A spike in earthquakes at the volcanic hotspot beneath Teide keeps scientists on alert.
The Geographical Institute remains on alert after increased volcanic activity in Tenerife but rules out any signs pointing to a short-term eruption.
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Scientists remain watchful after a new surge of seismic activity beneath Teide. In the last 10 days, 34 low-intensity earthquakes have been recorded, none felt by the population related to the volcanic activity at the summit. However, monitoring officials dismiss any precursor signs of an eruption.
Most of the activity concentrated on the 23rd and 26th, with a magnitude below 1.7. It is worth noting that the largest earthquakes prior to the 2021 La Palma eruption were of magnitudes 4.8-5 and were felt as far away as Tenerife.
No Swarms Detected
Itahiza Domínguez, director of the National Geographic Institute (IGN), acknowledges that there has been a “surge” but dismisses the occurrence of swarms. “There has been an increase in recent days that falls within normal parameters after an uptick in volcanic activity was detected in 2023,” specifies the seismologist and doctor in Physics. In any case, Domínguez calls for calm, assuring that there are currently no signs pointing to an imminent eruption.
Low Magnitude
The IGN, along with the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan), is responsible for monitoring the islands’ volcanoes from a scientific and safety perspective. They have intensified monitoring in the Teide National Park and surrounding areas since 2016, especially from the summer of 2023, when an increase in low-magnitude earthquakes characteristic of magma movements was detected.
The ‘Hot Heart’ of Teide
These movements are related to a hot heart beneath Teide, magma pockets located less than 10 kilometres deep from the volcano’s crater, first described in 2023.
This was made possible through a collaborative scientific effort involving specialists from the Trofimuk Institute of Oil Geology and Geophysics in Novosibirsk (Russia), the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute, and the University of Granada. The research revealed the secrets of Tenerife’s interior through a seismic tomography study that included the analysis of localized micro seismicity within the island.
Interpreting Seismicity
According to Involcan, these results constitute an important tool for interpreting the increase in seismicity in Tenerife and the emission of carbon dioxide from the Teide crater, which the institute has detected since late 2016.
This activity could be related to the slow rise of a bubble of magma. According to researchers, tomography clearly shows that beneath the caldera of the Cañadas, there are small magma reservoirs at depths of less than five kilometres.
Recent Surges
The graphs from the IGN confirm these surges, including the one from the last 10 days. Previous surges occurred between December 2024 and January 2025, in December 2023, and in July 2022. “Each time a peak of seismic activity occurs, we analyse the situation to see if it escalates,” explains the IGN director. “This has not happened in the latest peak of activity. Rather, we would describe it as dispersed events but in greater numbers than in previous months.”
The last in this series of earthquakes occurred this past Friday, Canary Islands Day. It was recorded at 11:00 hours with an epicentre near Las Llanadas, in the municipality of Los Realejos. It had a magnitude of 1 and was located 21 kilometres deep.
Final Series
This series of earthquakes over the last 10 days is concentrated in two areas: one in the highlands of the La Orotava valley and another in the highlands of Vilaflor and Guía de Isora, some of which are within the boundaries of the Teide National Park itself.
Something is moving beneath the highest peak of any land emerging from the Atlantic, standing at 3,715 meters above sea level according to the latest official measurement from the National Geographic Institute. This is why experts from the Scientific Committee for the Assessment of Volcanic Phenomena met to analyse the situation on January 23.
The scientists agreed to classify the volcanic activity of Teide as “anomalous,” although they made it clear that the signs “do not seem to be precursors to an eruptive process in the short term, but they do indicate an increased probability of one occurring in the medium to long term.”
Since 2016
According to members of the Scientific Committee, the seismic, geodetic, and geochemical changes detected since 2016 may have shown a certain increase since 2023, attributable to a possible increase in pressure in the hydrothermal system beneath the island of Tenerife, which advises increasing monitoring of seismic activity, gases, and ground deformations.
Where is the Highest Seismicity?
At that time, it was clarified that seismicity was particularly grouped in Las Cañadas and the heights of Adeje and Vilaflor, with an active zone also remaining beneath Teide. In June and July 2023, a seismic swarm was recorded 40 kilometres beneath Santiago del Teide, and at the end of the same year, another swarm occurred between 17 and 23 kilometres deep beneath the Cañadas. Other less significant seismic zones have been located beneath Izaña and in the heights of Arico.
Green Light
At this moment, despite a new peak of activity, the volcanic alert level from Involcan remains at green; that is, there is no immediate risk of eruption. The frequency of earthquakes would have to increase significantly for that alert level to change, although authorities remain on alert in case the surges become more persistent.
What are the areas of the island with the highest eruption probabilities? While the answer is based on probabilities that may or may not materialise, there is indeed a location where the danger significantly increases: the west of Tenerife.
According to the Insular Action Plan Against Volcanic Risk (PAIV), developed in 2018, the area of highest volcanic danger on the island is specifically the ridge that extends from Teide towards the Teno massif, also known as the Abeque ridge.
In this area, lava flowed during the last eruption of Teide, which occurred in 1909 at the Chinyero volcano.
In the last 2,000 years, it has been the most volcanically active area of the island, witnessing at least five historical eruptions, similar to that of 2021 in La Palma, namely, Strombolian-type eruptions and basaltic flows.
“This area is the most active in Tenerife in the last 20,000 years,” confirms Nerea Martín, a geographer and member of the Chair of Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilient Cities at the University of La Laguna (ULL), the group responsible for preparing this report for the Cabildo of Tenerife.
