La Palma eruption update 26th october 2021: The lava flows are thickening and widening

La Palma eruption update 26th october 2021: The lava flows are thickening and widening

Daily summary

According to PEVOLCA, the latest reconfigurations and partial collapses have produced a more ‘favourable’ scenario regarding the paths of lava flows, as they are now largely directed west of the volcano and across previous flows. This is causing a widening and thickening of the flows, but only a small amount of already isolated land is being ‘filled in’ in this new configuration. Regarding seismicity, earthquakes continue at a high magnitude in the same area and depths as previous days, although with less frequency than previous days. 108 events were recorded, peaking at 4.9 mbLg.

Deformation at the station closest to the eruption showed an increase of 10 cm relative to previous days, whilst the rest of the network showed no change. This signal may have a magmatic origin, although it has not been accompanied by any marked change in other eruption parameters. SO2 emissions stayed high reaching values of 37,350 tons per day, although this is still an underestimated value, and the ash and gas plume reached 2000 m.  The tremor remains high, with pulses of intensification. Air quality with respect to SO2 declined, with stations in Los Llanos and Puntagorda exceeding the hourly threshold (350 µg/m³) at times throughout the day, however the daily threshold (125 µg/m³) was not exceeded at any station. PM10 concentrations were low at all stations except Los Llanos, which was above the hourly threshold (50 µg/m³) between 10am-1pm local time.

The black, jagged expanse of the cooled lava flow field is seen in the foreground, with more orange being seen further away as the image reaches an area where the lava flows are still active, which can be traced to the erupting volcano in the background, which emits lava and plumes of ash and steam

An aerial photograph of the volcano taken from the NW above the lava flow field, showing the active lava flows towards the southern limit of the lava flow field. Image credit: Cabildo de La Palma, TicomSoluciones

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

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

News articles

  • El País – Tourism to the volcano – here
  • BBC News – New lava channel opens and secondary cone collapse – 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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