Canary Islands on Yellow Alert as Seismic Activity Intensifies Near Teneguía Volcano

The National Geographic Institute of Spain has detected 4,222 tremors in a so-called "seismic swarm" in the Cumbre Vieja national park, around the Teneguía volcano, in the far south of the island of La Palma.

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On Tuesday, the regional government of the Canary Islands raised the island to yellow alert, the second of four alert levels, due to the intensification of the tremors that heralded an eruption. It then indicated on Thursday in a press release that there was no clear evidence of an immediate eruption, but that the situation could evolve rapidly and that "more intense earthquakes" could occur in the coming days.

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The Canary Islands, which emerge from the Atlantic about 100 kilometers west of southern Morocco, are home to Spain’s most active and well-known volcanoes, such as Teide on Tenerife and Timanfaya on Lanzarote. Teneguía last erupted in 1971. In addition, another volcano off the small island of El Hierro erupted underwater in 2011.