled by the fact that the ground was too hot to stand still, I had to keep on moving. A park ranger demonstrated cracking an egg on a rock and we watched it cook! All of that while a pretty cold wind was blowing, because Teide is the highest mountain in Spain. Add to that the smell of sulfur and the fissures with steam escaping and you will understand that it was a trip to remember!
“The odds set by these scientists have risen to 99%”
The Canary Islands government radio alert to all operators of the impending El Hierro volcanic eruption on the island 12 kilometers
Measurements and forecasts made by scientists on the island of El Hierro and the whole structure of IGN have pointed to the competent authorities within the Pevolca activated by the Canarian Government to the volcanic eruption is expected for several days can occur in next few hours at a point in the sea to twelve miles off the coast southwest of the island, which correspond to the town of Frontera.
The odds set by these scientists have risen to 99%, giving the reason Carracedo, which set the deadline for its experience and professional expertise long before any of that until now have come to the public.
In order not to alarm the population is deciding when to make public a statement giving an account of this incident, but was ordered by radio high alert all operators to be prepared, especially in the EMU and its device that includes a shelter for 2,000 people, if it is considered that the entire population evacuated.
At this time the technicians of the Canary Islands from the Cecoi El Hierro are already coordinating emergency resources and security and all air and sea operating when the eruption occurs.
Rising Volcanic Activity Prompts Evacuations On El Hierro, The Canary Islands
Dynamics of diffuse CO2 emission from El Hierro volcanic system, Canary Islands
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AGUFM.V21D2023B
Abstract
El Hierro Island (278 km2) is one of the youngest and the southwesternmost of the Canary Islands and rises 4000 m above the sea floor. The main characteristics of El Hierro consist on a truncated trihedron shape and three convergent ridges of volcanic cones. Since fumarolic activity is absent at the surface environment of El Hierro, the study of the evolution of diffuse CO2 emissions becomes an ideal geochemical tool for monitoring its volcanic activity. Since 1998, diffuse CO2 emission has been investigated at El Hierro volcanic system. Since then, a total of 9 diffuse CO2 emission surveys have been performed in the summer periods of 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, with approximately 600 observation sites. Diffuse CO2 emission measurements were performed by means of a portable NDIR sensor according to the accumulation chamber method. Soil CO2 efflux contour maps were constructed using a Sequential Gaussian Simulation (SGS) as interpolation method. Soil CO2 efflux for all the studies ranged from negligible values to 57.4 g m-2 d-1. Most of the study area showed CO2 efflux background values about 1.3 g m-2 d-1. Relatively high CO2 efflux values (>10 g m-2 d-1), if we consider the mean of the background, were measured along the main volcanic-structural features of study area. The total diffuse CO2 output released to atmosphere was estimated for each survey considering the positive volume generated by interpolation, showing a range between 358 and 1.434 t d-1. Our results reveal significant variations from 1998 to 2009 and indicate that CO2 emissions at El Hierro fluctuate greatly. Temporal variations in the total CO2 output do not seem to be masked by external variations, showing a temporal correlation with the peaks of seismic activity occurred in 2004 and previously to the soil gas survey. The observed changes in the diffuse CO2 emission between 1998 and 2009 suggest a close relationship between strain/stress changes in the subsurface of El Hierro volcanic system and the dynamics of CO2 emission. Performing frequent soil CO2 efflux surveys appear to be an effective surveillance tool for El Hierro volcanic system.
All I can say is, thanks Long Island. Thanks for being there.
Earthquake Swarm Continues On El Hierro, Canary Islands By MARK DUNPHY - Tue Oct 04, 9:51 am