El Hierro

[jand]

Update 10/12 -13:47 UTC
 - Pevolca is mostly far too late with his comment if important phenomena are occurring. The current vy strong pulses / bursts of harmonic tremor need an official explanation. The latest bulletin we find in the IGN site describes the situation on December 9 ! and in very general terms.
 - Lets try it in their place. The discussion can start :
 Our opinion : as the eruption is still continuing, the water column on the growing vent is decreasing every hour and every day and the hydromagmatic bursts are occurring faster and faster (see IGN graph).  Pevolca might consider telling the people what will happen next.

[jand]

Avcan FB Copied

Note 375 AVCAN - earthquake activity - VOLCANIC - island of HIERRO - 11 December 2011-11: 30 pm peninsular - suing-volcanic activity is continuing moderate Seismicity in the Navy in the Gulf area. Continues an important signal of volcanic tremor in the area of la Restinga, with an amplitude that is kept slightly upward (tendency has been for 60 hours and where intensity has doubled) and it presents a growing explosions, possibly hidromagmaticas, every few minutes, a behavior typically stromboliano in which establishes a balance between the entry of water and gas output in the output through, in such a way that makes pulses like a geyser. The magnitude of the earthquake only 1.9. New earthquakes 1. Depth to 18 km. yesterday 2. 0 Yesterday. Today is 1. In total van 11923 earthquakes located in El Hierro by IGN from 9: 00 pm of the day 19 July 2011 (Henry).

[jand]

Avcan FB Copied
On the theory that there are several mouths pistoneando or exploiting explosions hidromagmaticas, I think that it is accurate, but I think that there are only two (or three) that they are doing, and that they are also related, remain the most superficial, because I think that there is another, the third, deeper I think that it specialises (as in the case of the historic eruption of the Chaorra or San Juan) and this deeper mouthonly casts magma with less gas and less interaction with water, by which it would not be surprising that, besides the stain of Brown in the water to appear smoky black pyroclastic as those who have seen other days (Henry).

[jand]

11 diciembre, 2011
 por José Luis Barrera Morate

Translated.

The submarine volcano of La Restinga met yesterday, December 10, 60 continuous days of eruption. Thus reaches the eighth position in duration of all the Canary Islands historical eruptions (see attached table). In the table, multiple fisurales eruptions have been considered as a whole (for example, the seven sources-Fasnia-Arafo fissure). La Restinga, bathymetric data identifies the existence of three mouths, some of them only 150-160 metres of depth. Which one is most active, where they are several? Therefore not is it well known. The fact that for 48 hours the tremor has more explosive episodes of almost periodically, may indicate explosions hidromagmáticas, which would mean that this more superficial than in the first eruption active crater.

[jand]

Nosey Nelly says:

 December 11, 2011 at 16:47

If I'm understanding the Giggle translated avcan comments correctly, the locals are now saying that the jacuzzi is at its most powerful since they were evacuated. Hard to see at the cam, but they are taliking about vapor I believe....
Reply

Carlos says:

 December 11, 2011 at 16:51

From November 13 we have no pictures ...
The only thing that has given us the CSIC (Scientist center) was this ...
1 month for this ...
 http://www.utm.csic.es/inc/write_image.asp?id=%7B35CAC137-4C19-49B2-931A-7CD2C0DA2E0D%7D&grande=1&tabla=diario

CSIC Em if their own admission on your page, we are providing images to PEVOLCA ...

CSIC's exact words:
"The results are being processed on board and reported in constant flux with PEVOLCA."
12:16:58

PEVOLCA are denaying us full flow of information (images, bathymetry and profiles) for people interested in this phenomenon ...

Which I think is stupid ... A great stupidy.

PEVOLCA is the official bureau of politicians, scientists and citizen protection who established the LAW OF SILENCE for the Hierro´s event.
  Reply

[jand]

[jand]

GeoLurking says:

 December 11, 2011 at 20:52


@All.

I think that Diana Barnes at 23:04 has found our answer. Who needs IGN? Their political connections and subservitude have made them irrelevant.

Sure, I am an amateur, as are most (all?) of us here and we can plainly see that things are not sunshine and roses. My Mogi model work is buggy, but I got it to fit the output of a sample run for the instructional slide from the lesson topic. It has a lot of big arsed holes in how I ran it against the data for FRON, but I compensated and came up with a range of possible data. That means that somewhere in there, is the answer. It's gonna be near the high, or the low estimate.

But one thing is certain, Bob is the safety valve and bleeds off pressure from the main accumulation of magma/melt, There may be other vents, but Bob, for now, is the main one.
When Bob shuts down, either this thing goes away, or it builds pressure. Given that FRON has not started heading back towards pre-eruption deformation offsets, that tells me (and anyone watching) that the pressure is still there. Until that starts to happen, anything is possible.

http://www.01.ign.es/ign/resources/volcanologia/html/deformacion.html

My conservative guess, is that Bob (and any other vents taken as a whole) are releasing somewhere between 562,500 m³/day, – 3,800,000 m³/day of material

[jand]

Update 12/12 -14:58 UTC
 The amazing NASA Satellite MODIS picture taken at 11:55 UTC this morning   (3 hours ago) is showing a cloud column on the exact place of the vent towards the island. Even we do not believe it ! Is must be a coincidence and if not than we have detected the steaming vent waters. The image cannot have been 'photoshopped' as it has been extracted directly from the NASA website . The distance of the source of the cloud (narrow beginning) is approx. the same as the distance from La Restinga to the vent. Coincidence
 If the MODIS image is what we think it is, that will mean that the water surface temperature has risen a lot to be able to create this amount of vapor.  At least the vapor cannot be noticed on the webcam images. An infra-red webcam would have solved this problem immediately.
 Thanks to Julio del Castillo Rivero for sending us the NASA link).

[jand]

Update 12/12 -16:38 UTC
 Until now ALMOST NOBODY believes that this cloud might be originating from the vent, a lot of non-believer theories are circulating but so far nobody could explain the combination of the clouds on Joke's pictures / the MODIS satellite image and the strong activity of the water this morning.  The coincidence layer is getting thinner and thinner. A temperature scan of the surface waters of the vent by the Guardia Civil helicopter / Involcan would certainly solve this discussion.

Update 12/12 -16:17 UTC
 The image below has been taken this morning in between 08:00 and 09:00 this morning by Joke Volta when she drove with the bus from El Pinar to La Restinga. In search for proof of the NASA MODIS satellite picture, we found this image to exactly proof what is going on.  The grey spot on the picture is the main vent and the cloud forming is starting just above the vent blowing to the left.

[little legs]

i reckon its something to do with aliens!!!!!!

[jand]

Update 13/12 – 09:49 UTC
 - Joke is still taking pictures at montaña Naos of this mornings cloud, jacuzzi and stain. The weather conditions are however totally different than yesterday, so we think that yesterdays vapor clouds may not be present today.
 - As expected, a VERY large and powerful Jacuzzi this morning. How do we see this ? During the last couple of weeks the Telefonica Cabildo webcam had to zoom into the jacuzzi sometimes beyond the buoy (laid there a couple of weeks ago). In todays image the webcam had to zoom out to be able to get an image of the extended jacuzzi. The jacuzzi activity is growing every day

[jand]

Update 13/12 – 10:21 UTC
 - The RTVC webcam is showing a very turbulent Jacuzzi activity. The hydromagmatic bursts are having a growing impact on the surface waters and more than once the water is bulging.

[jand]

Update 13/12 – 10:21 UTC – A round of honor to the players in the field
 We remind our readers that what we witness right now at El Hierro is unprecedented volcano reporting in modern times. A Submarine volcano gradually growing from the sea floor to the surface. Thanks to the data of IGN, IEO and CSIC, the great images and videos from INVOLCAN, ITER and the GUARDIA CIVIL HELICOPTERES , the lively discussions and guiding in Spanish from AVCAN and in English from Jonfr and Volcanocafe , the webcams of the El Hierro Cabildo and Telefonica, RTVC and the Canary Island government and the El Pinar authority, some internet sites (ER is only one of them) and last but not least the support of our volunteers, Joke Volta and Ian Carson, a submarine volcano has never been documented so much.  We thank all of them on behalf of the thousands of daily readers following this volcano birth in the earthquake-report.com website.

[jand]

Data Update 13/12 – 13:34 UTC
 Currently another interesting feature can be followed on the webcam(s) – see image below
 We think, but we are nor sure for 100%, that the current activity above the vent looks like degassing bubbles, which means if this process continues from now on that the bubbles of the vent gas expansion reach the surface.

[jand]

Yes, Armand was right yesterday with the steam. Now it is clear to see. Prior to the Jacuzzi, the sun reflected in water, behind it is hazy.

Reply

cezaeM says:

 December 13, 2011 at 13:43

Looks like BOB clear his throat and magma has free way now .
 Pressure of water column dont stop flow of magma.

Reply

Armand Vervaeck says:

 December 13, 2011 at 13:44

Seagulls seem be be attracted by the vent waters – they sometimes fly over and they are really small so i think that the main jacuzzi today is at least 50 meter in diameter.
 What we currently see is even more important (i think) – The champaign bubbles over a vast area means that the normal action of the vent gases has reached the surface. I am not a volcanologist myself, but having been in many volcano and geyser places in the world, i know the phenomena. I still go for the gas bubbles and not for the steam bubbles but out here in these warm waters it is gard to say when we will see steam, even more with the backlight. So something is happening but we dont know what is is. Joke went to IGN this morning and the person in charge said, nothing special today, just like yesterday and yesterday they said no unusual activity (i dont make this up)

[jand]

Update 13/12 – 15:50 UTC
 Those looking at the webcam have the daily difficulty of the backlight of the sun. Nevertheless the eruption jacuzzi, champagne area can still be seen very well on the Cabildo Eruption webcam.

Update 13/12 – 15:34 UTC
 A REMARKABLE 3 minute Julio del Castillo Vivero Time Lapse video comprehending the period between 12.42 – 13.42 GMT/UTC With water bubbling and 'jacuzzi' style at El Mar de las Calmas, near La Restinga, El Hierro.  Julio combined 3 different elements with each other a) the image of the RTVC webcam (which has no clock !) b) a clock he connected himself to the video and c) the harmonic tremor graph from IGN. The combination of the tremor graph and the webcam image has not been published anywhere else as far as we know. Congratulations to Julio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuFy5u8xNkY&feature=player_embedded

[jand]

jonfr.com/volcano

Copied.

There is also an other event that has mostly gone unnoticed by people. But that is the fact that earthquakes have stopped in north part of El Hierro volcano, current rate of earthquakes is close to zero during 24 hour period. This strongly suggests that an eruption has started in north part of El Hierro volcano. I have no idea where it, as there are no signals at the surface of the ocean that give clues to where this eruption might be taking place. But an similar drop in earthquakes took place just after the eruption in south El Hierro volcano started. The depth in north part of El Hierro Island increases sharply and any eruption that is currently taking place on more depth then 1000 meters is going to be hard to impossible to detect properly.

I am going to continue to monitor the eruption in El Hierro volcano. If there are any major changes. I am going to report it soon as I can do so.

2 Responses to Update on the eruption in El Hierro volcano (13 December, 2011)

super says:

 December 13, 2011 at 15:41

There was a 2km-deep quake before they began to stop, far from the coast, near the end of the debris from the El Golfo collapse. I don't know if anybody noticed, but I found it most suspicious. Maybe they could conduct a research in that area, now that they have 2 boats...

Reply

Mr Explosion says:

 December 13, 2011 at 17:20

They really don't have a ton of info on the possible eruption North of El Golfo... this is all I could find on the web today that is even close to new... seems INVOLCAN is concentrating on the La Restinga vent.

[SurfJames]

Good evening Jand,

So are we suggesting that the magma has reached the surface - or is near the surface in the north, and we can expect to see evidence of this shortly?

It would make sense, because the current erruption took everyone by surprise.

Also, interesting that the jacuzzi is getting more active, and that at times the water appeared to bulge upwards. I reckon it must be getting closer and closer to the surface - albeit rather slowly. If this is the case, expect sudden changes as th volcano pressure becomes greater than water pressure.

Thanks for the posts and keep them coming.  This thing is far from over !!

[jand]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zV5wGToiVZ0

Julio was not resting before he was certain that the light he recorded wasn't traced back to the exact location.  He superposed two images and scaled them so it would coincide with the port location and position. The effect is amazing. The flashlight really came from the vent and because of the distance it must have been a couple of meters high.  Of course it can still be a boat, but we do not believe in that scenario as Julio looked at the other recordings later and NO boat was seen in the area.  Julio will check his recordings during the morning hours to find out if new similar events might have occurred.

[jand]

This is unbelievable due to all the new activity at the moment and is being discussed on other sites how crazy it is .

The comments below are from the sister of one of the pilots of the helicopter,

Una Canaria says:

 December 13, 2011 at 21:26


You're not going to believe it. The helicopter did not come flying over the spot
 because apparently the Grand Chief said that the issue of the volcano is not so important. that going out every day to fly is a nonsense. The Big Chief is one of the pilots. The other is who usually makes the photos and videos and now he is just on vacation. Therefore INVOLCAN has not the opportunity to obtain images of the Sea of the Calmas. Apparently the Boss does not like the prominence that it has acquired the another driver ..... what a shame. And most unfortunate is that this impeding the investigation and information for the public. I want all peopel know that.

[jand]

Sissel says:

 December 13, 2011 at 22:11

Thank you Una for this information! I have no words.... now that Bob rises to the surface and may threat the local community:
 IT IS NOT IMPORTANT TO MONITOR THE VOLCANO???

Armand Vervaeck says:

 December 13, 2011 at 22:33

Thank you Una – i do not dear to write that in ER – Joke told me already a couple of days ago that 1/3th of the staff had left – these 2 stories are coming together now + they even do not go to the vent with a boat + the monitoring stations are in La Restinga and some at the Las Calmas coast. the wind is blowing to the south east —- ..... At least they were taking samples with big boats, small boats and helicopters. Now NOTHING happens anymore

Newby says:

 December 13, 2011 at 22:37

Armand, if I lived there I would be very worried about such a lack of what I see as basic precautions, as well as what seems to be a total disinterest in the scientific aspects of monitoring what is happening at the vent.

[jand]

Sissel says:

 December 13, 2011 at 22:02

Probably it was Governor Mouttet on Martinique. Mt Pelee's 1902 eruption, including pyroclastic flows, killed 30.000 inhabitants. It also caused the death of the Governor himself.
 Somebody brought this up on one of the blogs some time ago.

"As a first step, he (Mouttet) decided to organize a commission of experts to assess the risk. The committee was quite sanely put together. It included Professor Landes and two other professors, the chief artillery officer who could figure out how far rocks could be thrown, and the head pharmacist who might know of toxic risks. There was only one problem; none of them really knew about volcanoes. At that time, no one did."
 The report from his Commission on the Volcano concluded:
 ""There is nothing in the activity of Pelee that warrants a departure from St. Pierre." They concluded that the position of the craters and valley opening onto the sea was such that "The safety of St. Pierre was absolutely assured.""

If you have the time, please read the whole book review by Chris Doyle: http://www.doyleguides.com/volcano1902.htm

The story is very sad. In my opinion there are big similarities in attitude with the authoroties on El Hierro. I do NOT say that the volcanic activities are similar as I do not have the skill to compare them.

Newby says:

 December 13, 2011 at 22:10


Sad because disregarding warnings can be extremely dangerous. Hopefully in this case 'bob' is easing the pressure just like the safety valve on a pressure cooker.

[jand]

Morning SurfJames/Everyone

Do you not agree this is insane them withdrawing people and investigations into the happenings at the moment of the vent.

One has to only watch the webcams to see what is happening above the vent . The IGN graphs are still showing the explosions some have been happening every 8 minutes and now an earthquake only a 1.9 but the depth is only 2km.

[jand]

KarenZ says:

 December 13, 2011 at 21:55

EGOM, EHIG and EOSA are picking up quite a strong signals from El Hierro:

http://www.02.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesDiasAnterioresHora.do?nombreFichero=EGOM_2011-12-13_20-21&estacion=EGOM&Anio=2011&Mes=12&Dia=13&tipo=2&hora=20-21
 http://www.02.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesDiasAnterioresHora.do?nombreFichero=EHIG_2011-12-13_20-21&estacion=EHIG&Anio=2011&Mes=12&Dia=13&tipo=2&hora=20-21
 http://www.02.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesDiasAnterioresHora.do?nombreFichero=EOSO_2011-12-13_20-21&estacion=EOSO&Anio=2011&Mes=12&Dia=13&tipo=2&hora=20-21

(Note: the higher frequency stuff on these is likely to be local as higher frequency waves do not travel well).

Reply

Sissel says:

 December 13, 2011 at 22:30

Wonder whar Brian's thoughts about this are. We called it "the voice of the mantle plume" some time ago.

Reply

Wagabond says:

 December 14, 2011 at 00:06

Yes, that might be indication on the Power..
 I am a little unsure about the timing on the farther stations compared w CHIE
 Maybe we are seeing surface waves 0.5-1.5 km/s ??
 Here are the distances:
 BOB to CHIE 12.5 km 14°
 BOB to EGOM 97.6 km 52°
 BOB to EHIG 106 km 10°
 BOB to EOSO 245 km 78°
 Note that the horizontal lines on the spectrum peaks on PSD are instrumental artificats

[jand]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zV5wGToiVZ0

kenpea says:

 December 14, 2011 at 07:54

Armand, I've made a GIF which shows the position of the light. I waited until the horizon was visible first.....

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/Superflid/188eba86274fab7949c094ab883ffc24.gif

It's well below the horizon, and I'd hazard a guess that it was right on the jacuzzi.

[jand]

Data Update 14/12 – 07:44 UTC
 - At 04:02 UTC an earthquake occurred at a depth of only 2 km ! in the El Golfo bay. Click here to see the map with the epicenter.  This may be a totally new development if this happens again. The distance to the coast is approx. 5 km (thats the good news).  The earthquake has NOT altered the hydromagmatic explosions in the Las Calmas sea.
 - Harmonic tremor is still medium with slightly less bursts, although these bursts remain very powerful.

[jand]

Important Update 14/12 – 08:36
 - The Gobierno de Canarias air analysis website cannot be reached anymore (at least not from where we work). This must be a coincidence of course.  Update : website working again a few minutes later
 - The local websites are not mentioning the nightly light appearance not the increase of some values in the air analysis at La Restinga

Armand Vervaeck says:

 December 14, 2011 at 08:27


Important Update 14/12 – 08:21

 The air analysis station shows some (important ?) changes at 08:00

      SO2  NO2 NOX
 8:00  12  6   15
 7:00  7   2   4
 6:00  6   2   3

Update 14/12 – 08:05 UTC
 The eruption webcam shows smoking material this morning !

[jand]

http://volcanocafe.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/some-points-on-el-hierro-seismic/comment-page-4/#comment-6062

OOch! That's quite an increase. Also a 1.9 m Quake to the north and very shallow as judith also has reported..
 Bob is really bubbling this morning and the chugging is changing. The tremors smaller and the "chugs" bigger in time size but less frequent.
 It makes me wonder if the "plug", wherever it is, is beginning to give.

Reply


Diana Barnes says:

 December 14, 2011 at 09:02


http://www.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesAnterioresDia.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2011-12-14&ver=s&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2011&Mes=12&Dia=14&tipo=1

Reply

[jand]

Update 14/12 – 09:39 – Why ?
 As observers from the very beginning we have a number of questions for the authorities. We are sure that we will get no answers but we will phrase them nevertheless
 - why are you not commenting on specific occurrences like yesterday, tonight and this morning ?
 - why is Pevolca only commenting about what happened the day before and not about what everybody has seen the same day ?
 - why are the Guardia Civil helicopters not flying anymore ?
 - why are sea water temperatures not published ?
 - why have the oceanographic vessels disappeared ?
 - why so we have no more water sampling by coast guard boats ?
 - why is the RTVC webcam not operating from daylight (he is not yet active now)
 - why is the eruption webcam not zoomed properly
 - How can science operate at 100% if all these data are not available ?
 We are not the BBC or the New York Times but we have thousands of daily readers who have in majority the same questions!

Una Canaria says:

 December 14, 2011 at 14:03

I'm afraid they will not be answered while PEVOLCA continues to be controlled the information.

[jand]

Copied from Wordpress written by someone close to Involcan.

Translated.

Una Canaria says:

 December 14, 2011 at 15:01

Better? there was there some words linked in the text. Sorry.

Are come recording hydromagmatic explosions in any of the emission mouths underwater volcano (minimum of three), which apparently must be growing rapidly, favored by the terraced buildings, one which could have collapsed in itself makes a few days. All this is corroborated by Oceanographic Research vessels Ramon Margalef and Sarmiento de Gamboa rated in the area. These explosions can be clearly seen in tremot signals, and have a stage between 5 and 7 minutes of media, that is, to some 10 per hour, and consisting of sea water entry by mouth or side through any underwater volcano, generating implosion that are promoting both the rupture of the crack as the output of ceníceo material and the emergence of new smaller mouths, which gradually grow up and move approach not only closer to the surface, but the location of the Restinga in its evolution and certain days back in parallel to the coast with this coruse. If this phenomenon continues alt least for a few days with mass energy release, will support this growth and risk of the appearance of any subaerial emergence of any submarine buildings, with possible the most explosive other than the material outlet smoking, ash, lavas burning, volcanic boms , gas and rooster tails.