SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Sep 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The General Directorate of Security and Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands maintains emergency level 2 (red traffic light) with the activity mainly concentrated in four active mouths, the last of which opened this Tuesday at 7:56 p.m. (local time) with a broadcast lava flows similar to the previous ones.
In the latest update on the situation of the Special Plan for Civil Protection and Attention to Emergencies due to Volcanic Risk of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands (PEVOLCA), the Canary Islands Government indicates that the eruption “continues to show the same fissural eruptive style, with a strombolian mechanism, in a fissure in a north-southwest direction “.
The new mouth, he explains, is “very close to the other active ones.” The approximate average forward speed of the front of the
lava flow is 200 m / h, “continuing its advance towards the sea”, with “maximum thicknesses of around 10-12 meters”.
The bulletin also points to a shallow earthquake, at 9:32 p.m., that has been registered southeast of Tazacorte, with a magnitude of 3.8 mbLg, “followed in the following hours by two earthquakes also felt southwest of El Paso.”
Thus, the value given in previous estimates is maintained that “the volcanic gases emitted can reach 3000 m in height (according to VAAC of Toulouse)”. The current estimate of the rate of emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the atmosphere by this eruptive process is between 8000 and 10,600 tons per day, highlights the update.
Regarding the meteorological conditions, in the last hours there has been a change in the direction of the flow in the lower middle levels of the troposphere, around 3000 meters, turning from west to north / northeast, causing a displacement of the plume towards southwest of the emission source.
On the west slope affected by the eruption, a regime of breezes with intensities between 10 and 20 km / h is expected and in the upper levels there is a predominance of northeast winds. “Acid rain is ruled out for the next 24 hours,” he reports.
Finally, remember that “the moment the lava flows reach the coast”, it can “generate explosions, emanations of gases and detachment of the lava front”.
“An exclusion radius of 2 kilometers around the emission centers is recommended to minimize the risk of impact from pyroclasts and exposure to gases. It is also recommended not to approach lava flows due to the risk of exposure to gases emitted, possible landslides and high temperatures “, warns.
