Throughout the 15^th, volcanic tremor continued to be at background levels and there was no eruptive activity on the surface, apart from slight degassing from the main craters. However, PEVOLCA was keen to remind people that a high risk still exists, and that civil protection measures, exclusion zones and evacuation zones are being fully maintained. To start thinking about the end of the eruption, the current state of the volcano must be maintained for at least 10 days.

Because of the lack of activity, SO2 emissions from the plume register extremely low (<5 tons per day) for the first time. Air quality with respect to SO2 and PM10 concentrations was good or reasonably good in all stations, aside from Los Llanos de Aridane, where the 24-hour moving average for PM10 concentrations reached unfavourable levels.

Deformation remains stable across the network, and 44 earthquakes were recorded yesterday, peaking at M3.4, concentrated at intermediate depths (<20 km). As in previous days, the number of events is inflated due to a number of small earthquakes (<M2.0) being detected and located, that would not be possible without the background tremor values seen over the last couple of days.

An overview of the eruption on the 15th December showing the earthquakes in the last 3 days (top left), the deformation since the start of the eruption at the GPS station closest to the eruption (top right) and the volcanic tremor since the start of the eruption (bottom). Note the lack of a tremor signal since late on the 13th (the spike on the 14th was confirmed by IGN to be due to personnel near the sensor. The green dots represent when an earthquake was recorded. Image credit: IGN Spain

Sources: Government of the Canary Islands, PEVOLCA, Involcan, IGN, DSN, Cabildo La Palma, 112 Canarias, Tolouse VAAC, Copernicus EMS