GeoTenerife

07/05/2026

HANTAVIRUS Y CRUCERO: una reflexión ética
(ENGLISH IN COMMENTS)

Un barco sanitario será desviado a Tenerife bajo protocolo internacional, en medio de declaraciones de algunos responsables políticos locales que han expresado preocupación y rechazo a su llegada.

La preocupación por la salud pública es comprensible. Es legítimo que haya preguntas cuando un barco con pacientes de hantavirus es desviado hacia la isla.

Pero existe una línea ética importante entre la preocupación sensata y la retórica política que trata a las personas enfermas como si fueran el problema de otros.

Los puertos y las islas siempre han dependido de la solidaridad internacional. ¿Qué esperaríamos si marineros, turistas o trabajadores canarios enfermaran gravemente en el extranjero? ¿Aceptaríamos que otro país les negara asistencia porque ayudarles resultara incómodo o impopular?

Tenerife forma parte de una red global de turismo, movilidad y cooperación marítima. Con ello también viene la responsabilidad.

La salud pública debe guiarse siempre por la evidencia, la ciencia médica y los protocolos adecuados —no por el miedo ni la oportunidad política. El hantavirus es una enfermedad seria, pero las enfermedades serias se gestionan con profesionalidad y cooperación, no con estigmatización.

Una sociedad se juzga, en última instancia, por cómo responde cuando las personas están en situación de vulnerabilidad.

La compasión y la competencia no son opuestas. Una Tenerife segura y conectada internacionalmente debe ser capaz de ambas cosas.

23/04/2026

EMERGENCY COMMS
(Español en comentarios)
A new study analysing communication strategies during the 2024 DANA floods in Valencia have reached similar conclusions about communication errors to those found in La Palma, detailed in GeoTenerife’s co-authored study lead by Volcanes de Canarias.

Written by María Teresa Saiz Navalón, an Internal Communication student at Universidad Pontificia Comillas, it found initially communications minimised risks and did not convey uncertainty sufficiently or self-protection measures, and warnings came too late. When faced with scrutiny or mistrust from the public, communications were defensive and opaque, rather than showing humility or responsibility.

This is similar to La Palma, where we found a lack of self-protection amongst the population, and a fear of alarming the population led to a minimisation of risk prior to the eruption.

At GeoTenerife we have been working hard to support better communication through our two documentaries Lava Bombs and our open access VolcanoStories project, in collaboration with experts and institutions. We are seeing improvements, but there is still work to be done to support communities facing hazards: not least a recognition that good Science Communication requires training and investment.

For more, you can read the DANA study here: https://repositorio.comillas.edu/xmlui/handle/11531/98906

And the La Palma study here: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=9103700

10/04/2026

STOP CUNA DEL ALMA
(Español en comentarios)
A judicial order issued yesterday by the Court of Arona has mandated the partial suspension of works on the Cuna del Alma resort within the maritime-terrestrial protection zone. Crucially, this measure does not arise from a routine administrative dispute, but from a criminal proceeding in which the judge has identified prima facie indications of illegality and the risk of irreparable environmental harm.
As articulated by the complainant groups — Tagoror Permanente Rotativo, La Gaveta 20A, Rebelión Científica Canarias, ATACA, ARCAN, and directly affected resident Juan Francisco Galindo — “this marks a turning point: the matter moves from an administrative conflict to a procedure with indications of criminal conduct.” The project is no longer subject solely to the discretion of the very authorities that authorised it; it is now under judicial scrutiny, with investigative measures underway and the potential involvement of specialised environmental enforcement bodies.
This raises an unavoidable and urgent question: if the court has accepted the existence of indications of criminality and potential irreversible damage, on what legal or ethical basis does the remainder of the project continue to advance?
A partial suspension, by definition, acknowledges the possibility of systemic illegality. It is therefore difficult to reconcile the continuation of construction in other phases with the principles of precaution, legality, and environmental protection that underpin both Spanish and European law.
The judicial decision, while limited in scope, casts a shadow over the entirety of the development and signals that responsibilities — political, administrative, and corporate — may yet be determined. As the complainants emphasise, this is not an endpoint but the opening of a deeper investigative process that must examine the full extent of the project and the mechanisms that enabled it.
In this context, the question is no longer whether scrutiny is warranted, but why it has not already extended to the whole.
Diggers continue to inflict irreparable damage at pace, the question is pressing.

01/04/2026

CONVIVIR CON VOLCANES
(English in comments)
Tenerife es un territorio volcánico activo. Tarde o temprano habrá erupción. Con tanta información y desinformación circulando, debemos asumir tres duras verdades:

1: La ciencia volcánica es jóven. Aún no se puede predecir con exactitud dónde, cuándo y cómo será una futura erupción en Tenerife. Pueden haber señales que no finalicen en erupción, o que se aceleran o ralentizan con fuertes terremotos sentidos u otros fenómenos asociados a zonas volcánicas activas.

2: Los mapas de peligro volcánico del proyecto VOLCAN señalan las zonas más propensas a una erupción (no el impacto de posibles coladas/cenizas/gases/terremotos). Pero ojo: un volcán puede surgir en cualquier sitio con lo cual conviene informarse y prepararse.

3: El semáforo volcánico indica las medidas de autoprotección que debe tomar la población: seguir los responsables de emergencias y . Pero también podemos alejarnos de una zona en peligro sin esperar un cambio de nivel. Conviene formarnos, localizar documentos, seguro de hogar y desarrollar un plan familiar de autoprotección pensando en dependientes, animales y un kit básico, como cualquier situación de riesgo por fenómenos naturales adversos.

Tenerife se monitoriza las 24 horas al día, 365 días al año. El es el responsable del monitoreo volcánico, informando directamente a las autoridades quienes deciden si cambiar el nivel del semáforo. La ciencia no puede predecir la hora y el lugar exacto de una erupción pero sí pronosticar escenarios probables analizando las señales. Hay que convivir con un grado de incertidumbre.

El IGN publica datos sísmicos mediante un app abierto: IGN Terremotos. Investigadores afiliados pueden solicitar datos íntegros. No hay ningún paper científico riguroso de investigación que desestime su trabajo.

El ruido se genera cuando voces opinan, buscan titulares o protagonismo. Por favor, no compartas información sin contrastarla, y fórmate con tiempo. Puedes empezar consultando nuestros recursos detallados en comentarios con un FORO para preguntas.

La resiliencia se construye entre todos con serenidad y rigor.

09/03/2026

09/03/2026

Due to popular demand our deadline for GeoIntern applications has been extended to Sunday 15 March. Want to see how previous students got on? You can see all their testimonial videos right back to 2014 here: https://tinyurl.com/5n9xvta6

04/03/2026

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 2021 GeoIntern BEN IRELAND
Hi I’m Ben Ireland, I am a PhD student in Volcano Remote Sensing at the University of Bristol, and I was a 2021 GeoIntern.

After finishing the internship, I was invited back to GeoTenerife to be involved in the efforts researching and responding to the 2021 Tajogaite volcanic eruption on La Palma, and was involved in research for the ‘Lava Bombs’ documentary series.

In 2022, I started a PhD at the University of Bristol in Volcano Remote Sensing, using satellite radar images (InSAR) to better understand surface deformation at volcanoes. I have been lucky enough to travel to conferences across Europe and to Guatemala, and also to be involved in fieldwork in La Palma and recently Cape Verde.

I recently had the first paper from my PhD published - it look a very long time to put together, and there were a lot of times during its preparation where I started to doubt myself, but I am proud I kept going and now it is out, and I can see how far I have come since I first started to put it together.

The internship gave me the confidence and community I needed to pursue a career in volcanology. The skills gained have been incredibly valuable, especially around science communication. The internship was also one of the first opportunities to meet so many fellow budding geoscientists with the same drive and passion as me – many of us are now pursuing or have finished PhDs in volcanology and regularly see each other at conferences, which for me is a really valuable ongoing network.

My favourite experience of the internship was spending a week in the field logging pumice deposits with Richard Brown. The outcrops in the south of Tenerife are spectacular, and it was amazing to analyse them with such an authority on them as Rich. There was a really great sense of teamwork, as each team had a key ‘marker’ deposit that we had to describe and identify at each locality, which was a unique and engaging way of doing fieldwork.

Social media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-ireland-a59199176/
https://bsky.app/profile/benirevolc.bsky.social

GeoIntern 2026 is OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS!
See: https://geotenerife.com/geointern-2/

04/03/2026

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 2025 GeoIntern ASH HARDEN
After GeoIntern, I did an internship with the University of Liverpool, helping to develop a database. In September 2025, I started a MSc by Research at the University of Bristol, studying tephra rafts and the risk that they pose to ships and marine infrastructure.
Recently, I attended and presented a poster at the 2026 VMSG Annual Conference. This was my first big conference and it was rather daunting, but it was good to see some familiar faces and to meet other fellow GeoInterns.
I met some incredible people and friends during the internship. We still keep in touch and I hope to keep in touch with them for the rest of our lives. The experience also helped improve my self-confidence, especially in terms of my geological understanding and peer-peer communication.
I think the solidifying 'experience' for me was the barbecue on Sunday week two, as we all (interns and staff) planned it and bonded together that day.

GeoIntern 2026 is OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS! See: https://geotenerife.com/geointern-2/

04/03/2026

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 2022 GeoIntern AJAY WYNNE JONES.
GeoIntern 2026 is OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS! See: https://geotenerife.com/geointern-2/

23/02/2026

APPLICATIONS TO GEOINTERN 2026 are OPEN!
GeoIntern a summer training programme we run in association with local and international experts and institutions that places students in active research projects where they can learn a range of highly transferable skills over the course of four weeks.
GeoIntern covers a range of disciplines and will take place from the 4th July to 1st August 2026. The deadline for applications is Friday, 6th March 2026. It is open to undergraduates and recent graduates from relevant fields of study of any nationality. All teaching is in English. Scholarships available. See: https://geotenerife.com/geointern-2/