October 10, 2021 - Cumbre Vieja's Eruption Continues

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La Palma
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The Cumbre Vieja volcano roared to life on September 19, 2021, sending
fountains of lava into the air and large rivers of lava streaming
towards villages towards the south of La Palma. The eruption has been
persistent and at times explosive. Tremors and small earthquakes
frequently shake the ground, while dark plumes of volcanic ash and
light clouds of steam and gas rise from the summit daily. Lava has
reached the southwestern coast, forming a broad delta that stretches
into the North Atlantic Ocean. More than a thousand homes and buildings
have been destroyed as of October 9 and more than 6,000 people have
been forced to flee their homes and farms.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the eruption on
October 7. A plume of brown ash blows more than 100 miles (160 km) to
the northeast over the Atlantic Ocean. This image also captures a blue
swirl southwest of La Palma Island. The origin of this appears to be
from the summit of Cumbre Vieja, which makes it likely that it is a
cloud of gas, steam, or haze. It would be unusual, but not impossible,
for forcefully ejected ash to rise high in the atmosphere and be
carried by strong upper-level winds in one direction while steam and
gas flowing less forcefully out of the volcano to remain low and be
carried in a different direction by winds closer to ground level. Steam
is typically white in true-color images, but a type of volcanic smog
known as “vog” may appear as a blue-gray haze. Vog is created when
sulfur dioxide and other volcanic pollutants mix with oxygen and water
vapor in the presence of sunlight.

As of the morning of October 9, the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory
Center declared a code red for aircraft passing through the region. Ash
plumes were reaching 2 to 3 kilometers (1-2 miles) in altitude. The
eruption has not been energetic enough to inject large amounts of ash
and gases into the stratosphere, where they can have strong and lasting
effects on weather and climate.

According to news reports, airborne ash has led to intermittent
closures of the airports on La Palma and other Canary Islands. Air
quality at ground level is episodically poor depending on the wind
direction and intensity. And ash falling from the sky has coated some
of La Palma’s salt flats, disrupting efforts at salt production.

In late September, scientists from the Instituto Volcanológico de
Canarias (INVOLCAN) suggested that the current eruption could persist
for weeks to months. Cumbre Vieja last erupted about 50 years ago.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 10/7/2021
Resolutions: 1km (61.9 KB), 500m (136.8 KB), 250m (170.7
KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-10-10

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