The volcanic ash cloud from the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, in La Palma, already affects the Tenerife North airport, where there are already eight diversions to Tenerife South of flights from Madrid and another eight cancellations, seven from Madrid and one de Binter with origin in La Gomera. This airline has also reported that it has canceled another flight with origin La Gomera and destination Tenerife North, in addition to the fact that since this Monday the operation of its flights on La Palma has been canceled.
The ash and volcanic gases put the air traffic of La Palma and the rest of the western islands in check
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Aena sources state that the airport is open and operational and the decision not to fly is the responsibility of the airlines – in fact, a Ryanair flight has departed from Barcelona in the direction of the island.
At La Palma airport, although it is not closed, the companies have decided not to operate flights this Tuesday.
Considerable volume of ash on La Palma
As has been happening in recent days, the La Palma volcano is emitting a considerable volume of ash, which in recent hours has also been accompanied by episodes of short and audible explosions. The director of the Central Geophysical Observatory of the National Geographic Institute (IGN), Carmen López, explained this Tuesday at a press conference after the meeting of the Scientific committees and the Director of the Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Plan that this phenomenon is due to a process intense degassing. This is joined by the west component winds, which will cause the plume to head east in the “next 36 hours”, something that is “already compromising air circulation throughout the island’s surroundings “, as well as La Gomera, west of Tenerife and El Hierro.
The high presence of PM10 particles continues throughout the surroundings of El Paso, Los Llanos de Aridane, Tazacorte, Tijarafe and Puntagorda. Precisely, in this last town, quite high peaks of sulfur dioxide were registered this Tuesday for a few hours, but they have been “being reduced considerably during the first hours of the morning” this Tuesday, has confirmed Rubén Fernández, technical director of the Pevolca, who has also assured that due to the improvement of the situation it is not necessary to establish any exceptional measure, since currently “air quality is good”.
The same cannot be said in Los Llanos de Aridane, whose air quality levels are “very unfavorable”. From 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, the PM10 particle measurements that have been made in the mobile station of the town indicate that their concentration has been 276, 311, 242 and 232.
