The aforementioned professional from the National Geographic Institute clarifies that “the installation of four new seismic stations has been done or is being completed” that have required works. In these cases, a small hut with solar panels and batteries has been built in several municipalities, such as Candelaria, La Guancha, Garachico and Arico.
Itahiza Domínguez highlights the help of the respective municipalities to obtain the permits for the works, as well as for the transfer of the land on which the booths have been built.
The researcher points out that the aforementioned seismic stations have a device for introducing a seismic sensor, which is placed about twenty-five or thirty meters deep. With this element, the noise that can be produced on the surface is avoided.
“They are very interesting, because they improve the signal a lot and avoid surface noise, from that produced by trees with the wind in some places to vehicles that may pass by nearby roads or tracks,” says Domínguez Sardinia. In general, these measures are located far from population centers with the same objective of avoiding noise pollution of any kind. In addition to the aforementioned newly installed equipment, the National Geographic Institute has also improved five other stations, which had been operating provisionally for several years. And now they operate definitively, after building a work shed. One of them is located in the municipality of Güímar, specifically in the Geomagnetic Observatory owned by the IGN for many years.
Other improvements have been made in the resources located in Granadilla de Abona; in the place of Diego Hernández, in Las Cañadas del Teide, within the municipality of La Orotava; in the Vilaflor mountain, as well as in the upper part of Garachico, near the Corona Forestal. At the moment, the National Geographic Institute has a total of 24 stations to measure seismic movements in Tenerife. In addition to the aforementioned actions, other types of work have been carried out to increase the efficiency of the service in various enclaves, such as the installation of fences or pipelines that have been tendered throughout this year.
Itahiza Domínguez Sardinia states that, within the field of geodesy, GMSS stations have been installed in various parts of the Island. These devices work in a similar way to that of GPS for satellite location, but with the aim of determining if there has been any deformation on the ground. Such equipment is located in the same place as the seismicity meters, with the aim of taking advantage of the spaces and creating “multiparametric” enclosures, according to Domínguez.
One is in the Diego Hernández area, in Las Cañadas del Teide; another in Boca Tauce, also in the National Park; another inside a water gallery in Guía de Isora, and the last, in Adeje. All of them are new and have been in operation for a short time. In addition, the aforementioned public body dependent on the State Government has renewed the instrumentation of two other geodetic stations in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Los Cristianos.