The La Palma volcano is in a constant state of flux. It started the month of November looking like this:
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| La Palma Volcano on November 1, 2021 |
Its two main fissures were facing towards the camera.
On November 30, those two fissures are notably less active. Instead, there's activity to the back of the volcano, as seen in this close up:
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| La Palma Volcano on November 30, 2021 |
Lava can be seen to the left, flowing from a fissure to the back of the volcano. Activity has moved one step south along La Palma's ridge of fire.
This change on the ground corresponded to a change in the height of the volcano's ash cloud, which had been tall until the first week of November. It then reduced in height ahead of a lull in activity. This is what it looked like from a distance on November 9:
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| La Palma volcano's ash cloud on November 9, 2021 |
However, five days later it was back to what it looked like before the lull:
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| La Palma volcano's ash cloud on November 14, 2021 |
This was followed by great lava flows from the original fissures, as well as further opening of fissures to the south where activity is currently centered.
The ash cloud proved correct in predicting both a lull in activity and a subsequent uptick. The height of the ash cloud appears to be predictive, but only for a few days into the future.
Judging from this picture taken on November 30, there will be plenty of activity as we move into December:
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| La Palma volcano's ash cloud on November 30, 2021 |
As long as the ash cloud remains tall, we can expect activity to remain heavy on the ground.
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