The risks of volcano tourism: why tourists approach the eruption in Iceland and could not do it in La Palma

Nature began a new show in Iceland on August 3: the Fagradalsfjall volcano, about 40 kilometers from Reykjavík, opened a crack that allowed the inhabitants of a country accustomed to eruptions to see lava flow again.

Since then, many tourists have come to the area to enjoy the eruption, something that was strictly restricted on the island of La Palma when the Cumbre Vieja volcano began to roar on September 19.

Given the violence of the eruption and the proximity to highly populated areas, a security perimeter of one kilometer was immediately established and the nearby towns were evacuated.

With the fresh images of the Spanish volcano, there are those who have wondered these days why the Icelandic authorities allow visitors to get so close to the lava while in Spain there were strict safety regulations.

Stavros Meletlidis and Raúl Pérez

surely the two main scientific faces of the Canarian eruption, agree in their answer: "out of common sense and because they are two eruptions with great differences".

To know more

Stories.

Scientists continue to take the pulse of the La Palma volcano: "Now is the time to enjoy it"

• Writing: TERESA GUERREROMadrid

Scientists continue to take the pulse of the La Palma volcano: "Now is the time to enjoy it"

Old Summit.

Six months of disappointment after the La Palma volcano: "I dream of being home for just one day and then dying"

• Writing: QUICO ALSEDO

• Editorial Office: PHOTOGRAPHS: ALBERTO DI LOLLI (Special Envoys) Los Llanos de Aridane

Six months of disappointment after the La Palma volcano: "I dream of being home for just one day and then dying"

"It is a typical Icelandic eruption that is not explosive, there is not even an eruptive column.

The material that comes out does not exceed 150 meters in height, so the effect of the eruption is much smaller, it has no comparison with a volcano which injects material at 4 kilometers and throws

(pyroclastic fragments) and ash at 20 kilometers. In addition,

, which favors the lava flows to cool quickly and there is no rapid advance " Stavros Meletlidis, a geologist at the National Geographic Institute (IGN), explains in a telephone conversation from Tenerife.

His colleague Raúl Pérez, coordinator of the Geological Emergency Response Unit of the Geographic and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME), points out that "this eruption is different because it is a fissure, it seems that

And the difference can be seen with the naked eye: the one in La Palma built a volcano, a cone on a slope of an elevated area that had very populated towns and residential areas below it. Iceland has emerged from the bottom of a valley."

There are people who do not understand that when an eruption affects an urban center, it is an emergency zone, not a recreational zone

Stavros Meletlidis, geologist of the (IGN)

Although these types of "quite calm" eruptions are the most common in Iceland and those that have shaped its landscape, when ice is involved, much more explosive eruptions occur, as happened in 2010 with the famous Eyjafjallajökull, which forced the closure of the air space internationally for the large columns of material it emitted, which reached 10 km in altitude.

"Nobody came there," says Meletlidis, who on Tuesday responded in a thread on his Twitter account to those who have questioned the security regulations in La Palma, arguing that the civil protection services were there "to collaborate and protect the citizens who suffered from the eruption, not to take care of each one of the curious who wanted to take a picture or take their drone for a ride".

The geologist points out that "this eruption has not affected Iceland, they do not have to activate any plan, they have their police there to monitor access to the car park, but it is not comparable to what was experienced in La Palma.

".

From his point of view, "the problem is that there are people who do not understand that when an eruption affects an urban nucleus, it is an emergency zone, not a recreational zone."

And a rain of fragments of only two or three centimeters, he assures him, "can take out your eye, open your head or break your car, blocking the road."

When access is restricted, he stresses, "it's not because the authorities don't want people to enjoy the volcano or cut down on freedom, but because of people's safety."

"Why do the Icelanders let tourists pass? Firstly because it is a touristic place, although well, La Palma is too. And secondly because they have control over the amount of gas, and where it moves, so the people stay in the area where the wind doesn't blow," says Pérez, who recalls that "the gases from a volcano are not good for human life because they are quite corrosive."

He himself suffered minor burns on La Palma from acid gases -hydrochloric acid and some hydrogen sulfide-, while the UME soldiers who accompanied him that day, in chemical warfare suits, were not affected.

The Icelandic volcano, August 7JEREMIE RICHARDAFP

Although the gases are basically the same (especially sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, in concentrations that may differ, and other gases in small quantities), the orography and the winds make their effect very different: "The gases that come out of the volcano weigh more than the air and tend to stay down.In a valley, the winds move the gases, but it is not comparable to an eruption in the middle of a hillside with the trade winds as predominant, and with many localities attached to the volcano as happened in La Palma, where 40,000 tons of sulfur dioxide were emitted per day, while in Iceland they are 2,000 or 3,000 tons per day," says Pérez.

Analyzing the information on the concentrations of sulfur dioxide near the volcano in Iceland, it does not reach 0.5 parts per million (ppm) compared to 350 ppm in La Palma, according to Pérez: "International legislation on occupational safety and hygiene says that from 0.5 you have to take precautions and wear a face mask and from 1 it is mandatory to take them and it is recommended to carry bottles to breathe in. It is better to wear a full protection face mask because sometimes acid gases appear that affect the eyes ".

It is a great balance that in La Palma there have been no victims or injuries taking into account the large number of people exposed

Raúl Pérez, IGME scientist

On La Palma, Pérez recalls, "when a security perimeter of one kilometer was established, there were values ​​below 0.5 ppm, but at peak moments of the eruption there were between 2 and 3 ppm at that distance.

It happened to us the first day we arrived, that we approached quickly and although we were wearing the masks, with the emotion of work we took time to put them on and we ended up with burns on the ropes vowels that lasted us three weeks".

Access to the Fagradalsfjall volcano is not easy or for everyone, as it requires a walk of about 17 kilometers that

As reported by Icelandic public television RÚV, one of them was evacuated by helicopter after breaking his foot.

"It is a great balance that in La Palma there have been no victims or injuries taking into account the large number of people exposed: 19,000 inhabitants of the island directly affected plus 3,000 people one kilometer from the volcano, counting journalists, scientists and the protection teams. Each one had their interests, the journalists obtain information, the scientists extract the data and the military secure the area, and that could have generated risk situations. But

and there was immediately a consensus on the measures that were taken," says Pérez, one of those in charge of the security perimeters in La Palma.

Despite the current situation in Iceland, the two scientists point out that the conditions of the Icelandic volcano could vary and restrict visits:

and if they have estimated that there is no problem in visitors come is for a reason," says Meletlidis.

Tourism in La Palma

Meanwhile La Palma has become one of the favorite destinations for tourists this summer, who enjoy the new landscape born after the eruption, with a delimited circular path that they can follow accompanied by official guides because the crater continues to expel gas and there are quantities of toxic sulfur dioxide.

"

and the expelled material. You must always follow the marked trails because the lava fields are unstable surfaces and can suffer falls," says Pérez.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to be monitored,

and according to Meletlidis, it is behaving as expected: "The deformation has stopped, there are no new signs of changes in the terrain, the emission of vapors and gases, especially in the cone, will continue to least for a year since the eruption ended, which is something we know not only from the Canary Islands but from other places; and the seismicity has dropped, some days there is a small rebound but it cannot be compared with the pre-eruptive seismicity or during the eruption ", he points out.

However, remember that they are unpredictable and as an example he gives what happened after the submarine eruption ended on the neighboring island of El Hierro: several months later we had seismic spikes and the deformation of the ground increased, which was even greater than during the eruption. per se.

Each volcano behaves differently."

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more