The Cumbre Vieja volcano, which will mark two weeks since its eruption tomorrow, Sunday, has already affected a total of 1,005 buildings, of which 880 have been destroyed and 105 damaged or at risk of being destroyed, and it is not ruled out that there will be new homes affected this Saturday. In addition, there are 28.3 kilometers of roads that are unusable and 201 people continue to be housed in the Hotel Princess, in Fuencaliente.
Likewise, the lava flows have destroyed this Saturday the last irrigation connection that existed in the El Remo area, which has caused an important focus of white smoke that came from the vicinity, as a result of the lava coming into contact with the water.
This was reported at a press conference by the technical director of Pevolca, Miguel Ángel Morcuende, who recalled that we are facing an eruptive process in which there is associated seismicity, among other things, because the caldera that contains the magma and that causes gaps, what it does is reorganize itself and in the end it ends up generating seismicity, a phenomenon consistent with the current volcanic process. In any case, Morcuende stressed that "we should not be thinking about other possibilities and, above all, we must have peace of mind in this regard", since currently the seismicity is not being recorded at a superficial level.
On the other hand, the technical director of Pevolca has once again asked citizens not to contribute more clothes or blankets, since they are no longer necessary as there are enough, and indicated that the transport of these items creates a problem because then you have to do the triage and, above all, they take up a lot of space on the ships.
Scientific committee
Carmen López, national head of volcanic surveillance at the IGN, pointed out that the fissure eruption continues to show the same strombolian mechanism, alternating explosive and effusive phases, and also with simultaneous activity of both styles.
She indicated that the new flow that appeared yesterday has run west parallel to the main flow and reached the end of the Los Campitos road at 09:00 hours, establishing subsequent lateral contact with the previous flows. In addition, several active centers are observed inside the main crater and two located in the northwest sector of the side of the cone. The scientific committee cannot rule out the appearance of new emission centers in the days of evolution of the eruption.
Carmen López pointed out that the lava delta is at a distance of more than 540 meters from the coastline and has already reached a depth of 35 meters, and the covered surface reaches 27.7 hectares. Its lateral increase is observed in recent hours, both to the north and to the south. The marine plume continues and along the lava delta, producing clouds of water vapor and hydrochloric acid that are concentrated in a small area around the contact between the lava and sea water.
Similarly, the fumarolic field remains active and this morning, between 09:00 and 10:00 hours, the opening of a small center emitting ash and gases was confirmed. This fumarolic activity could favor the destabilization of the upper part of the cone and the repetition of phenomena such as those that have occurred this morning. Also this activity, both explosive and fumarolic, can repeatedly change the successive processes of growth and reconfiguration of the cone.
The eruptive process may show episodes of increase and decrease in strombolian activity and may also show phreatomagmatic activity. This morning, the height of the cloud of gases and ash from the cone was measured first thing in the morning and is around 4,500 meters.
The expected configuration of the wind will probably place the cloud of ash and sulfur dioxide to the south from the eruptive zone and the most affected area of the island of La Palma will be the southern half, mainly the southwest slope. In addition, this arrangement of the cloud could lead to fine ash reaching the island of El Hierro. The high stability in low layers, together with the weak winds and breezes of the western slope, are unfavorable meteorological conditions from the point of view of air quality.
Seismicity continues to be located mainly in the same areas as in previous days, which correspond to the area where the seismicity of this volcanic crisis began to be located and at depths between 10 and 15 km. In addition, earthquakes are recorded at depths greater than 20 km. In the last 24 hours, some dozens of earthquakes have been located, the largest of which was of magnitude 3.6, which has been felt with intensity III-IV. More earthquakes felt by the population can occur, which can cause small landslides in the slope areas. In some seismic stations it is even possible to record the tremor associated with the lava delta.
The deformations show a slight downward trend in the vertical component in the stations far from the eruptive center and stability in the nearby stations, and also some pulses related to the eruptive dynamics of this volcano.
The SO2 emissions associated with the volcanic plume continue to record relatively high values consistent with the process, reaching values of 2,330 tons per day. The diffuse emission of carbon dioxide associated with the 220 km2 of the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, outside the volcano, has reached values of 1,870 tons per day. During yesterday, the SO2 values in the Tazacorte, Los Llanos and El Paso stations were gradually reduced, until the current values that are below 20 micrograms/m3. In the rest of the island's stations, the values continue to be low.
Regarding particles smaller than 10 microns, we are measuring high values in all the island's stations, with a daily threshold being exceeded yesterday in the stations of Los Llanos; Las Balsas, in Los Sauces, El Pilar and La Grama, in Santa Cruz de La Palma, with the Los Llanos station having the highest daily average. At this time, there is an intrusion of Saharan dust that adds to the values of the eruption particles.
