El Hierro Eruption : The Science Bit

The satellite 'Deimos', controlled from the Boecillo technology Park in Valladolid, has captured new images of the volcano and it's activity around the coastal area of the Island of El Hierro, which has captured images showing how the stain is drifting away from the island south across the Atlantic.

The company responsible for the operation of the Satellite, Elecnor, report that the stain is moving away from the Coastiline and is almost as large as the Island itself.

Deimos is the first European Earth observation satellite funded entirely on private capital, designed to produce images of high resolution for use in various applications from the field of agriculture to the environment and defense, climate change, deforestation, combating natural disasters and control of water resources etc...

Scientists are also been assisted by the Barcelona Supercomputer Centre who are helping to predict, amongst other things, the interacting of wind and ash clouds with regards to how and where any resulting ash may fall, which will not only be of interest for envirnomental reasons, but also for air traffic control purposes.

Once the meteorological data has been collated it is then sent to the National Geographic Institute, IGN, Madrid, as the official body responsible for monitoring seismic and volcanic crises.

Scientists still believe that the chances of any volcanic eruption on the island is slim, but are still observing the eruption in the event of a "Surtseyano" event.

The name originated from the island of Surtsey in Iceland where interaction between magma and water can cause explosions because of the extreme temperature differential.

Volcananologists believe that this type of event 'could' occur over the course of the next few days if the magma continues to find its's way to the seabed.

Meanwhile, click the video to let Mary keep you updated about recent activity on the Island >>>

Read further news stories about the El Hierro Volcano by clicking the link HERE .