Tirelessly updating Avalon on the El Hierro eruption.

[Hervé]

Strongest so far (no data):

For the day:

Frequencies spectrogram, the vertical streaks indicate “events” (tremors/EQs) whereas the horizontal ones reflect volcanic/magmatic activity:

From Wikipedia: A Harmonic tremor is a sustained release of seismic and/or infrasonic energy typically associated with the underground movement of magma and/or venting of volcanic gases from magma. Being a long-duration continuous signal from a temporally extended source, a volcanic tremor contrasts distinctly with transient sources of seismic radiation, such as tremors that are typically associated with earthquake and explosion.

How is El Hierro looking like, now:

(Click on picture to go to webcam page)

Refresh your browser to get the latest traces

For the last 10 days, following the count of EQs as shown by the orange bars (≥ 2.0), it now shows whatever Polly is up to as far as seismic activity is concerned:

(just realized these IGN guys are funny: how do they manage to get 1/2 an earthquake... according to their graph scale?)


Since the beginning

New cumulative graph starting October 10, 2011. The continuously changing scales keeps compressing the earlier graphs to the bottom and to the left!

Location of the EQs for the last 10 days:

Since the beginning

Refresh your browser page to get the latest numbers and positions.

[Hervé]

Only one earthquake today, a M 1.9 at 02:11. Yesterday... none!

Which prompted this reaction and response at Earthquake-report.com:

Update 11/12 -18:24 UTC
Yesterday we wrote in our 22:04 update : “Some think the eruption would stop if the earthquakes are halted“.

Dr. Boris Behncke from the INGV-Osservatorio Etneo, Catania commented on this statement as follows :

As a matter of fact, most eruptions are preceded by earthquakes, but in most cases the earthquakes stop once the eruption has reached a stable regime. The stopping of earthquakes does not mean that the eruption will stop anytime soon, the eruption might continue for years after the end of significant earthquake activity. Earthquakes are indicative of breaking rocks, caused by magma pushing into areas where there is no established conduit.

Once a stable magma flow occurs through a well-established conduit, there will be no longer any earthquakes.

The cessation of earthquakes only means that the situation has somehow stabilized, not that magma is ceasing to flow.

The real indicator of continued magma flow is volcanic tremor.

Only once the volcanic tremor disappears, then one might reasonably argue that the eruption is over.

... and the volcanic tremor has sure been busy, yesterday, playing the Tchoo-tchoo train tune!

[Hervé]

From space, yesterday:

[Hervé]

Where the complications are coming from...

here is from a blogpost, translated as best as I could:


Sunday December 11, 2011

THOUSAND AND ONE REASON FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CANARY ISLANDS INSTITUTE OF VOLCANOLOGY

We are living a seismic-volcanic crisis on the island of Hierro from a few months ago, which was manifested by an underwater volcanic eruption which today is at its peak, with various materials and erupting mouths slowly growing and who knows if in a few days will come to the surface and amaze us even more than it has done so far.

Parallel to this situation, generated by a natural phenomenon, has developed a situation of serious economic crisis on par with the rest of the world that has become more evident and distressing on the island of Hierro, especially for the inhabitants of La Restinga, harbor which faces the Sea of ​​Calm, which for now houses an underwater volcano in its midst.

Against this backdrop of complexity and uncertainty, in which many Canarian citizens are awaiting the evolution steps of the phenomenon suffering from the ravages of the generated crisis, the Canary Islands Government, responsible for managing it through the application of PEVOLCA , originally assumed to be led by IGN in its scientific direction, an agency dependent on the Ministry of Public Development which by Royal Decree 1476/2004, the Council of Ministers in its Article 13 dictates:

"Director General of the National Geographic Institute.

... 1. The General Directorate of National Geographic Institute performs the following functions:

c. The observation, identification and reporting of earthquakes which occurred in national territory and adjacent areas, as well as study and research on seismicity and seismic coordination of regulations. Similarly, observation, monitoring and reporting of volcanic activity in the country and determine the associated risks.

... 2. The General Directorate of National Geographic Institute is composed of the following organs in general sub range:

b. The General Directorate of Astronomy, Geodesy and Geophysics, which corresponds to the exercise of the functions described in paragraph 1.a., through the National Astronomical Observatory, 1b, through Geodetic Survey Center, 1.c, through the National Seismic Network ...


ADDITIONAL PROVISION # FIVE: No increase in public expenditure.

The application of this Royal Decree, including the creation and modification of units without organizational level of general subdirectorate under its provisions, shall be no increase in cost of operating cost of the respective boards and will not increase spending. "

In this framework of legal blurriness, because of how complex and wide is the mission of the study of volcanic phenomena and the risk associated with it, and that purpose expressed so vaguely but explicitly stating that investing is not for development (resulting from the reading of the DA fifth), our society, especially the Canary Islands, neither could nor should remain unmoved by the relevance of this topic.

Therefore, with time progressing, in its plenary session on November 2, 2005, by unanimous consent of all its members, the Senate passed a motion urging the National Government to the creation of the Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias.

This agreement was applauded by all, throughout Spain, Canary Islands and out of them. Soon after, in January 2006, Parliament passed the Canaries non-legislative proposal that read literally "to take the necessary measures so that urgent and pressing, to proceed to the creation of the Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (IVC) , funded mainly by the State Administration and the Canary Islands, with the support of the Island Councils "as well as detailing its main functions.

After nearly two years of the Senate's unanimous agreement that had aroused so many hopes, Senator and President of the Cabildo of Tenerife, again requested in the Senate, Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias to be constituted urgently.

The Minister of Education and Science on duty was limited in its response to praise the various initiatives that the Government had undertaken to improve research on volcanology, not responding at all to the specific question that he had done and why Canarian descent was (sometimes splinter no worse than the wood itself).

Today, almost seven years after this first initiative, which is certainly more than justified by what happened today:


- When we have an underwater volcano in full activity,


- When you are not completely clear on the possible evolution of the phenomenon from now on,


- When you know the potential and future eruptive scenarios that can occur in our islands,


- When monitoring volcanic gases are certainly the engine of the eruptions and the best precursors of these should be enhanced and improved by the obvious advantages that this may result in the prevention and risk assessment,


- When the monitoring of volcanic systems of our country is practically in diapers, especially if you look at the scientific methods and means that they use in other countries supposedly not as advanced as ours, but more aware of their risks and the need to assume them and study them,


- When the teams dedicated to these tasks gas monitoring, seismicity, gravity, deformation, temperature, pressure, etc ... are not even approved for all institutions who install them to do their jobs, or are approved methods of measurement, what the data obtained do not have the same value, scale and meaning in the absence of coordination of media and scientific strategies to carry out such measurements,


- When there is a reference center that brings together all the scientists, agencies and public and private institutions with an interest in the study, prevention and management of volcanic risk in the Canaries and hence in Spain ....


I can think of, many, many reasons to require that representatives of popular sovereignty, the members of government we have chosen to manage our tax dollars are put to work once and for all in creating the momentum unavoidable and the ultimate establishment of a VOLCANOLOGY INSTITUTE OF CANARY-based logic in our land, which is the unifying center of all efforts in the direction of the study of volcanism in our country, which becomes a reference not only at regional level or national, European or global also this important study, VITAL for the Canaries, because we are a land of volcanoes, we live on them and we can not continue to give back to this phenomenon.

What a beautiful name, INVOLCAN, suggestive to the utmost, as the text that represents INSTITUTE (place of teaching and learning, glue) VOLCANOLOGY (speaking of our natural essence) CANARY ISLANDS (especially in this land, because we are a land of volcanoes).

Above schoolyard quarrels, above political ideologies, lobbies over more or less established scientists, above all these impertinences that the safety of citizens, is to know our land better, our origin and destination, Science, in the broadest sense, is the research and the best development of our islands, we play a lot, if we do not face these challenges with intelligence and using the media and the opportunities that nature provides us, maybe not as unable to see from outside, awkward and even dangerous.

What vision will they have of us these thousands, millions of visitors who now observe with astonishment the disorganization and chaos that occurs informative about the phenomenon of the volcano of El Hierro?. Not to mention other aspects related to emergency management that are almost everyday in the media or politicians' mouth from any administration.

Plainly pathetic.

I hope this time is truly a turning point and involves a change in the forms and the achievements of those who do and do not wait.

Therefore, and as the culmination of this extensive personal plea, I will reproduce below the text a few years ago, my friend Nemesio wrote, scientist and volcanologist, director of the scientific division of the Tenerife ITER and today, driving force behind INVOLCAN, which spends many hours with his wonderful staff for the price to know for work purposes and I pay public tribute through this document to your immeasurable, though unknown, important work I hope to see fully rewarded someday.

"Instituto Volcánológico de Canarias
100 years of I & N (Ignorance + Neglect)

Nemesio Perez (*)

The volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (IVC), one of the key pieces that you need to fill in society actions to reduce volcanic risk in this country, and should be called Canary Nacional instead, since this is the only volcanically active region of the Spanish territory, is still unrealized. This center has been calling for almost 100 years since Lucas Fernández-Navarro (1869-1930), then president of the Spanish Society of Natural History, called for the implementation and creation of this type of organism as a result of the eruption Chinyero volcano in November 1909. "The creation of an observatory at the Teide should be considered as a national debt of honor. Having a mountain of the height and nature of the Pico de Tenerife, in such a unique geographic location and not from it to use it to contribute to the advancement of meteorology, of volcanology and seismology, is simply a crime against science and a shame."

Since then there have been many attempts throughout the twentieth century to the present to rescue this initiative and encourage the creation and implementation, but has always encountered opposition from powers far removed from these islands and of general interest to that this initiative did not see the light.

Today marks two years since the Spanish Senate approved and unanimously agreed to request the State to create the IVC, following a motion by Senator Ricardo Melchior Tenerife. This unanimous decision, full of common sense and public responsibility, was subsequently supported by more than one hundred members of the national and international scientific community. This initiative of the Spanish Senate was added subsequently also unanimous declaration of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, following a non-legislative proposal submitted by the PSC-PSOE, to encourage the creation and design of the IVC which would be their functions. As a result of these two important institutional statements, the national and international scientific community gathered in Garachico last May 2006, during the 300th anniversary of the volcanic eruption that marked the development of this northern town in the eighteenth century, welcome again and encourage the Spanish government to implement the IVC as soon as possible.

In the history of the Canary Islands there has been no precedent for a scientific initiative so unanimously requested and supported from all fields, politicians, scientists and citizens urging the authorities of State and Government of the Canary Islands to be created volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands . Still not understood as the state administration has not collected the unanimous request of the Senate to initiate, in conjunction with other administrations, the work necessary to implement this Institute, which aims to reduce the risk volcanism and contribute to the safety of citizens.

Obviously, the Spanish citizens as a whole, is not aware of volcanic risk in Spain, otherwise, the IVC would have been around for a long time. Among the many reasons for this lack of sensitivity may be that this type of natural hazard affects only a small part of Spanish territory, far from the continent [Europe] and low weight in national politics. But there are other reasons such as:

(1) the fragile memory of the Canary Islands and Spanish society as a whole with respect to such natural phenomena, given the relatively low frequency of volcanic eruptions on the Canary Islands during the last 500 years;

(2) the mistake of the thinking and communication to society by some scientists and agencies, that the historical eruptions in the Canaries did not cause loss of human life,

(3) to think that the most likely scenario in the Canary Islands volcanic-basaltic eruptions low-explosivity index does not represent a significant risk to the population, since in the recent past (500 years) this type of natural phenomenon caused a significant number of human losses, forgetting that at present the population density, land use and civic citizenship behavior is very different from earlier times,

(4) belief and communication to society by some scientists and agencies that volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands are quiet, forgetting that this term can not be applied to any adverse natural phenomenon however small its scale and impact that could potentially generate,

(5) the belief that future volcanic eruptions in the Canaries only be such as occurred during the last 500 years, forgetting that in the geologically recent past (last 10,000 years, equivalent to only 7% of the life of the volcano Teide, which is still active), there have been eruptions in the islands with the highest level of risk that occurred in the last five centuries.

Clearly today, to our rulers, the IVC is not essential to contribute to the safety of Canarian citizens to the volcanic phenomena, nor is key for leadership and scientific development of the Canary Islands in the field of volcanology, geology, seismology, etc.. and natural resources (water, mining, industrial rock, geothermal energy, environment, climate change, tourism generated by the unique volcanic, etc.). This reality is so obvious that the Administration claim urgent and urgent creation of the IVC, according to the unanimous decisions of the Spanish Senate and Parliament of the Canary Islands, should never be taken or construed as an argument in the service of political interests but is simply an exercise of public liability to claim your urgent creation because it is a debt of national honor and claimed 100 years ago Lucas Fernández-Navarro.

The IVC is still anchored in the inability and unwillingness of those who have an obligation to ensure the safety of persons for reasons inexplicable to us perhaps, but ultimately they are very closely related to ignorance and carelessness. The harsh reality, so present and continually repeated throughout our history, is that "you have to roar to remind Santa Barbara," which, referred to the Volcanology Institute of the Canary Islands, means we have to wait for the next volcanic eruption or earthquake crisis . Many things will then be too late.

Fernández Navarro, Lucas (1911). Chinyero volcanic eruption in November 1909. Annals of the Board for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Research, vol. 5, pp.. 1-98.


(*) In addition to Nemesio Perez (Geochemist), also signed this document: Carlos E. Alvarez (Biólogo), Carmen Arbelo (Edafóloga), Fernando Ayllón (Geólogo), Demetrio Armas (Químico), José Barrancos (Físico), Rafael Becerra (Geógrafo), Marianela Brito (Geóloga), Susana Briz (Física), David Calvo (Geólogo), Juan Jesús Coello Bravo (Geólogo), Javier Dóniz (Geógrafo), Antonio Eff-Darwich (Físico), José María Fernández- Palacios (Ecólogo), Francisco García-Talavera Casañas (Geólogo), Rafael Gosálvez Ubaldo (Geógrafo), Elena González Cárdenas (Geógrafa), Luís González de Vallejo (Geólogo), Luís Hernández (Geólogo), Manuel Hernández (Ingeniero Agrónomo), Pedro A. Hernández (Geoquímico), Dina López (Geóloga), Rayco Marrero (Geólogo), Juanjo Martín (Periodista), Gladys Melián (Geoquímica), Dácil Nolasco (Bióloga), Germán Padilla (Físico), Eleazar Padrón (Geoquímico), Antonio Rodríguez (Edafólogo), Miguel A. Rodríguez (Químico), José A. Rodríguez Losada (Geólogo), Carmen Romero (Geógrafa), Antonio Santana (Geógrafo), Juan Carlos Santana (Técnico Especialista), Maica Solana (Geóloga), Francesco Sortíno (Geólogo), Eustaquio Villalba (Geógrafo).


If I may, Mr. Nemesio, I also SUBSCRIBE.

Do you? ...

[Hervé]

I am baffled!

Yesterday, while considering the number of thanks my posts received lately, I checked the number of viewings... it barely made it past 67,000...

Today, while Polly is inching toward her 12,000 logged EQ at the rate of one shake a day... guess what?

***

Since July, IGN has officially logged 11,933 tremors at El Hierro... and still counting although seismic activity is considerably reduced!

Meanwhile, this thread just went by 70,000 viewings....

Thank you for your support and for dropping by!

Thank you.......

[Hervé]

From space today:

[Hervé]

SPECIAL SEISMIC CRISIS - 12/12/2011 (16:24 pm)

According to the latest INVOLCAN DATA, CO2 emissions continue to decline.

DIARIOELHIERRO.ES, redacción (12/12/2011. 16:24 horas)
The Volcanological Institute of the Canaries (INVOLCAN) confirmed to the direction of the Civil Protection Plan for Volcanic Risk (Pevolca) that, as of yesterday, the volcano island of El Hierro is continuing a downward trend of the diffuse subaerial emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere reaching the 978 + / - 35 tonnes per day. The last measurement made by INVOLCAN, on December 5, establishing emissions of 1560 + / - 59 tonnes per day.


In terms of seismicity, the National Geographic Institute data recorded only one earthquake during yesterday, Sunday, which reached a magnitude of 1.9 and occurred at 18 km depth, at 02:11 hours northwest of Frontera .

The tremor recorded pulses of variable intensity and quasi-periodic, with amplitude slightly higher than the previous day and whose average intensity over the last 24 hours, shows a slight increase.

According to IGN, the deformation monitoring stations maintained the same pattern of recent days, following the same trend of stability in the vertical component and in the horizontal components.

A fairly large green spot continues being appraised, with a marked, brown head which has spread landward reaching the coast.

[Bridey]

Post 1780 was very helpful, thank-you.

[Hervé]

Veronica Montero, Minister of Tourism of El Hierro Cabildo. Gelmert Finol / www.diarioelhierro.es.

SPECIAL SEISMIC CRISIS - 12/12/2011 (21:07 pm)

Growing interest in the volcano.


DIARIOELHIERRO.ES, writing (12.12.2011. 21:07 pm)
The Tourist Board of the City Council of El Hierro has received numerous requests for information about the eruptive phenomenon present in of the Sea of ​​Calm waters and calls the attention of this type of tourism on the island.

The requests come from all over the world by groups like scientists, student groups and tourists interested in observing this unique phenomenon.

According to the Minister of Tourism of the City Council of El Hierro, Veronica Montero, who told DAILY EL HIERRO the current decline of the traffic light for the population risk (yellow on the island), "fosters a perfect time to raise awareness of the phenomenon to tourism, due to currently existing security level around the island territory and the normality of the phenomenon," she said.

Montero reported that El Hierro institution currently is working with the Government of the Canary Islands on the completion of three lookouts stationed in places of geological interest, promptly located in areas of volcanic eruption that had interpretive tables, a project included in the campaign "Canary volcanic experience."

In this regard, the Minister of Tourism indicated that there are several proposed initiatives from her department to promote tourism on the island following the volcanic phenomenon, but warned that these initiatives, "must be undertaken at the right time to avoid creating an adverse effect in terms of eruptive phenomena."

[Hervé]

Strongest so far (no data):

For the day: :

Frequencies spectrogram, the vertical streaks indicate “events” (tremors/EQs) whereas the horizontal ones reflect volcanic/magmatic activity:

From Wikipedia:A Harmonic tremor is a sustained release of seismic and/or infrasonic energy typically associated with the underground movement of magma and/or venting of volcanic gases from magma. Being a long-duration continuous signal from a temporally extended source, a volcanic tremor contrasts distinctly with transient sources of seismic radiation, such as tremors that are typically associated with earthquake and explosion.

See top of page for the other auto-updating diagrams

[Hervé]

Remember Samiento de Gamboa?



Here is another one:


THE VESSEL SEEKING OIL ON THE COAST OF AFRICA



The seismic research vessel 'Polarcus Samur' based in Dubai, UAE, docked December 9, 2011 in the commercial port of Puerto del Rosario to perform fueling and provisioning tasks. As learned by Fuerteventura Now, the ship belonging to the company 'Polarcus' is currently working on the coast of Africa to investigate the existence of pockets of oil in the area.

ACN Press


See post # 1728

[Daughter of Time]

Congratulations on your 70,000 views. You do tirelessly work on bringing us this very valuable information and it is appreciated.
Much love to you.

[Hervé]

From space today:

[Hervé]

Perspectives...

See it for yourself when comparing the not-to-scale IGN graph for EQ locations:

... with the vertical scale matching the map scale:

This gives a better idea of where the magmatic melts, fluids and gases have been naturally "fracking" the surrounding rocks and of the more accurate geometry of the magmatic emplacement.

[Hervé]

Strongest so far (2.1 at 04:02 corrected to have occurred at a depth of 21 kilometers, not 2 as graphed):

For the day: :

Frequencies spectrogram, the vertical streaks indicate “events” (tremors/EQs) whereas the horizontal ones reflect volcanic/magmatic activity:

From Wikipedia:A Harmonic tremor is a sustained release of seismic and/or infrasonic energy typically associated with the underground movement of magma and/or venting of volcanic gases from magma. Being a long-duration continuous signal from a temporally extended source, a volcanic tremor contrasts distinctly with transient sources of seismic radiation, such as tremors that are typically associated with earthquake and explosion.

See top of page for the other auto-updating diagrams

[Hervé]

Interesting developments during the night as reported on Earthquake-report.com:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zV5wGToiVZ0

Uploaded by jcasvivero on Dec 13, 2011

The light is located at the same place as where the jacuzzi is: http://twitpic.com/7sykbq Just seen this 23.53 GMT/UTC on the webcan of Movistar. Could this be the eruption or a boat?! See it at second 00:10


Very Important Update 14/12 – 06:40 UTC
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. The light must have been meters high based on the distance from the webcam (the webcam was not zoomed at the time)

[Hervé]

VOLCANOLOGY INSTITUTE OF CANARIES


You will shortly see the light of volcanology Institute initiative de Canarias (INVOLCAN) and the Cabildo Insular de El Hierro with co-sponsorship of Civic Banking CajaCanarias in order to provide a bit more on the task of helping the community Herreño in these difficult times.

This is a 29x29cm calendar with some snapshots of the underwater eruption south of La Restinga selflessly ceded by members of INVOLCAN and the Helicopter Unit of the Guardia Civil in the Canaries. With a circulation of 10,000 copies and a price of 10 euros / unit, 50% of the profits will go entirely to the community El Hierro, while the other 50% will go to the implementation of educational and training programs on volcanic phenomena and management of volcanic risk in the Canaries.

If you want to collaborate and buy the calendar you can write an email to calendarioelhierro2012@gmail.com.

The price does not include shipping.

[Hervé]

From space today:

... and from the ground:

... that's a lot of mud coming out from a puny vent!

[GlassSteagallfan]

Thank you for all your effort on this thread. The Canary Islands were featured on Discovery Channel some years ago on the topic of tsunamis.

There is another thread on PA which makes a prediction for 2012 about the Islands. A little off topic, but PM me if you prefer and I will edit it off this thread.
https://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...o-insider-info

[Hervé]

Other than that, not much is happening in the area...

... a bored camera operator chasing butterflies... errr... raven:

... mirage of a tanker on the horizon:

... that's this here guy:

and a frothing... err... foaming... steaming... fuming Polly: