Posted on by Jón Frímann

A ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano

At 09:50 UTC today (8 November, 2011) there was a ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano. According to news this earthquake was felt in Vík í Mýrdal town and on nearby farms. No harmonic tremor has been detected following this earthquake.


The earthquake location in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This earthquake was also detected on my geophone network. I currently do not have the data to locate the earthquake in my recording.


The ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano caldera. Please note that this earthquake is un-located, that means the P and S wave markers are unset. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence. See Licence page for more details.


The ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano caldera. Please note that this earthquake is un-located, that means the P and S wave markers are unset. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence. See Licence page for more details.

It is impossible to know what this means in terms of activity in Katla volcano. But this was just a normal earthquake for most part from what I can tell. There was no harmonic tremor following this earthquake.

Icelandic News about this earthquake. Icleandic mocks Google Translate every day of the year.

Skjálfti í suðurjaðri Kötluöskju (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Enginn gosórói sjáanlegur (Vísir.is, Icelandic)
Harður jarðskjálfti í Kötlu (mbl.is, Icelandic)
„Þetta er óþægilegt“ (mbl.is, Icelandic, interview)

396 Replies to “A ML3.5 earthquake in Katla volcano”

    1. Or if they were able to pretend that it’s the end of times.

      …which might actually be possible

      4. Nice one! There were indeed a lot of pale skinned British at Tenerife! After 2 weeks they were not so much pale as they were completely red and burned! Despite of all the warnings.

  2. Since there is a lack of developments to discuss, I was wondering, what did you guys get into (Icelandic) geology?

    1. Life long interest. I also have an interest in the succession of plants and animals in places such as volcanic slopes and islands, Sand dunes and other inhospitable habitats (I am a Biologist……. Well I was when I worked for my living . Now retired )

      1. Another great science. Are you a botanist?

        On a completely different, but not unrelated note, I’m strongly getting the feeling that I’m one of the younger ones here haha.

      2. I am a true Biologist I actually specialised in the then young science of Ecology 🙂 It wasn’t know as that then. 🙂 A woman before her time 🙂 My degree was in Plant and animal behaviours. I taught Rural Sciences to teenagers who had more or less been written off as being non academic, called here Special Needs I just call them Special :). They did well and all got jobs 🙂 Then the Next lessons would be for high fliers A Level students. 🙂 quite a wide range of abilities 🙂

      4. Diana:
        I have also a degree in Biology (Ecology) and uncompleted master in Botany.
        Quit it for the theatre.
        No big honour to call me a colleague. 🙂

      5. For what its woth my primary degree was in biological chemisty, with later additions of genetics/immunology and then later postgraduate diplomas and qualifications in marketing/ business. Interest here is a general fascination of how the earth ‘works’ – (my brain needs something other than the subjects I work on to chew over from time to time), and volcanoes have become a fascination that can be studied in real time, particularly in Iceland.

      6. Renato, Good theatre is as important to a healthy society as the Sciences, it is more free in expressing emotions and social ideas. Social Therapy 🙂
        One thing I taught my children, try every opportunity that happens in life. Trying and learning from the experience even if it is bad is not a failure. Taking the lazy or easy way and not making your experiences grow leads to failures.
        I believe on this Blog everyone is a colleague and equally respected. Joined by a mutual interest . It is to me an honour to meet you and discuss ideas. It keeps my brain young and my sense of humour intact. Renato as you are in the theatre , can we expect you to choreograph Carl’s hat eating dances?

      1. I’ve been on Countdown and won a teapot if that amounts to anything? Other than that, I just like to absorb interesting science fact, especially what’s in the sky or below our feet.

    3. actually i am geologist, (have a masters in this field). That does not mean at all that i am expert in volcanoes, my field is more environment, but i have always had an general interest in this field here

    4. The untrue answer wold be that I was stuck at an airport during Eyjafjallafökull. The real one is that when I was five I read about Novarupta and got hooked.
      After that I was either going to become a composer, astronomer or volcanologist. After a shot at the first option I settled for the ultimate in-between things, physicist.

    5. I really do not know how or when my interest for volcano’s it started (nothing to do with education), but nature always affected me in various ways. First and only visit until now: Etna, September 2004. It was a foggy day with poor sight. A highly impressive, weird black landscape. We walked around the ridge of an old crater, a special feeling. Did not dare to descend into the crater. A very good kept secret was: at that very moment an eruption was going on a few km’s further up, it started one or two days earlier. The road up the mountain got closed shortly after our visit. But we first heard about the eruption when we were back home!! Italians are good at keeping secrets! – I took two souvenirs from Etna, one black piece of lava an one brownish one (I’m sure some of you can tell me the difference in composition). – And last year Eyja was so friendly to erupt in front of the webcams….

    6. No rational explanation for me. Since I was a child, the sheer power and beauty of big natural phenomena in general, but volcanoes in particular got all my attention. I love thunderstorms too – all this energy in the atmosphere that in some special moments gets easily visible. As where I live there are no volcanoes, and you need to find a way to make money out of your knowledge / passion, geology seemed to be an acceptable compromise. When I was at the age of choosing what to study, I had my girlfriend (actual wife), and if there’s something greater than living for your own pleasure, then it’s dedicating your life to love – isn’t it?… 🙂
      Then I always thought it would be great if mankind cared about our environment, tried to understand it, learned from what can be observed, and through this managed to avoir loosing lives by events which could be foreseen.
      Icelanders are, in my opinion, the world’s best hazard managers – in the sense that they accept their environment and learned do live with it. And Iceland is so incredibly wild and fresh. Rift, hot spot, paleo-continent, climaticly unbelievable situation. New earth generated, immediately eroded in the most spectacular ways, colonized by incredible plants as soon as they get on this freshest soils. When you’re there, this most incredible way light, weather and landscape play together to make you loose your senses. Water in all it’s forms. From the people I know I’d say that you love it or hate it. I fell in love with id before I was there, only because of the pictures I had seen and it’s incredible context, and I got completely addicted the very first moment my feet touched it’s ground and it’s wind hit my face. Passion – love – one would make himself a fool trying to explain it. Live it, embrace it – but don’t ask too many questions.
      No, I didn’t have magic mushrooms. That’s just me. One more fool on the globe, staring through the monitor in front of him, bored by administration but depending on it to feed his children…

      1. This is the area to watch. Just on or about the coast north of Los Llanillos. There have been a couple of shallower ones around here.

  6. The other side side of volcano , local economy hardly hit (tourism, beaches, diving and fishing)

    Scientists and journalists don’t compensate the tourist cancellations
    http://www.laopinion.es/sociedad/2011/11/08/cientificos-periodistas-compensan-cancelaciones-turistas/378900.html

    Alpidio Armas:, ´La Restinga feel that the Government has not done anything´
    http://www.laopinion.es/sociedad/2011/11/08/restinga-siente-gobierno-hecho/378756.html

    The volcano revives the historic fear of ‘black Novembers’ of El Hierro
    http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/11/08/espana/1320750084.html

    1. Vince thank you for these links . This last link Is an excellent piece of reporting. It is not “scientific” but it certainly paints an excellent picture of the situation the people of El Hierro are currently in.
      It certainly emphasises the need for the Government of the Islands to make the immediate future of these poor people less bleak.

  8. Good night boys and girls 🙂 I’m going to dream with gold stone, and again thanks for your funny and very educatives post. I made a small contribution in the Spanish wiki, thanks Carl Le Strange I used part of your text on the English wiki, is your? isn’t? . Actividad volcánica en 2011 on http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Hierro

      2. I should though post an addendum.
        I have written quite a lot for wiki. I did entire sections in my own field. But I would never write anything about volcanos. Why? Well, I am not a volcanologist.

  9. Here and over on eruptions, reposts of twitter comments have indicated odors.

    First… if you can smell it, it’s not CO2 (carbon dioxide) you are smelling. CO2 is odorless. The danger from CO2 is if you wind up in a confined space with it and it prevents you from getting oxygen. It’s not poisonous, and exposures of a few thousand parts per million won’t hurt you … as long as you can get oxygen.

    CO (carbon monoxide) is also odorless, but it’s toxic. CO binds with the hemoglobin in your blood and inhibits the bloods ability to bind and carry oxygen. Carbon monoxide poisoning is cumulative since it takes a while for your body to get rid of it. This means that you can be exposed to minor amounts of it throughout the day and eventually get enough in your system to where you develop severe headaches. Working in poorly ventilated areas around motors or engines (or bar-q-que grills) are the leading causes of CO poisoning. (I’ve had this, it ain’t fun)

    H2S, Hydrogen Sulfide, is the smell of rotten eggs. It’s also toxic. From the Material Safety Data Sheet for H2S -> “Sense of smell becomes rapidly fatigued and can not be relied upon to warn of the continuous presence of H2S”. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists places the exposure limit at 10ppm over an 8 hour period.

    SO2, Sulfur Dioxide, has a smell similar to burnt matches. Also toxic, it forms sulfuric acid upon contact with mucous membranes. DFG-MAK places exposure limits at 2ppm (TWA Time-Weighted Average)

    Other gases that can be encountered with volcanoes – Hydrogen Fluoride (HF) – Hydrogen Chloride (HCl). Both are acrid and dangerous. An alternate source of HCl are the “steam plumes” from magma interacting with seawater. HCl forms hydrochloric acid upon contact with mucous membranes.

    UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES FOLLOW THE EXPOSURE GUIDELINES AS SET FORTH BY YOUR COGNIZANT AUTHORITIES.

    Now a bit about understanding the info that comes from the sensors.

    One cubic meter of air has a mass of 1293 grams (1.28 kg)

    By weight, one ppm (part per million) would be 0.00129 grams, or 1.29 mg (1290 µg)

    The last time I looked, the SO2 sensor at Restinga was at 5.02 µg/m³, or 0.0039 ppm.

    I can not give you the specifications that Spain uses in their gas exposure limits. But keep in mind that no one there wants to intentionally hurt anyone. But before you start believing a rumor, check the data and see if it make sense. If it doesn’t, then it’s probably bullshit.

    The USGS has some nice data on volcanic gases here: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php

    1. Hi Lurk,

      Yes, indeed. Thanks.

      Carbon dioxide is heavier than air so effectively sinks so it can be a killer even if it is not truly in a confined space. It hugs the lie of the land and is particularly dangerous in valleys. It is very hazardous and is a killer of many animals on volcanic slopes as a consequence.

      I heard a story about many people dying next to a lake and that was because carbon dioxide had accumulated at the bottom of a lake; then something had shaken it loose and into the surrounding countryside. Suddenly the concentrations were too high. A truck had driven along the road next to the lake and all the passengers sitting were killed yet those standing up in the back of the truck remained alive.( Luckily for them! )

      Some links: about carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide release and its deadly effects: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos

      http://www.nhm.ac.uk/kids-only/earth-space/volcanoes/gases/

  11. Something happened in shallower area :

    at 4:15 – NW FRONTERA – Magnitude 3 – depth: 16,2 km

    1. *sigh…

      As normal, I go look and get distracted.

      The lower quakes actually have an alignment… as to the upper batch.

      Previously I’ve stated that the upper group are near the outer limits of the 64% boundary of the “dike emplacement” set from before September. That still holds true. There is an intervening gap that on IGN diagrams has been shown as the lower boundary of the El Hierro mass. In this representation, that gap could be… Moho. I don’t know the characteristics of Moho to be able to say that it’s aseismic like this gap is. I do know that there is a gap, we can all see it in the plots.

      The quakes in the deep set and the quakes in the shallower set do not have a direction of “movement” through time, it’s just a shot-gun blast of quakes all seemingly at random in those two areas.

      But there is an alignment. I’ve noticed the shape before, but just haven’t looked close enough to measure anything about it. I figured out how to do it.

      First of all, I selected only November quakes. I then changed the lat and lon increments into what the km distance is at this latitude, then I set everything for 1:1:1. Spinning the plot so that the alignments showed up, I did a screen cap and took it over into a graphic program that has an angular measurement function.

      Measuring each set (upper and lower) I noticed that they both have odd-ball groupings within them that sort of parallel each other (in that group).

      The wild part is that both sets seem to have similar dip angles. They don’t lean towards the same azimuth, they are off by a couple of degrees. The direction of the lean is to the southwest.

      Dip angles in both sets is about 37 and 38 degrees.

      Upper set:

      http://i44.tinypic.com/dhag5k.png

      Lower set:

      http://i41.tinypic.com/29dhhzl.png

      The view angle is along the major alignment looking to the North-North East.

      Whats it mean? Beats the flying @#$ out of me.

      1. Thanks Lurking

        You’ve sort-of answered the question I was sort-of wanting to ask. Quakes in El Golfo seem to follow lines, but not consistently the same lines, and now the tremor amplitude has dropped it is difficult to guess what might be happening.

      2. The MOHO outside the island is at 14-15km so allowing (guess) a 2km sinking of Hierro centrally it would be at 16-17km, which is roughly at the upper bound of the clear zone. I’d suggest it is underplating:
        http://uppsala.academia.edu/ValentinTroll/Papers/775031/Upper_mantle_magma_storage_and_transport_under_a_Canarian_shield-volcano_Teno_Tenerife_Spain_
        Note section 4.2 – long term magam storage at depths 20-45km. followed by ascent from mantle depth witihn days.
        Section 4.4 covers controls on magma ascent.
        On other hand, underplating appears to be absent under Tenerife :
        http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~tony/watts/Oceanislandsandseamounts.htm

      4. Fig1 – diagram of stresses in an elastic lithospere plate inder a volcano. Note reversal at top vs bottom: is Hierro’s seismically quiet zone is where stresses are nulled?

  12. Thats the working place exposure limits in switzerland:

    SO2 0,5ppm – 1,3mg/m3

    NO 25ppm – 30mg/m3
    NO2 3ppm – 6mg/m3

    CO 30ppm – 35mg/m3
    CO2 5000ppm – 9000 mg/m3

    O3 0,1ppm – 0,2mg/m3

    1. Pet theory. Nothing to really back it up.

      With the drop in tremor, the primary degasing phase may be closing. I’ve read that CO2 really starts coming out of solution at about 25km, but can’t for the life of me remember where that is from.

      If that’s the case, what we see down deep is related, and now that the sputtering driver of Bob is going away, the effusive Bob may take over… or stop.

  17. Copied from Avcan

    Buenos días, sigo teniendo problemas con la web cam y no parece que del lado institucional haya interés en instalar una. Les adjunto la última actualización que he encontrado en http://earthquake-report.c​om/2011/09/25/el-hierro-ca​nary-islands-spain-volcani​c-risk-alert-increased-to-​yellow/: Update 09/11 – 07:50 UTC :
    Raymond Matabosch reports :
    5:59: The activity is very strong in the jacuzzi and the successive explosions still show plumes of steam, ash and pyroclasts which rise in between 15 and 30 meters above the water surface. They are currently occurring 1 to 2 times per hour.
    The top of the vent seems to rise gradually to the surface but it is still too deep (probably between 30 and 50 meters) for the bubbles to rise higher. With each explosion, in addition to the IGN listed earthquakes, the ground vibrates and the smell of sulfur near La Restinga and Puerto Naos are sometimes suffocating.
    7:36: I have the impression that IGN recalibrates the scale too often … to minimize the harmonic tremor?
    What do they wants us to understand? That the activity is slowing down?
    (ER: The words of Raymond, who is really focused on the Las Calmas activity, are sometimes a little overheated . This is in part due his proximity to the action. Everybody who ever has visited a volcano in an increasing pre-eruptive phase knows what we are talking about).

    1. Hm….
      I do think we have surfacing Ladies and gentlemen.

      Notice two black rocks down in the picture? It really looks like they are stationary, and I can see a wave dividing around the bigger one.

      4. That is the two i thought carl was refering to. I thought a first they were pyroclasts but they didn’t seem to be floating but staying in the same place so not sure.

  20. Very interesting Diane, I have always had a great interest in Volcanoes driven from news reports on eruptions in Iceland (Heimay 1973) and Etna. Unfortunately I didn’t really excel at sciences at school so my interest remained just that, however my career at sea has allowed me to visit and climb many Volcanoes over the years (last being Nevis Peak in the Caribbean). My eldest daughter is completing a Degree in biology next year and then looking at moving in teaching. My second daughter has just started a degree in environmental science so between them they are making up for my omissions! Keep up the good work and interesting posts!

  21. Update 09/11 – 09:00 UTC :
    Patrick Allard comment on the IGN rescaling issue of the harmonic tremor scale :
    I am convinced that IGN seismologists rightly adjust the display of harmonic tremor simply to avoid full-scale saturation and be able to watch at ongoing short-term amplitude oscillations.

  22. To Diana Barnes – November 9, 2011 at 07:55: “Renato as you are in the theatre , can we expect you to choreograph Carl’s hat eating dances?”
    Answer: Of course not! That is a penalty: it has to be a one man performance. He will have to do it on his own.
    But I’ll be in the audience, oh, you bet it – and I am very exacting audience – rotten eggs, tomatoes and hissing, so, he’d better start rehearsing from now. 😀

      2. I was wrong, the solo dance number is from a french tv live in 78.
        Notice how Florian breaks out into a long dance number. And that he plays the flute, probably last live image where he does that. Sad really, he was one of the best flutists ever.
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bhagV7MV9Q&feature=related

        Here is clip where he actually played the flute as a flute.
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbK1GulvSDQ&feature=related

        And the concert that ended up in some boys starting Rammstein. Yes, they where originally about the most rocking band in Germany…
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqTOwBnNNfc&feature=related

    2. @Diana you are great!! this is a answer to your answer to Renato November 9, 2011 at 07:55. I agree with you at all. Thanks Diana.

      1. From where are the fotos? Is this story about the two fotos? Do you know something about it?
        Giggle:
        “How difficult it is to find out more concretely as possible, and admirably, showing perhaps a sordid history that a self-proclaimed researcher has done in search of protagonism. – Name I will mention now sometimes not, and not the website with really good information about the events in El Hierro, in which he has written many articles as a guest writer. – He has already noticed several times because he is very media with sizes and handles incidents, and ever sees things and events, for which there are no other witnesses and no corresponding photo material. – But the man understands a lot of volcanic activity, but tends to give crude exaggerations, which can be misinterpreted by other readers and the press. – This has already happened several times and has led to an alarmism that is not appropriate for the situation on the island. – Today is now the man but a significant step went too far, claiming the south coast of El Hierro there had been an almost 100-meter-high fountain of lava, steam and gases, which are known in Spanish as “rooster tail”, a German word for it I do not know. – As he delivered this compote from even a photo, but from a very well-known geology Foristen forum this photo unmasked as a fake. – The most progressive media assessed Hobbyvulkanologe just had an older photo taken to see on the gas bubble was a bold, and those drawn by means of appropriate software in the length. This fountain was never there, but could come as soon as the eruption site near enough to the water surface is approached.”
        http://www.la-palma-aktuell.de/cc/news.php

  25. Could this bubble really 20 metres high like they say in the press, or is it just an exageration or was it just a one off?

    1. if the jacuzzi really is about 100m across (which the images do seem to suggest) then it looks like the bubbles do go about 1/5th as high as it is across – so 20m sounds about right.

      1. To me it looks like water mainly.
        So what velocity is required to eject water to height of 20metres?
        Duration?? anyone seen a video of whole sequence?
        That would give volume, roughly.
        Temperature?
        Then we get estimate of power knowing period between ejections.
        Power is rate of heat transfer from rock to water: is it rising or falling?

  27. Right while I think about it can someone clear up if the vent is called Pancho or Roberto and if that’s an offical name yet?
    I know we’ve been using Icelandic+Bob as a nom de explosive plume – but who actually decides what a vent is called – and if it becomes a distinct island what that gets called?

      1. This is a special feature added so that the outlook seems more ‘rosy’ for the people at El Hierro…

        Seriously, just bad quality.

    1. Yellowstone is one of these magic things on our blue ball from which I’m ready to expect anything. Sleeping four further hundreds or thousands of years or blowing withing days after the first signs and transforming the northern hemisphere in some years of hell on earth. Whatever you post about it, I’ll be one of those reading it… 🙂

      1. Yellowstone is kinda my little heartstone. It was Yellowstone that got me into volcanoes. She is just sooo big, and can do so much damage, and that is so facinating that something can do that!

      2. Uturuncu is well capable of reproducing anything that Yellowstone can do. And, Uturuncu has been and is already inflating, but Yellowstone has not been and is not inflating (during the last 10-30 years).

      3. A fat one I hadn’t noticed until now. Always nice to know one more. Indeed shows an impressive uplift in the last years.
        Do you have some references except for the usual wiki an smithsonian?

      4. That’s always a point of discussion. Fact is that the shoreline of lake Yellowstone is not what it used to be. We don’t know what has happened in the thousands of years before. At Uturuncu we can be pretty sure though that there’s a lot down there.

      5. There are quite a few “supervolcanos” out there. But as far as I know only one that has not erupted in megahistorical time and is still highly active.
        Mt Fako in Cameroon has a reservoir that is en par with Yellowstone and Uturuncu. There is even a conjecture (scientific term connoting a theory that is put up to be tested as a means to build a larger theory) that Mt Fako is the volcano that was the starting point of the ripping apart of south america and africa. Be that as it may, it is a large and ancient and highly active volcano. It’s placing is now very odd for a volcano. It is the last of the volcanos created when the continents separated.
        Beautifull volcano, complete with elephants galomphing around.

      6. Blowing with few days of first signs is highly unlikely to me. Such massive amounts of material give distinct signals earlier. Yes, she’s unpredictable as we don’t know the real eruption pattern, but it takes more than a few days to mobilize 2000 cu km of magma. It’s always possible that these amounts are already present and have been mobilized before, but in order to bust a move on these gigantic volumes, it will first have to creak for some time.

      7. Sorry, this was not much of a scientific comment from me. I wanted to point at the big range of possibilities. Of course you’re entirely right and it’s months/years much more than days. Thanks for putting this into the correct light.

      8. A small question that just popped into my mind …

        Lets say one gets hold of a small nuke (a few megatons or so), drills a hole down to Yellowstone’s filled magmachamger (if it’s filled that is) and detonates it right on top… Will the volcano go whoppetiboom as well, and make hell on earth?

        *ponders*

      9. Tor, you just gave .l K..da the hint to plan a really big “coup”. Oh nooo…
        😉
        I always smiled at guys imagining a nuke could trigger the big one at Frisco or stuff like that, but in the case of a well filled big volcano, I wouldn’t bet. No idea how much it needs, if some chain reactions could be induced or whatever.
        PS: Would like to see the machine they use to drill the hole without anyone noticind it… 🙂

      10. @Tor, I’m just guessing here, but I’d say no. Eruptions occur due to a difference in pressure. If the pressure isn’t their, you can nuke the hell out of Yellowstone, but nothing would happen, except for when you nuke all the way to the magma chamber, then we ofcourse have open magma, but no eruption. And we’ll probably be pretty dead by then.

      11. Tor Hogne, no, it would take a very large nuke to do that.
        You should remember that a 5m is a nuke. And Yellowstone has had quakes that size and larger without going off.

  34. Canarias7 out of
    differences between research groups from July are following the evolution of El Hierro sismovolcáncia crisis became apparent almost as soon as you did the volcano in front of La Restinga. The gap is so large that researchers IGN and CSIC and even share physical space. Now only seen when the committee convenes Pevolca scientist, who also attends, but as a guest, volcanological Institute of the Canaries (non-tip). While there was no volcano, the coexistence IGN investigators, the agency responsible since 2004 volcanic surveillance, and the CSIC, which assist them, was cordial. Then inexperience and excessive caution of the managers of IGN, Carmen Lopez and Maria Jose Blanco, and differences of opinion on the evolution of the eruption of La Restinga with Ramon Ortiz and Alicia Garcia, who lead the group of active volcanism CSIC ended up breaking the equipment. Ortiz, who once commanded to “ask the volcano” about how it would evolve, decided that the eruption of the Restinga was over after the first bubbling and decided to settle in the Gulf “to study the seismic activity of the North.” deny Ortiz’s work in La Restinga IGN and now points to the possibility of eruption in the north, coinciding surprisingly with Nemesio Perez coordinating the non-tip, CSIC and IGN who ignored despite the importance of the data handled on diffuse gas. Ortiz has also broken with Joan Martí, who heads the group of active volcanism of the CSIC and has only come to the island few occasions. Marti still relates to IGN, but not with non-tip. As a satellite of this crisis, is Juan Carlos Carracedo, CSIC canary volcanologist who has not been to El Hierro by difference with his colleagues. http://www.canarias7. is / articulo.cfm? id = 237513

    2. Spanish original source:
      ——
      Fisura entre los grupos de científicos que vigilan el volcán
      Las diferencias entre los grupos de investigación que desde julio están siguiendo la evolución de la crisis sismovolcáncia de El Hierro se evidenciaron casi al mismo tiempo que lo hizo el volcán frente a La Restinga.

      La brecha es tan grande que los investigadores del IGN y los del CSIC ni siquiera comparten ya espacio físico. Ahora sólo se ven cuando se convoca el comité científico del Pevolca, al que también acude, pero en calidad de invitado, el Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (Involcan).

      Mientras no hubo volcán, la convivencia entre los investigadores del IGN, organismo responsable desde 2004 de la vigilancia volcánica, y los del CSIC, que los asesoran, fue cordial.

      Luego, la inexperiencia y la excesiva prudencia de las responsables del IGN, Carmen López y María José Blanco, y las diferencias de criterio sobre la evolución de la erupción de La Restinga con Ramón Ortíz y Alicia García, que encabezan el grupo de volcanismo activo del CSIC, acabaron por romper el equipo.

      Ortiz, que en su día mandó a «preguntar al volcán» sobre cómo iba a evolucionar, decidió que la erupción de La Restinga había acabado tras los primeros burbujeos y decidió instalarse en El Golfo «para estudiar el fenómeno sísmico del norte».

      Ortiz reniega del trabajo del IGN en La Restinga y ahora apunta a la posibilidad de erupción en el norte, coincidiendo sorprendentemente con Nemesio Pérez, coordinador el Involcan, a quien CSIC e IGN ignoran pese a la importancia de los datos que maneja sobre gases difusos.

      También Ortíz ha roto relaciones con Joan Martí, que dirige el grupo de volcanismo activo del CSIC y que sólo ha acudido a la isla en contadas ocasiones. Martí aún se relaciona con el IGN, pero no con el Involcan.

      Como satélite de esta crisis, está Juan Carlos Carracedo, volcanólogo canario del CSIC que no ha estado en El Hierro por diferencia con sus colegas.
      ——
      http://www.canarias7.es/articulo.cfm?id=237513

      2. It’s not unusual this happens in a volcanic crisis, is a very stressful situation. There are several studies published about that. It is sad that this happening because it gives a bad picture to outside and makes people of El Hierro more insecure. I hope in my country this never happen in a similar future crisis in Azores.

        «Professional conduct of scientists during volcanic crises»
        http://www.iavcei.org/documents/newhall1.pdf

        «Role of science and independent research during volcanic eruptions»
        http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~hnlechne/volcanicpapers/newhall2.pdf

        «Improving communication during volcanic crises on small, vulnerable islands»
        http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377027309001371

      3. Thanks Vince, for these articles.
        You are right, of course. We tend to forget that for the volcanologists it is a very stressfull situation. And then human nature sets in….
        In several jobs that is recognised and special training is given ( pilots, docters etc) but I don’t know if volcanologist get any training….

      5. Not really- if scientists always agree we get nowhere- a consensus is death to progress. On other hand if personalities intrude into the science , thats not good- but sadly all to often they do.

      6. In Canary Islands there´s a proverb that says : “while all people discuss the house is unswept”.

      7. There’s also an international version: “When all is finally said and done, a hell of a lot more has been said than done!”

  35. Hi, everybody!
    Last nigt, I could see the interview that canarian tv made to Nemesio Pérez. Mos of he said you already know. His most remarkable words were that it was the possibility of an eruption at the north of the island, in the best case, but also he said that if the fissure North-South, that is perfectly aligned, breaks in one of two extremes, this erupcion could be at inland.
    Talking about the composition of the rocks, he confirmed it was riolita and traquita. He said that some samples had been sent to Canado to confirm the fault. If IGN didn´t before was for politicians fault.
    He said too, that before this situation in The Hierro, the island it has not material for work, and the only was the geodesic stations of AVCAN. He also thanked the invaluable help of proffesor Nagoya and Laguna University.
    Respect to IGN….He HATESSSSSSSSSSSSSS IT!!!!

    3. Takeshi Sagiya, sorry, not Nagoya. Oh my God!, I wouldn´t like to look like Carl!

  36. Incidentally, according to a sixth IGN worker has been poisoned while taking measurements on the content of carbon dioxide in the air … and had to be hospitalized… not a good sign!

    1. La Sexta Noticias mentioned this earlier today on their tv programme (there is NO sixth victim!): One technician of IGN has been taken to hospital yesterday with signs of (CO/2?) gas poisoning, blue tongue etc. He has recovered, the news says now. But the roads to the old Port of Naos and Calas de Tacorón have been closed.

      Indeed a worrisome sign – yet Bob seems quiet at the moment, so we need to wait for new measurements. It would also be good to have more permanent stations that take samples of the air than just the one mobile unit that seems stationed in La Restinga on the quay…

  37. Some technics dates that Nemesio gave:
    Calculation of magma reservoirs according to terrain deformation. 0.04 km3 would
    By Ramon Margalef, 0.01km3
    But he said that not the entire amount will come out

    1. Tienes un enlace a este entrevista? O fue na tele?
      Do you have a link to this interview? Ot was it on TV?

  38. While things are a bit quiet I thought I’d post this.
    Just found an El Hierro lookalike. Uninhabited Gyaros in the Greek Cyclades

    http://www.mlahanas.de/Greece/Cities/Gyaros_Map.html

    Does make you wonder if it was formed in a similar way to El Hierro, the layout of the island is a dead ringer. Please note that the island already has a Bob in place called Glaronisi.

    Does this mean that the El Hierro Bob should really be called Ron?

    1. Could call it El Ron – if the Scientologists don’t already have a copyright on that 🙂

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