Underwater Volcano Eruption of El Hierro

Hydro International - 

Spain's Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) confirmed on Tuesday that an underwater eruption has occurred five kilometres off the southern coastline of El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Island.

The eruption is Spain's first since the eruption in 1971 of the Teneguía volcano on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands). RapidEye has made available a satellite image of this eruption.

The IGN says all three of its seismic stations on El Hierro in the Canary Islands have registered a volcanic tremor of low frequency in the south of the island at La Restinga, the southern-most village in the Canaries. 

The estimated 537 residents of the town were summoned to a local football field on Tuesday afternoon to be briefed on evacuation procedures.

A Red Alert has since been issued by local authorities for the town. A notice posted on the Emergencia El Hierro website on Tuesday evening stated that the situation was in phase pre-eruptive.

It involves the initiation of a preventive evacuation. Residents are requested to make themselves available to the authorities.

Scientists from IGN and CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), meanwhile, have conducted a reconnaissance flight over the sea to the area south of the island, where they have located dead fish floating on the surface five kilometres from the coast.

The dead fish were identified in an area where lower seismic magnitude occurred on 9th October 2011, at a depth of approximately 2km.

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