Earthquake Swarm (11000+) El Hierro, Canary Islands

cherryghost

Very interesting that it built up back to very high levels before just giving way. I wonder if there's been an opening underwater?

From Twitter:
pabloj_gonzalez Pablo J. González
Given that prior to reduction, an increase in higher frequencies occurred. Explosive events couldn't discarded.

je55ie

Jón Frímann:

October 12th, 2011 at 15:13
This is not good. The current eruption did just stop and now the magma has to find a new path up the surface.

cherryghost

jessie37 wrote: »

Jón Frímann:

October 12th, 2011 at 15:13
This is not good. The current eruption did just stop and now the magma has to find a new path up the surface.

Given quake trends it might swing northwards towards land, as predicted

cherryghost

Look at that huge spike before the dropoff




EDIT: There is now suggestions that an eruption could have indeed happened

tweet: pabloj_gonzalez Pablo J. González

@rschott @teideano We hope our man on ground. Could inform us. It could be a key point in the evolution of the volcanic phenomena.

je55ie

Jón Frímann:

October 12th, 2011 at 15:28

The magma that was erupting has stopped because it closed the crater it was erupting trough. This regularly happens in eruptions like this and it is a dangerous events. As now the magma has to find a new path to the surface.

Some earthquakes might now happen following this as has been mentioned here before. The earthquakes would happen just before the new fissure opens up or a new vent that is going to erupt.

cherryghost

AVCAN now reporting that a robot will be sent down around the area to have a look. So definitely no eruption so it seems. Was thinking that it looked too small to be an eruption, especially in such a short timescale when it was building up again.

maquiladora

On the spectrogram above you can see the cluster of yellow lines right before the tremor drops. Those are earthquakes and looks to me (like others have said) that the magma flow has gotten stuck and has at least been forced to slow down. That could cause a build up of pressure and lead to some strong earthquakes/a new eruption if the magma find a new path upwards.

Edit : Tremor looks to be gradually rising again on the latest update but still way below what it was it.

maquiladora

Somethings up (translated):

authorities have given order to all journalists on the island this afternoon to go to the capital of the island to give an urgent press conference.
2 minutes ago

Edit: Tremor is rising again on the latest update. One more rise like that it should be back to where it was before it suddenly dropped.

cherryghost

A number of experts claim that we are witnessing the birth of a new volcano. :eek:

maquiladora

Tremor is back down again.

Meanwhile the local media seem to be saying that two eruption vents have been confirmed now off the coast, one at 700m and one at 500m.

vibe666

141_Oscar_Mike wrote: »

Im not sure if this is from a good source but i thought id share

what are we looking at? it looks like a silent video of someone flying round el hierro filming the sea. don't see any eruptions or anything and with no sound it could be anywhere.

there's a few different shades in the sea, but that could be anything.

sorry for p1ssing on your campfire, i'm just not sure what we're supposed to be looking at.

iora_rua

I think the video is trying to show the green sludge that was mentioned earlier. It's more obvious towards the end of the video.

cherryghost

There's now officially 10,031 earthquakes recorded as of this morning.

cherryghost

The movement of quakes tracked

cherryghost

Still nothing spectacular today. Here's an aerial photo of the islands this morning

kkontour

Enderman wrote: »

Still nothing spectacular today. Here's an aerial photo of the islands this morning

Reminds me of this clip from Finding Nemo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6MnK2DxEp8

J1

Heading to Lanzarote on Sat. Are we likely to be effeted by this?

gbee

J1 wrote: »

Heading to Lanzarote on Sat. Are we likely to be effeted by this?

Currently, probably not. It's nearly 300miles distant ~ it is a phenomenon that is not predictable and a full scale eruption with resultant ash and debris could, naturally become a problem.

I wouldn't rate the risk ~ generally that area has a reputation for catastrophic calamities ~ this event is not thought to be one of them.

Couple of updates for El Hierro

http://www.tumbit.com/news/articles/3958-el-hierro-volcanolgists-report-new-island-may-be-formed.html


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/el-hierro-eruption-continues-but-not-likely-to-form-new-island/

graphic showing what the research ships will be doing

http://www.laprovincia.es/servicios/lupa/lupa.jsp?pIdFoto=1867141&pRef=2011101500_5_408168__Especiales-Liropus-2000-submarino

video here in Spanish if anyone can understand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HlgIIehjl8

heres the latest video up date. Quite the impressive whirlpool. I almost want to go diving down there...:o

Word for the day. Surtsayen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2I8ub2e6qM&feature=player_embedded

Rikand

gnarly whirlpool!

up for anything

La Restinga, this afternoon. Scary looking.

maquiladora

@teideano
Amazing shake right now!!! OMG, the whole road jumped as i was doing some measurements!!
22 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Changes at El Hierro today. Two 3.9 earthquakes.

TheInquisitor

http://www.01.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesAnterioresDia.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2011-10-30&ver=s&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2011&Mes=10&Dia=30&tipo=1

Mountainsandh

For those interested program on volcanoes on Eden channel right now (532) called Earth_ Power of the planet. Dr Iain Stewart. Seems good, says he's going to explore a lava lake and caves. Eruption footage right now.

maquiladora

There has really been a dramatic increase in earthqukes in the past couple of days, especially today.

Sponge Bob

(Their formatting not mine). After all this we still don't actually have a new Canary Island, tomorrow perhaps. ??

http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

Important update 01/11 – 08:19 UTC
- Scientists have found large smoking lava in the Las Calmas sea in front of La Restinga (earlier jacuzzi area).
- It is hard to believe that we still do not have a webcam (and/or time lapse camera) directed on the stain. Such a camera would not only be great for us followers, but also for science. The Sakurajima volcano is a good example for the results.
- The currently installed webcam @ Frontera should be directed towards the El Golfo Bay during the current events.
- The University of Cadiz has said that the deformation is decreasing in the south because of the eruption and is gradually increasing in the El Golfo area (earthquake area). The university of Cadiz is cannot rule out a possible eruption in the Frontera bay area (ER: nobody can rule out anything at the moment. All instances are making their best guess, a volcano is unpredictable as where and when he/she will erupt. A major earthquake (M 4.5 to 5.5) may put events in a final direction or it may simple stop suddenly.)
- Yesterday was the most seismic active since October 8 – 153 earthquakes were counted and 6 were greater than M 3
- Today a new 3.9 magnitude quake was felt at 04:15 UTC. 2 quakes were greater or equal to M 3
- a stronger harmonic tremor has been recorded since 07:00 this morning (see below at the end of the graphic)

cherryghost

Accumulated energy has gone through the roof in recent days, moreso than the building up before the underwater release. It now stands at almost 4 BILLION joules.



Meanwhile the actual stored energy lately has soared also, something else definitely stirring down there.


It's very interesting to see the radical change in pattern in the last 2 weeks as the tremors were gradually shifting northwards.

cherryghost

Not 100% sure but it may be very faint cloudy waters. But then again some of that gas from the previous eruption has seeped over to the west side of the island, so it wouldn't be uncommon to spot THAT

cherryghost

We're about to break 11000 quakes this evening I think!

Also personally speaking I don't see much happening within the next few days. Quakes are still deep and it'll probably be a few weeks before significant progress, if anything, happens at all