Beautiful image of a volcanic sky over La Palma, but what are we actually seeing?

Because you don’t often see such a plate from space, says meteorologist Mark de Jong of Poinradar. Nice picture, but to find out what’s really going on, the images below are more useful:

De Jong explains: “Hot, rising air and ash come out of the volcano. This condenses and creates clouds. This air rises very quickly because it’s so hot, but it eventually encounters a warmer layer of air.”

collision in the air

Then a collision occurs. “This warmer layer is very warm desert air, located at an altitude of about 5 kilometers and the air from the volcano cannot pass through it,” says de Young. But because the air rises so quickly, it passes through that warmer layer for a while.

“Air can pass through it for a short time and then be pushed back,” says De Jong. “You can compare it to a ball that you push underwater and when you release it, it pops up to the surface and dances back and forth for a while.”

1000 buildings destroyed

However, other conditions are needed before this particular photo can be taken. “You have to be quiet, or else you’ll explode again.” And it was October 1, when this photo was taken.

The atmosphere in La Palma is not going to get any better. More than 1,000 buildings have already been destroyed, and the lava flow into the sea has caused the formation of toxic fumes. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged 200 million euros in aid today.

Lava is still flowing over the island, and here are photos from yesterday: