POSEIDON POS480

The aim of the expedition is to investigate the El Hierro volcano, Canary islands. Its eruption beginning in 2011 has attracted large attention even beyond the scientific community. The spatial distribution of seismicity has changed since the eruption started in October 2011. The ongoing outbreak is currently located offshore and east of El Hierro. To better characterize the seismicity 12 ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) are deployed to complement the existing measurement network of the Spanish Instituto Nacional Geográfico (IGN). In addition, nine onshore stations are planned. The first eruption in the Canary Islands since 1971, with the associated change in sea depth and the possibility of forming a new island off the coast of El Hierro, opened a rare opportunity to examine this kind of submarine eruption with modern instrumentation. The seismic activity during the last cluster of local events (April 2013) mainly occurred off the coast of the island El Hierro. Observations with the OBS will contribute to a better understanding of additional offshore activity and will help to determin the source parameters.





Working area of POS480. Graphic: GEOMAR