One of the great doubts generated after the historic eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma is how long it will last. Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to make a prediction of this caliber, as the professor of the Department of Theoretical and Cosmos Physics of the Earth Physics Area at the University of Granada, Janire Prudencio, explains: “I wish we knew, but it is very difficult to have that estimate. The Teneguía eruption lasted almost a month, it is the most recent on the island and both volcanoes have a similar dynamism, but each volcano is unique . In fact, each eruption of the same volcano is unique ”.
Get ahead to prevent harm
Although it is difficult to make predictions, what can be done is to monitor the evolution of the event to try to minimize the damage and, especially, save lives. "Official bodies record a lot of data to follow the evolution of the eruption: gas emissions, lava velocity, deformation, seismic signals , etc.", the researcher explains. "With all these data and the topographic information of the island, numerical models can be made to find out the most probable areas to which the lava flow is directed to take the appropriate preventive measures."
