Santa Cruz de Tenerife (EFE).- The astronaut Pedro Duque and the adventurer and popularizer Jesús Calleja have become the “first eyes” to descend, to 330 meters and with an IEO submarine, to observe the lava delta created by the volcano of La Palma: “You have me speechless!”, has proclaimed the television presenter.
In a video broadcast this Monday by Jesús Calleja on his social networks, the expedition is seen leaving to observe “the blue planet” created in the depths of the sea of La Palma by the volcano that erupted in September 2021, taking advantage of the campaign led by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO).
“I’m in a spaceship with Pedro Duque watching the blue planet,” the television broadcaster proclaims enthusiastically, who stresses that this is the first time a manned submarine has submerged to see “where the earth has formed that no one has seen yet del volcán de La Palma”, the one that is submerged under the sea.
“Pedro, closing hatches”, exclaims Jesús Calleja to the former Minister of Science, at the same time that he begins to detail, as the submarine navigates, the “strange things that come out”, including a “my goodness, look at a fish”, and comments how “Let’s touch the sand” and then he realizes that “it’s all ash”.
Calleja concludes with an “incredible” in English (‘incredible’) to the comments of his fellow sailors, while the IEO researcher in the Canary Islands Eugenio Fraile has also alluded in his networks to the immersion in the delta and has emphasized the role of science “as a tool for the restoration and reconstruction of the island of La Palma”.
“The island is growing and the IEO, together with Jesús Calleja and Pedro Duque, are putting value on its new seabed together with Turismo de Canarias and the CSIC”, summarized the oceanographer. EFE