Towards rapid integrated data acquisition and management during a volcanic crisis: the 2021 Tajogaite eruption of Cumbre Vieja (La Palma, Canary Islands)

Abstract

The 2021 eruption of Cumbre Vieja in La Palma (Canary Islands) provided a unique opportunity for the  international scientific community to collaborate and provide multidisciplinary data to civil protection authorities during a rapidly evolving crisis. Here we present data gathered and analysed as a package during the eruption, with a focus on a stratigraphic framework for tephra deposits. This consensus effort across multiple research teams was coordinated by the Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (INVOLCAN). Teams were deployed strategically to compile comprehensive tephra stratigraphy through field mapping (depending on plume direction records and real-time tephra-fall observations). The stratigraphy comprises three main units within which various layers could be correlated based on marker horizons, granulometry and componentry. Tephra production was nearly continuous during the eruption, and the resulting stratigraphic framework, chronology and distribution form a robust link between temporally-resolved observations of eruption style, plume dynamics, changing chemistry of volcanic products and geophysical records that were recorded during this highly accessible yet destructive eruption.