MADRID, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Hopes were raised on Thursday that the volcanic eruption on Spanish island of La Palma could be entering its final phase, since levels of sulphur dioxide have been falling.
Despite an increase in the past 48 hours, the general trend over the past eight days has been lower levels of sulphur dioxide, said Ruben Fernandez, director of the Canary Island Volcano Emergency Plan, as the eruption on the Cumbre Vieja volcano entered its 46th day.
"It is some good news within the bad experience that La Palma is living," Fernandez told local TV network RTVE.
However, Itahiza Dominguez, a seismologist from the Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN), sounded a more cautious note.
"The levels of sulphur dioxide are similar to those we had in the middle of October. There are moments when it looks as if the number of earthquakes is falling, but it hasn't, and we are still suffering some strong quakes, such as yesterday (one quake of 4.8 and another of 5.0 on the Richter Scale)," she told RTVE.
Indeed, the IGN recorded 46 quakes between midnight and 06:30 local time on Thursday.
"It is still too early to be able to say that we are at the beginning of the end, although obviously the more time passes, the closer we are to the end," Dominguez added.
Meanwhile, the high levels of ash currently being emitted by the volcano have led to schools being closed in several municipalities.
According to the latest data from the Copernicus satellite, lava from the volcano has so far covered 997 hectares of land, destroying around 2,200 buildings on its way to the ocean. Enditem