Two years after the CumbreVieja volcano erupted in the Canary Islands, some roads have been rebuilt. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured these photos of La Palma in orbit over the North Atlantic Ocean. La Palma is part of Spain's Canary Islands, about 480 kilometers (300 miles) off the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara. The island is a basaltic shield volcano consisting of two volcanic centers: the older collapsed caldera Calder de Taburiente and the younger active volcano CumbreVieja.

The picture above is a photo taken by astronauts on the International Space Station on February 13, 2016 (before the volcanic eruption). The picture below is a photo taken by astronauts on the International Space Station on August 18, 2023.

From September to December 2021, powerful eruptions on the southwest side of CumbreVieja volcano produced lava flows, lava fountains and ash clouds. The event, which lasted about 85 days, gave astronauts aboard the space station the opportunity to take photos of ash plumes and glowing lava flows at night.

Lava flows and ash covered a total of 12 square kilometers (5 square miles) of La Palma, extending 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the fissure to the coastline. Ash and lava destroyed more than 3,000 buildings and several banana plantations, and caused pine forests to turn yellow.

The photos, taken in February 2016 (above) and August 2023 (below), show the landscape in the years before and after the eruption. In the two years since the eruption, some roads have been rebuilt and thin, light-colored lines can be seen cutting through the lava flows. These roads reconnect the town of Los Lanos de Aridan with Puerto Naos and other nearby communities. The eruption fissure is clearly visible in this photo, a brighter linear feature in the middle of the volcano's flank.

Although not apparent at the spatial resolution of these images, sparse trees and shrubs, including Canary Island pine (Pinuscanariensis), still grow within the deposited ash. This seric conifer, endemic to the Canary Islands, is fire-resistant and relies on the heat generated by fire to melt the resin that surrounds the pine cones, thus producing viable seeds.

Astronaut photo ISS069-E-62382 was taken on August 18, 2023, using a Nikon D5 digital camera with a focal length of 400 mm. Astronaut photo ISS046-E-40929 was taken on February 13, 2016 with a Nikon D4 digital camera with a focal length of 400 mm. Image provided by the International Space Station Crew Earth Observation Facility and the Johnson Space Center Earth Science and Remote Sensing Division. The images were taken by a member of Expedition 69 and Expedition 46. The image is cropped and enhanced to improve contrast and remove lens artifacts. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the International Space Station National Laboratory to help astronauts take photos of Earth that are most valuable to scientists and the public and make these images freely available on the Internet.

Compiled source: ScitechDaily