¿Qué hemos aprendido de la erupción de El Hierro de 2011-2012?

Abstract

In 2011 a submarine eruption took place in the south of the smallest island of the Canary Islands, El Hierro. This eruption, which lasted 5 months, was preceded by intense seismic activity as well as ground deformation, emission of volcanic gasses and other geophysical phenomena. In the present work, a bibliographic review of some of the most relevant articles published in relation to this eruptive period is presented. Some important lessons learned from this analysis are: the importance of having a technical infrastructure capable of monitoring different parameters associated with a volcanic eruption to evaluate its evolution and be able to make correct predictions, the understanding of the magma plumbling system as a two levels system (with a larger and deeper magmatic reservoir fed directly from the mantle and a second shallower reservoir closer to the eruptive vent that fed the eruption) or the knowledge of the stress barriers existing in the structure of the island that caused the magma to migrate to weaker areas. Finally, the crisis management carried out both by local authorities and by the associated scientific committee is also analyzed in this work to understand what mistakes were made and thus improve action plans for future Canary eruptions.