El Hierro volcano (Canary Islands, Spain): probable new submarine vent observed

Today, a new spot of upwelling water appeared at ca. 1 km distance off the south coast near La Restinga, near the location of the first submarine vent. Water discoloration, foam on the surface and flattened sea water were clearly visible in this area (see attached photos). We interpret that a new submarine vent is active there.
At the same time, the broadly circular area of upwelling water and greenish discoloration which we first observed on Saturday was also active, although less apparent than the other spot described above, and investigated by the helicopter of the Guardia Civil.

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El Hierro volcano (Canary Islands, Spain): activity update: slight inflation in the north and continuing tremor, but no visible activity

Tremor has decreased slightly, but earthquakes continue. No visible activity was present near La Restinga yesterday, but signs increase that something could be going on in the northern sector at depth, where part of the tremor has now been localized. Also, slight inflation is measured for the El Golfo valley.

The IGN summarizes yesterday's activity as follows (translated to English):

"The volcanic tremor was very irregular during the whole day (20 Nov) with numerous strong pulses. Starting around 17h00, the tremor decreased slightly. The analysis of the data revealed a significant second tremor source to the north of the island (in the El Golfo region).

Seismic events
On 20 Nov, there were 24 earthquakes, 4 of which were felt and had magnitudes of 2.7, 2.8, 2.9 and 3.7.
The largest of these (magnitude 3.7 on the Richter scale) was at 03h15 (UTC), localted 2 km off the coast and at 21 km depth. It could be easely felt here in Tigaday (Frontera).
The rest of the quakes were mainly clustered in the El Golfo area, aligned in NNW-SSE direction beneath the sea at depths of 15‐27km.
Felt earthquake list:
03h15, depth 21 km, magnitude 3.7
13h02, depth 20 km, magnitude 2.8
17h26, depth 27 km, magnitude 2.7 (east of Orchilla)
19h37, depth 22 km, magnitude 2.9
This makes a total of 11745 earthquakes since 17 July.

Deformation
The deformation measurements show stable values in horizontal directions, similar as in the past days. The stations in the El Golfo area show a slight vertical increase (inflation), while the other stations are showing slight deflation.
Visible observations
No surface activity was observed, nor discoloration of water in the area where upwelling was observed in the previous days."

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• RESUMEN DE LA ACTIVIDAD SISMO‐VOLCÁNICA EN EL HIERRO (IGN daily reports, published on 21 Nov 2011)

El Hierro volcano (Canary Islands, Spain): increase in tremor and signs of a possible new submarine vent near La Restinga

During our observations from near the south coast at La Restinga yesterday, we could not observe any activity at the surface of the water. This corresponded well with a sharp decrease in tremor measured by the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN).
Today, we could see areas of the ocean surface flattened by likely upwelling water rising from below, at a much closer distance to the shore than the previously active vent area, at only about 300 m distance from shore and slightly to the east as compared to the former area. Volcanic tremor has increased significantly again. We suspect that a new vent might be forming or has formed in this area. Whether this leads to another "jacuzzi" or boiling water area is only speculation at this point. The situation remains interesting.

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• Volcanic Tremor (IGN)

El Hierro volcano (Canary Islands, Spain): intense volcanic tremor and speculations about possible new vents

The volcanic tremor measured at El Hierro remains at very high levels and in sharp contrast to visible activity, feeding speculations and fear about new volcanic vents opening up somewhere on or near the island. Some fear such a new vent could be located in the El Golfo Bay, near Frontera, since most of the (deep) earthquakes in recent days are concentrated beneath the northern sector of the island. However, so far, these earthquakes are very deep (ca. 20 km) and do not point towards an immediate eruption in this area, rather are intrusions of dykes in the upper mantle beneath the island.
At La Restinga at the southern tip of the island, we could observe a slight increase in activity from the submarine vent ca. 1 km off the coast today: every 15-30 minutes, brownish plumes of water could be seen upwelling, flattening the ocean surface and somtimes producing dark stretches of floating mud(?) and foam (not steam!) in a circular area around the vents.
The Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (INVOLCAN) has been recording highly elevated levels of Helium and CO2 gas dissolved in the water around La Restinga, another sign that the submarine eruption is still in progress.

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• INVOLCAN (facebook)
• Las Noticias de Canarias' photostream (flickr)

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