La Palma eruption update 22nd November 2021: A second lava flow has reached the sea south of the first lava delta

La Palma eruption – 22nd November 2021

Daily summary

The advance of flow number 7 culminated in it reaching the sea at 12:03pm local time, where it begins to form a second lava delta north of the first one. In anticipation of this event, a preventative confinement of the four closest neighbourhoods in Tazacorte was ordered due to possible gas emissions, which affected 3,000 people. Elsewhere, the other active lava flows and eruptive activity continue as in the previous days. The dispersal of ash and gases to the E/NE continues, and for this reason airport operations remain affected. The rate of seismicity increased, especially at deep depths, although remained in the range of the last few days. 91 events were recorded, with a lower proportion of intermediate (10-15 km depth) events to deep (30-45 km depth) events, and the day’s largest earthquake was a mbLg 4.8 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 has now completely reversed. At the other GPS stations, the weak regional deflation signal seen since late October has weakened to a point where it is not significant, and stability is seen in the stations. SO2 emissions increased relative to the 21st, at 4,500-6,000 tons per day, whilst the ash and gas plume was measured at 3,000 m. As a general trend however, satellite measurements imply current SO2 emissions are lower than the start of the eruption. Air quality regarding SO2 concentrations remained at good or reasonably good levels at all stations throughout most of the day, although levels worsened in Los Llanos exceeding the hourly alert threshold (500 μg/m3) at 10 pm local time before quickly returning to better levels. PM10 levels were between regular and reasonably good on the eastern side of the island, whereas good PM10 levels were maintained on the western side of the island.

A map of la palma highlighting the latest progress of the lava flows and the areas confined due to the lava reaching the sea in a new location

A map of the lava flows on the 22nd showing where flow number 7 has reached the sea. The red area to the north shows the areas that have been confined due to the lava reaching the sea, and the green area shows the maritime and terrestrial exclusion zones. Image credit: 112 Canarias

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

Lava flows

Earthquakes

Exclusion zone map

Exclusion zones shown here have been approximated from press releases from the Cabildo de La Palma and will not be exact, nor claim to be official maps of the exclusion zones. For official information, please contact the Cabildo de La Palma.

Official social media

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News articles

  • Reuters – Coastal towns locked down as lava reaches sea again – here
  • The Atlantic – Collection of photos of the buried landscape – here

To see our full news archive, visit our open data section or click here.

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Eruption footage

News and Interviews

Witness Testimonies

Interactive Lava Flow Map

Notes: Use the button in the top right to open the map into full screen mode. Use the legend icon in the top left to see the legend and further information about the map. Click on individual days to see an outline of the lava flows on that day.

Interactive Earthquake Map

click here to enlarge

Notes: The size of the points represents the size of the earthquake, and the colour represents the depth. The map will also only show a certain number of points at once. For ease of use, we recommend you uncheck all dates and the satellite basemap from the legend in the top right, and inspect the earthquakes one day at a time.

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