The La Cumbre volcano, located on the uninhabited Fernandina Island, in the Ecuadorian tourist archipelago of Galapagos, has erupted this weekend, as announced this Sunday by the National Institute of Geophysics of Ecuador. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, “a thermal anomaly and a gas emission that indicate the beginning of an eruptive process” were recorded in La Cumbre, whose peak reaches 1,463 meters, the institute reported.
In the following hours, the gas cloud, without much ash content, has moved by the wind towards the west, which does not represent a risk to humans, since Fernandina Island is not inhabited by people.
Videos shared on social networks by people present in the area aboard tourist boats confirmed the eruption of a circumferential fissure on the southern flank of the volcano.
The duration of the eruption cannot be precisely predicted, nor whether it will reach the seashore, but according to data on the deformation of the volcano accumulated since the last eruptive period, it is likely that the current eruption will be larger than those observed in 2017. 2018 and 2020.
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The Summit has erupted several times in a short period of time. The last one was on January 12, 2020, which marked its third awakening in less than three years. It lasted about 9 hours and was characterized by the opening of a fissure located under the eastern edge of the caldera.
The Galapagos are classified by UNESCO as a world heritage site for their unique fauna and flora. They owe their name to the giant turtles that live there and are found 1,000 km from the Ecuadorian coast.
