As part of the #VolcanoStories project, we wanted to preserve and collate as much data as we could, to aid future researchers and visitors to our site. We believe that scientific data should be free, completely open and transparent wherever possible, to improve the equity of science and improve accessibility for all.
Since the eruption began on La Palma in September 2021, we have amassed large quantities of data for the Lava Bombs documentary as well as the #VolcanoStories project. There is so much research potential in these datasets, more than we could ever do just by ourselves. We want to give researchers and members of the public an easy, accessible and streamlined way to access and productively use these open databases.
All we ask in return is that if you use these datasets or any other material from #VolcanoStories, you credit GeoTenerife by name following our terms of use guide, as well as crediting any original authors of the material named by us e.g. IGN, Copernicus EMS, OpenDataLaPalma etc…
Each dataset is described and available to download below – Happy Researching!
GIS Layers
This is a compilation of GIS layers compatible with QGIS, ArcGIS and most other GIS platforms, some prepared by us and some from open third-party sources (data sources are stated in README files). The layers include:
- Daily, monthly and total pre-eruptive and syn-eruptive earthquakes
- Vent locations
- Evolution of the lava flows with time
- Geological map of La Palma
- Land use and land zoning maps of La Palma
- Municipal Boundaries of La Palma
- Population and population density of La Palma
- Population and population density of La Palma
- SRTM 30m DEM of La Palma (2000)
Links to more open GIS layers, including up-to-date drone and LiDAR DEMs, can be found be our ‘Useful links’ spreadsheet.
Useful links
This is a list compiled by GeoTenerife of useful links relating to the 2021 La Palma eruption, including links to educational resources, scientific and GIS data, recovery plans and more! If you have a link or resources you would like to add to the list, please get in touch with us at: enquiries@geotenerife.com
The spreadsheet is continually updated and is available here.
News articles
Throughout the eruption and recovery, we have been curated selected news articles to track the breadth of reporting (geographically as well as in journalistic quality!) on the disaster. Since the eruption ended, we have been following through more local sources the progress and stories of aid, compensation and reconstruction on the island. This database continues to be updated weekly, in conjunction with GeoTenerife’s weekly updates about La Palma on its social media pages. The database is available as a Google Sheets spreadsheet here
If you would like to contribute an article towards this database, please get in touch with us at enquiries@geotenerife.com and use the subject line “VolcanoStories News Articles” in your message.
PEVOLCA reports during the eruption
These datasets compile all of the reports published by the Plan de Emergencias Volcánicas de Canarias (PEVOLCA) between it first being activated on the 13th September 2021 and being deactivated when management of the emergency was passed back to the Cabildo de La Palma on the 31st January 2022 with a decrease in the emergency level.
The original reports are in Spanish and are provided as separate PDFs for each report, of which there was at least one per day during the eruption. These also contain copies of any alerts issued to the population, for example evacuation and confinement orders. There is also a dataset of reports issued daily by the Government of the Canary Islands, which incorporate both the full PEVOLCA report for that day, as well as more information about the state of the eruption, from the daily PEVOLCA briefings which were livestreamed and are available to view here and can be automatically translated using YouTube’s closed captioning system.
Translated versions of these Government of the Canary Islands reports (also containing the daily PEVOLCA reports) are available in English, and are consolidated in one PDF file, within which there are more links and explanation of the data sources, common mistranslations, and more.
IGN reports
Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) reports
(Translated)
This dataset contains daily reports during the eruption written by IGN translated to English. The reports mainly focus on the thermal and geophysical (GPS and Seismic) monitoring of the eruption. The dataset also contains reporting on the pre-eruptive earthquake swarms going back to October 2017. All the reports are consolidated into a single PDF file, within which there is more links and explanation of the data sources, common mistranslations, and more.
Reconstruction reports
Reconstruction Reports
This dataset contains the original and an English translated version of the 6-month post-eruption report, prepared by The Minister of the Presidency, Relations with Parliament and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños and delivered to the Ombudsman accompanied by the President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the President of the Cabildo de La Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata on the 6th June 2022. You can read more about the report here.
The report transparently and systematically details statistics of the eruption, the immediate response to the eruption by various Governmental authorities, damage estimates, details of the amount and types of aid delivered to date, as well as limited discussion of the future plans for reconstruction on La Palma.
Further long-term plans for the reconstruction of La Palma are expected to be discussed and published sometime in summer 2022, and if they are publicly available we will make them available to download from this page.
PEVOLCA reports post eruption
PEVOLCA and Cabildo de La Palma reports (2022 onwards) – Translated
This dataset includes:
- PEVOLCA reports from August 2022 Onwards, including records of meeting attendees
- Additional newly uploaded PEVOLCA reports from during the eruption, including air quality data
- CO2 reports published by PEVOLCA and IGN
- A health report from the health service on the impact of the high CO2 levels in La Bombilla and Puerto Naos
- This contains a report published in early 2023 detailing government aid allocation so far in terms of promised amounts, sectors and activities.
From August 2022 onwards, PEVOLCA began publishing roughly bi-weekly reports on the current activity of the Cumbre Vieja ridge, in the post-eruptive phase after the 2021 eruption.
It summarises any trends and changes in scientific measurements, including gas levels, deformation, seismicity, air quality, and covers any other phenomena such as rockfalls.
These reports were originally published in Spanish but have also been machine-translated into English. This dataset was last updated in February 2023, and any further reports may be added periodically, but if not, new reports should be published on the Cabildo de La Palma’s Volcanic Risk Hub
PEVOLCA and Cabildo de La Palma reports (2022 onwards) – Translated
2018 Decree to establish PEVOLCA
2018 PEVOLCA decree – Translated
This dataset includes Spanish and machine-translated English versions of the decree implemented when PEVOLCA was formed in 2018. It is an extensive document which describes its running and structure. It is also available on the Cabildo de La Palma’s Volcanic Risk Hub.
Tweets from official sources
Tweets by Official Authorities
This dataset captures all the Tweets by official sources about the eruption. The download includes spreadsheets containing unfiltered Tweets by accounts as well as curated Tweets about the eruption. Full details of the dataset are given in two README files contained within the dataset. The download also includes details of how to extract the URLs of each Tweet from the spreadsheet, and from there how to capture screenshots of the Tweets in bulk. The latter could be useful in the event for example that some important Tweets get deleted in the future. We also provide separately as datasets screenshots of all the curated Tweets sorted by either account or date.