The volcanic monitoring network of 24-hour monitoring of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) has located a total of 37 earthquakes associated with the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano during the night, two of them with magnitudes greater than 4 (mbLg).
The maximum magnitude recorded was 4.6 (mbLg) corresponding to the earthquake located southwest of the municipality of Villa de Mazo at 05.41 hours. With intensity III-IV EMS and a depth of 37 km, it was felt in numerous nuclei throughout the island. This is the largest earthquake to date.
This tremor was followed an hour later (07.07 hours) by another earthquake of 4.5 (mbLg), also southwest of Mazo, with intensity IV-V and a depth of 37 km. Like the previous one, it was felt in practically all the municipalities of the island.
Yesterday, 83 earthquakes were located, the largest of 4.5 mbLg, located southwest of the municipality of Villa de Mazo at 08.02 hours. With intensity III-IV EMS and a depth of 36 km, this tremor was also felt in almost the entire island of La Palma.
The eruption continues with a predominance of the effusive phase, which is evidenced by the greater emissions of lava flow and fewer ashes. During the night a new eruptive mouth has opened southeast of the main cone.
It is expected that the two flows that are south of the mountain of La Laguna may converge, with forecasts of reaching the sea. These two flows are approximately 1 km from the coast area and the forecast is that, if they reach the sea, they will form a new fajana, although it will depend on the orography and the final trajectory, whose direction is complex to evaluate.
Regarding the meteorological conditions, in the coming days there will be a predominance of atmospheric stability and the presence of marked inversion and predominance of weak wind, which provide an unfavorable scenario from the point of view of air quality.
Seismicity is almost non-existent at the surface level, mostly at depths greater than 20 km, although seismicity at deep focus gains importance, both due to its frequency and the magnitudes it reaches.
Currently there is a high probability of earthquakes above magnitude 4.5 and in the last hours about 30 earthquakes have been recorded, with a maximum magnitude of 4.6. The affected area amounts to 696 ha.
During the morning of yesterday, access for irrigators in the agricultural areas in areas of La Laguna has been restricted. No new evacuations are planned in the short term. Currently the total number of evacuees is 7,000 people.
