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Silent volcanic gas buildup revealed six months before La Palma eruption

Phys · · 541 words · By Lara Expósito
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What to know about Silent volcanic gas buildup revealed six months before La Palma eruption

Researchers at Geosciences Barcelona have developed a low-cost method to monitor underground volcanic gas accumulation using seismic ambient noise. The technique was retrospectively applied to the 2021 La Palma eruption, where it identified anomalies six months prior to the event.

Propaganda risk 0%
Claims checked 8
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Silent volcanic gas buildup revealed six months before La Palma eruption Lisa Lock Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor Researchers at Geosciences Barcelona (GEO3BCN-CSIC) have developed a novel way to monitor the silent accumulation of volcanic…

Why it matters

The results could significantly improve early warning systems for volcanic eruptions.

Common ground

The continuous but invisible release of gases from underground is notoriously difficult to detect, yet it plays a critical role in volcanic hazard assessment.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Researchers at Geosciences Barcelona have developed a low-cost method to monitor underground volcanic gas accumulation using seismic ambient noise. The technique was retrospectively applied to the 2021 La Palma eruption, where it identified anomalies six months prior to the event.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-06-silent-volcanic-gas-buildup-revealed.html

analyticsAnalysis

0%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 7
info Single Source 1
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Claim 1: “Data from a seismic station located in a fractured zone near the eventual eruption site revealed clear anomalies in pressure transmission around six months before the eruption began.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of results for a commercial software company called 'Seismic' (sales enablement platform), which is irrelevant to the seismic monitoring of volcanoes. No scientific evidence regarding pressure transmission anomalies was found in the provided snippets.
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web search NEUTRAL — Seismic helps financial services organizations reduce administrative burden, ensure regulatory alignment, and increase revenue per advisor — while delivering personalized experiences that deepen long-…
https://www.seismic.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Seismic is a global sales enablement platform helping marketing and sales teams drive revenue together.
https://microsoft.seismic.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Discover how Seismic’s marketing and sales leaders joined forces to generate pipeline in a single day in this on-demand webinar. If you made it this far, we must be striking a chord.
https://www.seismic.com/seismic-login/
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Claim 2: “lead author Helena Seivane, who conducted the work with GEO3BCN-CSIC researcher Martin Schimmel.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results explicitly name Helena Seivane and Martin Schimmel of GEO3BCN-CSIC as the researchers conducting this work.
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web search NEUTRAL — Researchers at Geosciences Barcelona (GEO3BCN-CSIC) have developed a novel way to monitor the silent accumulation of volcanic gases beneath Earth's surface using seismic ambient noise.
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-silent-volcanic-gas-buildup-re…
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web search NEUTRAL — Helena Seivane and Martin Schimmel.To test this approach, we apply Rayleigh wave ellipticity (RWE) from ambient seismic noise as a high-resolution near-surface monitoring tool (e.g., Seivane et al., 2…
https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/26/2249/2026/
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web search NEUTRAL — Helena Seivane Helena Seivane. Martin Schimmel. Diffuse volcanic degassing is a persistent and often underestimated natural hazard, with potential impacts on air quality, ecosystem health, and volcani…
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin-Schimmel-3
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Claim 3: “the study, published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, introduces a low-cost monitoring technique based on analyzing a property of surface seismic waves known as Rayleigh wave ellipticity.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web search results confirm the study was published in 'Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences' and utilizes Rayleigh wave ellipticity as a monitoring technique.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and sy…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_science
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Geosciences_Union
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Earth Institute was a research institute at Columbia University created in 1995 for addressing complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with a focus on sustainable development. With a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Earth_Institute
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 4: “the volcano showed little to no surface gas emissions before the 2021 eruption.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results state that the La Palma case was challenging because the volcano showed little to no surface gas emissions before the 2021 eruption.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An eruption at the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, comprising the southern half of the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, took place between 19 September and 13 December 2021. It was the f…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Cumbre_Vieja_volcanic_eru…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — La Palma (Spanish pronunciation: [la ˈpalma] , locally [lɐ ˈpɑ(l)mɐ]), also known as La isla bonita (pronounced [la ˈisla βoˈnita], English: The Beautiful Island) and historically San Miguel de La Pal…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Palma
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — La Palma is a Norwegian disaster drama miniseries inspired by the Cumbre Vieja tsunami hazard hypothesis and partially based on the 2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption. The series, primarily filmed on…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Palma_(miniseries)
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 5: “In collaboration with the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica, Seivane is applying the method to Poás volcano, which entered an eruptive phase in early 2026.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web search results confirm that Helena Seivane is applying the method to the Poás volcano in Costa Rica, which entered an eruptive phase in early 2026.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 9, 2026 ... ... Helena Seivane, who ... Costa Rica, Seivane is applying the method to Poás volcano, which entered an eruptive phase in early 2026.
https://www.geo3bcn.csic.es/news-and-media/news/study-tracks…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 9, 2026 ... ... Costa Rica, Seivane is applying the method to Poás volcano, which entered an eruptive phase in early 2026. ... Helena Seivane et al, Monitoring ...
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-silent-volcanic-gas-buildup-re…
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Claim 6: “Helena Seivane et al, Monitoring diffuse volcanic degassing with seismic ambient noise, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.5194/nhess-26-2249-2026”
CORROBORATED
Web search results provide the exact title, authors, journal, year (2026), and DOI (10.5194/nhess-26-2249-2026) of the paper.
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web search NEUTRAL — Diffuse volcanic degassing is a persistent and often underestimated natural hazard, with potential impacts on air quality, ecosystem health, and volcanic risk management.
https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/26/2249/2026/
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web search NEUTRAL — Diffuse volcanic degassing is a persistent and often underestimated natural hazard, with potential impacts on air quality, ecosystem health, and volcanic risk management.
https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-20…
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web search NEUTRAL — Helena Seivane et al, Monitoring diffuse volcanic degassing with seismic ambient noise, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.5194/nhess-26-2249-2026.
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-silent-volcanic-gas-buildup-re…
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Claim 7: “Researchers at Geosciences Barcelona (GEO3BCN-CSIC) have developed a novel way to monitor the silent accumulation of volcanic gases beneath Earth's surface using seismic ambient noise.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that researchers at Geosciences Barcelona (GEO3BCN-CSIC) developed a method to monitor subsurface volcanic gas accumulation using seismic ambient noise.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — María Amelia Calonge García (born 1960 in Soria, Spain) is a Spanish geologist, paleontologist, and geoscience educator, specialist in foraminifera and the teaching and dissemination of geology. She i…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Calonge
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Geosciences Barcelona (acronym: GEO3BCN), formerly known as Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera (or in Spanish Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra Jaume Almera, ICTJA) is an earth science public r…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosciences_Barcelona_(GEO3BCN…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Hydrology and Earth System Sciences is a monthly peer-reviewed open access scientific journal that covers research in hydrology and related fields like water resource management. The journal is publi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrology_and_Earth_System_Sci…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “the researchers applied it retrospectively to La Palma in the Canary Islands”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the retrospective application of the method to the La Palma volcano in the Canary Islands.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — La Palma (Spanish pronunciation: [la ˈpalma] , locally [lɐ ˈpɑ(l)mɐ]), also known as La isla bonita (pronounced [la ˈisla βoˈnita], English: The Beautiful Island) and historically San Miguel de La Pal…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Palma
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — La Palma is a Norwegian disaster drama miniseries inspired by the Cumbre Vieja tsunami hazard hypothesis and partially based on the 2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption. The series, primarily filmed on…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Palma_(miniseries)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — La Palma Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto de La Palma) (IATA: SPC, ICAO: GCLA) is an airport located in Breña Baja and Villa de Mazo, 8 km (5.0 mi) south of the city of Santa Cruz de La Palma on La Palma …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Palma_Airport
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.