The contribution of lava to the active lava flows has been concentrated around flows 4 and 7 which both flow parallel in between La Laguna Mountain and Todoque Mountain, and in the last 24 hours have merged a few hundred metres from the coast, to the SW of La Laguna Mountain. The flows are currently affecting new land which consists largely of banana plantations. Smaller contributions of active lava also feed flows 1, 2 and 9 which feed the lava delta. The latest data on damage from Copernicus shows that 2,731 buildings have been damaged or destroyed by the lava flows, although the local land registry only calculated 1,467 buildings to have been affected so far. The rate of seismicity remained low-medium. 50 events were recorded, with a higher proportion of intermediate (10-15 km depth) events to deep (30-45 km depth) events, although the day’s largest earthquake was a mbLg 4.3 event at 36 km depth.

Volcanic tremor remains low with some occasional fluctuation, whilst the local 6 cm inflation observed at the LP03 GPS station in Jedey closest to the eruption continues to reverse. A small weakening regional deflation signal remains seen in the other stations. SO2 emissions decreased markedly compared to previous days, at 900-1,300 tons per day, whilst the ash and gas plume was measured at 2,000 m. As a general trend, satellite measurements imply current SO2 emissions are lower than the start of the eruption. Air quality with respect to SO2 decreased in the early hours, reaching extremely unfavourable levels and exceeding the alert threshold (500 μg/m³) in Los Llanos and El Paso, although these recovered to good levels throughout the day. Good SO2 levels were reported in all other stations throughout the day. PM10 levels were good in the west of the island, although due to the current wind direction PM10 levels were worse on the eastern side of the island, with the El Pilar and La Grama stations reached unfavourable levels and exceeded the daily limit threshold (50 μg/m³).

The active lava flows on the 21st which have merged near the coast to the west of La Laguna Mountain. Image credit: 112 Canarias, CSIC, IGME

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