The Mayor of La Frontera (El Hierro), David Cabrera, confirmed in an interview on Radio iron Garoé that 'underwater eruption' is taking place about 900 metres beneath the sea surface five kilometres south of La Restinga. The eruption has been ongoing for four hours, the Mayor said.
Spanish newspaper laopionion.es quoted the Minister of emergencies of the Cabildo of El Hierro, Maria of Carmen Morales, as saying the eruption is taking place because 'the seismic movement of 4.3 occurred on Saturday afternoon caused a fissure, from where the energy is been released'. Scientists remain unclear if the emissions are gas or lava.
© MODISEl Hierro, The Canary Islands, from space in this MODIS satellite image on Oct. 7 2011
A meeting of PEVOLCA - Actualidad Volcánica de Canarias, comprising representatives of Instituto Geografico Nacional (IGN) and The Canary Islands Government, took place on the Spanish Island. In a statement issued shortly before 4 p.m. local time, the IGN stated (translated from spanish language press release): "...although there is no certainty that at the moment is producing an underwater volcanic eruption, since the last morning there has been a release of fluids and volcanic gas on the southern coast of the island."
"Scientists from IGN have reported to the direction of the Plan all the indicators that have been analyzed to point towards the possibility of the beginning of an eruptive process that has changed the type of waves that have registered seismographs in the last hours, implying the beginning of emission of gases or lava..."
"The helicopter of the emergency and rescue of the Government of the Canary Islands (GES) group has done reconnaissance flights during the morning without exit of volcanic material to the surface."
"Although this activity is not exposed to, the direction of the PEVOLCA encourages people to perform their usual tasks normally and to remain attentive to any unusual activity", the statement added.
Meanwhile, La Agencia Estatal (CSIC) scientists equipped with special detection cameras have been making numerous sorties over coastal areas of El Hierro in an attempt to verify the existence and scale of the underwater eruption. This is Spain's first volcanic eruption since the eruption in 1971 of the Teneguía volcano on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands), located to the north of El Hierro.
Initial reports of the eruption were received from crews on board four separate ships. On Monday afternoon, Terra Noticias/Agencia EFE reported that an eruption occurred 2000 metres below sea level in the Las Calmas sea at 10.43 local time (05:43 EDT). Spanish newspaper El Mundo placed the depth of the eruption at 13oo metres.
Local media agency Canarias7 reported on Monday that Government authorities have suspended ferry activities to and from the 285 square-kilometre island. English language newspaper islandconnections.eu reported: "The maritime chief for the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Antonio Padrón has issued a recommendation that boats should not sail closer than four miles off El Hierro. Divers have also been told to suspend all activities."
Why do I keep thinking that the Canary Islands is a super volcano?
"The archipelago consists of seven large and several smaller islands, all of which are volcanic in origin.The Teide volcano on Tenerife is the highest mountain in Spain, and the third largest volcano on Earth on a volcanic ocean island. All the islands except La Gomera have been active in the last million years; four of them (Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro) have historical records of eruptions since European discovery. The islands rise from Jurassic oceanic crust associated with the opening of the Atlantic. Underwater magmatism commenced during the Cretaceous, and reached the ocean's surface during the Miocene. The islands are considered as a distinct physiographic section of the Atlas Mountains province, which in turn is part of the larger African Alpine System division."-Wikipedia