The ongoing eruption of La Palma has just entered its 24th day.
This is quite significant, as it is now longer in duration than the prior eruption in 1971.
If it continues for another 13 days, it will be longer than the eruption of La Palma in
1949, which occurred simultaneous from 3 different vents.
During this eruption, a number of prominent volcanic hazards have been present, such as
bombs of lava, ash fall, and sulfur dioxide gas.
On Saturday, an unusual volcanic hazard was observed, lightning.
This lightning was volcanic in origin, as there were no storms nearby.
It formed during a period of intense ash emissions, where numerous particles of ash rubbed together,
thus resulting in accumulated charges between them.
A similar phenomena creates lightning during sandstorms, or even on Mars during its windstorms.
Although volcanic lightning is rare during Strombolian style eruptions, more such lightning
strikes are possible while the eruption continues.
In the more than 3 weeks since the eruption began, it’s main hazard has been slow moving
and thick lava flows.
These flows have now covered an area of 5 square kilometers or 1.9 square miles in molten
rock.
This in turn has destroyed several cities, with a total loss of 1,186 homes.
Although these flows advanced at less than a kilometer per hour, some were as tall as
a 3 story building.
One lava flow was measured at a temperature of 1,240 degrees Celsius or 2,264 degrees
Fahrenheit, which is on the higher end of temperatures to be expected during basaltic
composition eruptions.
With all of this destruction you might ask, was this the worst possible spot the eruption
could have occurred on the island?
The answer, oddly enough, is no, although only 1 of the 7 other historical eruptions
would have caused more damage given the distribution of structures on the island.
On the less destructive end of the recent eruptions were episodes of activity in 1667
and then again in 1971.
These eruptions exclusively occurred on the southern tip of La Palma, where few if any
homes were located.
The further north you travel along the Cumbre Vieja ridge, the more densely populated the
overall island is.
The 1949 eruption was centered just to the south of the ongoing 2021 eruption, and even
built a similar lava fan.
The worst location an eruption could reasonably occur is marked on screen, which happened
to be the site of an eruption in 1480.
If a repeat eruption was to occur there today, it would destroy more than 5,000 homes and
businesses.
The eastern side of the island is not immune from eruptions either, just they have occurred
at a lesser rate on that half of La Palma.
In the evening of October 9th, a new lava flow advanced towards buildings not previously
damaged by the eruption.
In this video, you can see the rapid advance of the molten rock, which occurred due to
the partial collapse of a volcanic cone.
Although lava elsewhere has slowed its advance, it still continues to expand the delta added
by the interaction of the superheated material with the ocean.
As of the writing of this video, the delta has expanded to an area of 38 hectares.
Once this eruption has ended, it will be a truly fascinating place to explore and fish.
With this being said, please do not travel within a 1 kilometer radius of the lava flows
coming into contact with the ocean.
Each day, a chemical reaction caused by this interaction generates 43.2 metric tons of
hydrochloric acid.
In the event you need to get closer than this distance, you should wear safety goggles and
a gas mask.
Although volcanic activity continues to slowly decline, it remains unknown how long exactly
this eruption will last.
Previous eruptions in historic time have lasted anywhere from 23 to 85 days in length.
Thus, another 60 days of lava fountaining is quite possible.
As a final note, I want to share with my audience this fascinating lava tube.
Due to the thickness of the erupted molten rock, rivers of faster moving material have
been created within slower moving lavas.
Thanks for watching.
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