Volcano on La Palma: Spectacular satellite images give no hope of an end to the lava flows

The volcano Cumbre Vieja has been spitting lava and soot on La Palma for almost a month. There is no end in sight to the eruptions.

New high-resolution satellite images of the Spanish island of La Palma show lava flows spreading across the island from the volcano Cumbre Vieja. The images, captured on Thursday (October 14, 2021) by a satellite of the US earth observation company Maxar Technologies, show a massive, dark and heavy cloud of smoke that extends over the island from the volcanic crater. Glowing lava flows down the slopes of the mountains towards the coast, destroying everything that stands in their way.

In the description of the natural phenomenon on Twitter, Maxar says: “The lava forms a huge delta on the coast of La Palma and has claimed around 40 hectares of new land from the Atlantic.” By the lava flows with their surface temperatures of 500 to over 1000 ° C flow into the sea, they solidify into volcanic rock and thus increase the land mass on the edges of the island at the expense of the area of the Atlantic.

More serious, however, for the people on La Palma are poisonous gases that arise when the lava enters the sea. During the chemical reaction that occurs as soon as the boiling hot lava meets water, hydrochloric acid is released, among other things. In gaseous form, hydrochloric acid is extremely corrosive and extremely dangerous for the respiratory tract of humans and animals. In addition, contact can cause burns to the surface of the skin and irritation of the eyes.

Lava from the volcano Cumbre Vieja on La Palma meets sea water: poisonous gases are created

But that’s not all. Donald Bruce Dingwell, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry Section at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, told the RND: “A volcano contains many gases, from uranium to fluorine to sulfur, which mostly escape upwards . However, some of the gases are also stored in the lava, which degassed on its way. “

As soon as the lava hits seawater, other gases, such as those containing bromine, sulfur and chlorine, would be released: “The reason why it is so spicy when lava flows into the sea is because of the explosions and evaporation of seawater many aerosols are formed. If you stand in the wrong wind direction, you get the aerosols completely. “

The local authorities responded to this danger with a security area within 3.5 kilometers. Residents inside were asked to stay in their houses and keep the windows closed to avoid inhaling the toxic gases. Incidentally, this process does not harm the environment, according to Dingwell. Lava has been flowing into the sea for four and a half billion years, this is a “natural process” that does not harm the earth – in contrast to the local people.

1,817 buildings on La Palma fell victim to the lava of the Cumbre Vieja volcano

On Twitter, the Institute of Volcanology of the Canary Islands (Involcan) published its own recordings, filmed from the ground, of the lava flows of the Cumbre Vieja, which make their way past abandoned houses. The description says: “Today our crew was able to film a true lava” tsunami “.”

The spectacle is less entertaining for the local population. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Monitoring Service, 1,817 buildings have fallen victim to the boiling lava since the volcanic eruption began on September 19, 2021. More than 7.3 square kilometers of land are already affected, while the volcano Cumbre Vieja spews more and more lava onto the island.

The eruptions intensified last weekend after part of the Cumbre Vieja crater collapsed on Saturday (October 9, 2021) and the lava was then able to flow in new directions. Boulders the size of a house rolled down the crater, new lava flows found their way to the Atlantic coast in no time at all, destroying settlements on their way that had been spared from the original runoff.

Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma erupted for the first time after around 50 years of rest

According to the British Guardian, the local authorities on La Palma on Thursday (October 14th) instructed about 300 people to evacuate their homes in the cities of Tazacorte and La Laguna. Those affected only had a few hours to save their belongings and pets.

Meanwhile, the sulfur dioxide cloud emitted by the volcano is spreading over Europe and reaching heights of up to 5 kilometers, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). The gas cloud is expected to cross Europe from west to east in the coming days, according to Mark Parrington, lead scientist at CAMS, on Twitter.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted for the first time on September 19, 2021 after around 50 years of rest. Over 20,000 light earthquakes alerted geologists and local authorities the week before the magma erupted inside the volcano. Experts fear that the eruptions could last for months. (Mirko Schmid)